Happy birthday, America (De andere kijk)

Dear America, I want to apologize for my countrymen who make a fool of themselves when expressing their hatred for the great nation that you are.

One of them, Jean Vanempten, the chief of the foreign desk of the Flemish newspaper De Tijd, really hit the jackpot last weekend.

First of all, he laid out the many similarities between president Bush and the president-elect of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He got those from Juan Cole, an American professor. That guy rang a bell with me, so I did some research and came up with this, this and this. That guy is completely nuts! Just read what Chrenkoff has to say about similar comparisons.

To top it all, Vanempten mentioned a story that could explain why US foreign secretary Condi Rice hates Iran so much. Maybe, he said, it could have something to do with an Iranian boyfriend who dumped her during her college time. As if the nature of the Iranian regime would not suffice.

I really don't understand why a serious newspaper like De Tijd allows him to make such a mess of their international pages.