donderdag, januari 28, 2010
US NATO envoy urges Dutch to remain in south Afghanistan
he US envoy to NATO has urged the Netherlands to keep its troops in volatile southern Afghanistan, saying that 2010 is a pivotal year for the international military effort there.Ambassador Ivo Daalder praised Dutch troops for their work in Uruzgan province helping to improve the lives of some 360,000 people, and urged the government not to pull forces out just as they are having an impact.
Read more >> | AFP Google News
Labels: Afghanistan, Dutch politics, Foreign Policy, NATO
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Wilders gets Canadian support on eve of trial
n the same day that the Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders appeared before a court in the Netherlands on charges of incitement to hatred and discrimination against the religious beliefs of Muslims, about 150 people filled a room in Toronto’s Zionist Centre to show their support for Wilders and view his controversial film, Fitna.The Toronto rally was hosted by the Jewish Defence League of Canada whose national director, Meir Weinstein, introduced the guest speakers and gave the final speech of the evening.
Read more >> | Jewish Tribune
Labels: Fitna, Wilders Trial
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Goldsmith at Chilcot: line by Lyne
he attorney general's change of mind on the legality of force against Iraq appears a tragic compromise of his independenceLord Goldsmith's appearance at the Iraq inquiry was just what one would expect from a leading lawyer who is used to appearing before the country's highest courts. He was calm and reassuring – a bit like drinking hot chocolate, said a friend – and he was well-prepared and authoritative.
But did he do enough to dispel the doubts about the integrity and independence of the decision-making process that led to his eleventh-hour opinion that the Iraq war was unambiguously lawful?
By Philippe Sands
Read more >> | The Guardian
Labels: Irak onderzoek, Iraq Inquiry Chilcot, United Kingdom
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US lawyers persuaded Lord Goldsmith to change his mind on Iraq war
ony Blair only got the “green light” to invade Iraq after his Attorney General visited Washington and was told by US lawyers that he was wrong to oppose the war.Lord Goldsmith told the Iraq Inquiry today that he altered his advice a few weeks before the bombing of Baghdad after a series of meetings with American legal advisors. He had initially warned that United Nations resolution 1441, passed in November 2002, did not provide a legal basis for overthrowing Saddam Hussein.
Read more >> | US lawyers persuaded Lord Goldsmith to change his mind on Iraq war - Times Online
Labels: Irak onderzoek, Iraq Inquiry Chilcot, United Kingdom
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woensdag, januari 27, 2010
Dutch comeback kid to revive Swedish Saab
iny Dutch Spyker will buy the once mighty Saab, with help from the Swedish government. If it goes wrong, Swedish tax payers have to foot the bill.The question on everybody's lips at the press conference in Stockholm on Tuesday was raised by Spyker chief executive Victor Muller himself. "How can such a small Dutch company take over Swedish Saab?" He answered it by saying these are abnormal times in the car industry during which unusual transactions take place. "Under normal circumstances, probably Saab would have been buying Spyker," Muller told reporters.
Read more >> | NRC-Handelsblad
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NATO Envisions Many More Years in Afghanistan
eads of NATO member states are fond of talking about when the alliance might begin to withdraw from Afghanistan. But a draft communiqué ahead of the conference in London makes it clear: NATO will stay in the war-torn country for years to come. It may also start paying Taliban fighters to lay down their arms.Read more >> | Der Spiegel International
Labels: Afghanistan, NATO
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dinsdag, januari 26, 2010
Chilcot inquiry: Lawyers expose pressure to give green light for war
oreign secretary resisted legal advice on invasion of Iraq- Attorney general's advice not sought until eleventh hour
While Jack Straw, then foreign secretary, was roundly dismissing the unanimous advice of his top lawyers that an invasion of Iraq would be illegal, officials in Downing Street were strongly resisting similar unwelcome advice, this time from Lord Goldsmith, the attorney general.
Previously classified documents released today at the Chilcot inquiry offer a rare, perhaps unprecedented, insight into manoeuvring at the heart of government about one of the most serious issues to confront ministers – whether to go to war, and the lawfulness of it.
Read more >> | The Guardian
See also >> | Lord Goldsmith
See also >> | Straw's clash with lawyers laid bare at Iraq inquiry - BBC News
Labels: Irak crisis, Irak onderzoek, Iraq Inquiry Chilcot, United Kingdom
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Spyker saves Saab from the scrapheap
e iconic Swedish carmaker has been saved from closure after the Dutch carmaker Spyker announced an 11th hour dealSaab, the iconic Swedish carmaker, has been saved from closure after the Dutch carmaker Spyker announced an 11th hour deal to buy its operations from its US parent company General Motors.
GM, which has been seeking to offload the loss-making Saab operations for a year, confirmed the deal, but would not disclose the price, which is thought to be in the region of $74 million.
Read more >> | The Times Online
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EP|TV looks back at commission hearings
ast week the hearings of the new EU Commission took place. Europarl|Tv looks back.Also a report on the evaluation of the EP on the Climate talks in Copenhagen.
Labels: Copenhagen, European Commission, European Parliament
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Dutch royals do not come cheap
he Dutch monarchy is the second most expensive one in Europe, only after the UK’s, according to Belgian professor Herman Matthijs.The Brussels' professor of political science came to this conclusion after studying the costs incurred by Europe’s various royal families.
Read more >> | nrc.nl - International - Dutch royals do not come cheap
Labels: Dutch politics, Monarchy
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Labour leader Bos leaves 'the third way'
odern capitalism is disrupting society and undermining human values, Labour party leader Wouter Bos said in a major speech in Amsterdam on Monday night.Bos used the annual Den Uyl speech, named after the former Labour prime minister Joop den Uyl, to discuss the effects of globalisation, neo-liberalism and capitalism which, he said, had not 'led the west into widescale poverty'.
Bos used the speech to say farewell to the Third Way, the left-wing Liberal movement which social democratic parties embraced in the 1990s. Bos, the paper said, admitted he was a child of the Third Way and said it had 'corrected high expectations from the state'.
Read more >> | DutchNews.nl - Labour leader Bos leaves 'the third way'
Labels: Dutch politics, Labour Party PvdA, Wouter Bos
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zondag, januari 24, 2010
Dutch PM: Chávez’s allegations "pure fiction"
he Dutch Prime Minister has hit back at the Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez over accusations that the Netherlands is helping to stage a military strike against his country.During an exclusive television interview with Radio Netherlands Worldwide, Jan Peter Balkenende dismissed as pure fiction Mr Chávez’s allegations that US war planes were being deployed in the neighbouring Dutch Antilles as part of a planned attack.
Read more >> | Radio Netherlands Worldwide
Labels: Balkenende, Chavez, Dutch politics, Foreign Policy
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vrijdag, januari 22, 2010
Evaluation of Hopenhagen from Europar|tv
Labels: Climate Change, Copenhagen, Europar|tv
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China returns fire against US in Google-war
hina today inflamed the international row with America over cyber-attacks on Google, denouncing Hillary Clinton’s criticism of the country's internet curbs as “information imperialism”.The Global Times, an English-language newspaper published by the state, said today that information from the West comes “loaded with aggressive rhetoric against those countries that do not follow their lead".
“Unlike advanced Western countries, Chinese society is still vulnerable to the effect of multifarious information flowing in, especially when it is for creating disorder,” it said.
Read more >> | The Times Online
See also >> | Remarks on Internet Freedom - Hillary Rodham Clinton
See also >> | Google's challenge to China: the reaction - The Guardian - Videoreactions from Chinese bloggers
See also >> | James Fallows - A momentous 40 hours, leading to Clinton/China/Internet - More on Hillary's speech in The Atlantic
Labels: China, Google, Hillary Clinton, Internet, United States
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European parliament shows its teeth
fter a full day of negotiations and rumours, Neelie Kroes was approved by the European Parliament as the new European commissioner for the ‘digital agenda’ post on Wednesday night.The tortuous process of her confirmation reflected a new balance of power existing in Brussels since the Treaty of Lisbon became effective last December. José Barroso, chairman of the European commission, will be facing a more powerful European parliament in the next five years. It has already appropriated the right to reject individual commissioners.
Read more >> | nrc.nl - International - European parliament shows its teeth
Labels: European Commission, European Parliament, Kroes
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donderdag, januari 21, 2010
Aid minister welcomes critical report
ert Koenders feels the WRR-report supports his policies.On Tuesday a Dutch government think tank, the Scientific Council for Government Policy (WRR), published a report critical of current foreign aid policy.
Bert Koenders, the minister responsible for foreign aid and a member of the Dutch Labour party PvdA, was not disturbed by the criticism. He feels the report was “constructive” and contained “many valuable ideas.”
An interview with the dutch forain aid minister.
Read more >> | nrc.nl - International - Aid minister welcomes critical report
See also >> | An imminent revolution in Dutch foreign aid?
Labels: Development aid, Dutch politics
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Hillary Clinton throws gauntlet down to China over censorship
he US today threw down the gauntlet to China over its internet censorship of its citizens in a hard-hitting speech by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.She urged China to investigate cyber attacks that led Google to threaten to pull out of the country - and challenged Beijing to publish its findings.
"Countries that restrict free access to information or violate the basic rights of internet users risk walling themselves off from the progress of the next century," she said, adding that the US and China "have different views on this issue, and we intend to address those differences candidly and consistently".
Read more >> | The Times Online
See also >> | Update on Google/China-ology
Labels: China, Google, Hillary Clinton, United States
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Jack Straw appearance at Chilcot Inquiry blows open Iraq war divisions
he stark divisions at the heart of government on the eve of the Iraq war were blown open again today when Jack Straw hinted that he considered his position in the build-up to the conflict.The Justice Secretary, who was Foreign Secretary at the time of the invasion, handed a 25-page memo to the official Iraq Inquiry before he gave evidence this afternoon, which stated that he believed he had a "profoundly difficult" moral dilemma when he was asked whether to support the war.
“The moral as well as the political dilemma were profoundly difficult," he wrote. "I was also fully aware that my support for military action was critical.
Read more >> | The Times Online
See also >> | The Jack Straw Memorandum (pdf)
See also >> | Chris Ames - The Guardian
See also >> | I could have vetoed UK military action in Iraq, Jack Straw tells inquiry - The Guardian
See also >> | Jack Straw at the Iraq war inquiry - The Guardian
See also >> | Jack Straw says 45-minute Iraq claim has 'haunted us'
See also >> | The Iraq Inquiry Timetable
Labels: Irak onderzoek, Iraq, Iraq Inquiry Chilcot, United Kingdom
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A Deal with the Taliban?
or thirty years Afghanistan has cast a long, dark shadow over world events, but it has also been marked by pivotal moments that could have brought peace and changed world history.By Ahmed Rashid
Read more >> | A Deal with the Taliban? - The New York Review of Books
Labels: Afghanistan, Bookreview, Taliban
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Sarkozy’s Three-Way NATO Bet
rance’s return to NATO’s integrated military structure after a 43-year absence last year brought to an end one of the exceptions françaises. It also helped frame the growing debate over whether to develop European defense more effectively or to seriously reform the Atlantic alliance.At first glance, it may seem that France chose NATO at the expense of the ten-year-old European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP). But that interpretation takes too pessimistic a view of ESDP’s achievements over the past decade, and is based on a flawed understanding of the relationships between NATO and the European Union.
By Camille Grand
Read more >> | Project Syndicate - Sarkozy’s Three-Way NATO Bet
Labels: European Union, France, NATO
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UN fudges Copenhagen Accord deadline
s the European Union tussles over which carbon reduction figures to inscribe in the annexes of the controversial Copenhagen Accord produced in the dying hours of December's climate summit, the UN's climate change chief has warned that few countries, including the major emitters, have so far signed up with their own emission reduction plans.Whether the European bloc signs up with a commitment of 20 percent, 25 percent or 30 percent CO2 cut, it is likely become one of the few powers that respond to the accord in time.
Read more >> | EUobserver / UN fudges Copenhagen Accord deadline
Labels: Climate Change, Copenhagen, European Union, United Nations
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Wilders' trial to resume in February
he trial of MP Geert Wilders on inciting hatred and discrimination charges will resume on February 3, judges in Amsterdam said on Wednesday.Following yesterday's initial hearing, judges will now decide who will be called as witnesses and on other procedural motions from both the prosecution and defence.
Read more >> | DutchNews.nl - Wilders' trial to resume in February
Labels: Dutch politics, Geert Wilders, Wilders Trial
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Zapatero sets out economic vision
pain's prime minister sees special role for electric cars in Europe's economic growth over the next decade.José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Spain's prime minister, today suggested that energy, technology and education and electric cars should serve as the cornerstones for economic growth in Europe over the next decade.
Presenting his economic vision to the European Parliament on Wednesday (20 January), Zapatero, whose government currently holds the EU's rotating presidency, also called for a new “social pact” between trade unions and companies to help ensure social stability.
Read more >> | Zapatero sets out economic vision | Policies | Economics | Management | European Voice
Labels: Economy, European Parliament, European Union, Spain
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Inside Google's Secret Struggles With Chinese Cyber Power
.S. intelligence officials have concluded that December's mass cyber attack against 33 American companies was most likely the result of a coordinated espionage campaign endorsed by the Chinese government. Google's revelation that they'd been hit was deemed a "watershed" moment by security industry analysts, but the other 32 companies who were hit have not followed suit and have begged the government to keep their identities a secret. The government has no choice but to protect their identities -- even as U.S. policy encourages greater transparency about the scope of such attacks.
Read more >> | The Atlantic
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A Cool Head for the Hottest Issues
Obama inherited a terrible legacy – recession, financial meltdown, Iraq, Afghanistan. He has not solved all of these problems. But it is difficult to see any really bad mistakes, except perhaps allowing himself to be pushed around by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and giving China the impression that he was prepared for a bilateral relationship entirely on China’s terms.That seems to be changing now. Obama may have come to understand that when you are the leader of the world’s only superpower, you need to be feared just a little if you are to be respected.
By Chris Patten
Project Syndicate - A Cool Head for the Hottest Issues
Labels: Barack Obama, Foreign Policy, United States
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woensdag, januari 20, 2010
First day in Wilders trial
he trial of the Dutch politician Geert Wilders, began this Wednesday.The lead judge of the court started off by addressing Geert Wilders, leader of the populist PVV party, directly. The judge said that while the media might have portrayed his case as foregone, his court “would not cast judgment before the last word has been spoken”.
Read more >> | nrc.nl - International - First day in Wilders trial
See also >> | Wilders' trial for inciting hatred starts - DutchNews.nl
Labels: Dutch politics, Geert Wilders, islam, Wilders Trial
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Update on Google/China-ology
wo belated points about the still-unfolding Google/China saga, and then one reader message.Point one: "soft power" - or lack thereof. In the immediate aftermath of Google's decision, there was assorted mild carping from Western observers about what Google's motivation "really" was. Were they escaping a bad business situation? (no), were they just trying to score PR points in the rest of the world? (not really), was there some other motivation apart from the stated one of exasperation at dealing with the intrusions and harassments inside China?
By James Fallows
Read more >> | Update on Google/China-ology
Labels: China, Foreign Policy, Google
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Has Wilders broken the law?
eert Wilders’ inflammatory anti-Muslim statements are well known. Are they illegal?Rumour has it that Geert Wilders, the leader of the populist PVV party, hopes to call Mohamed B., the man who killed Theo van Gogh, as a witness in his up-coming trialm which starts this Wednesday. Probably to establish the connection between the Koran and violence that Wilders assumes. The prosecution, however, will focus on the Dutch criminal code, particularly the two articles the politician is alleged to have violated: 137 c and d. Wilders is charged with slandering a group and sowing hate, and discrimination on the basis of race or religion. He has targeted muslims on the basis of their religion, the prosecution will argue, and non-western migrants or Moroccans on the basis of their race. The trial is expected to last months.
Read more >> | nrc.nl - International - Has Wilders broken the law?
See also >> | The Indictment (in dutch, pdf)
See also >> | Geert Wilders - Wikipedia
See also >> | Wilders' inciting hatred court case starts - DutchNews.nl
See also >> | Wilders on trial: who's funding his defence? - RNW
See also >> | GeertWilders.nl - Diana West - IFPS The Trial of Geert Wilders: A Symposium - Daniel Pipes
See also >> | Shrugging off Spinoza - Sappho.dk
See also >> | The Wilders’ trial: what you wanted to know but couldn’t ask - by Prof. dr Ybo Buruma, Radboud University Nijmegen (pdf)
See also >> | Wilders' inciting hatred court case starts - DutchNews.nl
See also >> | Wilders on trial: who's funding his defence? - RNW
See also >> | GeertWilders.nl - Diana West - IFPS The Trial of Geert Wilders: A Symposium - Daniel Pipes
See also >> | Shrugging off Spinoza - Sappho.dk
See also >> | The Wilders’ trial: what you wanted to know but couldn’t ask - by Prof. dr Ybo Buruma, Radboud University Nijmegen (pdf)
See also >> | Vervolging van Wilders legt een fundament van beschaving - NRC - J. Th. Degenkamp (dutch)
See also >> | Het proces tegen Wilders is anti-liberaal - NRC - Frank Ankersmit
See also >> | Wilders-proces: de geest uit de fles - Bart Jan Spruyt - Binnenlands Bestuur
Labels: Dutch politics, Geert Wilders, islam, Wilders Trial
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An imminent revolution in Dutch foreign aid?
report published earlier this week by a government think tank is welcomed by right-wing liberal Arend Jan Boekestijn.On Monday, the WRR, a Dutch government think tank, presented its long awaited and highly critical report on foreign aid to minister Bert Koenders.
Arend Jan Boekestijn
Read more >> | nrc.nl - International - Opinion - An imminent revolution in Dutch foreign aid?
Labels: Development aid, Dutch politics, Foreign Policy
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Kroes sails through second parliamentary screening
eelie Kroes has managed to convince MEPs that she is up to the job of commissioner for the EU's 'Digital Agenda', according to MEPs who had the opportunity to quiz the Dutch candidate for a second time.Read more >> | EurActiv
Labels: European Commission, European Parliament, European Union, Kroes
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dinsdag, januari 19, 2010
The European grill
very EU presidency, however carefully planned, always comes up against an unexpected crisis that puts its real capacity for active response to the test. As the Spanish presidency begins, Haiti has become the first test case of the EU's capacity for coordinated foreign policy action.As opposed to the bureaucratic and technical squabbles that have dominated discussion in recent months, we now have a real opportunity to see how coordination is going to work between the stable presidency and the rotational one. At the immediate subpresidential level, on the one side we have Lady Ashton and the Belgian Karel de Gucht; on the other, the Spanish Deputy Prime Minister María Teresa Fernández de la Vega and the secretary of state for cooperation, Soraya Rodríguez.
Read more >> | The European Council on Foreign Relations | The European grill
Labels: European Commission, European Union, Foreign Policy, Haïti
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Iraq inquiry: Hoon says UK war backing not inevitable
ritish involvement in the invasion of Iraq was not decided until it was approved by MPs, Geoff Hoon has said.The ex-defence secretary said the UK always hoped diplomatic efforts on Iraq would be successful and had never given "unconditional" support for war.
It would have been "inappropriate" for the cabinet to discuss the legal advice it received on the war, he said.
Letters show that the attorney general warned Mr Hoon in April 2002 about the legality of military action.
Read more >> | BBC News
Labels: Irak crisis, Iraq, Iraq Inquiry Chilcot, United Kingdom
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Goldsmith was not convinced war was legal even after UN resolution – Chilcot
hairman of Iraq inquiry also suggests then-attorney general was discouraged from expressing his doubts about war in writingLord Goldsmith was not convinced that war in Iraq would be legal even after the UN security council passed resolution 1441 in November 2002, Sir John Chilcot said today.
Basing his remarks on papers he has read but which have not been made public, the chairman of the Iraq inquiry said that the then-attorney general, "immediately after 1441 had been secured, said he would need some time to reflect on it. And it appears from what we read that he did not feel convinced at that time – I'm talking about post-November, before March – that standing on its own it would be a secure base."
Chilcot also suggested that Goldsmith had been discouraged from expressing his doubts about the war in writing.
Read more >> | The Guardian
See also >> | The Times: Lord Goldsmith warned Tony Blair over legality of the Iraq war
See also >> | Iraq Inquiry Digest
See also >> | Telegraph: Iraq Inquiry: Lord Goldsmith 'materially' changed legal advice in days before war
Labels: Irak crisis, Irak onderzoek, Iraq, Iraq Inquiry Chilcot
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Day 1: Regulators in spotlight at credit crisis probe
he government's macro economic policy unit CPB did not warn the government too late about the looming credit crisis in 2008, the institute's director Coen Teulings told a parliamentary committee on Monday.Read more >> | DutchNews.nl - Regulators in spotlight at credit crisis probe
Labels: Dutch politics, Financial Crisis Inquiry, Financial Policy
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Report on foreign aid finds policy too pretentious
he development of a nation is only marginally dependent on foreign aid, states a report by a government think tank that argues for a more modest policy.Does foreign aid help countries develop? Or does it have the opposite effect? The question is not new, but the debate surrounding it has become almost religious in nature as of late, with believers on both sides proclaiming their own dogmatic truths – both in the Netherlands and elsewhere.
The report Less Pretentious, More Ambitious reads as an attempt to bring the debate back down to earth. High time, according to the Scientific Council for Government Policy (WRR), a government think thank that produced the 352-page report that was published this Monday.
Read more >> | nrc.nl - International - Report on foreign aid finds policy too pretentious
Labels: Development aid, Dutch politics, Foreign Policy
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Kibbutz
y Sixties were a little different from those of my contemporaries. Of course, I joined in the enthusiasm for the Beatles, mild drugs, political dissent, and sex (the latter imagined rather than practiced, but in this too I think I reflected majority experience, retrospective mythology notwithstanding). But so far as political activism was concerned, I was diverted from the mainstream in the years between 1963 and 1969 by an all-embracing engagement with left-wing Zionism. I spent the summers of 1963, 1965, and 1967 working on Israeli kibbutzim and much of the time in between was actively engaged in proselytizing Labour Zionism as an unpaid official of one of its youth movements. During the summer of 1964 I was being “prepared” for leadership at a training camp in southwest France; and from February through July of 1966 I worked full time at Machanayim, a collective farm in the Upper Galilee.By Tony Judt
Read more >> | The New York Review of Books
Labels: Tony Judt
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maandag, januari 18, 2010
Parliament launches inquiry into banking crisis
oth the Dutch and US governments have begun inquiries into the origins of the financial crisis. Five questions on them answered.Public hearings by committees of inquiry into the current financial crisis have been launched in both the US and the Netherlands. Last Wednesday, the first four American bankers reported to the American Financial Crisis Inquiry Committee. This Monday, in The Hague, the Temporary Committee Investigating Financial Systems, better known as the De Wit Committee, holds its first public hearing. What are the most important similarities and differences between the two approaches?
Read more >> | nrc.nl - International - Features - Like US, Dutch launch inquiry into banking crisis
Labels: Dutch politics, Financial Crisis Inquiry, Financial Policy
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Dutch should focus aid on 10 countries
he Netherlands should overhaul the way it structures its development aid programme and focus specialist attention on 10 countries, according to a new report by the government's scientific council for government policy WWR.In order to do this, the government could set up its own umbrella organisation of experts, as the US and Britain have done the WWR said. Aid should be focused on actual development, based on a country's specific situation.
The report, entitled Less Pretention, more Ambition, has been two years in the making.
Read more >> | DutchNews.nl - Dutch should focus aid on 10 countries: report
See also >> | WRR Report
Labels: Development aid, Dutch politics, Foreign Policy
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Shell faces shareholder revolt over Canadian tar sands project
hell chief executive Peter Voser will be forced to defend the company's controversial investment in Canada's tar sands at his first annual general meeting, after calls from shareholders that the project be put under further scrutiny.A coalition of institutional investors has forced a resolution onto the agenda calling for the Anglo-Dutch group's audit committee to undertake a special review of the risks attached to the carbon-heavy oil production at Athabasca in Alberta.
Read more >> | The Guardian
Labels: Climate Change, Environment, Oil, Shell
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EU divided over jump to 30% cut in CO2
uropean Union member states are divided over the bloc's pledge to raise its CO2 commitment up to a 30 percent cut by 2020 in the wake of the Copenhagen UN climate summit debacle.Environment ministers from across the bloc over the weekend met in Seville, Spain, to assess the reasons for the failure in the Danish capital in December and to map out the EU's next moves.
Read more >> | EUobserver / EU states divided over jump to 30% cut in CO2
Labels: Climate Change, Copenhagen, European Union
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Last week in the Netherlands
weekly report by Radio Netherlands Worldwide on the Iraq report, the dutch aide to Haiti, skating, the Wilders trial and the death of Miep Gies.Labels: RNW Weekly report
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zondag, januari 17, 2010
Straw privately warned Blair that Iraq invasion was legally dubious
etter to PM from foreign secretary challenged gravity of threat from Saddam in lead-up to pivotal meeting with BushJack Straw privately warned Tony Blair that an invasion of Iraq was legally dubious, questioned what such action would achieve, and challenged US claims about the threat from Saddam Hussein, it was revealed today
Read more >> | The Guardian
Labels: Foreign Policy, Irak crisis, Irak onderzoek, Iraq, United Kingdom, United Nations
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Tablet is the new book
rediction roundup: How Steve Jobs' rumored gadget could change the way we readUnless you’ve been trapped under a very large P.C. for the last year, you’ve likely heard the about Apple’s rumored new tablet device (now being heralded as the “iSlate”). The device is thought to be an 8 (or 10, or 11) inch flat iPod-like gadget that will be a mix between a Mac laptop and a Kindle. Most rumors suggest that it will have a touch interface and video capabilities, and, thanks to today’s Wall Street Journal, it has a likely release date: March. (According to the article, Apple will show it to the public later this month.)
Read more >> | Salon.com Tablet is the new book
Labels: Apple, Books, Gadget, Tablet
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Major Antarctic glacier is 'past its tipping point'
major Antarctic glacier has passed its tipping point, according to a new modelling study. After losing increasing amounts of ice over the past decades, it is poised to collapse in a catastrophe that could raise global sea levels by 24 centimetres.Pine Island glacier (PIG) is one of many at the fringes of the West Antarctic ice sheet. In 2004, satellite observations showed that it had started to thin, and that ice was flowing into the Amundsen Sea 25 per cent faster than it had 30 years before.
Read more >> | Major Antarctic glacier is 'past its tipping point' - environment - 13 January 2010 - New Scientist
Labels: Climate Change, Climate research
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Car giants giving false hope of emission-free future, report says
ar companies are raising false hopes of emission-free motoring in order to continue profiting from large, fuel-hungry vehicles, according to a study.Read more >> | Car giants giving false hope of emission-free future, report says - Times Online
See also >> | The future for low-carbon transport
Labels: Climate Change, Energy policy, Environment, Transport
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World misled over Himalayan glacier meltdown
WARNING that climate change will melt most of the Himalayan glaciers by 2035 is likely to be retracted after a series of scientific blunders by the United Nations body that issued it.Two years ago the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued a benchmark report that was claimed to incorporate the latest and most detailed research into the impact of global warming. A central claim was the world's glaciers were melting so fast that those in the Himalayas could vanish by 2035.
In the past few days the scientists behind the warning have admitted that it was based on a news story in the New Scientist, a popular science journal, published eight years before the IPCC's 2007 report.
Read more >> | World misled over Himalayan glacier meltdown - Times Online
Labels: Climate Change, Climategate
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Be Like Reagan
n Iran, Obama should talk about democracy and support the demonstrators—but give the regime a chance to negotiate.Iran is the new Eastern Europe during the last phase of the Cold War. Like Poland during the heady days of Solidarity in the early 1980s, the protestors in the streets of Iranian cities are not crazed ethnics demonstrating on behalf of some illiberal blood-and-soil nationalism, but enlightened, technologically savvy multitudes crying out for universal values of democracy and human rights. As such, they have captured the imagination of liberal intellectuals in the West.
By Robert D. Kaplan
Be Like Reagan - The Atlantic
(January 16, 2010)
Labels: Foreign Policy, Iran
- posted by DD @ 2:56 PM Perma Link/Print (0) comments
vrijdag, januari 15, 2010
Prime minister disgraced, governing coalition strained
he Labour party (PvdA) emerged victorious from political scuffles surrounding the Iraq inquiry report. But it may yet pay a price.Deputy prime minister Wouter Bos was finally allowed to address parliament an hour after midnight during the debate Wednesday night. Until then, the leader of Dutch Labour party PvdA had sat silently beside prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende, his head bowed modestly, constantly fidgeting with his Blackberry. The body language of the leaders of the two largest governing parties revealed a fissure between them that words did not express.
Bos’ Labour party, PvdA, was trying hard not to wallow too much in its victory, striving to remain cool and collected, and not aggravate the prime minister’s Christian democrat CDA party any further.
Read more >> | nrc.nl - International - Background - Prime minister disgraced, governing coalition strained
Labels: Dutch politics, Foreign Policy, Irak onderzoek, Iraq
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Kroes off her game
utch candidate for the European Commission's digital portfolio fails to live up to her reputation.Neelie Kroes went into her hearings for a second term as European commissioner with a handicap that other re-nominees did not have. By the end, the effect of the handicap was all too evident.
Read more >> | Kroes off her game | Policies | EU governance | Commission | European Voice
Labels: EU Policy, European Commission, European Union, Kroes
- posted by DD @ 9:51 AM Perma Link/Print (0) comments
Europe’s Fearful Natives
referendum in Switzerland forbids the construction of new minarets. Racial violence explodes in the southern Italian region of Calabria. An intense and controversial debate takes place in France on the issue of national identity. These events have little in common, yet they all point to a growing European trend.More than ever before in recent decades, fear is becoming the dominant force in European politics. And it is not an abstract, undefined fear: it is above all the fear of the non-European “other,” perceived by a growing numbers of “white” Europeans as a threat to our European identities and ways of life, if not our physical security and jobs.
Dominique Moisi
Read more >> | Project Syndicate - Europe’s Fearful Natives
Labels: Christendom, Debat, France, islam
- posted by DD @ 9:38 AM Perma Link/Print (0) comments
HOE EUROPA HAAR ZELFVERTROUWEN VERLOOR
e moeizame integratie van moslims in de westerse cultuur wordt gekenmerkt door tal van incidenten die vaak potsierlijk zijn, maar die er ook steeds blijk van geven hoe gering het zelfvertrouwen van het Westen is. In Amsterdam schorste het GVB (het openbaar vervoer) onlangs een trambestuurder omdat hij een christelijk kruisje droeg op zijn uniform. Het dragen van een islamitisch hoofddoekje boven datzelfde uniform is wel toegestaan. De tramconducteur werd door de rechter in het ongelijk gesteld. Een Nederlandse advocaat weigert op te staan als de rechter binnenkomt, omdat hem dat door zijn godsdienst, de islam, verboden wordt. De desbetreffende rechter, Peter Ingelse, zei dat de advocaat mocht blijven zitten, omdat hij, Ingelse, zich niet beledigd voelde. De rechter vergat daarbij dat advocaten niet moeten opstaan uit respect voor de rechter, maar uit respect voor de wet.Frits Bolkestein
Lees verder >> | Liberales
Labels: Christendom, Debat, Frits Bolkestein, islam
- posted by DD @ 9:26 AM Perma Link/Print (0) comments
BOLKESTEIN SLAAT DE PLANK MIS
rits Bolkestein betoogt in de Volkskrant van 24 december jl. dat Europa/het Westen zichzelf wegcijfert en andere culturen altijd voor laat gaan. Dit zou alles te maken hebben met de christelijke cultuur van zelfkritiek, zelfrelativering en schuld. Met zijn analyse slaat hij de plank wat mij betreft volledig mis. Met een betoog over de superioriteit van de christelijke Europese cultuur wordt de achterlijkheid van anderen namelijk niet uitgebannen. Wel door het uitdragen van moderne, liberale, seculiere opvattingen, gestoeld op universele rechten van de mens, individuele vrijheden, de rechtsstaat en democratie. Frits Bolkestein trapt in de val van een valse tegenstelling tussen christelijke en islamitische cultuur. De echte tegenstelling is tussen opvattingen, niet tussen landen of religies.Sophie in ’t Veld
Lees verder >> | Liberales
Labels: Christendom, Debat, Frits Bolkestein, islam
- posted by DD @ 9:23 AM Perma Link/Print (0) comments
donderdag, januari 14, 2010
2009 Hottest Year on Record in Southern Hemisphere
he United States may be experiencing one of the coldest winters in decades, but things continue to heat up in the Southern Hemisphere. Science has obtained exclusive data from NASA that indicates that 2009 was the hottest year on record south of the Equator. The find adds to multiple lines of evidence showing that the 2000s were the warmest decade in the modern instrumental record.Read more >> | Science
Labels: Climate Change
- posted by DD @ 11:09 PM Perma Link/Print (0) comments
International law took back seat to politics
nternational law was sacrificed to political interests. Don't pretend otherwise.Anyone who believed international law had an influence on issues of war and peace is an illusion poorer after the report of the Davids commission on the Dutch support for the invasion of Iraq in 2003. In 2002, international law carried no weight in the Dutch political capital, The Hague, we discovered yesterday. Legal arguments were subordinated to political interests. According to the commission, there was no adequate legal mandate for the military operation. The legal argument that was employed by the Netherlands “could not be defended”. And there was also no thorough or real legal preparation. At the ministry of Foreign Affairs, moreover, officials were radically divided on the matter, an “extremely unfortunate” state of affairs.
Read more >> | nrc.nl - International - Opinion - International law took back seat to politics
Labels: Dutch politics, Foreign Policy, Irak crisis, Irak onderzoek, Iraq, United Nations
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China Cautions Internet Companies
fter Google announced it would quit China unless the nation’s censors eased their grip, the government on Thursday offered an indirect but unambiguous response: Companies that do business in China must follow the laws of the land.Read more >> | The New York Times
Labels: China, Google, Internet
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Writing English as a Second Language
talk to the incoming international students at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism.Read more >> \ Writing English as a Second Language
Labels: Journalism, Writing
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Iraq report: PM now accepts criticism
rime minister Jan Peter Balkenende has written to parliament to say the cabinet now accepts that 'a more adequate legal mandate' was necessary for the US and Britain to invade Iraq.The statement comes just one day after the prime minister responded to a highly critical report on the Dutch involvement in Iraq by saying the legalities of the war were 'a difference of opinion'.
Read more >> | DutchNews.nl - Iraq report: PM now accepts criticism
Labels: Dutch politics, Irak onderzoek, Iraq
- posted by DD @ 10:20 AM Perma Link/Print (0) comments
woensdag, januari 13, 2010
Irak brief kabinet
e brief, bron; Marcel Kruijer. Zie ook desite van AZOnder verwijzing naar de regeling van werkzaamheden van uw Kamer van heden hecht ik eraan om te bevestigen dat ik gisteren na afstemming met de vice-ministerpresidenten en de meest betrokken bewindspersonen, namens het kabinet een eerste verklaring heb afgelegd.
Ik heb in deze verklaring gezegd dat door de commissie Davids een gedegen studie is verricht naar de gebeurtenissen in 2002 en 2003. Daarbij is intensief gebruik gemaakt van al het voorhanden bronnenmateriaal. Uit de verantwoording van de commissie blijkt nog eens dat de commissie haar werkzaamheden in volledige onafhankelijkheid heeft kunnen uitvoeren. Zij heeft toegang gehad tot alle informatie die zij nodig achtte, inclusief de notulen van de ministerraad en informatie van de inlichtingen- en veiligheidsdiensten. Nooit eerder heeft een onderzoekscommissie zo uitgebeid kunnen putten uit onze informatiebronnen.
Het is zaak om het rapport van de commissie Davids de komende tijd grondig te bestuderen ten behoeve van een nadere kabinetsreactie. Daar zal enige tijd mee gemoeid zijn. In de kabinetsreactie zal vanzelfsprekend worden ingegaan op de conclusies van de commissie.
Daarnaast zullen aan de kabinetsreactie worden gevoegd de antwoorden op de door de Tweede en Eerste Kamer gestelde vragen voor zover die niet in het rapport van de commissie worden geadresseerd.
Onder verwijzing naar het verzoek van uw vaste commissie voor Buitenlandse Zaken van 1 december 2009 (kenmerk 2009Z21041/2009D60798) deel ik u mede dat het kabinet het voornemen heeft begin februari 2010 een reactie op het rapport van de commissie Davids aan de Staten-Generaal te verzenden.
Het kabinet zal het rapport van de commissie Davids leidend laten zijn bij een kritische terugblik op het verleden en het trekken van lessen voor de toekomst.
Een onderwerp dat zeker in de reactie terug zal komen is het volkenrechtelijke mandaat. Destijds was de Nederlandse regering evenals die van verscheidene andere staten van oordeel dat de betreffende VR-resoluties een toereikende grondslag vormde voor het – door Nederland politiek ondersteunde – militaire optreden van de door de Verenigde Staten en het Verenigd Koninkrijk geleide coalitie. Gebleken is dat dit standpunt in de internationale gemeenschap onvoldoende steun heeft gevonden en ook door andere landen niet langer wordt aanvaard.
Het toenmalig kabinet was er echter van overtuigd dat er toen een zuivere en integere afweging is gemaakt. Hierover is uitvoerig met uw Kamer van gedachten gewisseld. Een ruime Kamermeerderheid heeft het kabinet toen daarin gesteund.
In het coalitieakkoord dat ten grondslag ligt aan het huidige kabinet is reeds bepaald dat een adequaat volkenrechtelijk mandaat is vereist bij deelname van een missie met Nederlandse militairen. Deze bepaling is mede opgenomen tegen de achtergrond van de discussie die bestond over de rechtgrondslag van de inval in Irak (zie ook de brief van de ministers van Buitenlandse Zaken en Defensie van 22 juni 2007). In het licht van deze ontwikkelingen en met de kennis van nu aanvaardt het kabinet dat voor een dergelijk optreden een adequater volkenrechtelijk mandaat nodig zou zijn geweest.
DE MINISTER-PRESIDENT,
Minister van Algemene Zaken,
mr.dr. J.P. Balkenende
Labels: Dutch politics, Irak onderzoek
- posted by DD @ 10:25 PM Perma Link/Print (0) comments
Irak-brief Kabinet naar Kamer
e lang verwachtte brief van het kabinet is naar de kamer. Van de Tweed van Boris van der Ham....“Ik heb in deze verklaring gezegd dat door de commissie een gedegen studie is verricht naar de gebeurtenissen in 2002/3(…)
Het is zaak om het rapport van de commissie Davids de komende tijd grondig te bestuderen ten behoeve van een nadere kabinetsreactie.
Daar zal enige tijd mee gemoeid zijn. In de kabinetsreactie zal vanzelfsprekend worden ingegaan op de conclusies van de commissie.
Daarnaast zullen aan de kabinetsreactie worden gevoegd de antwoorden op de door de Tweede en Eerste Kamer gestelde vragen voor zover..
..e niet in het rapport van de commissie worden geadresseerd. nder verwijzing naar het verzoek van uw vaste commissie voor Buza 1 dec 2009..
...deel u mede dat het kabinet voornemen heeft in februari 2010 een reactie op het rapport van de commissie Davids aan kamers te zenden
...Het kabinet zal rapport van commissie leidend laten zijn bij een kritische terugblik op het verleden en het trekken van lessen toekomst.
'met kennis van nu aanvaardt het kabinet dat voor Iral optreden adequater volkenrechtelijk mandaat nodig zou zijn geweest'.
brief met instemming Bos en Rouvoet, ook al staan handtekeningen er niet onder [Jaap Jansen]
In CDA-top hoor ik: we hebben concessie gedaan aan pvda om kabinet overeind te houden... [Jaap Jansen]
Labels: Irak crisis, Irak onderzoek
- posted by DD @ 9:59 PM Perma Link/Print (0) comments
Report answers questions on Iraq
id the British trick the Dutch after the invasion? Questions answered about the Iraq-report.Willibrord Davids was the chairman of the special committee of inquiry charged with the investigation of the run-up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003. He is also a master of understatement. When he presented his report to prime-minister Jan Peter Balkenende on Tuesday, he dryly pointed out that the “sturdy tome” he bore had only one thing in common with a liber amicorum or festschrift, a gift commonly presented to friends in academic circles singing praises of its recepient: the element of surprise.
The report answers several questions that have burned on many a politician’s lips for years. Below, four of the foremost.
Read more >> | nrc.nl - International - Features - Report answers questions on Iraq
Labels: Dutch politics, Foreign Policy, Irak onderzoek, Iraq, United Nations
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EU wants reform of UN climate talks
tructure of UN talks needs changing and US needs to be ‘much more' engaged, EU presidency says.The Spanish EU presidency said today that the United Nations must reform the way it conducts climate negotiations, if it is to avoid a repeat of last month's disappointment at Copenhagen.
Read more >> | EU wants reform of UN climate talks | Policies | Climate change | Policies | European Voice
Labels: Climate Change, Copenhagen, European Union
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Two Cheers for China’s Climate Obstruction
ince the Copenhagen climate summit’s failure, many politicians and pundits have pointed the finger at China’s leaders for blocking a binding, global carbon-mitigation treaty. But the Chinese government’s resistance was both understandable and inevitable. Rather than mustering indignation, decision-makers would do well to use this as a wake-up call: it is time to consider a smarter climate policy.China is unwilling to do anything that might curtail the economic growth that has enabled millions of Chinese to clamber out of poverty. This development can be seen in the ever-expanding Chinese domestic market.
By Bjørn Lomborg
Read more >> | Project Syndicate - Two Cheers for China’s Climate Obstruction
Labels: Bjorn Lomborg, China, Climate Change, Copenhagen
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After Iraq study, crisis brewing for Dutch government
he Dutch governing coalition has become divided after a study lambasted the handling of the run-up to the Iraq war on Tuesday.The brewing crisis was set off by the presentation of a report by a special committee of inquiry chaired by the retired supreme court judge Willibrord Davids. The committee had been charged with investigating the decision-making process surrounding the run-up to the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq, which the Dutch supported politically, but not militarily.
Read more >> | nrc.nl - International - After Iraq study, crisis brewing for Dutch government
Labels: Dutch politics, Irak onderzoek, Iraq, United Nations
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Iraq report: emergency debate this afternoon
utch MPs will this afternoon hold an emergency debate on yesterday's hard hitting report on the Netherlands' role in the Iraq conflict in 2003.And there are growing reports of a serious rift between the Christian Democrat prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende and Labour MPs over the government's initial response to the report.
A motion by the Liberal democratic party D66 was given unanimous support by MPs. Balkenende and deputy prime minister and Labour leader Wouter Bos have also been summoned to attend.
Read more >> | DutchNews.nl - Iraq report: emergency debate this afternoon
Labels: Dutch politics, Irak onderzoek, Iraq, United Nations
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dinsdag, januari 12, 2010
Iraq war was illegal, Dutch panel rules
nquiry says conflict had no sound mandate in international law as it emerges UK denied key letter to seven-judge tribunalThe war in Iraq had "no basis in international law", a Dutch inquiry found today, in the first ever independent legal assessment of the decision to invade.
In a series of damning findings, a seven-member panel in the Netherlands concluded that the war, which was supported by the Dutch government following intelligence from Britain and the US, had not been justified in law.
Read more >> | The Guardian
Labels: Dutch politics, Foreign Policy, Irak onderzoek, Iraq, United Kingdom, United Nations
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Prime minister disagrees with Iraq report
rime minister Jan Peter Balkenende does not agree with a number of the conclusions of the Davids' commission report which heavily criticised the way the government came to support the invasion of Iraq in 2003.The prime minister told a news conference late on Tuesday afternoon that parliament was fully informed about the Americans' request for help in preparing the invasion. The report said MPs had not been kept in touch with all developments.
Read more >> | DutchNews.nl - Prime minister disagrees with Iraq report
Labels: Dutch politics, Foreign Policy, Irak onderzoek, Iraq, United Nations
- posted by DD @ 8:21 PM Perma Link/Print (0) comments
Toelichting van Prof. mr Nico Schrijver
ommissielid en hoogleraar Volkenrecht Prof.mr Nico Schrijver geeft een toelichting voor nrc.tv en vindt dat het besluitvormingsproces geen "schoonheidsprijs" verdient.Labels: Dutch politics, Irak onderzoek, Iraq, United Nations
- posted by DD @ 5:38 PM Perma Link/Print (0) comments
Alastair Campbell defends 'every word' of Iraq dossier
ony Blair's ex-spokesman Alastair Campbell has said he "defends every single word" of the 2002 dossier on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.Mr Campbell told the UK's Iraq war inquiry the dossier could have been "clearer" but did not "misrepresent" the threat from Saddam's weapons.
Read more >> | BBC News
Labels: Irak onderzoek, Iraq, United Kingdom, United States
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Bankruptcy could be good for America
n Winnie-the-Pooh, there is a significant moment when the bear is asked whether he wants honey or condensed milk with his bread. He replies “both”. You can get away with this sort of thing if you are a much loved character in children’s literature. But it is more problematic when great nations start behaving in a childish fashion. When Americans are asked what they want – lower taxes, more lavish social spending or the world’s best-funded military machine – their collective answer tends to be “all of the above”.By Gideon Rachman
Read more >> | The Financial Times
Labels: Financial Policy, United States
- posted by DD @ 2:44 PM Perma Link/Print (1) comments
1 reacties:
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DD zei...
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Rachman is arguing that a bankruptcy of the US would be healthy. In the past several bankrupt countries, like China, India and Germany are doing just fine after the crisis.
Change would be good, but I dread the immense power vacuum that a bankrupt US would give.
And a power vacuum would turn the world in a nasty place.
Dutch government misrepresented case for Iraq war
he Dutch government was less than truthful in presenting its case for the invasion of Iraq to parliament, a report released on Tuesday noted.A special committee of inquiry established by prime minister Jan-Peter Balkenende has come to these conclusions after conducting an investigation into the run-up to the invasion that took several months. The committee, chaired by retired Dutch supreme court judge Willibrord Davids, found no evidence supporting the oft-reported rumour that the Dutch offered clandestine military support in the invasion.
Read more >> | nrc.nl - International - Dutch government misrepresented case for Iraq war
See also >> | Conclusions and summay in English
Labels: Dutch politics, Foreign Policy, Irak onderzoek, Iraq, United Nations, United States
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Government slammed over Iraq war support
nited Nations resolutions on Saddam Hussein's weapons programme were not a sufficient mandate to justify the invasion of Iraq by the US and Britain, a Dutch government committee said on Tuesday.The committee was set up last year to investigate the Dutch position, following mounting pressure from MPs and the press. The Netherlands gave political but not military support to the 2003 invasion, a decision largely based on claims that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. Those claims later turned out to be false.
The report contains a long list of criticisms of the government of the day - a coalition between the Christian Democrats and free market Liberals VVD.
Read more >> | DutchNews.nl - Government slammed over Iraq war support
See also >> | Conclusions and summay in English
Labels: Dutch politics, Foreign Policy, Iraq, United Nations, United States
- posted by DD @ 1:14 PM Perma Link/Print (0) comments
maandag, januari 11, 2010
What really happened in Copenhagen, #3
ore on the accumulation of blind-men-feeling-the-elephant efforts to determine whether the Chinese delegation was actually working purposefully to scuttle any climate deal (as originally claimed here), why they might have done so, and what it all might mean in the longer term. Complete Copenhagen chronicles here. Three more accounts to consider now:James Fallows
Read more >> | What really happened in Copenhagen, #3
Labels: Climate Change, Copenhagen
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zaterdag, januari 09, 2010
Last minute bids for Saab
hree parties have shown interest in the Swedish car manufacturer Saab, a subsidiary General Motors is trying to sell. The Dutch Spyker Cars is one.Read more >> | nrc.nl - International - Europe - Last minute bids for Saab
Labels: Economy
- posted by DD @ 10:33 AM Perma Link/Print (0) comments
vrijdag, januari 08, 2010
The Road: there’s more to life than biological survival
hose who welcome the film version of The Road as eco-propaganda for the masses have missed the point of McCarthy’s literary masterpiece.In an era when worst-case thinking has displaced any kind of open-minded approach to the future, it is not surprising that popular culture is awash with the themes and symbols of planetary catastrophe and of a depraved humanity.
By Frank Furendi
Read more >> | Frank Furendi in Spiked
Labels: Frank Furendi, Literature, Movies, The Road
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Sea Shepherd sues for piracy - in Holland
he Sea Shepherd anti-whaling organisation is to sue the crew of Japanese whaling ship Shonan Maru 2 for piracy in the Dutch courts, lawyer Liesbeth Zegveld said on Friday.Read more >> |DutchNews.nl - Sea Shepherd sues for piracy - in Holland
See also >> | BBC News
Labels: Environment, Sea shepherd, Whaling
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Script by high school shooter Seung-Hui performed
efore killing 32 of his fellow students, and himself, the American Cho Seung-Hui wrote a play. It was performed in Rotterdam on Wednesday.An act of social resistance, that how artists Jonas Staal and Vincent van Gerven Oei see American high school shootings. At their request, the Wunderbaum troupe did a one-off performance of Richard McBeef in one of Rotterdam’s foremost theatres Wednesday evening.
Read more >> |nrc.nl - International - Script by high school shooter Seung-Hui performed
Labels: Culture
- posted by DD @ 10:39 AM Perma Link/Print (0) comments
Bubbles and the Banks
ealth care reform is almost (knock on wood) a done deal. Next up: fixing the financial system. I’ll be writing a lot about financial reform in the weeks ahead. Let me begin by asking a basic question: What should reformers try to accomplish?Read more >> | The New York Times Paul Krugman
Labels: Economy, Paul Krugman, United States
- posted by DD @ 9:47 AM Perma Link/Print (0) comments
donderdag, januari 07, 2010
Back to the drawing-board
isappointed with the deal struck in Copenhagen, the EU will have to decide quickly whether to continue its climate-change policy of leading by example, or to take a tougher approach.Read more | Back to the drawing-board | Policies | Climate change | Politics | European Voice
Labels: Climate Change, Copenhagen, European Union
- posted by DD @ 11:45 PM Perma Link/Print (0) comments
Galileo contracts awarded
ontracts totalling €1 billion awarded in EU's long-delayed satellite-navigation project.The European Commission has awarded contracts worth a combined total of more than €1 billion to three companies to help launch the Galileo satellite-navigation system.
This is a milestone for the long-delayed project, which is meant to be operational by 2014.
Read more | Galileo contracts awarded | Policies | Information society | Information technology | European Voice
Labels: European Union, Galileo
- posted by DD @ 4:26 PM Perma Link/Print (0) comments
Europe’s Troublesome Neighbors
eography has dealt Europe a mixed hand. Europeans can congratulate themselves on being a relatively safe distance away from whatever tensions may accompany the rise of powers like India, Brazil, and, especially, China. But Europe is bordered to its south and east by two great regions that give cause for significant concern.Neither Russia nor the Islamic world is, thus far, adapting well to globalization. The economies of both remain over-dependent on oil and gas exports. In the Middle East, this exacerbates the problem of creating jobs for ballooning populations of young adults. Russia, too, faces real demographic difficulties, though in the other direction as Russia’s population is projected to shrink by as much as 10% over the next 15 or 20 years.
By Nick Witney
Read more |Project Syndicate - Europe’s Troublesome Neighbors
Labels: European Union, Foreign Policy, Middle East, Project Syndicate, Sovjet Union
- posted by DD @ 2:57 PM Perma Link/Print (0) comments
Overcoming the Copenhagen Failure
month after the Copenhagen climate conference, it is clear that the world’s leaders were unable to translate rhetoric about global warming into action.The failure of Copenhagen was not the absence of a legally binding agreement. The real failure was that there was no agreement about how to achieve the lofty goal of saving the planet, no agreement about reductions in carbon emissions, no agreement on how to share the burden, and no agreement on help for developing countries. Even the commitment of the accord to provide amounts approaching $30 billion for the period 2010-2012 for adaptation and mitigation appears paltry next to the hundreds of billions of dollars that have been doled out to the banks in the bailouts of 2008-2009. If we can afford that much to save banks, we can afford something more to save the planet.
By Joseph E. Stiglitz
Read more | Project Syndicate - Overcoming the Copenhagen Failure
Posted using ShareThis
Labels: Climate Change, Copenhagen
- posted by DD @ 12:41 PM Perma Link/Print (0) comments
woensdag, januari 06, 2010
The West Is Choked by Fear
he attack on illustrator Kurt Westergaard wasn't the first attempt to carry out a deadly fatwa. When Muslims tried to murder Salman Rushdie 20 years ago, the protests among intellectuals were loud. Today, though, Western writers and thinkers would rather take cover than defend basic rights.An Editorial by Henryk M. Broder
Read more | Der Spiegel International
Labels: Ayaan Hirsi Ali, islam, Kurt Westergaard
- posted by DD @ 1:54 PM Perma Link/Print (0) comments
A Sailor's Life
poem by Yara Rood.Labels: Beagle-trip
- posted by DD @ 1:21 PM Perma Link/Print (0) comments
How America Can Rise Again
s America going to hell? After a year of economic calamity that many fear has sent us into irreversible decline, the author finds reassurance in the peculiarly American cycle of crisis and renewal, and in the continuing strength of the forces that have made the country great: our university system, our receptiveness to immigration, our culture of innovation. In most significant ways, the U.S. remains the envy of the world. But here’s the alarming problem: our governing system is old and broken and dysfunctional. Fixing it—without resorting to a constitutional convention or a coup—is the key to securing the nation’s future.By James Fallows
Read more | How America Can Rise Again - The Atlantic
(January/February 2010)
Labels: United States
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