Tuesday, April 7, 2009

New NATO Chief apologizes for Mohammed Cartoons

He didn't come out and say "I'm sorry" as Michelle Malkin points out. But he may has well have given the tone of his remarks.

And all at the expense of western values regarding freedom of speech.

And there's the rub. There literally is no western leader now who will stand up and unequivocally defend westerns traditions and values against those whose grievance mongering threatens their very foundation.

Michael van der Galien sums it up:

Rasmussen should have stuck to his guns. He has nothing to apologize nor to ’sympathize’ for. The cartoons were printed by a newspaper, not by his government. It is sad that many felt insulted by them, but it is even sadder that mobs in Indonesia and Arab countries took the streets, boycotted Danish products, and attacked its embassies.

It was not an open, outright apology, but it is hard if not impossible to interpret it differently than a political one.

An apology for a non-offense according to our traditions and values is what should matter. While it is always good to respect the sensibilities of others it is never alright to sacrifice your principles in the face of intimidation.

And that's exactly what Rasmussen did.

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