NATO wrangles over its top post following Turkey’s reluctance to approve the most likely candidate; Denmark’s PM Anders Fogh Rasmussen. For obvious reasons, as described in this Bloomberg article:
Turkey, a mainly Muslim country with NATO’s second biggest army after the U.S., looks “negatively” on Rasmussen because of his defense of Danish newspaper cartoons lampooning Islam in 2005, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday.
German chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday announced a decision during Friday night, which, obviously didn’t happen, as it’s been halted by Turkey’s continued objections.
Except from Turkey, Mr Fogh Rasmussen enjoys solid support from the other member countries, including the Nordic, who traditionally close ranks in these matters, which wasn’t a given this time, though. Up until recently Norway’s support was highly uncertain, if not unlikely, due to Fogh Rasmussen’s die-hard (and continued) Bush support, as well as strict Danish immigration, integration policies and hard-lined anti-Islamism — a worry also reflected in U.S.-Arab relations:
The clash over whether the Danish leader is the right overseer for the alliance’s war in a Muslim country, Afghanistan, tests Obama as he seeks to rebuild U.S. ties with the Islamic world.
Breaking News: Earlier on Saturday afternoon Danish online daily Politiken.dk reported that Mr Anders Fogh Rasmussen is returning home with the matter still undecided, however it turns out that the Turks were convinced in the nick of time, paving the way for Danish politician – and Anders Fogh Rasmussen party colleague – Lars Løkke as Danish prime minister (in Danish).
More on the matter as the story unravels.
- Obama har ikke hastverk med ny Nato-sjef – tv2nyhetene.no (in Norwegian)
- Fogh Rasmussen blir ny NATO-sjef – db.no (in Norwegian)
- Rasmussen ny Nato-sjef – tv2nyhetene.no (in Norwegian)
- Fogh Rasmussen får leda Nato – svd.se (in Swedish)
- Fogh Rasmussen ny Nato-chef – dn.se (in Swedish)
- Fogh: »Det stod ikke i min drejebog« – politiken.dk (in Danish)
It would seem that the secretary general issue is of little or no consequence for the international press, as bigger and more pressing subjects are on the agenda.
A little background on the Fogh Rasmussen scepticism:
By the way: So you thought the current NATO secretary general Jaap de Hoop Scheffer had an accent? Wait until you hear this:
Either way it is pretty clear that Denmark plays a far more central role than Norway, where the press goes completely off its hinges on receiving tidings of a brief Obama-Stoltenberg chat (in Norwegian).
Photo: Denmark’s PM Anders Fogh Rasmussen. (Wikimedia Commons)
Goodbye Turkey, you will not come to EU, you just show what you respect more then the free press and the free will in this world to say what you want and let the court decide if it is wrong or not..
you show it is political to decide the freedom..
Goodbye Turkey.. and good luck with your life..
We are lucky to have an leader in Denmark that respect the freedom and let he Court system to handle what is wrong and right..
I am proud to be Danish and see my leader stand on his mind, but also sad to see that Turkey have not come to a stand where they respect this freedom.. maybe it will never happen..
Jack…
It would seem, Jack, that you’re not entirely comfortable with Muslim NATO members. Granted NATO may soon prove to be an obsolete organisation, almost 20 years (can you believe that!) after the cold war, but remains highly active, especially in Muslim countries, such as Iraq (albeit not collectively) and Afghanistan, which is a bit of a challenge, of course.
Also, with Albania’s (and its significant Muslim population) full NATO membership, the Muslim influence continues to be a (growing) factor, which clearly poses a potential problem if Anders Fogh Rasmussen is elected — eventually.
I expect you’re familiar with the Muslim world’s view on Fogh, and that, as a Dane, you’re already familiar with portrayals such as this:
Could it be that the current discord signifies the beginning of NATO’s inevitable demise?
Freedom of speech is recognized under article 19 of the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights”. Freedom of speech grants every human person the right to hold opinions without interference.
Freedom of speech may never be limited by laws, people or governments who has the idea that they themselves, or their believes are entitled to be beyond the freedom of speech.
Nothing is beyond or above freedom of speech, everything/anything can and should be questioned and discussed – no person or subject are to holy! Yes, it is sad that something such as some drawings in a regional newspaper can hurt some peoples feelings so much that they can make riots in which they actually KILL PEOPLE – what kind of behaviour is that? I would much rather draw 2000 satiric drawings of religious figures in akward situations than I would kill 1 human being! Try to make that comparisson rationally…!
The way some islamic people did respond to something as simple as some drawings…?!? with riots, flag burnings, threats to kill any danish person they see, atempts on the drawers lifes, requesting the danish prime minister to take action… against what? some drawings???? drawings are a part of freedom of speech! All of that immensely stupid behaviour? And now Turkey won’t accept Anders Fogh Rasmussen as a Nato leader, BECAUSE HOW CAN WE HAVE A NATO LEADER WHO RESPECTS HUMAN RIGHTS?????
Dear Turkish Prime minister – ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND? Turkey who wants to become a part of EU, refuses to acknowledge something as basic as the freedom of speech?!?
Turkey behave like a spoiled little brat in the school-yard… GROW UP and get on with your life! The drawings did not KILL ANYONE, it was the headless morons who asked people to make the riots because of their hurt little religious feelings who MURDERED other people.
Personally I think that Anders Fogh Rasmussen is an asshole (yes I can say that BECAUSE of my freedom rights), I did not vote for him in the first place, and I would be happy to see him out of the danish government! But he would actually be useful as NATO general secretary. No matter what my personal regard is for that guy, I can acknowledge that he is a skilled politician, and that he cares for human rights (apparantly he cares for human rights much more than the prime minister of Turkey)!
I was proud as a dane to see that our prime minister standing firmly on the point that he should not in any way interfere with the freedom of speech! How can a leader in a civilized country take notice of some puny little drawings, or in any way take action against a news paper editor printing them?
60 years ago NATO was founded with the intention to defend democracies. As a democracy is based on the right to express your opinion freely, any attack on this basic right should be seen as an attack on democratic principles. Especially if such attack is based on manipulated and misleading information spread with the intention of causing hostile reactions towards e.g. a nation defending the right to express your opinion. This seems to be the case in the present conflict, as a number of high-ranking muslims living in Denmark planted the information in muslim countries that printed cartoons had the purpose to humiliate muslims and that this was fully backed by the Danish government. Why such a step was felt necessary by these people if not for trying to destabilize Denmark and attack democratic principles? Unfortunately it seems these people were so successful that even a “democratic” member of NATO now try and back the attempt. What will be the result if they are successful? The Finnish EU-commissioner Rehn expressed himself very clearly after the scandal was areality: Turkey has just demonstrated their lacking ability to respect democratic principles, which is a fundamental request if EU-membership should ever be obtained. Whether the Danish Prime Minister would have been a good secretary general or not is of minor importance compared to the total lack of understanding of basic democracy principles displayed by Turkey.
At any rate I think that heartfelt congratulations are in order, as the NATO countries just reached an agreement. Or, as our PM just put it on Twitter:
Fogh is a very skilled politician and organizer. He has experience with crisis-handling, has commited troops to foreign missions (including NATO-missions), has experience with international negaotiations (EU-expansion). He is an ideal candidate for a role with very little policy-making, and a lot of holding everything together.
And yeah, about the Turkish protests: We’ve got freedom of speech in Denmark. End of story.