Western Europe: From Mahmoud to Downing Street
Let's start this week's round-up off with a bang: German newspaper Der Spiegel published an interview with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Saturday. In it, Ahmadinejad speaks at length about George W. Bush, American policy towards Iran, and his view on Barack Obama and the future of Iranian-American relations. Unlike what one would have expected, Der Spiegel did not treat the president with kid gloves. The interview grants the American reader a great glance into the European psyche: on the one hand, Europeans distrust Ahmadinejad and believe diplomacy will most likely be useless; on the other hand, they encourage exactly that - more diplomacy - nonetheless.
Ahmed Marcouch, a Dutchman of Moroccan heritage, made the news this week for taking a rather confrontational approach to make his ethnic minority neighborhood more tolerant towards homosexuals. Muslim immigrants are infamous for their lack of tolerance towards gays and lesbians. Hate-caused violence against them has increased significantly in recent years. Marcouch tries to do something about this growing problem by, among others, opening a gay bar and organizing a soccer match between Moroccan and gay teams.
After tough negotiations, Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen was accepted as the new secretary general of NATO. Although most member states had no problem with Rasmussen, Turkey had serious reservations. The prime minister was, Ankara said, outspokenly anti-Turk, anti-Islam, and allowed a pro-PKK network to operate freely in his country. In the end, Rasmussen agreed to do something about the network and he offered his 'political apology' for the infamous Mohammed cartoons that caused major riots in the Muslim world a few years ago. The somewhat hidden apology received much attention in Europe, with many conservatives denouncing Rasmussen for being a 'sellout' and opportunist.
Local Dutch councils that register the ethnic origins of young trouble makers and other at-risk youngsters have been ordered to stop it immediately by the privacy watchdog CBP. "There is no legal foundation for processing ethnic details," the CBP said in a statement on its website. "This means that the use of these particular personal details ... is illegal and should be stopped immediately." The news is a terrific blow to the councils and, of course, to right-wing politicians like Geert Wilders who want to engage in more ethnic profiling rather than in less.
Lastly, trouble in Britain: last week, stories broke saying that senior aides to Prime Minister Gordon Brown had sent slanderous emails about Tory and opposition leader David Cameron to a host of people. Saturday, aide Damian McBride was forced to resign. In his emails, McBride spread rumors (to other Laborites) about the private lives of Cameron and his fellow Tory leaders. Even though the aide from hell was fired, the Tories are slammed Downing Street No. 10 nonetheless: Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling said: "If this is symptomatic of the culture of Downing Street under Gordon Brown's leadership it is a disgrace. What on earth are Gordon Brown's team doing indulging in the politics of the gutter when they should be sorting out the very real problems of the country."
The above should be comforting to Americans who can now realize that American politicians are not the only ones who love to play it dirty.
The writer is editor of PoliGazette.com.
