This violent intimidation and other pressure will likely work. Watch for Sweden to abandon the freedom of expression and ban the burning of the Qur’an in the near future. This will only encourage more violent intimidation, but no one anywhere in the world seems to realize that, or care.
“Iraq tells Sweden it will cut ties if Quran burned again,” Reuters, July 20, 2023:
Iraq told Sweden it would sever diplomatic ties if a Quran is burned again, after hundreds of people stormed the Swedish embassy in Baghdad and set it alight in a protest against plans for one to be burned in Stockholm later on Thursday.
Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said embassy staff were safe but that Iraqi authorities had failed in their responsibility to protect the embassy in accordance with the Vienna Convention.
The Iraqi government strongly condemned the burning of the Swedish embassy, according to a statement from the office of Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani which declared it a security breach and vowed to protect diplomatic missions.
But Baghdad had also “informed the Swedish government… that any recurrence of the incident involving the burning of the Holy Qur’an on Swedish soil would necessitate severing diplomatic relations”, the statement said.
Billstrom said what happened was “completely unacceptable and the government strongly condemns these attacks”. He added: “The government is in contact with high-level Iraqi representatives to express our dismay.”
Thursday’s demonstration was called by supporters of Shi’ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to protest against the second planned Quran burning in Sweden in weeks, according to posts in a popular Telegram group linked to the influential cleric and other pro-Sadr media.
Sadr, one of Iraq’s most powerful figures, commands hundreds of thousands of followers, whom he has at times called to the streets, including last summer when they occupied Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone and engaged in deadly clashes.
Sadr said in a tweet on Thursday that the Iraqi government should not resort only to condemnation and must take a firm position.
“I will wait for the firm official response before any action of my own”, Sadr tweeted.
Finnish news agency STT reported that the Finnish embassy, which is in part of the same enclosure as the Swedish, had also been evacuated but that staff were safe and unhurt….
The Swedish government said this month it is considering changing the law to allow police to stop people from setting the Quran on fire in public if they endangered Sweden’s security.
A series of videos posted to the Telegram group, One Baghdad, showed people gathering around the Swedish embassy around 1:00 am on Thursday (2200 GMT on Wednesday) chanting pro-Sadr slogans and storming the embassy complex around an hour later.
“Yes, yes to the Quran,” protesters chanted.
Videos later showed smoke rising from a building in the embassy complex and protesters standing on its roof….
Titty says
Sweden shouod cut ties with Iraq. And Sweden should shut down its embassy in Iraq. And Sweden shouod kick out all Iraqi diplomats and shut down the Iraqi embassy in Sweden.
Tit for tat folks.
Hugh Fitzgerald says
Sweden is considering banning the burning of the Qur’an “if it endangers Swedish security.” Relying on that rationale, the government could not ban burning of the Bible or the Torah, because Christians and Jews are not about to protest by becoming murderously violent. What is contemplated is not a Heckler’s Veto, but a Murdering Mob’s Veto.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Sweden should be the one cutting diplomatic ties, not Iraq! I just hope this Swedish Democratic govt stands strong, & pulls out all diplomatic personnel
notoislam says
one WOULD ASSUME THAT THE USA WOULD kick out any and all who made 9/11
happen – Why isn’t that important????
Anything connected to Islam is corrupt and criminal that is a given because they make crime daily and shove the lies of Islam in our faces as if it is the truth.
Michael Copeland says
The Book of Kill Them.
Bruce D Watt says
Sweden should allow NO MORE KORANS in the country and return all found un attended to Iraq and any found should be locked up until removed as it is a danger to civil society.
abu taleb says
Sweden should also kick out all muslim migrants from the middle east, north Africa, and South Asia, as those countries are the main source of the jihadists.
PMK says
Rather than ban koran burning, Sweden should”
1. Cut diplomatic relations with Iraq.
2. Expel all Iraqis, both diplomats and civilians, from the country
3. Let the EU countries like Germany know that Iraqis are not welcome in Sweden.
4. Call the storming of the embassy what it is: an act of war. The embassy is not part of the host country. It’s sovereign Swedish territory, according to international law.
Watto35 says
The Swedes will not do what they should. They will ban Koran burning as a means of ensuring the safety of their citizens, despite the fact that the safety of their citizens even inside Sweden is now compromised. There will be more violence and rioting. Life in the main cities will become more dangerous.
The result in Sweden and eventually the rest of Europe will be a re-emergence of an extreme right-wing. There has not, so far, been a right-wing in Europe. The so-called right-wing has been just a bunch of children playing. Those who don’t believe this have not looked at history.
somehistory says
Sweden could ask itself: What benefit to us are “diplomatic relations” with iraq? How are we more secure, or how are we in a better position financially, or in obtaining resources by staying on these shaky terms with iraq?
Then, they could answer and make a call to their embassy; telling the staff to pack up and head home.
Fitna says
Oh noes, Sweden will lose the huge honor of having a backwards third world terrorist hellhole country like Iraq being their friend, whatever will they do? I’m sure the Swedes will be on their hands and knees begging Iraqis to forgive them and take them back…actually the Lefties might sadly.
The only thing stopping western nations from burning bridges (along with Qurans) with Islamic nations is simply a knowledge gap. Most westerners are still completely ignorant of Islam so they don’t know that Muslims are the enemy in every sense of the word.
And it’s a joke that Islamic nations think we need them…if not for us, they’d have no idea what oil is good for and it’d still be sitting on the ground while they’d remain stuck in poverty and in the 7th century technologically speaking.
Education on Islam is the only thing that will save the West. It is because Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic had knowledge of Islam/Muslims that they very wisely kept them out of their countries when the EU/UN/OIC plotted their scheme to flood Europe with millions of invaders/jihadists.
If every western/free nation had been properly educated (esp in grade school) about how truly evil Muslims are, then none of the horrible things that happened over the last few decades would’ve occurred.
It’s still not too late to stop Islamification…the Muslim population is only 5-10% so they can be easily contained or removed if needed.
Frankly we should be stringent with all countries…every person should be thoroughly vetted and certain nations (Islamic, African, Communist) should be barred from entry unless they can demonstrate they are trying to escape them.
These dumb Islamofascists think we need them…no mofos, once we get off oil and move onto green energy hydrogen/ammonia/electric/nuclear, etc your commodities will be totally obsolete to us and we’ll leave you behind in the dust. While we do use hydrocarbons for other things, like plastics we have our own sources and don’t need the mideast. Non-Muslims can just trade with each other and we’ll be just fine.
In a way Muslims are digging their own graves and are a greater source of anti-Islamic propaganda than we ever could be, with all their terrorism, gang-rapes, riots, scams and so forth. So I encourage Muslims to kept acting like the uncivilized barbarians that they are-they’ll turn more people against them.
They think westerners don’t see their bad behavior or are already cowed, but non-Muslims as dumb of some of them are, still watch and learn and will get revenge in the ballot box. Ofc if they don’t then they’ll suffer the consequences.
If all it takes to get Muslim countries to cut us off is to burn a few Qurans, that’s a tiny price to pay…for a huge reward. What we need is a handful of people in every country to take one for the team and do the same. Let these jackals cry and scream over their evil book of hate…if that makes them boycott us, they’re doing us a favor.
What would be ideal is if we can get politicians with some balls that will ban this religion and stop/reverse all Islamic immigration….letting Muslims into your country is like poking yourself in the eye with a sharp stick, stupid and unnecessary.
On a somewhat positive note, there are ‘far-right’ groups in France that have been attacking Muslims and turning them over to the police…they’ve been slogans like ‘come out and save your country’ to encourage other French people to join them.
So under the surface a backlash is already forming. The fault lies entirely with politicians but at least they French people are not taking this lying down, they are fighting back. Sadly I’ve heard some have attacked other non-Muslim immigrants, so ofc that shouldn’t be happening, but it is expected since the ruling elites have abdicated their responsibility.
James Lincoln says
Fitna says,
“…once we get off oil and move onto green energy hydrogen/ammonia/electric/nuclear, etc your commodities will be totally obsolete to us and we’ll leave you behind in the dust.”
Yes, but I would put state-of-the-art nuclear power in first place.
Fitna says
Agreed James, I’m also a fan of nuclear…despite the high cost to build plants.
However other sources seem to be dirt cheap like solar/wind and once they have batteries in place, they’ll be able to store all that energy.
Down the road there is also Deep Borehole Geothermal energy.
If we hope to become a multi-planet species, we’ll need lots of power to expand and develop new technologies.
But we can and should phase out oil/coal/gas…use it as a back up if civilization falls.
James Lincoln says
Fitna,
Agree, and thank you for your reply.
In the “very long run”, oil is too valuable a commodity – used for multiple manufacturing purposes – to be used as a primary transportation fuel.
The Western world should have at least started transitioning off of imported oil after the 1973 in 1979 OPEC embargoes.
cornelius says
And how will the Swedes respond? Principle will be sacrificed for expediency. They will outlaw the burning of the Quran.
James Lincoln says
Likely so, cornelius. “Peace” at any price…