Danish Enlightenment against the Dark and Evil Forces

At the opening of the Danish Parliament's new session October 3rd prime minister once more celebrated Denmark's activist foreign policy, hand in hand with Bush' America. He did so by speaking condescendingly to the Palestinians: "We do not question the election. But we must demand that Hamas stops terror, recognizes the right of Israel to exist, and accepts existing agreements."

There is nothing about the war Israel has been waging against the Palestinian territory for some months, leading to a couple of hundred dead, among them dozens of children, and destroying infrastructure. Nor does he mention the virtual blockade Israel has made of the area, leading to hunger and destitution among the Palestinian people.

The Danish PM talks about helping democracy along. That's why Denmark is involved in Afghanistan and Iraq, he says. "We want to help the populations to freedom and self-rule.... That's difficult, because the terrorists fear freedom".

By using the term "terrorist" in this way, Anders Fogh Rasmussen is clouding further debate - that is probably done deliberately. The "terrorists" do not as such reside in countries like Iraq and Afghanistan. The "terrorists" are without country and borders. They are virtual states of mind, living secret lives in certain parts of the internet and in people's imagination. The Danes and the Americans have not hit very many "terrorists" by waging war on the territories of Iraq and Afghanistan. Instead they have been waging war on Iraqi and Afghani populations, thus producing new terrorists in the thousands, because the people in these countries are getting enraged at what they perceive as foreign domination and occupation.