As Swedish prime ministers go, Carl Bildt was one of the better of the breed, but like most Swedish prime ministers (and all too many Swedish politicians) he is too much of a fan of the international bureaucracies to be entirely trustworthy. That’s what makes these comments by him on the proposed regulation of the Internet so interesting (hat-tip EURSOC):

“It would be profoundly dangerous to now set up an international mechanism, controlled by governments, to take over the running of the Internet. Not only would this play into the hands of regimes bent on limiting the freedom that the Internet can bring, it also risks stifling innovation and ultimately endangering the security of the system…the European Commission now seems to have gone much too far. Its proposal to set up a mechanism that could well turn into a means for limiting access to the Internet has met with fierce fury from Internet professionals worldwide and undiluted enthusiasm from autocratic states. This is not where Europe should be on these issues. The Internet is vital to our future, and we Europeans should be as keen as anyone to preserve the essence of a system that has worked amazingly well. If that entails leaving some ultimate safeguard powers in the hands of the United States, that’s certainly better than having theocrats or autocrats around the world getting their hands on the levers of control.”

This all dovetails rather interestingly with the shambles over at UNESCO (an organization around 20% funded by the US taxpayer, which for some dumb reason this administration decided to rejoin) where international bureaucrats are putting together a treaty that could (potentially) restrict the export of US movies and the like in the name of ‘cultural diversity’. Another name for that, of course, is censorship.

The US is, as usual, “isolated” on this issue.Tony Blair, it turns out, is urging America to cave in.

Funny that.