The Danish Atlantic Council released a statement announcing the cancellation of its international conference on NATO and transatlantic cooperation after the U.S. Ambassador to Denmark @USAmbDenmark Carla Sands “did not want” the keynote speaker’s participation. Sands is a political appointee, and one of Trump’s top donors. She was confirmed by the U.S. Senate by voice vote in November 2017 (see PN1012).
The invited speaker Stanley Sloan (@srs2_) is a Visiting Scholar in Political Science at Middlebury College and a Nonresident Senior Fellow in the Scowcroft Center of the Atlantic Council of the United States.
Mr. Sloan has now released a brief statement about this debacle and also provided a link to the draft of the address he would have delivered at the event:
The Danish Atlantic Council had invited Stanley R. Sloan to give a keynote address at their conference celebrating NATO’s 70th anniversary on 10 December. The conference was co-sponsored and heavily funded by the US Department of State. Just days before the conference, the US Ambassador to Denmark, Carla Sands, ordered the Council to remove Sloan from the program. The form of censorship by the US government is a dramatic change from past practice, when the US Public Diplomacy program provided a variety of American views to foreign audiences, in many ways demonstrating the strength of American democracy. For those who are interested in what Sloan would have said at the meeting, check out the draft as it stood before the Embassy’s veto: “Crisis in transatlantic relations: what future will we choose?”
US Embassy Denmark has taken to Twitter to defend its role in the cancellation of the event:
In our planning for the Seminar as co-hosts and co-sponsors, the U.S. Embassy and @AtlantDK had jointly agreed on a program of speakers with a wide range of views on the Alliance.
Mr. Stanley Sloan’s proposed last-minute inclusion in the program by @AtlantDK did not follow the same deliberative process of joint decision-making and agreement that we followed when recruiting all other speakers.
The U.S. Embassy will continue to support future programs to strengthen security cooperation and people-to-people ties.
We laughed so hard we fell off our chair! We all know that “deliberative” and “process” have both been left to bleed all over the white carpet. We can see the stains on the official burial; the embassy, unfortunately, thought we could not.
US ambassador bans Trump critic from event. "The US embassy demanded that he be removed as a speaker.” https://t.co/PsyQL57WxQ
— Miriam Elder (@MiriamElder) December 8, 2019
This event would have provided speakers and attendees an important opportunity to exchange views on security cooperation and strengthening #NATO for the future.
— U.S. Embassy Denmark (@usembdenmark) December 8, 2019
After serious consideration, we have decided not to proceed with the Conference. The progress of the process has become too problematic; and therefore, we cannot participate in the Conference, let alone ask our Speakers to participate. @AtlantDK @srs2_ https://t.co/HvogtkOJJO
— Lars Bangert Struwe (@LarsBStruwe) December 8, 2019
Leaving for #Copenhagen tomorrow to give a keynote talk Tuesday at the Danish Atlantic Council's celebration of #NATO's 70th anniversary. Topic of my presentation: "Crisis in transatlantic relations: what future will we choose?" @AtlanticCouncil @AtlantDK @ducoexperts @jteurope
— Stanley R. Sloan – Defense of the West (@srs2_) December 7, 2019
I am overwhelmed by the support I have been receiving after my participation in celebration of NATO's 70th anniversary was vetoed by the American Ambassador to Denmark. In the interest of free speech, you can see the draft of my intended lecture here: https://t.co/S2eiZ9J5yy
— Stanley R. Sloan – Defense of the West (@srs2_) December 7, 2019
This what a thin-skinned authoritarian government that need a safe space does. US #publicdiplomacy historically intentionally included differences of opinion to reflect principles of free speech. The beacon on the hill is now a searchlight to spot and silence dissent? https://t.co/PQ566qQJ3t
— Matt Armstrong (@mountainrunner) December 8, 2019
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