On the advantages of un-diplomacy

The windmills of the international diplomacy are turning slowly, as usual, and the slow Scandinavian punch is followed by equally slow Israeli counter-punch (Netanyahu accuses Sweden of trying to reach out to Hamas). Meanwhile Donald Bostrom, the frisky fellow who ignited the scandal in the first place, is collecting the somewhat poor fruit of his labor in the fields of blood libel (measly $5000 from the National Federation of Algerian Journalists - does it pay for his flight and accommodation?), being protected from criticism by his Foreign Minister, who is a whale for the freedom of speech. Unless, of course, the freedom of speech is offensive to 1.3 billion Muslims, which is a totally different matter, you would agree...

Anyhow, while the diplomacy goes on its unhurried and seemingly purposeless way in the mahogany-covered offices with the cigars and cognac snifters (a borrowed image from... doesn't matter), the ordinary folks of Latma TV decided to produce something that will swiftly piss off the Swedish (Scandinavian) collective consciousness, rolled up their sleeves and hey presto:



It appears that as a piss-taking exercise the clip became an instant success in Scandinavia, where thousands of viewers were followed by hundreds of indignant commenters - in all languages. Quite funny and educational at the same time.

So, what is the lesson of that story? Sometimes, it appears, a swift grass roots slap in the face reaches the desired goal much quicker than a slow and ponderous diplomatic demarche that hasn't any chance to start with.

Good.

And thanks to Solomon and Elder of Ziyon for bringing the story up.