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| Southeast Asia |
| Norwegians - ’salmon-eating busybodies’ |
| 2003-06-02 |
| Southeast Asia is as close as I can place Sri Lanka. EFL The party of Sri Lanka's President Chandrika Kumaratunga has branded peace broker Norway a "nation of salmon-eaters" who have become "international busybodies". The attack came after Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik reportedly said he hoped some politicians could be more flexible in dealing with Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels. A leading aide of President Kumaratunga, Samaraweera, said Mr Bondevik had "not shown any sensitivity to the feelings of Sri Lankans". "Of course we can't expect anything better from a nation of salmon-eaters who turned into international busybodies," Mr Samaraweera said. Them's fighting words! He said Ms Kumaratunga's Sri Lanka Freedom Party would lodge a formal protest with the Norwegian king "in a day or two". Mr Samaraweera said the Sri Lankan Government should reconsider Norway's role in the peace process. Mr Bondevik was asked on a trip to Japan this week whether the cohabitation government in Sri Lanka should be more flexible in dealing with Tamil Tiger rebels and said. "I hope so, yes." "It is the government that is leading the negotiating process... so I hope they will move forward," he said. It was Ms Kumaratunga who first asked Norway to help bring the Tamil Tigers to the negotiating table. However, she lost elections in December 2001 to Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe and has since been seen by many as swimming upstream against the peace process. She has often sniped at Norwegian officials. They have always replied that they are happy to help, but are not mediators, merely facilitators doing what they are asked by the Sri Lankan Government. Norwegian diplomats say the country's involvement in peace negotiations is an effective form of diplomacy which promotes its image abroad. Last week, Ms Kumaratunga said Norway had exceeded its brief and turned from a facilitator to an arbitrator. Another Kumaratunga loyalist and spokesman for the opposition People's Alliance, Sarath Amunugama, also objected to Mr Bondevik's words. "He is not the imperial master of Sri Lanka," Mr Amunugama said. Note to Norway, here's your chance to back out gracefully. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #6 "loopy scots git" is Scots for "original gangsta." Word, laddy. |
| Posted by: FormerLiberal 2003-06-02 12:24:05 |
| #5 Well, I'd jump on the bandwagon, but I'm not really sure what "loopy scots git" actually MEANS... |
| Posted by: mojo 2003-06-02 12:05:14 |
| #4 Hey! In the interests of diversity and the true spirit of multiculturalism I demand that this thread redress the bigoted and prejudicial exclusion of the Scots from discussions about international affairs by including the phrase "sheep-fucking haggis-munchers," thereby allowing my dress-wearing ancestry inclusion in the important debate about how best to insult the national/cultural identity of a bunch of cod-twinking vikings, or, as you know them, salmon-eating busybodies! |
| Posted by: FormerLiberal 2003-06-02 10:42:37 |
| #3 Excellent, my International Thesaurus grows apace: "cheese-eating surrender monkeys" "salmon-eating busybodies" What should we add next, "sausage-munching Ordnung twats" ? |
| Posted by: Carl in NH 2003-06-02 10:00:25 |
| #2 Edited For Length |
| Posted by: Steve 2003-06-02 08:53:06 |
| #1 Someone help out the newbies. What's EFL ? |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-06-02 08:48:06 |