Denmark has stolen children from their foreigner parents

Sunday, August 31, 2008

In Defence of Danish manhood

Having lived here for many years now, I must say that I can only concur with the comments made by the two young women mentioned above, and furthermore, this `Feminist` dominance, at least on the surface, is across the board and throughout all the public institutions. It seems to me that in order to actually get to deal with another man these days, one has to set one's sights very high up the Corporate or Municipal ladder.

So how were the progeny of `The Vikings` so reduced in stature? Scandinavia is the home of Social Democracy, which in reality is nothing more than `Cutural Marxism`. The whole social ethos of these Northern lands is Marxist to the bone. But there is more to this than first meets the eye. In fact, Danish society can appear to be something of a paradox, with it's flourishing consumerism (somewhat curtailed of late by the world economic downturn) and unashamed materialism on the one hand, neatly wed to a deeply embedded Marxist Socialist spirit on the other. Yet in reality, there is no paradox.. What do you get when a Socialist State gets in bed with Monopoly Capitalist Corporatism ? You get as Mussolini is once quoted as describing, `Corporatism` or rather ``Fascism`. That's right, I'm saying that Denmark is a Fascist State. A place whereby even the most minute details of a persons life are regulated and micromanaged by a vast State Bureaucracy. A Totalitarian Regime, elected by an deliberately uninformed populace.

Back in the 1960's, `equality of the sexes` was adopted as policy by the Social Democrats and placed on the school curriculum. At an early age, conventional ideas of male and female roles were broken down. Boys were taught to sew, girls to do woodwork. So called equality was taken to it's logical conclusion. There was no longer any reason why a father could not stay at home and care for the children whilst the mother went out to work. One of the purposes in predisposing women to work was clearly economic, but I suggest that this is only one `cog in the wheel`.

Men don't like being told what to do. Women are far easier to coerce and manipulate. The greatest obstruction to Totalitarianism is masculinity. The Danish State like all the other Dictatorships masquerading as democracies, hand in hand with Feminist ideologues, has conspired to emasculate the Danish male to the point where any prospect of some long lost `Viking` mentality rearing it's head in defiance, of the suffocating levels of control exercised by the State here would be unthinkable. Instead, as is the case in many other western lands, Danish men console themselves with Sports, DIY and other non ideological, apolitical diversions, leaving such things very often to what arguably passes for the female here. These `hobbies` are the only outlet left for men to express their masculinity, and the Danes do so with gusto. The Danish National Football (Soccer for North American readers) consistently outperforms sides from much larger countries, and Danish Boxers, although not truly World Class, are to be found around and about every weight division of the various Boxing Authorities. It is similarly the case with other sports.

Gender Role confusion is rampant, particularly in young men and teenage boys. My own Step Son has confided in me many times that he just doesn't understand what girls expect of him. He tells me that they are impossibly argumentative, confrontational, show no respect for the masculine at all. He says that he would like to meet a nice girl and settle down, but he cannot imagine ever finding one.

Danish girls play football, chew gum, shout and behave badly in public, dress slovenly, have bad attitudes and are generally not a good advertisement for the feminine at all. I myself, as a former `Guest Lecturer` have been dumbfounded at the open bias towards girls and young women in the schools and universities here. If anyone reading this doubts my accuracy, please check out the website of any Danish School or University. The preponderance of young women featured in the photographs on these web pages defies any such argument to the contrary. When a young male student is depicted, it is usually some unfortunately effeminate `girly boy`, with his girly hair and girly clothes complete with those hideous girly shoulder bags.

The whole system here is set up to belittle and ridicule the masculine. How many nauseating times have I heard this phrase, " Macho man are really frightened little boys". How I hate that one, and challenge any `woman` to say that to my face.

In conclusion, what has been done to Danish men is in many ways what is being done to men all across the world, only here, the condition is extreme. Nothing about the masculine is celebrated. Everything about the `Feminist` (note, I said feminist, not feminine) is automatically taken as being the accepted `Truth` and symbolically carved in stone.
by Philip Jones
Read more at henrymakow.com

Denmark, The Model Matrix For A Brave New World

The perfect totalitarian state is one where the all powerful political bosses and their army of managers, control a population of slaves who do not have to be coerced because they love their servitude. -- Aldous Huxley, Brave New World

In Huxley's novel `Brave New World`, humanity lives in an apparently `Utopian` carefree, healthy and technologically advanced society `. Art, science and religion along with any vestiges of individuality and human emotion have all been corrupted and or erased in order to construct this Utopia. Warfare and poverty have been eliminated and everybody is permanently happy due to government conditioning and drugs. Also among the `eliminated` are `family, culture, literature and philosophy. Hedonism rules along with it's `bed partners`, promiscuous sex and drug abuse, in the form of `Soma`. A powerful psychotropic drug, rationed by the government in order to allow citizens escape from painful memories through hallucinatory fantasy. Social stability is maintained via deliberately engineered and strictly enforced social stratification.

Being a foreigner living in Denmark has had it's disadvantages. But the opportunity to observe and even live in such a society has been priceless. It is fair to say that it was my arrival here back in the mid nineties which ruptured my own complacency, and began my journey of discovery. I have written previously at length about my own experiences in Denmark (See Brave New Denmark & Happyland on rense.com) so I will not indulge myself any further here. But what I must point out is that over the past eleven years, I have come to realise that there is something `Very Rotten In The State Of Denmark`.

In the Matrix movie, the Morpheus character says to Neo, "The Matrix is a system Neo, and that system is our enemy. When you are inside it what do you see? The minds of the very people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are part of that system and that makes them our enemies. You have to understand that most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many are so hopelessly dependent on the system, they will fight to defend it".

It is all but impossible to `unplug` Danes from their `Matrix`, because they cannot or will not see that it exists, even when one presents compelling evidence that it does.. This coupled with the fact that they have been indoctrinated from kindergarten into believing that it is the perfect social model, and the only path to a just and happy life. All but a few react with extreme indignation when any failings in this `flawless` Danish state are pointed out, or idiosyncrasies in the Danish character are spotlighted. The very inference that Denmark is a Totalitarian State along the lines of Huxley's novel, which controls and micromanages their lives, causes a reflex `knee jerk` reaction which in it's uniformity of response is startling.

Read the full article at Rense.com

Friday, August 29, 2008

Gruks





NAIVE --
Naive you are
if you believe
life favours those
who aren't naive.

SOCIAL MECHANISM
When people always
try to take
the very smallest
piece of cake
how can it also
always be
that that's the one
that's left for me?

MY FAITH IN DOCTORS
My faith in doctors
is immense.
Just one thing spoils it;
their pretence
of authorised
omniscience.

A MAXIM FOR VIKINGS
Here is a fact
that should help you fight
a bit longer:
Things that don't act-
ually kill you outright
make you stronger.
WHAT LOVE IS LIKE
Love is like
a pineapple,
sweet and
undefinable.

FREEDOM
Freedom means
you're free to do
just whatever
pleases you;
- if, of course
that is to say,
what you please
is what you may.

PROBLEMS
Problems worthy
of attack
prove their worth
by hitting back.

ARS BREVIS
There is
one art,
no more,
no less:
to do
all things
with art-
lessness.

Monday, August 25, 2008

Implosion in Denmark

The ancient Viking city of Roskilde is renowned for its picturesque views, music festivals and a cathedral where a handful of Danish kings and queens are buried. But now there's a small footnote to add to the tourist books: it is the site of Denmark's second bank failure.

The Danish central bank and several other private lenders announced Monday that they were paying 41.8 billion kroner ($8.3 billion) to take over Roskilde-based Roskilde Bank and effectively nationalize it. Now some 33,000 individual investors in Denmark have lost their money. (The bank's institutional investors already bailed a long time ago.) The Danish central bank governor said overnight that shareholders had lost 1.0 billion kroner ($198.2 million), and hybrid loan holders had lost 2.5 billion kroner ($495.9 million).

Roskilde will receive 4.5 billion kroner ($890.0 million) in cash from the central bank for its capital base, while the central bank and its buyers will also assume 37.3 billion kroner ($7.4 billion) of Roskilde's debts.

Roskilde is the second Danish bank to sell itself because of the credit crisis. Earlier this year, Trelleborg Bank was folded into larger rival Sydbank. Roskilde had also tried selling itself after receiving a 750 million Danish kroner ($149.5 million) cash injection from the central bank in July, but no buyer came forward.

"Danmarks Nationalbank sees the Roskilde Bank situation as very serious. It is expected that the takeover of Roskilde Bank will contribute to limiting the negative effect on the Danish financial system," the Danish central bank said in a press release on Monday [Aug. 25th, 2008]. Roskilde also revealed Monday that it was now expecting to post a loss of 1 billion kroner ($198.1 million) for the first half of the year, almost double the loss it had forecast last July. [...]

The question now is who might be next. Last Friday, Carsten Andersen, the chief executive of Sydbank, said he would not be surprised if one or two other Danish banks ran into similar troubles as Roskilde Bank in the next 12 to 18 months. Two banks that currently look to be at risk because of their rapid growth rates in the past two years and heavy lending to the property sector are small-cap lenders Max Bank and Sparekassen (or savings bank) Lolland.

Source: Forbes.com

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Danish depression

With this much wit, irony, good food, and drink it is difficult to imagine how Danes can suffer from depressions. But for some reason Danes will tell you that many people are lonely and depressed. The Indian anthropologist Prakash Reddy, who studied life in Denmark, also noted the Danish loneliness and said that:
In Denmark only thief's and the Jehovah's witnesses knock on people's doors without an appointment.

Maybe as result of no spontaneous visits Denmark has one of the world's highest suicide rates. Some Danes have described the suicides and depressions with the harsh and dark winters. But if this theory were to be correct there would be absolutely no people living in places like Norway, Sweden, or Finland.

According to Naipaul, Danes are depressed because they cannot get rich, and maybe that is why they always complain about the high taxes -which in fact are the highest in the world-, and the high price level. Personally, I secretly think that Danes enjoy their complaining. In fact, complaining is almost like a national hobby. Danes complain about the weather, which admittedly is a little sad at times. And at one point a delegate was actually elected to the Danish parliament because he promised better weather.

Danes also complain about the Danish welfare system, which is among the best in the world. But most importantly Danes complain about "the Law of Jante". "The Law of Jante" was written by the Danish/Norwegian author Axel Sandemose, and consists of 10 laws, and starts with: "You shall not believe that you are somebody". The "Law of Jante" describes the Danish obsession with not sticking out in a crowd and the social restrictions on people who somehow make themselves noted.

The only thing Danes actually never seem to complain about is their very popular Queen Margrethe, who reins the world's oldest monarchy. The queen is known for her nice personality and her artistic skills. And she has, among other things, illustrated Tolkien's famous book "The Lord of the Rings". Even though Danes hardly ever complain about their Queen, they do complain about her husband. -Maybe because he is from France and a foreigner…

iPhone 3G in Denmark

Telia of Denmark introduce a one-size-fits-all iPhone 3G plan for its customers that will cost $128 (DKK 599) per month for the first six months and include 300 minutes, unlimited SMS messages, unlimited calls to other Telia subscribers, and 300MB of data. Apple's 8GB iPhone 3G is priced at $298 (DKK 1399) with this single-choice plan, while the 16GB model is priced at $426 (DKK 1999).

After six months, subscribers can cancel their contracts, making the minimum buy-in cost for the first six months $1064 (DKK 4993) for the 8GB iPhone and $1193 (DKK 5593) for the 16GB model.

Subscribers who wish to keep their service after the first six months will see their monthly fee reduced from $128 (DKK 599) to $85 (DKK 399).

iPhone 3G Plans

Danes active in terrorism abroad

Many people who are either Danish citizens or have legal residency in Denmark are involved in terror-related activities abroad and will be more closely monitored, according to intelligence agency PET.

In its 2007 annual report, the agency stated that the number of such cases is increasing and called the development 'disturbing'.

PET mentions Iraq, Somalia, Yemen and Lebanon as countries Danish residents are often using to conduct terror-related activities. The involvement can be direct or indirect, such as financial assistance or the passing on of information, according to the agency.

The report points to the three recent terror trials in Denmark - the Vollsmose, Glasvej and Glostrup cases - as evidence that foreign-based terror groups have contacts inside Denmark. In addition, the report warned of independent terror networks existing within Denmark itself.

PET also indicated that Denmark's participation in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has put more focus on the country as a target for terror organisations.

Jakob Scharf, head of PET, said creating a dialogue with the more radical groups – which tend to be of Muslim background – was a part of prevention efforts, even if the dialogue was based on disagreement. He said the UK's tactic of finding contacts that have influence over young people was of vital importance.

In addition to addressing terrorism, the report also showed that organised crime was increasing in Denmark, primarily in connection with narcotics.

Source: The Copenhagen Post

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Danish Royalty at Olympic Games

Denmark’s Crown Princess Mary and Crown Prince Frederik attend the Group B men’s basketball game between China and the U.S. at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games August 10, 2008. From here: Best of Everything

Wednesday's Question: What language do they use in their conversation? English or Danish? I bet it is English language...

Red Bull banned in Denmark

Just one can of Red Bull could raise the risk of heart attack or stroke, even in young people, researchers have warned.
A study of university students found drinking one 250ml can of the sugar-free version of the energy drink that 'gives you wings' increased the 'stickiness' of the blood and raised the risk of life-threatening clots.

Dr Willoughby, of the Cardiovascular Research Centre at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, said he was 'alarmed' at the results and would not drink Red Bull himself.

Those with underlying heart or circulatory problems should think twice before buying the caffeine-loaded drink, he said.

The results, reported in the Australian newspaper, also shocked the students taking part, some of whom drank up to eight cans a night to help them stay awake to study. Many now refuse to drink Red Bull again.

Red Bull is banned in Norway, Uruguay and Denmark because of health fears, but the company last year sold 3.5 billion cans and bottles in 143 countries.

In Britain alone, it has sales of £271 million a year, with much of the cash spent in bars and clubs were it is a popular mixer with vodka and other spirits.

Previous studies have warned the stimulant effect of Red Bull can mask some of the tell-tale signs of drunkenness - putting revellers at risk of injury and attack because they do not realise how intoxicated they are.

More: Daily Mail

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

The New Totalitarians

This is Roland Huntford's shocking book The New Totalitarians (1971) which exposes Swedish society as a "peaceful utopia" totally controlled by a bureaucracy which actively discourages all signs of individuality and dissent while indoctrinating the youth to simply accept the technocrat's rule and obey the authorities without exception. This nordic country hasn't been involved in war since Napoleonic times, it managed to stay out of both world wars, was neutral during the cold war and has never experienced invasion or occupation in modern history. Thus it was easier to establish the Fascist model of the corporate state in Sweden than in Mussolini’s Italy for cultural and historic reasons, since Sweden had a centralized bureaucracy even before Marxism whereas Italians are skeptical of state authority. Put simply: Swedes have tended to trust their bureaucrats, which no Italian (or any other) in his right mind would ever do. The author also notes that socialist professor Gunnar Myrdal and his wife Alva, both highly influential ideologists in developing the Swedish welfare state, had intimate connections with the German academic world during the Nazi age. They promoted the idea of positive eugenics and forced sterilization programs against those with “weak genes.” Sweden was also among the first to sterilize the mentally ill, beginning in 1934 and is still using its mental hospitals in order to combat their alleged detractors as any rebellion against the authority is considered as insane. The newspaper Dagens Nyheter later contended that the ruling party at the time – the Social Democrats – "accepted the policy as an essential part of their overall philosophy." This close ideological connection between Socialists and Fascists might surprise those who have been brought up to believe that these ideologies are polar opposites. But in fact, they have more in common with each other than either have with classical liberalism, above all the tendency to reduce the individual to an organic part of the state. Many have lived under Communist dictatorship and know very well how easy it is to control people, but it seems nobody is so successful as the Swedish government. When it comes to brainwashing the whole society Swedes might be at the very top as the most docile people on the planet, exceeding even traditional religiously controlled people. The author had lived in Sweden for a few years and in The New Totalitarians he has done a wonderful analysis of the whole Swedish society. Closing with the chapter called Brave New Sweden it vividly portrays how socialism has managed to establish almost perfect control over the individual, erasing the public memory of any dissenters and using all possible means to pretend that the whole society lives in an utopia and that there is simply no need to change. 350 pages. A must read for everyone.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Venter på far

Princess leads Denmark to first Olympic medal

Princess Nathalie zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, daughter of Princess Benedikte of Denmark who is a sister of the ruling Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, today secured Denmark’s first medal at the Olympic Games in Beijing - and Denmark’s first ever team medal in dressage in Hong Kong.

After performing the best ride of all the Danish team members, Princess Nathalie and her horse Digby, a horse which she and her family has breeded and trained themselves, secured an individual score of 70,417%. With the USA team right in their heels, the bronze medal was not secured until the very last Danish and American riders had performed their programs.

Coming behind equestrian superpowers Germany (gold with 72,917%) and the Netherlands (silver with 71,750%) with equestrian super stars Isabell Weth and Anky van Grunsven on their teams, Nathalie and the three other Danish riders were all smiles as relief and happiness showered over them as the team score of 68,875% was enough to snap the bronze medal from the USA who ended with 67,819%.

More: Toute Royale

Learn Norwegian in an hour

Norwegian (here I'm talking about bokmål, the most often-used variety of Norwegian) is a language spoken by about 5 million people in Norway, and is extremely similar to the languages Swedish and Danish. Its written form is more similar to Danish, but in pronunciation it's more similar to Swedish than Danish. From the Norwegian I've studied as well I have an easier time reading Danish but can't understand it at all, and Swedish is easier to listen to. The three languages are so similar that they are often regarded as a dialect continuum, that is, if there happened to be a single country in place of the three we have today there would probably only exist regional dialects, not thought of as languages. The total population of these languages is about 20 million. Swedish is also an official language in Finland, though certainly not used by the majority.

Lastly, Icelandic is also related to these three, but far more distantly, and it has a much more complex grammar, being more conservative in that it has maintained much the same form over the past nine centuries or so. That's why Icelandic people can still read the old Norse sagas. See the page linguistic purism in Iceland for more information on how this works. Luckily Norwegian does help in understanding Icelandic, certainly more than other languages you could choose to learn (except Faroese, but that's only spoken by 70,000 or so), so Norwegian is a good language to start from if you have a personal interest in them.

Read in detail at Page F30

Fewer Danes migrate to Sweden

The number of people moving from Denmark to Skåne in southern Sweden has more than halved over the last year, according to new figures from Statistics Sweden.
The first half of 2008 saw a net migration figure of 556 people making the move across the Öresund Bridge, compared to 1,209 people for the same period last year.
Malmö, the largest city in Skåne, has also noticed a change with 325 people making the move from January to June this year compared to 301 for the same period in 2007.
The head of the Öresund Institue, Anders Olshov, noted that there was a clear correlation between migration flows and price trends on the real estate markets in the respective countries.
While prices have fallen on both sides of the Sound, the drop has been considerably more precipitous on the Danish side.
But the difference in housing prices between the two countries is still of such a magnitude that a move to Sweden could be financially advantageous for Danes considering a change of scenery.
Net migration from Denmark to the Skåne region has reached a total of 14,185 people since the Öresund Bridge opened in 2000.
The flow of migrants reached its peak in 2006 when 2,972 people deserted Denmark for Swedish shores.

Source: The Local

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

"Antichrist" by Lars von Trier

Danish director Lars Von Trier has been talking up his psychological thriller/horror film Antichrist since two years ago, at one point claiming to be too depressed to get it off the ground. But good news for those who've been curious to see what Von Trier would do with a genre film: Antichrist begins shooting this month, with Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg in the lead roles. As previously announced, they play a couple who retreat to a cabin in the woods after losing a child, and run into some "terrifying occurrences." Von Trier co-wrote the screenplay with Anders Thomas Jensen, a remarkably prolific Danish screenwriter who's had a hand in some of the most prominent films to come out of that country, including Brothers and The King is Alive. He also co-wrote the forthcoming The Duchess, starring Keira Knightley.

Source: Cinematical

Danish recession warns of tough times

It is hard not to notice the many cars with Swedish number plates driving around Copenhagen.

The Danish capital is connected to Malmo, the Swedish port, by a 16 kilometre bridge-tunnel link, making it easy for Swedes to commute here for work.

And many do.

Denmark may have registered two consecutive quarters of falling economic output - technically putting the country in recession - but there is no shortage of jobs.

"The Dane on the street does not feel this recession severely yet due to the fact that we have a very tight labour market and unemployment is still at a 30-year low," says Jes Asmussen, chief economist at Handelsbanken Capital Markets in Copenhagen.

Costly food

But Mr Asmussen believes Danes are going to feel this recession bite a lot more in the coming year.

The country's low unemployment rate of just 1.8% - compared with a eurozone average of 7.2% - is both a blessing and a curse.

Labour shortages mean firms have long struggled to find personnel. Consequently, labour productivity fell during the last three months of 2007, contributing to a revised 0.2% decline in economic output in that quarter.

Moreover, employers are having to compete on wages to attract good candidates.

Higher wages have added to inflation and pushed up interest rates at a time when Danes are feeling the pinch of rising world food and petrol prices.

"Groceries, vegetables, meat, everything has gone up," says Isabelle Zumot, who lives her partner Martin Camara and two young daughters in north Copenhagen.

"My friends all talk about how food prices are rising."

Falling property prices

As is the case across Europe, rising food prices are stretching the budgets of many Danish households, and this may explain why the average Dane has started to rein in spending, a factor that contributed to a fall in economic output of 0.6% in the first three months of 2008.

Read more at BBC

Mad Cow Rules Hit Sperm Banks' Patrons

When Julie Peterson decided to have a baby on her own two years ago, she picked a tall, blond, blue-eyed Danish engineer as a sperm donor to match her own Scandinavian heritage. But when she went back to the sperm bank to use the same donor to have another child, she was stunned to discover that the federal government had made it impossible.

"I just cried," said Peterson, 43, who lives in North Carolina. "I was in complete shock. I hadn't thought about anything but having another baby with this donor. It was just so surprising and bewildering." [...]

Now, as the remaining vials of Nordic semen frozen in U.S. sperm banks are running out, a small but desperate number of would-be parents are frantic. Peterson has flown repeatedly to Denmark, and went again this week, to try to get pregnant with sperm from the same donor. Others are going to Canada or Mexico, or haggling with other American women who have leftover vials. [...]

"The demand was huge," said Peter Bower of Nordic Cryobank of Copenhagen, which had supplied California Cryobank. "In addition to being tall and well educated, their motivations for donation are quite sincere -- they want to help childless couples. They tended to sell out very fast."

With California Cryobank's and Cryos's supplies virtually depleted, Nordic Cryobank filed a petition in June asking the Food and Drug Administration to lift the restrictions. [...]

"I'm Swedish-Norwegian and really wanted to have a gene pool that was similar to my own," Peterson said. "I wanted a baby that looked like me and wanted to share my heritage with my baby. Now I have a beautiful Viking baby, which is what I wanted. I was hoping to give her a full sibling."

After Peterson found out she could not get more sperm from the same donor from Cryos, she flew twice to Copenhagen to be inseminated with sperm from the donor. She did not get pregnant on the first try, and a pregnancy from the second one ended in miscarriage. Peterson, a chiropractor, thinks this week's attempt will be her last.

"It's a huge commitment both financially and with my time. I have to close my practice and go to a totally different country. But I'm committed to having my daughter have the same father if I can. But I don't know how many times I can do this if a baby doesn't come with this one."

Read the full article at The Washington Post

Monday, August 11, 2008

Organic produce is no better for you than food grown with pesticides

Organic produce contains no more nutrients than food grown using pesticides and chemicals, researchers say.

It can cost up to a third more, but is merely a 'lifestyle choice' for consumers, the study found.

Dr Susanne Bügel and the University of Copenhagen team found no clear evidence of any difference in the vitamin and mineral content of crops grown organically and those using legally permitted levels of fertilisers and pesticides.

The study, supported by the Danish Research Centre for Organic Farming, looked at crops of carrots, kale, mature peas, apples and potatoes – staple ingredients that can be found in most families’ shopping baskets.

The first cultivation method consisted of growing the vegetables on soil which had a low input of nutrients using animal manure and no pesticides except for one organically approved product on kale only.

The second method involved applying a low input of nutrients using animal manure, combined with use of pesticides, as much as allowed by regulation.

Finally, the third method comprised a combination of a high input of nutrients through mineral fertilisers and pesticides as legally allowed.

The crops were grown on the same or similar soil on adjacent fields at the same time and so experienced the same weather conditions.

All were harvested and treated at the same time.

Read more at Daily Mail

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Danes see strict immigration laws under threat by EU

Nothing in Denmark is as popular politically as the strict policy on foreigners to which the prime minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, adheres. And so the recent ruling by the European Court of Justice affirming the right of family reunification within the European Union went down in Copenhagen like a bombshell. Rasmussen and a huge majority in the Danish parliament, together with leading media, plan to defend Denmark's immigration laws with all the means at their disposal.
"We'll make sure that you can't get around our rules on family reunification by going through back doors," Rasmussen told the Politiken newspaper this week.
According to the ruling by the Luxembourg-based court, the EU's highest legal body, EU members may not refuse entry or right of residence to non-EU spouses and family members. This means a Danish citizen, having worked in another EU country, could bring his or her spouse back to Denmark even if the spouse is a failed asylum seeker or previously resided illegally in the EU.
Under current Danish law, a Dane may not bring a non-EU spouse into the country unless both partners are at least 24 years of age. Other strict conditions must be met too. For example, the Dane must lodge a bond, and the pair must show they have a permanent home and that their ties to Denmark are stronger than to any other country.

Read more: The Earth Times

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Danish immigration rules challenged by EU ruling

Denmark seems set for a heated debate over its immigration rules and obligations as a member of the European Union, after a recent EU ruling on free movement of people in the 27-nation bloc.
The ramifications of the ruling by the European Court of Justice, based on a case from Ireland, continued Wednesday to echo in Denmark.
Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen was quoted by the Politiken newspaper as saying that there was a need to clarify that Danish citizens 'have the same rights as all other EU citizens' and that he would consult with other EU countries that also oppose the ruling.
'I have a political responsibility to ensure that a firm and fair policy on immigration is upheld,' the premier said.
Rasmussen has headed a minority government consisting of his Liberal Party and junior partner, the Conservatives, since 2001.
The government has relied on support from the Danish People's Party that has strongly influenced tighter immigration policies.
'It has to be stated that Denmark determines its immigration policies,' Pia Kjaersgaard, leader of the EU sceptical Danish People's Party, told the Jyllands-Posten newspaper.
One controversial principle includes that Danish citizens are not allowed to bring a foreign spouse into the country unless both partners were aged 24 or more.
The Luxembourg-based court ruling July 25 said that anyone with legal residence in the EU should be able to live in any member state with their spouse and children, suggesting that the Danish principle may come under question.
The Danish People's Party has now signalled it wants a say over EU matters, indicating a tougher ride for Rasmussen.
The premier has so far sought deals on EU issues - most recently on the Lisbon Treaty - with the opposition Social Democrats, Social Liberals and Socialist People's Party.
In a separate development, Kjaersgaard, 61, was Wednesday taken to hospital after she complained that she felt unwell.

Source: m&c

Sunday, August 03, 2008

Nazi bunkers surface in Denmark

With a tight grip on his flashlight, Tommy Cassoe looks like a Danish Indiana Jones as he crawls out of a bunker buried under the sand, one of 7,000 the Nazis built along Denmark's western shores to fend off an allied invasion.

"Mission accomplished. The bunker is empty," Cassoe exclaims, showing off his bounty on the Krylen beach to a crowd of onlookers: rusty cans, a plastic vial containing medicine in case of a mustard gas attack, and electrical cables.

Four bunkers entombed under the sand dunes of Houvig since 1945, were uncovered a few months ago in a violent storm, when giant waves swept away the sand, exposing glimpses of the cement and iron structures.

The discovery was "a sensation" for history buffs like Cassoe and archaeologists.

"What's so fantastic is that we found them completely furnished with beds, chairs, tables, communication systems and the personal effects of the soldiers who lived inside," says Jens Andersen, the curator of the Hanstholm museum that specialises in Nazi fortifications.

The Nazis built some 8,000 bunkers in Denmark, 7,000 of them on the western coast. They were "emptied by the Danes of their contents after World War II to salvage the scrap iron and electrical devices that were needed."

The discovery in May of the four fully-furnished bunkers, untouched after 63 years under the sand, is considered "unique in Europe," according to Bent Anthonisen, a Danish expert on European bunkers.

More: Yahoo News

Friday, August 01, 2008

Danish immigration law under fire

A recent EU court immigration ruling is causing headaches for the Danish centre-right government and may deliver a blow to the country's immigration policies, which are amongst the most restrictive in Europe.

The European Union's highest court ruled last Friday (25 July) in a case of four couples living in Ireland that spouses of EU citizens who are not themselves EU citizens can not be prevented from living in the Republic.

Previously, under Irish law, a spouse from outside the European Union must have lived in another member state first in order to win residency rights. However the court ruled that this is in breach of EU law on the free movement of citizens.

Inspired by the new EU ruling, a number of couples turned up on Monday (28 July) at the Danish Ministry for Integration in Copenhagen demanding a review of the ministry's rejection of their applications to settle as couples in Denmark.

Having been denied residence in Denmark, many such couples settle in the city of Malmo in Sweden, about half an hour's drive from Copenhagen, as Sweden has less restrictive immigration laws.

The Danish parliament's ombudsman earlier in the summer announced an investigation into whether the Danish Immigration Service had misinformed individuals inquiring about regulations on the settling of foreign spouses in Denmark.

Danish newspapers are further reporting that a Danish common knowledge test for immigrants may also not be in line with EU rules.

In reaction, the Danish minister in charge of immigration, Birthe Ronn Hornbech, has now announced a review of the entire system of immigration in the country.

More: EUobserver