Well, as a family we owe Mr. Rasmussen many thanks -- every time he commits a gaffe tantamount to an international crime, he is contributing to the unity of our family, of course, without knowing it. Sometimes I doubt that if Mr. Rasmussen were aware of the fact he was helping a mixed-status family (a family in which at least one member is a noncitizen) come together he would still commit such crimes; in fact, the harshest regulations regarding mixed-status families in Denmark were issued during his time as prime minister. For example, it is very difficult for mixed-status families of Denmark to find a way to legally bring their noncitizen members to this cold and boring country. This is why some Danes married to foreign nationals apply for asylum in Sweden. But every time Mr. Rasmussen became a headache for the international community, the Danish member of our family, Lasse, who normally lived in Beirut, was sent to Turkey by the newspaper for which he works. So in this regard, thank you Mr. Rasmussen; if you were not such a pain for the world, we would have spent less time together as a family.
Lasse is a universal person; his love for humanity is definitely greater than the love he feels for his country. This is why, although he would very much support the idea of appointing Mr. Rasmussen as the secretary-general of any organization that is located far from Denmark, he is against this ridicules idea of appointing him the secretary-general of NATO. I totally agree with Lasse -- although I do that very rarely -- and, actually, despite the growing racism in its society, I think Denmark deserves to be ruled by a decent prime minister.
In our family, because of all these Danish, French and Turkish influences, reaching a consensus can sometimes be difficult, just as it is within NATO. But this time we have no doubt -- if Mr. Rasmussen, after finishing his term as prime minister, does not want to live on the unemployment benefits provided by the Danish government, he can be the secretary-general of the apprentices who carry wood to the fire belonging to the one with red eyes, a long tail and horns because, when it comes down to it, Mr. Rasmussen did not act reasonably and responsibly during the so-called cartoon crisis.
The cartoon crisis of 2006 was definitely not a matter of freedom of expression but rather a sort of spiritual Sept. 11 attack on the Muslim world. As the prime minister of a country home to the newspaper which organized this attack, he could have acted differently; instead of trying to hide behind the false discourse of freedom of expression, he could have managed the crisis by prioritizing world peace, but he didn't despite being urged to do so. This is why appointing him as the secretary-general of NATO would be like appointing a Taliban leader as secretary-general of the UN.
However, to insist on appointing him secretary-general of NATO raises serious concerns about the future of NATO and the intentions of those who support this.
As NATO celebrates its 60th anniversary, its main concern will be Afghanistan, and, in some respects, Russia; and there may be considerations of expanding NATO to form an entity that could replace the UN. If the objective is to use NATO as a tool for launching a large-scale war against the Afghan people, appointing Mr. Rasmussen might not just be something done out of stupidity, especially considering his role in the cartoon crisis and also the fact that Denmark, a country which had not declared war since 1864, joined two major wars during Mr. Rasmussen's term as prime minister.
Also, when it comes to the relations of NATO and Russia, it is possible to raise similar questions. Although it seems that every time NATO officials or anyone related with NATO open their mouths they speak about "rebuilding relations with Russia," appointing Mr. Rasmussen as the secretary-general of the alliance is inconsistent with this discourse because during his term as prime minister, Danish-Russian ties were badly damaged for a variety of reasons and to appoint him would not ease the minds of the suspicious Russians nor prepare the way for good relations.
Regardless, it is hard to believe that peace can be assured with a massive war machine like NATO.
