The Libyan Supreme Court’s upholding Wednesday of death sentences for six foreign medics accused of deliberately infecting Libyan children with HIV has caused dismay among European Union officials. Justice and security commissioner Franco Frattini described the ruling as “unacceptable.”
This is murder, pure and simple and the EU knows it.
Evidence proved the HIV these children had is a strain which was present in Libya before the nurses’ arrival in that benighted country. And though the story doesn't mention the blood money price for freeing them, obviously no one could or would come up with the ten million dollars per child which Gaddafi set as the price of freedom.
Lest anyone doubt, though, how civilized and peaceful they are, the EU Justice Commissioner wants us to know how upset he is:
- - - - - - - - - -
“My reaction is wholly negative. I believe the death penalty is unacceptable in any circumstances, but in this specific case I hope that the decision would go differently,” Frattini added.
Meanwhile, EU parliament president Hans-Gert Poettering had his part to play, saying he was —
…greatly disturbed by the ruling. “This news, which is distressing for everybody, especially of course for the nurses and the doctor, but in particular for their friends and relatives…I would like to send them our solidarity and support at this difficult moment…
[…]
We reiterate our fundamental opposition to the death penalty, which is against human dignity…
Their friends and relative are “in particular” more distressed than those facing execution? What planet does this man live on?
I’m sure Gaddafi will take their “fundamental opposition to the death penalty” into consideration. However, what would move him even more is a landing of troops on the shores of Tripoli.
Oh. I forgot. The EU doesn’t believe in force, either. Instead, the Empire of Eunuchs United will probably send official observers to the execution, ones who are specifically trained in professional hand-wringing.
In the EU, there is nothing worth dying for.
11 comments:
Not that the EU or Bulgaria would approve, but maybe it's time to renew Qhaddafi's belief in Allah with a few thousand pounds of well placed explosives.
Tom
I don't think that's quite fair Baron. More like the Eunuchs have no desire to fight for anything because it's profoundly threatening. They'd rather surrender and remain diminished little chiefs than be force to share power.
By having a Military.
Having a Military means ceding some power to ordinary men who are asked to fight, kill, and sometimes die. Or receive horrific wounds. These persons are usually average folk for whom the upward mobility of the military is attractive.
Europe could afford a military. It has the people for it. It could swat Libya like a fly if it chose.
But it would rather let the Bulgarian Nurses be murdered than share power of the connected and well-born.
Prediction: Bulgaria and other nations will see this and break away. Eunuchs may think they have an Empire, but without storm troopers nationalists can break away.
Once upon a time, Libya suffered at the wrong end of a bombing in return for terrorism at a disco. High time for that to happen again, but the EU, must less the Bulgarians, do not have the stones for it.
"In the EU, there is nothing worth dying for"
I once questioned a Eurocrat on this, she specifically told me she didn't believe in dying for anything, certainly not the EU. My point to her was that people willing to suffer harm for their beliefs will always prevail against a society where no one is willing to suffer harm for their beliefs.
The EU is reliant on vestigial military and (especially) police who still believe in courage and self-sacrifice; but this is not sustainable for long.
My sense is that if the medical personel were French or German there would, at the very least, be serious talk of trade embargoes, etc.
Bulgaria, on the other hand, is in the hindquarters of the EU and, as such, the weight of their 'human rights' is not sufficient for more than a weak protest.
If the nurses were American, Qhaddafi probably would have a religious experience like the one Ronald Reagan gave him in 1986. On the other hand, travelling to countries ruled by Muslim wackos to do good is not an intelligent survival strategy. One could view this situation as an example of natural selection in action.
In a certain sens these nurses have what they desserve. What in a hell have they to go to islamic countries? Don't have they usefull work to do at home? I think there will be. Just one thing to do: return home all foreign doctors and nurses they don't need our help for nothing. I hope future volunteers will learn the lesson. The last thig that people need is our help. We ought to help ourselves.
gingo_malo and geraldo:
These nurses and the Palestinian doctor were not out there "doing good" -- unless you define having work and being able to support yourself and perhaps send money home to your family as "doing good."
Bulgaria is one of the poorest economies in Central and Eastern Europe. Unfortunately, Britain has banned them from working there, as have the Netherlands and Germany.
So they went where they could find work: the Middle East.
No, Geraldo they do *not* have useful work to do at home, and most of Western Europe is closed to them.
As for the Palestinian doctor, where precisely is he going to go?
These professionals were not ever volunteers. They went where they could find work. Obviously, there won't be any more following them.
I rec'd a letter from a Central European doctor who had to leave his native country to find work. He is afraid for his safety where he is now, but doesn't feel he has a choice.
Do a little reading on the rough transition these former Communist countries are having in converting to the market-driven model. It's very wrenching and there is not much opportunity now at home.
Poor Bulgarians. They don't deserve your ill-informed contempt.
D,
Living in America, where the government taxes the bejesus out of the rest of us to provide full employment at high rates of pay for medical professionals, I find it difficult to imagine that medicos are forced to accept employment in third world cesspools. That's why I assumed that they were on some sort of charitable mission. I regret my error.
Of course, working in a country where no one's ever heard the phrase "rule of law" is still a bad idea, even if it's the only employment one can find. Unjust punishment is just part of the risk.
gimgo_malo--
And being born in a country where there is no chance for work is part of the risk of breathing in and out, isn't it.
Would you shrug and say to someone whose child had been killed in a bus accident on the way to school, "well, that's just part of the risk of living in a country where so many people die on the road"??
A measure of compassion is in order, sir.
Sorry.
I didnt know that.
It looks like the boyscouts refusal in Sweden.
we reject ours and accept "others".
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