BEIRUT: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is expected to announce on Saturday the pullout of some Syrian troops from Lebanon and the redeployment of the rest close to the border, a Lebanese political source said on Friday.
Saturday, March 05, 2005
Tuesday, March 01, 2005
The blog EU Referendum has a frightening example of EU anti-business legislation that may eventually lead to loss of life.
I just don't see how this thing is supposed to succeed with what seems like almost deliberate efforts to guarantee that it won't.
I just don't see how this thing is supposed to succeed with what seems like almost deliberate efforts to guarantee that it won't.
President Chirac set out yesterday to persuade disgruntled French citizens to put aside their distaste for Europe and his own Government and vote oui to the EU constitution in a referendum.
The President and Jean-Pierre Raffarin, his Prime Minister, used a solemn parliamentary session at the Château de Versailles and a Franco-Polish summit to open a campaign to head off a possible political rout and death for the European treaty.
Interesting. As an ignorant Americano I guess I assumed constitutional (or whatever the hell you call that mess) approval was a slam dunk, especially in France.
Monday, February 28, 2005
WTF???
According to the legend, New York was founded in 1626 by the Dutch in the southern part of Manhattan Island. Some schoolbooks, history books, television broadcasts - and down to cigarettes makers - even say that the founder of New York was named Peter Stuyvesant.
The reality is somewhat different...
"In 1609, an English sailor named Henri Hudson discovered a great bay with a big river flowing into it from the mountains, at a latitude of forty-one degrees north and a longitude of seventy-four degrees west.
Hudson had been entrusted by the Flemings Emmanuel Van Meteren, Judocus Hondius and Petrus Plancius to discover a new passage to the land of Tartars and to China, on behalf of the East-Indies Company."
...
"From 1615, the region between Virginia and New-England was equally named New-Belgium (Novum Belgium, Novo Belgio, Nova Belgica, Novi Belgii)..."
"In 1626, Pierre Minuit, governor of New-Belgium, became famous by the purchase of Manhattan Island. He bought it from the Manhattes Indians in exchange for glittering beads and other trinkets. The total value was about sixty guilders or $24."
Alas, the worst is yet to come...
"Pierre Minuit was a Walloon, born in Wesel (Rheinland). His parents, from Tournai (Hainault), had settled there in 1581 in order to flee the religious persecutions..."
So you guys descend primarily from Walloons huh? Listen, I've been on this blog now for fifteen months and I have yet to encounter the first person who actually believes me. Fine. Like so many times before, I don't expect you to change. Well, check out this book then:
"The Belgians, first settlers in New York and in the Middle States" - by Henry G. Bayer
(Originally published in New York, 1925 by Devin-Adair.)
MFBB (laughing his *rse off)
According to the legend, New York was founded in 1626 by the Dutch in the southern part of Manhattan Island. Some schoolbooks, history books, television broadcasts - and down to cigarettes makers - even say that the founder of New York was named Peter Stuyvesant.
The reality is somewhat different...
"In 1609, an English sailor named Henri Hudson discovered a great bay with a big river flowing into it from the mountains, at a latitude of forty-one degrees north and a longitude of seventy-four degrees west.
Hudson had been entrusted by the Flemings Emmanuel Van Meteren, Judocus Hondius and Petrus Plancius to discover a new passage to the land of Tartars and to China, on behalf of the East-Indies Company."
...
"From 1615, the region between Virginia and New-England was equally named New-Belgium (Novum Belgium, Novo Belgio, Nova Belgica, Novi Belgii)..."
"In 1626, Pierre Minuit, governor of New-Belgium, became famous by the purchase of Manhattan Island. He bought it from the Manhattes Indians in exchange for glittering beads and other trinkets. The total value was about sixty guilders or $24."
Alas, the worst is yet to come...
"Pierre Minuit was a Walloon, born in Wesel (Rheinland). His parents, from Tournai (Hainault), had settled there in 1581 in order to flee the religious persecutions..."
So you guys descend primarily from Walloons huh? Listen, I've been on this blog now for fifteen months and I have yet to encounter the first person who actually believes me. Fine. Like so many times before, I don't expect you to change. Well, check out this book then:
"The Belgians, first settlers in New York and in the Middle States" - by Henry G. Bayer
(Originally published in New York, 1925 by Devin-Adair.)
MFBB (laughing his *rse off)
Sunday, February 27, 2005
COME AND SEE: PRO BUSH PROF ON BELGIAN TV!!!
An amazing thing has happened. Some of you may recall that recently in Downeasts comments section a Mr. Marc Cogen , Professor in International Law at Ghent University was mentioned. Fellow Belgian blogger De andere kijk and I said a.o. that Mr. Cogen was last allowed on Belgian TV prior to OIF, where he defended the upcoming liberation of Iraq by US troops. This was really too much for Belgian commie television, and Mr. Cogen was not invited anymore. Ironically, Professor Cogen was then Chairman of the Belgian Association for the United Nations! (current chairman is Professor Dr. Jan Wouters - note by MFBB).
Since then, the Belgian TV audience has been fed nothing but the continuing anti-American drivel. For academic assistance Mr. Cogen's colleague, Professor Rik Coolsaet, who is virulently anti-American, was so kind to be on permanent standby. While Professor Cogen does not have an own website, Professor Coolsaet has, so you gather that like in the US, in Belgium the loudmouths can all be found on the same side of the political spectrum. FYI, Prof. Coolsaet is the author of the book: AL-QAEDA – THE MYTH. The Root Causes of International Terrorism and how to tackle them. In short, the Prof thinks Al-Qaeda exists only in our imagination and - yawn - we all have to thank it to ourselves. Ok, enough 'bout Ricky.
Anyway, what I wanted to say is that Prof Cogen has made a reappearance on Belgian TV!!! On Saturday night, February 26th, he was a panel member in De Nachtwacht (The Night Watch), a discussion program on Flemish TV.
The Nachtwacht every week puts forward a thesis by some important dude which is then challenged by other important dudes (I have not been called yet). This week Dutch journalist of leading Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad Henk Hofland propounded that:
"American soldiers still have no business in the Middle East. One can never turn 350 million Arabs to democrats by pointing guns at their head. And so the West can only serve as a good example and the people in the Arab World must liberate themselves on their own of dictatorial regimes AND Muslim fundamentalism".
(MFBB would wager that Mr. Hofland thinks Mubaraks U-turn has been brought about by "the good example of the West". But I digress.)
Well, Mr. Cogen replied a.o. the following:
Dialogue alone will not work. Europe is talking with the Arab world for 30 years now, with a lot of diplomats, experts and committees. The result? Very few reforms, and no solutions. I find it amazing how Europe keeps believing in something that yields no results. And they have the same attitude towards Africa, where the problems are even greater. Europe believes that by throwing money and experts at the problems, they will disappear. The hard conclusion should be that with some regimes, talking is useless. Even economic sanctions do not help, as they reinforce the local dictatorship, and make only the people suffer, and not the elites.
Excellent post about the event at LVB, who has more or less become Belgium's top political blogger.
Mr. Cogen is not the only sane person at Ghent University though. Professor Boudewijn Bouckaert is another ardent supporter of US international policy. Bouckaert is also a law professor, and is currently Erasmus lecturer at Harvard University. In 2003, he had this to say about the widening gap between the States and Europe (quote translated by Luc Van Braekel):
Continental Europe is evolving towards a socialist economy where the state absorbs and redistributes the largest part of the national product. The private sector is tolerated as a cow to be milked to the limits of the sustainable. Entrepreneurs are diabolized by the socialist-bureaucratic elites as scrooges, polluters, tax evaders etc.
Got some time, read the whole thing. Furthermore, you may be interested to know that Mr. Bouckaert is also the Chairman of Nova Civitas, a Flemish pro free market think tank.
Nova Civitas's homepage sports a.o. the following statement:
The principles of Nova Civitas are :
• that freedom is linked to responsability;
• that the family must be revalorized as cornerstone of a free society;
• that the economy should be de-feodalized, and the free entrepreneurship should be protected;
• that the rule of law must be upheld.
But what is perhaps more telling about Nova Civitas are the sites they link to. And immediately after the US Presidential elections, Nova Civitas also called for nothing less than a European Republican Party:
In almost all newspapers, magazines and television programs, the [US] elections were a pretext to a true orgy of anti-americanism. The Americans were depicted as dumb, fat, superficial, retarded, reactionary, etc. The president was shown as a moron, completely manipulated by a cabal of oil barons. [...] The leftist political and intellectual elite, that has Europe in a strong grip at this moment, will probably use Bush's victory to make the gap between the US and Europe even larger, and boast about the superiority of the euro-socialist model.
Nova Civitas is asking itself if wat is possible in the US, would also be possible in Europe. With each election, whether in the US or Europe, the same pattern emerges: the bulk of the population thinks more right-wing than the elite of leftist (socialist, green and left-liberal) politicians, subsidized artists and journalists that think they know better). The center-right forces in Europe are divided among different factions: christian democrats, liberals and nationalists, they often lack adequate leadership and power, and don't have enough intellectual backing because of the total dominance of the left in the human sciences. [...]
Everyone that rejects the perspective of a islamo-leftist dictatorship, must engage in the construction of a center-right European republican front. Therefore, we must take distance from differences that are unimportant but have grown historically, like between christians and atheists, between nationalists and globalists. We must have the courage to build a consistent center-right program, thereby facing the curses of the leftist intellectual elite. The historic reelection of president Bush can become the new start for a center-right Europe.
MFBB keeps thinking that in an age where distances have shrunk by cheap air transport and chatting with pals on the other side of the world, there is no more excuse for American and European conservatives to go their own ways. If you don't like being labeled as "conservative", make that rightwinger or libertarian or whatever, as long as it's right of center. We should cooperate. The Atlantic has become but a psychological barrier.
MFBB
An amazing thing has happened. Some of you may recall that recently in Downeasts comments section a Mr. Marc Cogen , Professor in International Law at Ghent University was mentioned. Fellow Belgian blogger De andere kijk and I said a.o. that Mr. Cogen was last allowed on Belgian TV prior to OIF, where he defended the upcoming liberation of Iraq by US troops. This was really too much for Belgian commie television, and Mr. Cogen was not invited anymore. Ironically, Professor Cogen was then Chairman of the Belgian Association for the United Nations! (current chairman is Professor Dr. Jan Wouters - note by MFBB).
(Prof Marc Cogen. Pic illegally stolen. By MFBB from LVB.)
Since then, the Belgian TV audience has been fed nothing but the continuing anti-American drivel. For academic assistance Mr. Cogen's colleague, Professor Rik Coolsaet, who is virulently anti-American, was so kind to be on permanent standby. While Professor Cogen does not have an own website, Professor Coolsaet has, so you gather that like in the US, in Belgium the loudmouths can all be found on the same side of the political spectrum. FYI, Prof. Coolsaet is the author of the book: AL-QAEDA – THE MYTH. The Root Causes of International Terrorism and how to tackle them. In short, the Prof thinks Al-Qaeda exists only in our imagination and - yawn - we all have to thank it to ourselves. Ok, enough 'bout Ricky.
Anyway, what I wanted to say is that Prof Cogen has made a reappearance on Belgian TV!!! On Saturday night, February 26th, he was a panel member in De Nachtwacht (The Night Watch), a discussion program on Flemish TV.
The Nachtwacht every week puts forward a thesis by some important dude which is then challenged by other important dudes (I have not been called yet). This week Dutch journalist of leading Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad Henk Hofland propounded that:
"American soldiers still have no business in the Middle East. One can never turn 350 million Arabs to democrats by pointing guns at their head. And so the West can only serve as a good example and the people in the Arab World must liberate themselves on their own of dictatorial regimes AND Muslim fundamentalism".
(MFBB would wager that Mr. Hofland thinks Mubaraks U-turn has been brought about by "the good example of the West". But I digress.)
Well, Mr. Cogen replied a.o. the following:
Dialogue alone will not work. Europe is talking with the Arab world for 30 years now, with a lot of diplomats, experts and committees. The result? Very few reforms, and no solutions. I find it amazing how Europe keeps believing in something that yields no results. And they have the same attitude towards Africa, where the problems are even greater. Europe believes that by throwing money and experts at the problems, they will disappear. The hard conclusion should be that with some regimes, talking is useless. Even economic sanctions do not help, as they reinforce the local dictatorship, and make only the people suffer, and not the elites.
Excellent post about the event at LVB, who has more or less become Belgium's top political blogger.
Mr. Cogen is not the only sane person at Ghent University though. Professor Boudewijn Bouckaert is another ardent supporter of US international policy. Bouckaert is also a law professor, and is currently Erasmus lecturer at Harvard University. In 2003, he had this to say about the widening gap between the States and Europe (quote translated by Luc Van Braekel):
Continental Europe is evolving towards a socialist economy where the state absorbs and redistributes the largest part of the national product. The private sector is tolerated as a cow to be milked to the limits of the sustainable. Entrepreneurs are diabolized by the socialist-bureaucratic elites as scrooges, polluters, tax evaders etc.
Got some time, read the whole thing. Furthermore, you may be interested to know that Mr. Bouckaert is also the Chairman of Nova Civitas, a Flemish pro free market think tank.
Nova Civitas's homepage sports a.o. the following statement:
The principles of Nova Civitas are :
• that freedom is linked to responsability;
• that the family must be revalorized as cornerstone of a free society;
• that the economy should be de-feodalized, and the free entrepreneurship should be protected;
• that the rule of law must be upheld.
But what is perhaps more telling about Nova Civitas are the sites they link to. And immediately after the US Presidential elections, Nova Civitas also called for nothing less than a European Republican Party:
In almost all newspapers, magazines and television programs, the [US] elections were a pretext to a true orgy of anti-americanism. The Americans were depicted as dumb, fat, superficial, retarded, reactionary, etc. The president was shown as a moron, completely manipulated by a cabal of oil barons. [...] The leftist political and intellectual elite, that has Europe in a strong grip at this moment, will probably use Bush's victory to make the gap between the US and Europe even larger, and boast about the superiority of the euro-socialist model.
Nova Civitas is asking itself if wat is possible in the US, would also be possible in Europe. With each election, whether in the US or Europe, the same pattern emerges: the bulk of the population thinks more right-wing than the elite of leftist (socialist, green and left-liberal) politicians, subsidized artists and journalists that think they know better). The center-right forces in Europe are divided among different factions: christian democrats, liberals and nationalists, they often lack adequate leadership and power, and don't have enough intellectual backing because of the total dominance of the left in the human sciences. [...]
Everyone that rejects the perspective of a islamo-leftist dictatorship, must engage in the construction of a center-right European republican front. Therefore, we must take distance from differences that are unimportant but have grown historically, like between christians and atheists, between nationalists and globalists. We must have the courage to build a consistent center-right program, thereby facing the curses of the leftist intellectual elite. The historic reelection of president Bush can become the new start for a center-right Europe.
MFBB keeps thinking that in an age where distances have shrunk by cheap air transport and chatting with pals on the other side of the world, there is no more excuse for American and European conservatives to go their own ways. If you don't like being labeled as "conservative", make that rightwinger or libertarian or whatever, as long as it's right of center. We should cooperate. The Atlantic has become but a psychological barrier.
MFBB
Saturday, February 26, 2005
"(The EU is) a customs union. It protects itself from outsiders with walls of tariffs. It is in many ways very reactionary. Those who control everything, the Central European states France, Germany, Spain and Italy, are not the countries of the free market and have never been. Those are countries which have cetralised their economy very much. Their economy is in many ways incomplete with much rigidity in the labour market. They have a very complex and wide-ranging system of subsidies and grants. State interference in the economy is vast. And in many ways the European Union is driven by dreams of past greatness; dreams of keeping Europe as a superpower. The result of all this is that growth in the EU is rather small compared to America and Asia."
Interesting analysis by an Icelandic economics professor who wonders why Iceland, which: "...has more growth than the EU, higher average income and enjoys certain independence and freedom, should want to join this company?"
Hat tip to The Corner.
Interesting analysis by an Icelandic economics professor who wonders why Iceland, which: "...has more growth than the EU, higher average income and enjoys certain independence and freedom, should want to join this company?"
Hat tip to The Corner.
Monday, February 21, 2005
Some pretty straight talk from the Belgian Foreign Minister on the situation in Iran.
Keep up the good work Michael., you're bringing the Peoples Republic around...
Keep up the good work Michael., you're bringing the Peoples Republic around...
Sunday, February 20, 2005
WELCOME TO BELGIUM, MR. PRESIDENT!!!
...and if you got some spare time, MFBB will be more than honoured to show you another Belgium you may not be aware of:
(some Belgian icons: clockwise the Royal Palace, the Atomium, the so-called "Giant's Grave" in the Ardennes' south and the Belfry in Bruges)
On Sunday evening February 20th, 9pm local time, President George W. Bush arrived on Brussels International Airport for a 5-day long journey to Europe. On Monday morning he and the First Lady will be welcomed by the Belgian King Albert II and his spouse Queen Paola in the Royal Palace. Later in the morning PM Verhofstadt will receive the Presidential Couple. On Monday afternoon the President will hold a "key speech" on transatlantic relations in the Concert Noble Hall, and in the evening he will meet French President Jacques Chirac on a working dinner in Brussels.
Tuesday morning he will have breakfast with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the rest of the day a dual summit with European heads of states and prime ministers and with NATO officials is scheduled. For Tuesday evening a dinner with the European Commission is planned.
On Wednesday, President Bush continues his journey to Mainz, Germany, where he will meet German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and visit US troops in the area. In the evening, he flies to the Slovak capital Bratislava where on Thursday a meeting with Russian president Putin is planned. Belgian blogger Luc Van Braekel has more (in english).
President Bush’s three-day visit to Brussels has provoked security measures hitherto unknown in Belgium. Apart from the President's own 800 security agents deployed for "close protection", Belgian police has mobilized 2,500 officers to safeguard not only the presidential convoy but also the presence of no less than 34 heads of state and prime ministers. The Crisis Centrum of the Ministry of Interior will be three days long on High Alert. Twenty-five representatives of all concerned offices (Ministry of the Interior, Foreign Ministry, Mixed Group Anti-Terrorism, State Security, Army and Police) are on standby in case anything should go wrong. The operational command of the security operation, under Brussels Corps Chief Roland Vanreusel, is situated in a bunker with undisclosed location.
Needless to say, MFBB wholeheartedly welcomes the President and his charming wife. Over the past four years, Mr. Bush has shown himself a steadfast leader who not only clearly understands the multiple - and very serious - challenges and threats facing the West, but who also took direct and resolute action in implementing measures to quell them. In doing so, he always acted with the greatest level of decency and respect to all those - and how numerous they were and are - who rejected his views and gravely insulted him.
Not so his adversaries, who kept losing themselves in whining along the sidelines. The result is that anno 2005, as we can clearly see the fruits of his policy begin to blossom, these heads of states, premiers, chancellors and presidents, political analysts, academics, "informed commenters", political contenders and the like, find themselves still trodding in the same tracks they have been standing in since 2002, repeating the same old worthless arguments and lies, while the Bush doctrine's implementation is speeding ahead and its vision of unlocking a sixty-year old stalemate in the Middle East is looking more promising day by day. Let us also not forget the large proportion of the public opinion, at home and especially abroad, who stubbornly refused to look for a moment beyond the baseless bias and the hate offensives directed at George W. Bush. They now consequently find themselves still holding positions and opinions as irrelevant as those of an earlier generation, when another Great President who neutralized the horrible threat of a Nuclear Holocaust, was mocked and spit upon.
However, do not think this unrightful distate is universal. Everywhere across the globe President Bush has his fierce supporters, and as always quality will win over quantity. Let me quote Belgian MP Gerolf Annemans of the Vlaams Belang, formerly Vlaams Blok, as he welcomes the President (translation via LVB):
I warmly welcome president Bush. You won't hear me say that I agree on everything with the man, but his policies have given the US an advantage of ten years compared to Europe. With him, the pendulum has swung in the opposite direction, away from all that is left-wing and progressive. That evolution is gradually coming to Europa too. Bush finds conservative values as important as we do, with an emphasis on the family and the own identity. [...] We don't need a new Bush: the old one wasn't bad. I agreed with the intervention in Iraq and I refuse to confirm at this time that it was an error or a failure. If Bush were Flemish, he would be welcome at Vlaams Belang.
Mr. and Mrs. Bush, enjoy your stay in Belgium!!!
MFBB
...and if you got some spare time, MFBB will be more than honoured to show you another Belgium you may not be aware of:
(some Belgian icons: clockwise the Royal Palace, the Atomium, the so-called "Giant's Grave" in the Ardennes' south and the Belfry in Bruges)
On Sunday evening February 20th, 9pm local time, President George W. Bush arrived on Brussels International Airport for a 5-day long journey to Europe. On Monday morning he and the First Lady will be welcomed by the Belgian King Albert II and his spouse Queen Paola in the Royal Palace. Later in the morning PM Verhofstadt will receive the Presidential Couple. On Monday afternoon the President will hold a "key speech" on transatlantic relations in the Concert Noble Hall, and in the evening he will meet French President Jacques Chirac on a working dinner in Brussels.
Tuesday morning he will have breakfast with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the rest of the day a dual summit with European heads of states and prime ministers and with NATO officials is scheduled. For Tuesday evening a dinner with the European Commission is planned.
On Wednesday, President Bush continues his journey to Mainz, Germany, where he will meet German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and visit US troops in the area. In the evening, he flies to the Slovak capital Bratislava where on Thursday a meeting with Russian president Putin is planned. Belgian blogger Luc Van Braekel has more (in english).
President Bush’s three-day visit to Brussels has provoked security measures hitherto unknown in Belgium. Apart from the President's own 800 security agents deployed for "close protection", Belgian police has mobilized 2,500 officers to safeguard not only the presidential convoy but also the presence of no less than 34 heads of state and prime ministers. The Crisis Centrum of the Ministry of Interior will be three days long on High Alert. Twenty-five representatives of all concerned offices (Ministry of the Interior, Foreign Ministry, Mixed Group Anti-Terrorism, State Security, Army and Police) are on standby in case anything should go wrong. The operational command of the security operation, under Brussels Corps Chief Roland Vanreusel, is situated in a bunker with undisclosed location.
Needless to say, MFBB wholeheartedly welcomes the President and his charming wife. Over the past four years, Mr. Bush has shown himself a steadfast leader who not only clearly understands the multiple - and very serious - challenges and threats facing the West, but who also took direct and resolute action in implementing measures to quell them. In doing so, he always acted with the greatest level of decency and respect to all those - and how numerous they were and are - who rejected his views and gravely insulted him.
Not so his adversaries, who kept losing themselves in whining along the sidelines. The result is that anno 2005, as we can clearly see the fruits of his policy begin to blossom, these heads of states, premiers, chancellors and presidents, political analysts, academics, "informed commenters", political contenders and the like, find themselves still trodding in the same tracks they have been standing in since 2002, repeating the same old worthless arguments and lies, while the Bush doctrine's implementation is speeding ahead and its vision of unlocking a sixty-year old stalemate in the Middle East is looking more promising day by day. Let us also not forget the large proportion of the public opinion, at home and especially abroad, who stubbornly refused to look for a moment beyond the baseless bias and the hate offensives directed at George W. Bush. They now consequently find themselves still holding positions and opinions as irrelevant as those of an earlier generation, when another Great President who neutralized the horrible threat of a Nuclear Holocaust, was mocked and spit upon.
However, do not think this unrightful distate is universal. Everywhere across the globe President Bush has his fierce supporters, and as always quality will win over quantity. Let me quote Belgian MP Gerolf Annemans of the Vlaams Belang, formerly Vlaams Blok, as he welcomes the President (translation via LVB):
I warmly welcome president Bush. You won't hear me say that I agree on everything with the man, but his policies have given the US an advantage of ten years compared to Europe. With him, the pendulum has swung in the opposite direction, away from all that is left-wing and progressive. That evolution is gradually coming to Europa too. Bush finds conservative values as important as we do, with an emphasis on the family and the own identity. [...] We don't need a new Bush: the old one wasn't bad. I agreed with the intervention in Iraq and I refuse to confirm at this time that it was an error or a failure. If Bush were Flemish, he would be welcome at Vlaams Belang.
Mr. and Mrs. Bush, enjoy your stay in Belgium!!!
MFBB
Friday, February 18, 2005
THE DANES DID THE RIGHT THING...
With all the spotlights on Iraq’s January 30 elections and their aftermath, it was easy to miss Denmark’s some ten days later. Indeed, on February 8 the Danes held Parliamentary elections and since there seem to be some remarkable conclusions to be drawn from them, MFBB thought it worthwile to head cybernorthwards.
a.) Results of the elections
First the results: they were convincingly won by Denmarks sitting PM Anders Fogh Rasmussen and his Center-Right/Conservative coalition.
The CNN article, released on February 8, still estimates that Denmark’s Right, consisting of Rasmussen’s own Liberal Venstre (V) Party (mind you, in Europe, "liberal" means center-right), the nationalist Dansk Folkeparti (DF) and the conservative Konservative Folkeparti (KF), will win 96 seats in the 179-seat Danish Parliament, the Folketing.
This recent table however gives such an alliance, were it to form, 94 seats instead of 96 (V + DF + KF = 52 + 24 + 18 = 94). 94 seats in a 179-strong Parliament constitutes still a majority of course.
On the left side of the political spectrum, we see that the opposition consisting mainly of the socialist Socialistik Folkeparti (SF) and the social democratic Socialdemokratiet i Danmark (SD), will likely win no more than some 80 seats. Indeed, so disappointing were February 8’s results for Denmark’s left, that Mogens Lykketoft, chairman of the Social Democrats (SD), was quoted as saying: (Rasmussen's government) "had a much stronger impact that we have been able to have".
(To the left, winner Anders Fogh Rasmussen. To the right, loser and Trotsky-lookalike Mogens Lykketoft)
b.) Topics which failed to help the left
Well, what has gone wrong for the Left in Denmark? After all, Rasmussen has since the beginning been a staunch backer of the US-led war in Iraq, with its DANCON/IRAQ Mission, sending (and keeping) a small but valuable 500-odd strong Battalion to Iraq, which operates south of Basra under British command (see annex 2). Moreover, Danish officers help train Iraqi soldiers under NATO aegis.
Then there is the fact that Rasmussens minority government (12 Liberals and six Conservatives, again notice "liberal" means centre-right over here) during its tenure leaned heavily on the parlementarian support of the nationalist Dansk Folkeparti – an outfit which, with its emphasis on honouring Danish traditions and a fierce anti-immigration stance is not done for Denmark’s PC crowd. Alas for them, Niels Q in the street didn’t mind Venstre and KF buddying up with DF’s nationalists.
There is another aspect seemingly in favour of the left, one that too often gets overlooked and one which my fellow Flemish blogger (from Norway!) Hoegin made me aware of: it seems that Rasmussens first measures upon entering office in 2001 was dismantling a gazillion public commissions whose main purposes seem to have been offering "progressives" a "job" while they performed "culture and education-related work" and drafted society-critical analyses while sitting on their warm asses in cozy airconditioned offices and eating Danish butter cookies. As could be expected Rasmussen caused a leftist uproar sending the tree huggers home, but again Niels Q did not seem to care.
c.) What made Rasmussen tick?
So, what made Rasmussen tick? Like Slick Willy, one could point to the economy, as indeed the Rasmussen crew has been a reliable steward to Denmark’s economy, which is expected to grow 2.4% this year (a really good result in Euroland). But then again, this fact is somewhat overshadowed by the unemployment figure which has risen to 6.2% from a 25-year low of 5% in 2002 (mind you, this is all still quite low for a European country!).
Personally, I think that Rasmussen has been cleverly able to walk the thin line between winning the Danes over to the viewpoint that at least some unpleasant adjustments in cradle-to-grave state care WILL have to be made and at the same time convincing them his government is NOT bent on demolishing the welfare state tout court. In a country with a declining birth rate and with care for the elderly a no.1 topic, as a poll showed, he can’t do that. Keep in mind too that, after all, Rasmussens Venstre Party is a "Liberal" Party, which in Europe means Centre-Right (often with leftist ethics). So while Venstre is pro-business and pro-free market and all that, it is also pro-welfare and, to some degree, even environmentalist.
However, in my opinion the principal reason for Rasmussens victory is his tough handling of the Immigration issue, which like everywhere else in Europe is causing great trouble. I am not going to elaborate on the problems caused by immigrants. You know about some of my earlier posts, and possibly you read LGF. I’m not a hatemonger but I guess the most honest contribution to the immigrant issue is calling a spade a spade and acknowledge that the immigrant influx and its no-questions-asked poor handling by authorities is causing a lot of problems. To cut a long story short, Rasmussen understood from the start full well the issue surpassed the capabilities of the existing Ministry of Interior and created a whole new Ministry of Refugees, Immigrants and Integration under Liberal MEP Bertel Haarder. Haarder’s Office took, it must be said, a very tough approach, causing even an EU Commissioner to liken it to Human Rights violations. For instance, in Europe one of the reasons for the seemingly unstoppable flow of immigrants is the so-called Family Reunification. In short it means that if as an immigrant you’ve been staying here for quite some time and are naturalized, you can let family members from the land of origion come over, who can then become citizens much more easily.
No more in Denmark. Here are some of the tough measures taken to limit family reunification:
* higher minimum age for marriages with foreign partners (24 years)
* higher bail (50,000 Danish Kronen – FYI, the Danes did NOT enter the Eurozone)
* the requirement that the ties of a pair with Denmark, taken together, must be greater than with another land. This requirement essentially excludes naturalised Danes from marriage with a partner from the country of origin or another country. If you think this is harsh, then ask yourself why such a harsh policy was adopted in a country which until recently was almost as ultraliberal as The Netherlands.
* lowerment of the maximum age of children to apply for family reunification (from 18 years to 14 years)
These measures have led to a sharp decline of family reunifications in Denmark. Where in 2001 the number was still 10,950, by 2003 it had dropped to 4791, a decrease of 56%.
As for the Integration chapter:
* newcomers get an introduction programme language and culture
* those who refuse to follow the programme get their benefit slashed
* results of the integration lessons are transferred to the Danish Immigration Service and play a role in granting permanent residence papers (it lasts 7 years before you get these)
I could also cite the passing of a law forbidding Radical Imams entrance to Denmark. Indeed, too often (almost always?) imported Imams, not inclined to learn Danish, tend to preach anti-western hate sermons. Again, this law would not have been put into effect had there been no need for it.
As an afterthought, there’s no gloves-on approach either in the issue of the headscarf in working places. Unfortunately, the headscarf is all over Europe becoming a sign not only of being different but also of being superior. That’s why a Denmark court ruled that a supermarket employee was not allowed to wear a headscarf at work. (Personally, I think that in public and in private enterprises the choice should be free, but in state buildings and institutions headscarves should be banned)
d.) Final thoughts and conclusions on the Danish Right Wing victory
* It is a sign that, where Europe has been overwhelmingly leftist over the past decades, an undeniable shift to the right is taking place
* The shift to the right is until now carried mostly by tough anti-immigration policies as advocated by the right, not yet by a desire for more conservative ethics
* Most European politicians (even leftists, see Germany’s Schroeder) begin to understand that the welfare state is not tenable. The population does not yet. So the measures taken are still more streamlining than slashing exercises.
Personally, I’d rather like to see the shift to the right carried by a renewed appeal of conservative values. That is not yet the case. Still, any issue that draws support away from the Left – even if it is basically a negative issue, in this case problems caused by immigration – is a welcome development for Europe. What I would call a positive incitement towards a "Righter" Europe is, say, a realization among Europeans that they are able to take matters, personal matters, in their own hand (vs. the humiliation of having to live off state benefits, which ultimately leads to depressed unproud citizens, the French being good examples). See also this nice related TechCentralStation column Allowing Familes vs. Family Allowances by Kamila Pajer.
MFBB
ANNEX 1. Denmark 101
Goss sent me some basic info: with its roughly 43,000 square kloms, Denmark is the smallest of the four Scandinavian countries. Its mainland, called Jutland, juts out like a peninsula from te north of Germany, with which it has a land border of only 68 kloms. But its two main islands Sjaelland and Fyn plus a crazy smorgasbord of numerous smaller ones ultimately give it a coastline of some 7,400 kloms! Denmarks population is 5,413,392 (as of July 2004), its capital is Copenhagen with its famous mermaid landmark. Denmark is a constitutional monarchy and has a unicameral Parliament. A modern agricultural industry is the mainstay of Denmarks economy, although there’s also state-of-the-art food processing, machinery and equipment, electronics and chemical industry. And the Danes are real aces in generating electricity through windpower. One of the best known Danish companies in this field is Vestas.
Denmark has a GDP of some 170 billion US$ and a remarkably low debt (for a European country), only 45% of GDP. Although it did meet the criteria for joining the Eurozone, its citizens in a referendum chose not to, which is why the Danes still use their Krone instead of the euro.
General info here, a good and brief overview of Denmark’s history here.
ANNEX 2. DANCON/IRAQ
Possibly very few know that Denmark too was militarily involved in Operation Iraqi Freedom – although I wonder what good use the sole submarine the Danish Navy sent may have had. It was not until June 2nd, 2003, before, within the framework of the DANCON (Danish Contingent) Mission, actual foot soldiers arrived in Iraq, although they were the first of those who did not fight alongside US and UK troops. The DANCON Mission comprises one 460-strong battalion plus a Lithuanian (!) 50-strong platoon. (I’m not sure if the Lithuanians are still included in the current total of 500). The battalion consists of a HQ and Support Company, a Recce Company and a Mechanized Infantry Company. The HQ and Support Coy, which draws most of its personnel of the Prinsens Livregiment, consists of Battalion HQ, a logistics platoon, an engineers platoon, an MP platoon, a medical platoon, an EOD Section and a signals detachment.
The Reconnaissance Company has a HQ and three recce platoons, each of which has 7 MOWAG Eagle I armoured Humvee-like vehicles. As the 7.62mm MG3 machinegun on top of it is not even protected by a shield they are rather patrol vehicles. The recce company’s parent unit is the Guard Hussars Regiment.
(MOWAG Eagle I recce vehicles. Note that the MG3 on top is basically still a WWII-era weapon, in casu the German MG42/45!)
The Mechanized Infantry Company consist of company HQ with two M133G3 APC’s and three platoons of mechanized infantry equipped each with three M113’s and six Merceds Benz scout cars. The M113’s are armed with a 12.7mm M2 HB machinegun each. In addition there’s the Lithuanian platoon, which also has M113’s and Mercedes scout cars.
(M113G3 APC's. Note the passive add-on armor, which, at least on photo, looks like the Rafael armour added to Marine Amtraks.
(Info from Combat & Survival, April 2004)
With all the spotlights on Iraq’s January 30 elections and their aftermath, it was easy to miss Denmark’s some ten days later. Indeed, on February 8 the Danes held Parliamentary elections and since there seem to be some remarkable conclusions to be drawn from them, MFBB thought it worthwile to head cybernorthwards.
a.) Results of the elections
First the results: they were convincingly won by Denmarks sitting PM Anders Fogh Rasmussen and his Center-Right/Conservative coalition.
The CNN article, released on February 8, still estimates that Denmark’s Right, consisting of Rasmussen’s own Liberal Venstre (V) Party (mind you, in Europe, "liberal" means center-right), the nationalist Dansk Folkeparti (DF) and the conservative Konservative Folkeparti (KF), will win 96 seats in the 179-seat Danish Parliament, the Folketing.
This recent table however gives such an alliance, were it to form, 94 seats instead of 96 (V + DF + KF = 52 + 24 + 18 = 94). 94 seats in a 179-strong Parliament constitutes still a majority of course.
On the left side of the political spectrum, we see that the opposition consisting mainly of the socialist Socialistik Folkeparti (SF) and the social democratic Socialdemokratiet i Danmark (SD), will likely win no more than some 80 seats. Indeed, so disappointing were February 8’s results for Denmark’s left, that Mogens Lykketoft, chairman of the Social Democrats (SD), was quoted as saying: (Rasmussen's government) "had a much stronger impact that we have been able to have".
(To the left, winner Anders Fogh Rasmussen. To the right, loser and Trotsky-lookalike Mogens Lykketoft)
b.) Topics which failed to help the left
Well, what has gone wrong for the Left in Denmark? After all, Rasmussen has since the beginning been a staunch backer of the US-led war in Iraq, with its DANCON/IRAQ Mission, sending (and keeping) a small but valuable 500-odd strong Battalion to Iraq, which operates south of Basra under British command (see annex 2). Moreover, Danish officers help train Iraqi soldiers under NATO aegis.
Then there is the fact that Rasmussens minority government (12 Liberals and six Conservatives, again notice "liberal" means centre-right over here) during its tenure leaned heavily on the parlementarian support of the nationalist Dansk Folkeparti – an outfit which, with its emphasis on honouring Danish traditions and a fierce anti-immigration stance is not done for Denmark’s PC crowd. Alas for them, Niels Q in the street didn’t mind Venstre and KF buddying up with DF’s nationalists.
There is another aspect seemingly in favour of the left, one that too often gets overlooked and one which my fellow Flemish blogger (from Norway!) Hoegin made me aware of: it seems that Rasmussens first measures upon entering office in 2001 was dismantling a gazillion public commissions whose main purposes seem to have been offering "progressives" a "job" while they performed "culture and education-related work" and drafted society-critical analyses while sitting on their warm asses in cozy airconditioned offices and eating Danish butter cookies. As could be expected Rasmussen caused a leftist uproar sending the tree huggers home, but again Niels Q did not seem to care.
c.) What made Rasmussen tick?
So, what made Rasmussen tick? Like Slick Willy, one could point to the economy, as indeed the Rasmussen crew has been a reliable steward to Denmark’s economy, which is expected to grow 2.4% this year (a really good result in Euroland). But then again, this fact is somewhat overshadowed by the unemployment figure which has risen to 6.2% from a 25-year low of 5% in 2002 (mind you, this is all still quite low for a European country!).
Personally, I think that Rasmussen has been cleverly able to walk the thin line between winning the Danes over to the viewpoint that at least some unpleasant adjustments in cradle-to-grave state care WILL have to be made and at the same time convincing them his government is NOT bent on demolishing the welfare state tout court. In a country with a declining birth rate and with care for the elderly a no.1 topic, as a poll showed, he can’t do that. Keep in mind too that, after all, Rasmussens Venstre Party is a "Liberal" Party, which in Europe means Centre-Right (often with leftist ethics). So while Venstre is pro-business and pro-free market and all that, it is also pro-welfare and, to some degree, even environmentalist.
However, in my opinion the principal reason for Rasmussens victory is his tough handling of the Immigration issue, which like everywhere else in Europe is causing great trouble. I am not going to elaborate on the problems caused by immigrants. You know about some of my earlier posts, and possibly you read LGF. I’m not a hatemonger but I guess the most honest contribution to the immigrant issue is calling a spade a spade and acknowledge that the immigrant influx and its no-questions-asked poor handling by authorities is causing a lot of problems. To cut a long story short, Rasmussen understood from the start full well the issue surpassed the capabilities of the existing Ministry of Interior and created a whole new Ministry of Refugees, Immigrants and Integration under Liberal MEP Bertel Haarder. Haarder’s Office took, it must be said, a very tough approach, causing even an EU Commissioner to liken it to Human Rights violations. For instance, in Europe one of the reasons for the seemingly unstoppable flow of immigrants is the so-called Family Reunification. In short it means that if as an immigrant you’ve been staying here for quite some time and are naturalized, you can let family members from the land of origion come over, who can then become citizens much more easily.
No more in Denmark. Here are some of the tough measures taken to limit family reunification:
* higher minimum age for marriages with foreign partners (24 years)
* higher bail (50,000 Danish Kronen – FYI, the Danes did NOT enter the Eurozone)
* the requirement that the ties of a pair with Denmark, taken together, must be greater than with another land. This requirement essentially excludes naturalised Danes from marriage with a partner from the country of origin or another country. If you think this is harsh, then ask yourself why such a harsh policy was adopted in a country which until recently was almost as ultraliberal as The Netherlands.
* lowerment of the maximum age of children to apply for family reunification (from 18 years to 14 years)
These measures have led to a sharp decline of family reunifications in Denmark. Where in 2001 the number was still 10,950, by 2003 it had dropped to 4791, a decrease of 56%.
As for the Integration chapter:
* newcomers get an introduction programme language and culture
* those who refuse to follow the programme get their benefit slashed
* results of the integration lessons are transferred to the Danish Immigration Service and play a role in granting permanent residence papers (it lasts 7 years before you get these)
I could also cite the passing of a law forbidding Radical Imams entrance to Denmark. Indeed, too often (almost always?) imported Imams, not inclined to learn Danish, tend to preach anti-western hate sermons. Again, this law would not have been put into effect had there been no need for it.
As an afterthought, there’s no gloves-on approach either in the issue of the headscarf in working places. Unfortunately, the headscarf is all over Europe becoming a sign not only of being different but also of being superior. That’s why a Denmark court ruled that a supermarket employee was not allowed to wear a headscarf at work. (Personally, I think that in public and in private enterprises the choice should be free, but in state buildings and institutions headscarves should be banned)
d.) Final thoughts and conclusions on the Danish Right Wing victory
* It is a sign that, where Europe has been overwhelmingly leftist over the past decades, an undeniable shift to the right is taking place
* The shift to the right is until now carried mostly by tough anti-immigration policies as advocated by the right, not yet by a desire for more conservative ethics
* Most European politicians (even leftists, see Germany’s Schroeder) begin to understand that the welfare state is not tenable. The population does not yet. So the measures taken are still more streamlining than slashing exercises.
Personally, I’d rather like to see the shift to the right carried by a renewed appeal of conservative values. That is not yet the case. Still, any issue that draws support away from the Left – even if it is basically a negative issue, in this case problems caused by immigration – is a welcome development for Europe. What I would call a positive incitement towards a "Righter" Europe is, say, a realization among Europeans that they are able to take matters, personal matters, in their own hand (vs. the humiliation of having to live off state benefits, which ultimately leads to depressed unproud citizens, the French being good examples). See also this nice related TechCentralStation column Allowing Familes vs. Family Allowances by Kamila Pajer.
MFBB
ANNEX 1. Denmark 101
Goss sent me some basic info: with its roughly 43,000 square kloms, Denmark is the smallest of the four Scandinavian countries. Its mainland, called Jutland, juts out like a peninsula from te north of Germany, with which it has a land border of only 68 kloms. But its two main islands Sjaelland and Fyn plus a crazy smorgasbord of numerous smaller ones ultimately give it a coastline of some 7,400 kloms! Denmarks population is 5,413,392 (as of July 2004), its capital is Copenhagen with its famous mermaid landmark. Denmark is a constitutional monarchy and has a unicameral Parliament. A modern agricultural industry is the mainstay of Denmarks economy, although there’s also state-of-the-art food processing, machinery and equipment, electronics and chemical industry. And the Danes are real aces in generating electricity through windpower. One of the best known Danish companies in this field is Vestas.
Denmark has a GDP of some 170 billion US$ and a remarkably low debt (for a European country), only 45% of GDP. Although it did meet the criteria for joining the Eurozone, its citizens in a referendum chose not to, which is why the Danes still use their Krone instead of the euro.
General info here, a good and brief overview of Denmark’s history here.
ANNEX 2. DANCON/IRAQ
Possibly very few know that Denmark too was militarily involved in Operation Iraqi Freedom – although I wonder what good use the sole submarine the Danish Navy sent may have had. It was not until June 2nd, 2003, before, within the framework of the DANCON (Danish Contingent) Mission, actual foot soldiers arrived in Iraq, although they were the first of those who did not fight alongside US and UK troops. The DANCON Mission comprises one 460-strong battalion plus a Lithuanian (!) 50-strong platoon. (I’m not sure if the Lithuanians are still included in the current total of 500). The battalion consists of a HQ and Support Company, a Recce Company and a Mechanized Infantry Company. The HQ and Support Coy, which draws most of its personnel of the Prinsens Livregiment, consists of Battalion HQ, a logistics platoon, an engineers platoon, an MP platoon, a medical platoon, an EOD Section and a signals detachment.
The Reconnaissance Company has a HQ and three recce platoons, each of which has 7 MOWAG Eagle I armoured Humvee-like vehicles. As the 7.62mm MG3 machinegun on top of it is not even protected by a shield they are rather patrol vehicles. The recce company’s parent unit is the Guard Hussars Regiment.
(MOWAG Eagle I recce vehicles. Note that the MG3 on top is basically still a WWII-era weapon, in casu the German MG42/45!)
The Mechanized Infantry Company consist of company HQ with two M133G3 APC’s and three platoons of mechanized infantry equipped each with three M113’s and six Merceds Benz scout cars. The M113’s are armed with a 12.7mm M2 HB machinegun each. In addition there’s the Lithuanian platoon, which also has M113’s and Mercedes scout cars.
(M113G3 APC's. Note the passive add-on armor, which, at least on photo, looks like the Rafael armour added to Marine Amtraks.
(Info from Combat & Survival, April 2004)
Monday, February 14, 2005
Attack of the Belgians Part I
"There's nothing better than a game of golf, is there, Agent Smith?"
"I wouldn't know, President Bush," Secret Service Agent Smith answered, "I've never played. I just stand here in the sun and watch you. Rather asinine, if you ask me."
"Yep, nothing better than a good game of golf," Bush said as he adjusted his cowboy hat, and then prepared for a swing.
"President Bush!" yelled out a voice.
Startled, Bush screwed up his swing, sending his ball into the brush. "Grrr!" Bush yelled, "Agent Smith, whoever just messed up my shot I want you to inject him in the neck with that stuff that makes it look like he had a heart attack."
"That stuff ain't cheap, sir," Agent Smith reminded him.
"It was I who called out your name," said a sinister figure, "Chief Floopergibble of the Belgian international police force." More men in black uniforms emerged from the brush. "I, under the authority of Belgium, am placing you under arrest for lying about WMD's and having an illegal war with Iraq."
Thursday, February 10, 2005
MR. SCHNABEL ON US/EU RELATIONS.
Belgium has three US Ambassadors. Indeed, both NATO HQ and the EU Commission – say, Europes government – have their premises in Brussels, and maintaining diplomatic contacts with and the Belgian state and these entities has been considered from the beginning as too daunting a task to be entrusted to one ambassador. That is why there are:
a.) a US Ambassador to Belgium
This is Mr. Tom C. Korologos, who was sworn in as Ambassador to the Kingdom of Belgium on June 30, 2004 by the Chief Justice of the United States, Mr. Rehnquist. He is the 29th Ambassador of the United States to Belgium.
Mr. Korologos has ample experience as a senior staff member in the White House and as an assistant to two US Presidents, besides being an accomplished businessman. Iraq keeps coming back to us, since his most recent assignment was in that country, where he served under L. Paul Bremer as a senior counsellor to the CPA (Coalition Provisional Authority).
b.) a US Ambassador to NATO.
Mr. Nicholas Burns is the United States Permanent Representative to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a post he holds since August 8, 2001. As such, he heads the combined State-Defense Department U.S. Mission to NATO, which promotes U.S. interests on the full range of Alliance issues, including NATO’s peacekeeping operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Bosnia and Kosovo, counter-terrorism, missile defense, relations with Russia and Partners, and NATO’s relations with the European Union.
Under President George H.W. Bush, he was Director for Soviet Affairs and specialized on economic issues. Under President Clinton, he also served for five years (1990-1995) on the National Security Staff at the White House. In 1997 he became Ambassador to Greece, a post he held until 2001.
c.) a US Ambassador to the European Union.
The US’s Third Ambassador in Belgium is, imho, the most important one, and his function will only gain importance in the years ahead. We are talking about Mr. Rockwell Schnabel, a successful former businessman who supported Ronald Reagan to become governor of California and who subsequently served Reagan as President as well as his successor George H.W. Bush. In 2000 the current President asked Mr. Schnabel to become US Ambassador to the EU, on which he agreed.
I intend to give you now the gist of an interview with Mr. Schnabel as it was published in a Belgian newspaper. The Ambassador being of Dutch descent, this interview took place in that language, but knowing how proficient you all are in the Talk of the Land of Wooden Shoes I preferred to present the summary in English. Here goes:
Currently, Mr. Schnabels Office is frantically preparing President Bush’s visit to Brussels on February 21-23. As Mr. Schnabel stated, the emphasis will be on Europe, on the European Union. "Naturally" the President will also go to NATO because that is the Transatlantic Organization America is part of. And he will also meet the Belgian authorities. But the focal point of the visit will be the European institutions: the Council, the Commission, the Presidency currently under Luxemburgs aegis.
Mr. Schnabel said that the EU gains importance with every passing day or hour. A lot of issues once considered improbable have over the past decades been realised: the internal market and a unified currency e.g., furthermore there is the upcoming Constitution for which President Bush, according to the Ambassador, has shown intense interest. He also asserts that, whereas earlier (American) generations doubted the European project, now they realize that the Europe of 25 nations is a fact, and that decisionmaking once considered the realm of national authorities is shifting towards Brussels.
When Mr. Schnabel then asserts that the US thinks this is considered in the US a positive development, I guess he’s trying to soothe the interviewer and the readers. Asked to back up this claim, he arguments that if the US understands well how Europe functions and if it can work with the EU in a partnership, it will be easier to cooperate with one entitiy instead of with 25 countries. "Together we account for 60% of the world economy. This means we can address global problems like poverty and trade issues together (e.g. in the Doha talks, MFBB), and we can let ourselves be heard toether in the WTO."
The ambassador then reflects on a number of what I would call – in the context of a powerful US/EU alliance – details. Contemporary details, such as the role of American and European industry in stabilizing political tensions. I certainly don’t follow Mr. Schabel when he says that what the EU has done to avoid armed conlflicts (is he talking about he Balkan?) is "fabulous". When confronted with the interviewers' assertion "that George W. Bush is seen in Europe as the first American president who worked actively against European integration", the Ambassador responded that this perception is based on several decisions on which the Europeans disagreed: Iraq, Kyoto, steeel tariffs etc…
I found the most interesting quote from the interview the one with which it ended: upon asked whether an evermore stronger and unified Europe will not lead to a more competitive and antagonistic relationship, Mr. Schabel answered that if Europe is strong and powerful, that automatically bodes well for the US. "There will be competition, but the US have never been afraid of that". He then goes on saying that American companies are used to a merciless competition, and that they are not scared they couldn’t handle European companies. But they ask a level playing field. They want to be able to compete in Europe on the same basis as their European counterparts. Americans think that a strong competition is good, because it is an incentive to do better still. "The more prosperous and competitive Europe becomes, the better it is for us". The Ambassador then pointed out that the level playing field works in both directions, citing Airbus’s example which in a contract for the US Air Force is a contender for Boeing. Final words: "And possibly even the President flies soon in a helicopter not built in the US. Bush does not distrust Europe, of good relations with his European allies he as made one of his four priorites for his second term."
I wholeheartedly agree with Mr. Schnabel. As those of you who have followed this blog over the past year know, I am very much in favour of a strong Europe as one nation state modelled on the USA. In my view this implies a superstate with key responsibilities shifted away from the national to the supranational level. In other words, Europe becoming one political, economic, monetary entity with own defense capabilities.
But… I'd equally glad like to see it as an ally of the United States. It is easy to discern in today’s world the trends which will lead to tomorrow’s realities. Everywhere on the planet bloc-forming is on the rise. We see it in South America, where key countries are getting geared together in an economic union, the Mercosur, just as happened in Europe fifty years ago with the ECCS. We see it in the Pacific, where Japan has ambitions to lead a union opposing the emerging superpower China, which is a bloc of its own. Taking all these developments together, it simply isn’t logical to assume – and expect – that Europe should stall in its tracks now, somewhere halfway the grand unification project, like an Empire State Building stopped at 250 meters with elevator shafts leading to open air. As it is, I think that in the multipolarized world that is certainly coming, the United States of America and the United States of Europe will automatically gravitate towards each other, given their unique relationship. Indeed, no other two blocs on this planet are more alike and share a set of common values and a history and culture so entwined: neither a Latin-American blog vs., say, India, nor China vs. an Asian bloc under Japan’s leadership. In tomorrow’s world, so I hope, all the differences of the past can be forgotten and both partners will find themselves in a Grand Transatlantic Alliance.
Belgium has three US Ambassadors. Indeed, both NATO HQ and the EU Commission – say, Europes government – have their premises in Brussels, and maintaining diplomatic contacts with and the Belgian state and these entities has been considered from the beginning as too daunting a task to be entrusted to one ambassador. That is why there are:
a.) a US Ambassador to Belgium
This is Mr. Tom C. Korologos, who was sworn in as Ambassador to the Kingdom of Belgium on June 30, 2004 by the Chief Justice of the United States, Mr. Rehnquist. He is the 29th Ambassador of the United States to Belgium.
Mr. Korologos has ample experience as a senior staff member in the White House and as an assistant to two US Presidents, besides being an accomplished businessman. Iraq keeps coming back to us, since his most recent assignment was in that country, where he served under L. Paul Bremer as a senior counsellor to the CPA (Coalition Provisional Authority).
b.) a US Ambassador to NATO.
Mr. Nicholas Burns is the United States Permanent Representative to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a post he holds since August 8, 2001. As such, he heads the combined State-Defense Department U.S. Mission to NATO, which promotes U.S. interests on the full range of Alliance issues, including NATO’s peacekeeping operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Bosnia and Kosovo, counter-terrorism, missile defense, relations with Russia and Partners, and NATO’s relations with the European Union.
Under President George H.W. Bush, he was Director for Soviet Affairs and specialized on economic issues. Under President Clinton, he also served for five years (1990-1995) on the National Security Staff at the White House. In 1997 he became Ambassador to Greece, a post he held until 2001.
c.) a US Ambassador to the European Union.
The US’s Third Ambassador in Belgium is, imho, the most important one, and his function will only gain importance in the years ahead. We are talking about Mr. Rockwell Schnabel, a successful former businessman who supported Ronald Reagan to become governor of California and who subsequently served Reagan as President as well as his successor George H.W. Bush. In 2000 the current President asked Mr. Schnabel to become US Ambassador to the EU, on which he agreed.
I intend to give you now the gist of an interview with Mr. Schnabel as it was published in a Belgian newspaper. The Ambassador being of Dutch descent, this interview took place in that language, but knowing how proficient you all are in the Talk of the Land of Wooden Shoes I preferred to present the summary in English. Here goes:
Currently, Mr. Schnabels Office is frantically preparing President Bush’s visit to Brussels on February 21-23. As Mr. Schnabel stated, the emphasis will be on Europe, on the European Union. "Naturally" the President will also go to NATO because that is the Transatlantic Organization America is part of. And he will also meet the Belgian authorities. But the focal point of the visit will be the European institutions: the Council, the Commission, the Presidency currently under Luxemburgs aegis.
Mr. Schnabel said that the EU gains importance with every passing day or hour. A lot of issues once considered improbable have over the past decades been realised: the internal market and a unified currency e.g., furthermore there is the upcoming Constitution for which President Bush, according to the Ambassador, has shown intense interest. He also asserts that, whereas earlier (American) generations doubted the European project, now they realize that the Europe of 25 nations is a fact, and that decisionmaking once considered the realm of national authorities is shifting towards Brussels.
When Mr. Schnabel then asserts that the US thinks this is considered in the US a positive development, I guess he’s trying to soothe the interviewer and the readers. Asked to back up this claim, he arguments that if the US understands well how Europe functions and if it can work with the EU in a partnership, it will be easier to cooperate with one entitiy instead of with 25 countries. "Together we account for 60% of the world economy. This means we can address global problems like poverty and trade issues together (e.g. in the Doha talks, MFBB), and we can let ourselves be heard toether in the WTO."
The ambassador then reflects on a number of what I would call – in the context of a powerful US/EU alliance – details. Contemporary details, such as the role of American and European industry in stabilizing political tensions. I certainly don’t follow Mr. Schabel when he says that what the EU has done to avoid armed conlflicts (is he talking about he Balkan?) is "fabulous". When confronted with the interviewers' assertion "that George W. Bush is seen in Europe as the first American president who worked actively against European integration", the Ambassador responded that this perception is based on several decisions on which the Europeans disagreed: Iraq, Kyoto, steeel tariffs etc…
I found the most interesting quote from the interview the one with which it ended: upon asked whether an evermore stronger and unified Europe will not lead to a more competitive and antagonistic relationship, Mr. Schabel answered that if Europe is strong and powerful, that automatically bodes well for the US. "There will be competition, but the US have never been afraid of that". He then goes on saying that American companies are used to a merciless competition, and that they are not scared they couldn’t handle European companies. But they ask a level playing field. They want to be able to compete in Europe on the same basis as their European counterparts. Americans think that a strong competition is good, because it is an incentive to do better still. "The more prosperous and competitive Europe becomes, the better it is for us". The Ambassador then pointed out that the level playing field works in both directions, citing Airbus’s example which in a contract for the US Air Force is a contender for Boeing. Final words: "And possibly even the President flies soon in a helicopter not built in the US. Bush does not distrust Europe, of good relations with his European allies he as made one of his four priorites for his second term."
I wholeheartedly agree with Mr. Schnabel. As those of you who have followed this blog over the past year know, I am very much in favour of a strong Europe as one nation state modelled on the USA. In my view this implies a superstate with key responsibilities shifted away from the national to the supranational level. In other words, Europe becoming one political, economic, monetary entity with own defense capabilities.
But… I'd equally glad like to see it as an ally of the United States. It is easy to discern in today’s world the trends which will lead to tomorrow’s realities. Everywhere on the planet bloc-forming is on the rise. We see it in South America, where key countries are getting geared together in an economic union, the Mercosur, just as happened in Europe fifty years ago with the ECCS. We see it in the Pacific, where Japan has ambitions to lead a union opposing the emerging superpower China, which is a bloc of its own. Taking all these developments together, it simply isn’t logical to assume – and expect – that Europe should stall in its tracks now, somewhere halfway the grand unification project, like an Empire State Building stopped at 250 meters with elevator shafts leading to open air. As it is, I think that in the multipolarized world that is certainly coming, the United States of America and the United States of Europe will automatically gravitate towards each other, given their unique relationship. Indeed, no other two blocs on this planet are more alike and share a set of common values and a history and culture so entwined: neither a Latin-American blog vs., say, India, nor China vs. an Asian bloc under Japan’s leadership. In tomorrow’s world, so I hope, all the differences of the past can be forgotten and both partners will find themselves in a Grand Transatlantic Alliance.
Saturday, February 05, 2005
GET MFBB SOME DRAMAMINE PLEASE. HE FEELS KIND OF SICK...
On Friday January 28, two Dutch students at the Cals College in IJsselstein, The Netherlands, were more or less prohibited by the School Principal to sport any longer Dutch flags on their school bags. 16-year old Patrick Balk and his pal Mark De Mooij were summoned to the Principal’s Office where they heard that they "should seriously consider" to remove the Dutch tricolore from their backpacks "because it could offend their Moroccan co-students". Both students took that as a prohibition.
The whole case was reported duly in Dutch press and on the Internet, a.o. by Dutch Blogger DutchReport, and has caused quite a row in the small kingdom on the North Sea. Cals College is a so-called VMBO school, which stands for "Voorbereidend Middelbaar en Beroeps Onderwijs", loosely translated as "preliminary secondary and crafts education" school, and counts a large proportion of pupils of Moroccan descent.
Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, Hollands largest, had the scoop of the story and immediately thereafter "angry" readers reactions poured in. "Angry", because according to MFBB they actually sound rather pussy. Here follow just a few:
"We do happen to live in Holland. Just a few moments more and you are afraid to come up for your country". – Koos Boer, Zoetermeer
I am showing discriminating behaviour if I say that I love The Netherlands. So if I swear an oath of allegiance to the Dutch Flag, I am a racist?" – Roel Meisters
"And the Wilhelmus? (Dutch national anthem, MFBB’s note) Can we still sing it? And the boys in the Army? Do they also have to rip off the Dutch badge on their uniforms? Total insanity." - a reader.
Yawn. Whatever. Anyways, in the Dutch Tweede Kamer, half of Hollands Parliament, Dutch MPs reacted astonished. "I took notice of this fact with the greatest amazement. How can the Dutch flag be provocative?" asked VVD MP Arno Visser. PvdA MP Mariëtte Hamer called the flag stroy "weird". "It is indeed very difficult to react on an incident, but if the school’s only reason is the argument of possible provocation, I call that heavily over the top".
The Center-right VVD party however thinks that the student's parents and the School Board should sit around the table to appease, erm, discuss the question. "We should not meddle in this" thinks Visser. Christian Democratic MP Jan De Vries (CDA) does not want to react on the incident. "This is a school issue", he says. "We should not meddle in this."
Yeah, right. We should not meddle in this. Well, go on not meddling in this pal. According to De Telegraaf there are more schools in The Netherlands where the use of the Dutch flag on clothing, shoolbags, hats etc. is prohibited "so as not to offend the local populace... oops, the pupils of Moroccan descent". A.o. in the Groene Hart Lyceum in Alphen aan de Rijn, a school denying access to students wearing Dutch flags on their clothing or bags. The Groene Lyceum staff says this ruling is necessary because of the new social climate. "Prohibition is a great word", they say, "but we do this in consent with the pupils". The Moroccan pupils, you mean?
Sigh. Anyway, using his nucular-powered kryptonitic nanodefibrillitational Search Device MFBB was able to track ONE Dutch MP who thought the Secretary of Education, Van Der Hoeven, should meddle in this: breakaway former VVD MP Geert Wilders, who sits as an independent in Dutch Parliament and has established his own party, the Groep Wilders. On this site, you can see several parliamentary questions Mr. Wilders has asked the Education Secreatry:
1.) Did you take notice of the fact that a student of the Cals College in IJsselstein has had to remove the Dutch flag from his schoolbag because, according to the school staff, students of Moroccan descent could interpret these flags as a provocation?
2.) Do you agree that the use of our flag cannot be prohibited? Do you further agree that such a prohibition is sheer nonsense? Do you agree that it is sheer and utter nonsense that the use of the Dutch flag is likely to offend people of Moroccan descent?
3.) Are you prepared to take actions so as to avoid a prohibition on the use of the Dutch flag, including on schools, and to guarantee that the prohibition on the Cals College is annulled and that similar incidents cannot take place anymore and that, should they still occur, be dealt with immediately?
Unfortunately, this Dutch balls-equipped MP is the one who has had to go into hiding in October 2004 because he was threatened with execution by the International Stalinists, had to walk around with four bodyguards and ride in an armoured car out of fear for Islamic extremsits, had to vacate his premises in the city of Utrecht because he no longer felt safe among the large community of foreign nationals in his neighborhood, and was sported on the MSN website of Tawheed Wal Jihad as an infidel who should be killed because he had ridiculed Islam. Happy thoughts to you.
MFBB
On Friday January 28, two Dutch students at the Cals College in IJsselstein, The Netherlands, were more or less prohibited by the School Principal to sport any longer Dutch flags on their school bags. 16-year old Patrick Balk and his pal Mark De Mooij were summoned to the Principal’s Office where they heard that they "should seriously consider" to remove the Dutch tricolore from their backpacks "because it could offend their Moroccan co-students". Both students took that as a prohibition.
The whole case was reported duly in Dutch press and on the Internet, a.o. by Dutch Blogger DutchReport, and has caused quite a row in the small kingdom on the North Sea. Cals College is a so-called VMBO school, which stands for "Voorbereidend Middelbaar en Beroeps Onderwijs", loosely translated as "preliminary secondary and crafts education" school, and counts a large proportion of pupils of Moroccan descent.
Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, Hollands largest, had the scoop of the story and immediately thereafter "angry" readers reactions poured in. "Angry", because according to MFBB they actually sound rather pussy. Here follow just a few:
"We do happen to live in Holland. Just a few moments more and you are afraid to come up for your country". – Koos Boer, Zoetermeer
I am showing discriminating behaviour if I say that I love The Netherlands. So if I swear an oath of allegiance to the Dutch Flag, I am a racist?" – Roel Meisters
"And the Wilhelmus? (Dutch national anthem, MFBB’s note) Can we still sing it? And the boys in the Army? Do they also have to rip off the Dutch badge on their uniforms? Total insanity." - a reader.
Yawn. Whatever. Anyways, in the Dutch Tweede Kamer, half of Hollands Parliament, Dutch MPs reacted astonished. "I took notice of this fact with the greatest amazement. How can the Dutch flag be provocative?" asked VVD MP Arno Visser. PvdA MP Mariëtte Hamer called the flag stroy "weird". "It is indeed very difficult to react on an incident, but if the school’s only reason is the argument of possible provocation, I call that heavily over the top".
The Center-right VVD party however thinks that the student's parents and the School Board should sit around the table to appease, erm, discuss the question. "We should not meddle in this" thinks Visser. Christian Democratic MP Jan De Vries (CDA) does not want to react on the incident. "This is a school issue", he says. "We should not meddle in this."
Yeah, right. We should not meddle in this. Well, go on not meddling in this pal. According to De Telegraaf there are more schools in The Netherlands where the use of the Dutch flag on clothing, shoolbags, hats etc. is prohibited "so as not to offend the local populace... oops, the pupils of Moroccan descent". A.o. in the Groene Hart Lyceum in Alphen aan de Rijn, a school denying access to students wearing Dutch flags on their clothing or bags. The Groene Lyceum staff says this ruling is necessary because of the new social climate. "Prohibition is a great word", they say, "but we do this in consent with the pupils". The Moroccan pupils, you mean?
Sigh. Anyway, using his nucular-powered kryptonitic nanodefibrillitational Search Device MFBB was able to track ONE Dutch MP who thought the Secretary of Education, Van Der Hoeven, should meddle in this: breakaway former VVD MP Geert Wilders, who sits as an independent in Dutch Parliament and has established his own party, the Groep Wilders. On this site, you can see several parliamentary questions Mr. Wilders has asked the Education Secreatry:
1.) Did you take notice of the fact that a student of the Cals College in IJsselstein has had to remove the Dutch flag from his schoolbag because, according to the school staff, students of Moroccan descent could interpret these flags as a provocation?
2.) Do you agree that the use of our flag cannot be prohibited? Do you further agree that such a prohibition is sheer nonsense? Do you agree that it is sheer and utter nonsense that the use of the Dutch flag is likely to offend people of Moroccan descent?
3.) Are you prepared to take actions so as to avoid a prohibition on the use of the Dutch flag, including on schools, and to guarantee that the prohibition on the Cals College is annulled and that similar incidents cannot take place anymore and that, should they still occur, be dealt with immediately?
Unfortunately, this Dutch balls-equipped MP is the one who has had to go into hiding in October 2004 because he was threatened with execution by the International Stalinists, had to walk around with four bodyguards and ride in an armoured car out of fear for Islamic extremsits, had to vacate his premises in the city of Utrecht because he no longer felt safe among the large community of foreign nationals in his neighborhood, and was sported on the MSN website of Tawheed Wal Jihad as an infidel who should be killed because he had ridiculed Islam. Happy thoughts to you.
MFBB
Thursday, February 03, 2005
EURO ROUNDUP.
1.) SPAIN. February 1, 2005
MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- Spanish police have arrested four Moroccans who are they believe are "directly linked" to the Madrid train bombings last March that killed 191 people.
The four -- from the same family -- were arrested between 6 a.m. and 7:35 a.m. (midnight to 1:35 a.m. ET) in Leganes, a southern Madrid suburb where seven of the most-wanted suspects in the train bombings blew themselves up April 3 as police closed in on their apartment hideout. The four are suspected of helping two other suspects in the train bombings -- Mohamed Afalah and Abdelmagid Bouchar -- flee from Leganes last April around the time of the apartment explosion, the Interior Ministry said.
The four Moussaten family members arrested Tuesday are allegedly linked to the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group, a terrorist group whom authorities have blamed for a role in the train bombings. The four were linked to leaders of the combatant group who were arrested last year in Belgium, France and Spain.
The arrests of Combatant Group operatives in Belgium in March 2004 included a Moroccan suspect, Youssef Belhadj, age 28. Spanish investigators believe he may be the same person as a man called Abu Dujanah -- a suspected al Qaeda spokesman in Europe -- in whose name a claim of responsibility for the train bombings was issued last year.
The Moussaten family members arrested Tuesday had a link to Belhadj, the Interior Ministry statement said, and Spanish authorities on Tuesday issued an arrest warrant for Belhadj. Despite his arrest last year in Belgium, he currently is not in jail there, the statement said.
2.) FRANCE, GERMANY. January 25, 2005
Terror recruitment on the rise in Europe.
January 25, 2005. In France, Tuesday, security agents detained seven people suspected of helping funnel Islamic militants into Iraq. In Mainz, Germany, this weekend, police arrested an alleged al-Qaida operative who is also accused of recruiting for Iraq. He is alleged to be a key al-Qaida recruiter who was living in an apartment building on a quiet street. Also arrested: a Palestinian allegedly headed to fight in Iraq. U.S. officials tell NBC News that the recruiter, Ibrahim Mohammed Khalil, is an al-Qaida facilitator who trained in camps in Afghanistan, fought there after 9/11 and was sent back to Germany. There, both U.S. and German intelligence monitored him.
"He also had contact to the leadership of al-Qaida, including Osama bin Laden," says Kay Nehm, the German federal prosecutor working the case.
Experts say the arrest underscores al-Qaida's interest in the war in Iraq.
"It demonstrates that Europe is the central recruitment ground for al-Qaida when it comes to finding jihadists to fight in Iraq," says NBC terror analyst Roger Cressey.
Three men from a mosque in the Paris suburbs that was raided by French police died fighting in Iraq in recent months. One was a suicide bomber.
"They began by dozens, now there are hundreds," says Antoine Sfeir, an Islamic expert in France. "Not only French. Europeans from Germany, from Belgium, from Netherlands."
Even in the tiny town of Cremona, Italy, suspected terror cells provide money, fake documents and safe passage. Last year, Italian police charged five men with allegedly plotting to blow up the Milan subway and recruiting suicide bombers for Iraq.
3.) ITALY. January 26, 2005
ROME — An Italian judge's ruling that five North Africans accused of sending suicide bombers to Iraq were "guerrillas" and not "terrorists" has ignited outrage here and given rise to a debate over the definition of militancy in times of war.
Politicians across the ideological spectrum excoriated the judge Tuesday, as did some of her colleagues in the judiciary and leading newspaper editorialists. Several of the defendants in the case had been linked by investigators to violent extremists.
Expressing "rage and disbelief," Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini said the ruling represented "a shameless distortion of a reality before the eyes of the entire world." Another senior member of the right-wing governing coalition, Fabrizio Cicchitto, called the decision "a major blow to the fight against terrorism."
The judge, Clementina Forleo, dropped international terrorism charges against the defendants, two Moroccans and three Tunisians, after deciding that their alleged actions did not appear to "exceed guerrilla activity."
In issuing the judgment Monday night, Forleo accepted prosecution claims that the men were members of Islamic fundamentalist cells in the northern city of Milan and nearby Cremona, and were raising money for "paramilitary structures" in Iraq.
But, citing the United Nations' 1999 convention on terrorism, she said guerrilla activities in war zones did not become terrorism unless they broke international humanitarian law or were designed to create terror among civilians. There was no evidence the defendants' activities crossed this line, she said.
She sentenced three of the men to jail terms of up to three years for lesser crimes, including the trafficking of fraudulent identification papers, and remanded the other two defendants to another court for a related prosecution.
Forleo defended her thinking Tuesday.
"It was a difficult decision, but I observed the law and followed my conscience," she told reporters in Milan. "My conscience is clear."
4.) GERMANY. February 2, 2005
Bonn Koran school under renewed pressure.
BONN - A Koran school in the German city of Bonn has come under renewed official pressure with the revelation that a staff member's son-in-law supported al-Qaeda and was planning to blow himself up in a terrorist attack in Iraq.
The infants-to-teens King Fahd Academy narrowly escaped closure last year after education officials discovered teachers were calling for a holy war against Christendom at school assemblies and the children spent more time in indoctrination than on the three Rs.
Though reading, writing and arithmetic were well behind the standard at German state schools, hardline Islamists from around Germany were moving their families to Bonn to enroll their children at the school. Juergen Roters, chief of regional government in Cologne, demanded that the Riyadh-funded school dissociate itself from anybody supporting terrorism after police established that a terror suspect arrested in Bonn last month was married to the teacher's daughter.
Yasser Abu-Shaweesh, a 31-year-old Bonn medical student, is alleged to have volunteered to perform a suicide bombing in Iraq. He was recruited by a German-based Iraqi militant, who reportedly trained in a Qaeda camp in Afghanistan and is also under arrest.
Police say that recently married Abu-Shaweesh was born in Libya but is stateless and carries Egyptian travel documents.
His wife and father in law are both Syrian born.
"Police intelligence gives me grounds for concern that there are links between the Islamist clientele of the King Fahd Academy and the school itself," said Roters. He demanded the 300-pupil school sack any teachers with pro-terrorism associations.
German intelligence agencies have closely scrutinized the school and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder been to Riyadh to complain to Saudi leaders about it. Government officials only let the school continue so as to avoid a foreign-relations crisis.
5.) GERMANY. February 2, 2005
Razzias in Germany nab terror suspects.
Unter der Leitung der Staatsanwaltschaft München durchsuchen rund 200 Polizeibeamte 37 Objekte in mehreren Bundesländern, wie das Polizeipräsidium Oberbayern am Mittwoch erklärte. Die Aktion richte sich gegen „eine Gruppierung von ausländischen, islamischen Staaten angehörigen Personen wegen des Verdachts der Bildung einer kriminellen Vereinigung”. Die Durchsuchung von 33 Wohnungen und vier Geschäften richte sich gegen 24 Mitglieder eines Netzwerkes, die sich nach den Feststellungen der Ermittler vermutlich zum Zwecke der Finanzierung radikal-extremistischer Aktionen im Ausland zusammengeschlossen haben. Der Schwerpunkt der Durchsuchungsaktion liegt laut Polizei in den Regierungsbezirken Ober- und Niederbayern sowie im Großraum München.
Under the aegis of the Muenchen Prosecutor's Office around 200 Police Officers searched 37 locations in several Laender, as Police HQ Oberbayern declared to the press on Wednesday. The search operation was directed against "a group of foreign nationals from Islamic states" on the grounds of the alleged belonging to a criminal group. In 33 of the locations, the focus lay on 24 members of a network who were probably cooperating to finance radical-extremist actions in foreign countries. The bulk of the search actions took place in Oberbayern and Niederbayern as well as in the greater area around Muenchen.
(Police Scheme of Islamist Terror Network in Germany)
Am 12. Januar fand bereits in mehreren Städten eine Razzia gegen ein in ganz Deutschland agierendes islamistisches Netzwerk statt. Sie wurde ebenfalls aus München gesteuert. Schwerpunkt der Durchsuchungen waren Ulm und Neu-Ulm, insbesondere das dortige „Multikulturhaus”. Nach Angaben des bayerischen Landeskriminalamtes bestand der Verdacht, Mitglieder eines "islamistisch-extremistischen Netzwerks" hätten gewerbsmäßig mit Ausweispapieren gehandelt, Dokumente gefälscht und illegal in Deutschland befindliche Gesinnungsfreunde versteckt.
On January 12th, in several cities another Razzia took already place against an Islamic network operating throughout the whole of Germany. This network, too, was coordianted from Muenchen. Focus of the search operations were Ulm and Neu-Ulm, especially the "Multicultural House" there. According to the Bayern Criminal Court members of the network had repeatedly fabricated fake identity papers, falsificatd documents and hidden illegal immigrants.
5.) THE NETHERLANDS. February 1, 2005
Prime Minister Balkenende already in 2003 on Death List.
Dutch Prime Minister Balkenende and Finance Minister Zalm were in 2003 already on the death list of 19-year old terror suspect Jason Walters, a convert to Islam. Walters was arrested in December 2004 in The Hague and was a member of the so-called "Hofstad Group" with which Mohammed Bouyeri, murderer of filmmaker Theo Van Gogh, had contacts. The new information comes from chat sessions found on Walters computer. In the chat sessions, Walters says he had obtained authorization to carry out the murders from Imam Abdul-Jabbar Van de Ven, also a Dutch convert. Van De Ven is the Imam who, during a talkshow on TV in November, publicly made a death wish against Dutch rightwing MP Geert Wilders.
In the chat sessions, Jason Walters brags about training in a Pakistani camp for terrorists where he would have received basic jihadist training.
5.) BELGIUM. February 2, 2005
Belgian Justice Minister Laurette Onkelinckx (Parti Socialiste) has publicly admitted, responding to a query from Christian Democratic MP Tony Van Parijs, that alleged plans to blow up a High Speed Train Tunnel in Antwerp during the Open Tunnel Event in Antwerp in 2004 were considered serious enough to start an enquiry using an Investigating Officer. The Officer found out that the prime suspects were an Antwerp Imam and his three sons. Due to lack of evidence they could however not be prosecuted. Interesting to note is that the investigation was stopped after a short while, on October 21, 2004.
However, massive resources are still being employed to find the person who leaked info prepared about the attack, during a police and justice meeting. Via the leak the news of the attack landed on the desk of a journalist with newspaper De Morgen, who first reported on the story. The enquiry is focussing on former Antwerp Police Chief Bart De Bie, who for his no-nonsense, zero-tolerance style against Moroccan gangs in Antwerp was sacked and thereafter joined the Vlaams Blok, now Vlaams Belang.
You read me well. No effort is too much to "prove" that it was Mr. De Bie who leaked the info about an imminent attack on a High Speed Train Tunnel to the newspaper. Meanwhile, the investigation to find the planners of the attack is in limbo since October 2004.
Enough said.
MFBB
1.) SPAIN. February 1, 2005
MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- Spanish police have arrested four Moroccans who are they believe are "directly linked" to the Madrid train bombings last March that killed 191 people.
The four -- from the same family -- were arrested between 6 a.m. and 7:35 a.m. (midnight to 1:35 a.m. ET) in Leganes, a southern Madrid suburb where seven of the most-wanted suspects in the train bombings blew themselves up April 3 as police closed in on their apartment hideout. The four are suspected of helping two other suspects in the train bombings -- Mohamed Afalah and Abdelmagid Bouchar -- flee from Leganes last April around the time of the apartment explosion, the Interior Ministry said.
The four Moussaten family members arrested Tuesday are allegedly linked to the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group, a terrorist group whom authorities have blamed for a role in the train bombings. The four were linked to leaders of the combatant group who were arrested last year in Belgium, France and Spain.
The arrests of Combatant Group operatives in Belgium in March 2004 included a Moroccan suspect, Youssef Belhadj, age 28. Spanish investigators believe he may be the same person as a man called Abu Dujanah -- a suspected al Qaeda spokesman in Europe -- in whose name a claim of responsibility for the train bombings was issued last year.
The Moussaten family members arrested Tuesday had a link to Belhadj, the Interior Ministry statement said, and Spanish authorities on Tuesday issued an arrest warrant for Belhadj. Despite his arrest last year in Belgium, he currently is not in jail there, the statement said.
2.) FRANCE, GERMANY. January 25, 2005
Terror recruitment on the rise in Europe.
January 25, 2005. In France, Tuesday, security agents detained seven people suspected of helping funnel Islamic militants into Iraq. In Mainz, Germany, this weekend, police arrested an alleged al-Qaida operative who is also accused of recruiting for Iraq. He is alleged to be a key al-Qaida recruiter who was living in an apartment building on a quiet street. Also arrested: a Palestinian allegedly headed to fight in Iraq. U.S. officials tell NBC News that the recruiter, Ibrahim Mohammed Khalil, is an al-Qaida facilitator who trained in camps in Afghanistan, fought there after 9/11 and was sent back to Germany. There, both U.S. and German intelligence monitored him.
"He also had contact to the leadership of al-Qaida, including Osama bin Laden," says Kay Nehm, the German federal prosecutor working the case.
Experts say the arrest underscores al-Qaida's interest in the war in Iraq.
"It demonstrates that Europe is the central recruitment ground for al-Qaida when it comes to finding jihadists to fight in Iraq," says NBC terror analyst Roger Cressey.
Three men from a mosque in the Paris suburbs that was raided by French police died fighting in Iraq in recent months. One was a suicide bomber.
"They began by dozens, now there are hundreds," says Antoine Sfeir, an Islamic expert in France. "Not only French. Europeans from Germany, from Belgium, from Netherlands."
Even in the tiny town of Cremona, Italy, suspected terror cells provide money, fake documents and safe passage. Last year, Italian police charged five men with allegedly plotting to blow up the Milan subway and recruiting suicide bombers for Iraq.
3.) ITALY. January 26, 2005
ROME — An Italian judge's ruling that five North Africans accused of sending suicide bombers to Iraq were "guerrillas" and not "terrorists" has ignited outrage here and given rise to a debate over the definition of militancy in times of war.
Politicians across the ideological spectrum excoriated the judge Tuesday, as did some of her colleagues in the judiciary and leading newspaper editorialists. Several of the defendants in the case had been linked by investigators to violent extremists.
Expressing "rage and disbelief," Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini said the ruling represented "a shameless distortion of a reality before the eyes of the entire world." Another senior member of the right-wing governing coalition, Fabrizio Cicchitto, called the decision "a major blow to the fight against terrorism."
The judge, Clementina Forleo, dropped international terrorism charges against the defendants, two Moroccans and three Tunisians, after deciding that their alleged actions did not appear to "exceed guerrilla activity."
In issuing the judgment Monday night, Forleo accepted prosecution claims that the men were members of Islamic fundamentalist cells in the northern city of Milan and nearby Cremona, and were raising money for "paramilitary structures" in Iraq.
But, citing the United Nations' 1999 convention on terrorism, she said guerrilla activities in war zones did not become terrorism unless they broke international humanitarian law or were designed to create terror among civilians. There was no evidence the defendants' activities crossed this line, she said.
She sentenced three of the men to jail terms of up to three years for lesser crimes, including the trafficking of fraudulent identification papers, and remanded the other two defendants to another court for a related prosecution.
Forleo defended her thinking Tuesday.
"It was a difficult decision, but I observed the law and followed my conscience," she told reporters in Milan. "My conscience is clear."
4.) GERMANY. February 2, 2005
Bonn Koran school under renewed pressure.
BONN - A Koran school in the German city of Bonn has come under renewed official pressure with the revelation that a staff member's son-in-law supported al-Qaeda and was planning to blow himself up in a terrorist attack in Iraq.
The infants-to-teens King Fahd Academy narrowly escaped closure last year after education officials discovered teachers were calling for a holy war against Christendom at school assemblies and the children spent more time in indoctrination than on the three Rs.
Though reading, writing and arithmetic were well behind the standard at German state schools, hardline Islamists from around Germany were moving their families to Bonn to enroll their children at the school. Juergen Roters, chief of regional government in Cologne, demanded that the Riyadh-funded school dissociate itself from anybody supporting terrorism after police established that a terror suspect arrested in Bonn last month was married to the teacher's daughter.
Yasser Abu-Shaweesh, a 31-year-old Bonn medical student, is alleged to have volunteered to perform a suicide bombing in Iraq. He was recruited by a German-based Iraqi militant, who reportedly trained in a Qaeda camp in Afghanistan and is also under arrest.
Police say that recently married Abu-Shaweesh was born in Libya but is stateless and carries Egyptian travel documents.
His wife and father in law are both Syrian born.
"Police intelligence gives me grounds for concern that there are links between the Islamist clientele of the King Fahd Academy and the school itself," said Roters. He demanded the 300-pupil school sack any teachers with pro-terrorism associations.
German intelligence agencies have closely scrutinized the school and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder been to Riyadh to complain to Saudi leaders about it. Government officials only let the school continue so as to avoid a foreign-relations crisis.
5.) GERMANY. February 2, 2005
Razzias in Germany nab terror suspects.
Unter der Leitung der Staatsanwaltschaft München durchsuchen rund 200 Polizeibeamte 37 Objekte in mehreren Bundesländern, wie das Polizeipräsidium Oberbayern am Mittwoch erklärte. Die Aktion richte sich gegen „eine Gruppierung von ausländischen, islamischen Staaten angehörigen Personen wegen des Verdachts der Bildung einer kriminellen Vereinigung”. Die Durchsuchung von 33 Wohnungen und vier Geschäften richte sich gegen 24 Mitglieder eines Netzwerkes, die sich nach den Feststellungen der Ermittler vermutlich zum Zwecke der Finanzierung radikal-extremistischer Aktionen im Ausland zusammengeschlossen haben. Der Schwerpunkt der Durchsuchungsaktion liegt laut Polizei in den Regierungsbezirken Ober- und Niederbayern sowie im Großraum München.
Under the aegis of the Muenchen Prosecutor's Office around 200 Police Officers searched 37 locations in several Laender, as Police HQ Oberbayern declared to the press on Wednesday. The search operation was directed against "a group of foreign nationals from Islamic states" on the grounds of the alleged belonging to a criminal group. In 33 of the locations, the focus lay on 24 members of a network who were probably cooperating to finance radical-extremist actions in foreign countries. The bulk of the search actions took place in Oberbayern and Niederbayern as well as in the greater area around Muenchen.
(Police Scheme of Islamist Terror Network in Germany)
Am 12. Januar fand bereits in mehreren Städten eine Razzia gegen ein in ganz Deutschland agierendes islamistisches Netzwerk statt. Sie wurde ebenfalls aus München gesteuert. Schwerpunkt der Durchsuchungen waren Ulm und Neu-Ulm, insbesondere das dortige „Multikulturhaus”. Nach Angaben des bayerischen Landeskriminalamtes bestand der Verdacht, Mitglieder eines "islamistisch-extremistischen Netzwerks" hätten gewerbsmäßig mit Ausweispapieren gehandelt, Dokumente gefälscht und illegal in Deutschland befindliche Gesinnungsfreunde versteckt.
On January 12th, in several cities another Razzia took already place against an Islamic network operating throughout the whole of Germany. This network, too, was coordianted from Muenchen. Focus of the search operations were Ulm and Neu-Ulm, especially the "Multicultural House" there. According to the Bayern Criminal Court members of the network had repeatedly fabricated fake identity papers, falsificatd documents and hidden illegal immigrants.
5.) THE NETHERLANDS. February 1, 2005
Prime Minister Balkenende already in 2003 on Death List.
Dutch Prime Minister Balkenende and Finance Minister Zalm were in 2003 already on the death list of 19-year old terror suspect Jason Walters, a convert to Islam. Walters was arrested in December 2004 in The Hague and was a member of the so-called "Hofstad Group" with which Mohammed Bouyeri, murderer of filmmaker Theo Van Gogh, had contacts. The new information comes from chat sessions found on Walters computer. In the chat sessions, Walters says he had obtained authorization to carry out the murders from Imam Abdul-Jabbar Van de Ven, also a Dutch convert. Van De Ven is the Imam who, during a talkshow on TV in November, publicly made a death wish against Dutch rightwing MP Geert Wilders.
In the chat sessions, Jason Walters brags about training in a Pakistani camp for terrorists where he would have received basic jihadist training.
5.) BELGIUM. February 2, 2005
Belgian Justice Minister Laurette Onkelinckx (Parti Socialiste) has publicly admitted, responding to a query from Christian Democratic MP Tony Van Parijs, that alleged plans to blow up a High Speed Train Tunnel in Antwerp during the Open Tunnel Event in Antwerp in 2004 were considered serious enough to start an enquiry using an Investigating Officer. The Officer found out that the prime suspects were an Antwerp Imam and his three sons. Due to lack of evidence they could however not be prosecuted. Interesting to note is that the investigation was stopped after a short while, on October 21, 2004.
However, massive resources are still being employed to find the person who leaked info prepared about the attack, during a police and justice meeting. Via the leak the news of the attack landed on the desk of a journalist with newspaper De Morgen, who first reported on the story. The enquiry is focussing on former Antwerp Police Chief Bart De Bie, who for his no-nonsense, zero-tolerance style against Moroccan gangs in Antwerp was sacked and thereafter joined the Vlaams Blok, now Vlaams Belang.
You read me well. No effort is too much to "prove" that it was Mr. De Bie who leaked the info about an imminent attack on a High Speed Train Tunnel to the newspaper. Meanwhile, the investigation to find the planners of the attack is in limbo since October 2004.
Enough said.
MFBB
Friday, January 28, 2005
SPEAK SOFTLY AND CARRY A BIG STICK...
From Dutch Report – News from Holland I get you this:
At the schools in Holland there are many problems with Moroccan youth. Most do not finish their school education and there are many stories about violence against teachers. The teachers do not receive any support from their management or the police. Thing is, Dutch schools, are not allowed to remove aggressive students. They can only try to get him on an other school, but other schools are also not waiting for an aggressive student. Last year, one student, even shot a teacher through his head, fellow student went on the streets to demonstrate to support the murderer…
Now Dutch language blog GeenStijl offers a real class room recoding, in which a Moroccan student demands respect from his teacher...
Follow the link and watch the clip. Watch it. WATCH-THE-CLIP!!!
Sadly, incidents like these are becoming more and more common across Europe. When travelling through Germany in early January, I happened to stumble upon an article in Der Tagesspiegel/edition Berlin-Brandenburg (Jan 4, 2005 issue). Its header read: "Junge Muslime werden immer religioeser" – Young Muslims become ever more religious. I’ll translate the gist of it:
Recep is a pupil in the Hector-Peterson College in Kreuzberg and four times a week in a Quran school. The 16-year old tries to live according to the words of the Prophet: pray five times a day, fast during Ramadan, never drink alcohol. He doesn’t go to the disco, but every Friday to the Mosque. That girls enter marriage as virgins is for Recep as evident as it is for his female colleague, 17-year old Meryem. Since the fourth grade she wears the hijab, prays five times a day and visits the Mosque every day during Ramadan….
The Hector Peterson College’s staff estimates that over the past five to eight years its Muslim youth has become ever more religious. Of 490 pupils, three quarters are Muslims. Today four out of 20 girls per class wear the hijab – where ten years ago it was four in the entire school. Back then, girls participating in swimming lessons and school travels was no theme for their parents – it is now.
Hamburg-based sociologist Necla Kelek, questioning Muslim youths for over ten years now, estimates that today at least half of them follows lessons in Quran schools. The politician’s hopes that Germany’s Muslims would secularize more as they further integrated into German society has proven vain. To the contrary: the 100,000 Muslim youths living in Berlin are more religious than they were one generation ago.
Gerhard Raehme, Principal of the Carl-Von-Ossietzky College sees a link between ardent faith and social problems: "the 90s generations still found a job on the chain (automobile industry, MFBB). These jobs are just not there anymore". For the frustrated, the Quran offered a new identity and confidence, as well as the desire to be different from the "infidels" – and better. Frustrations do however not start upon beginning to look for a job. The past year, 40% of Muslim youths left the Carl-Von-Ossietzky college without a diploma.
(from the Berliner Tagesspiegel)
MFBB's simple peasant's brain figures that if in today's world you don't work and study F*CKING HARD to acquire a minimum of technological skills, you are at best doomed to some pussy superfluous badly paid government job and at worst screwed big time. Also, in November he had a conversation with one of his clients, a woman who worked as a stock keeper in a Colruyt storage facility in Halle/central Belgium (Colruyt being the Belgian equivalent of Wal-Mart). Many of her co-workers were Moroccans. Male Moroccans, that is. They DO NOT ALLOW their women to work outside the house. Now, you may or may not know that Belgium is an expensive country. You wanna get your children the best education and still live a comfortable life, both you and your wife have to have full time jobs. Even so, with soaring ground prices and excessive taxes, there will be precious little left for some extravaganzas. What ‘s the result for the families of my clients Muslim co-workers? Relative poverty. Their children finding themselves on problem schools, more often than not becoming problems themselves all too soon. In schools in Brussels, a grand majority of teachers, confronted regularly with violence, effected insurances against such violence on their own, abandoned as they generally are by the school staff and the Ministry of Education.
Look, I ain’t a racist. I wholeheartedly support the US effort to plant the seeds of democracy in the Middle East. We have to stand by moderate, peace-loving Muslims and encourage them with all means possible to advocate professing a truly humane form of Islam. And I do hope with all my heart that in the hopefully many states where Freedom and Rule of Law will reign, moderate Islamic scholars will find the courage to come forward to define a modernized Islam adapted to today’s world and no longer forming a burden for the faithful in achieving prosperity.
I further hope, WITH ALL OF MY HEART, that from this blossoming of a newly defined Islamic religion a benevolent fallout will in time reach Europe to teach our Muslim populations how Islam can be lived without jeopardizing your own chances of success in today’s complicated world.
But…
Only a fool would just resort to possibly idle expectations. I hope just as strongly that in Europes military headquarters contingency plans using military force are being prepared to confront massive Muslim violence in a time span of, say, twenty years. You know, just in case. Anyone thinks MFBB has lost it, You Are A Fool.
The trends are there, plain to see. The US effort in the ME is literally a race against time to turn Islam into something no longer threatening the rest of the world. It may have come just in time. It may not have. Future will tell.
MFBB
From Dutch Report – News from Holland I get you this:
At the schools in Holland there are many problems with Moroccan youth. Most do not finish their school education and there are many stories about violence against teachers. The teachers do not receive any support from their management or the police. Thing is, Dutch schools, are not allowed to remove aggressive students. They can only try to get him on an other school, but other schools are also not waiting for an aggressive student. Last year, one student, even shot a teacher through his head, fellow student went on the streets to demonstrate to support the murderer…
Now Dutch language blog GeenStijl offers a real class room recoding, in which a Moroccan student demands respect from his teacher...
Follow the link and watch the clip. Watch it. WATCH-THE-CLIP!!!
Sadly, incidents like these are becoming more and more common across Europe. When travelling through Germany in early January, I happened to stumble upon an article in Der Tagesspiegel/edition Berlin-Brandenburg (Jan 4, 2005 issue). Its header read: "Junge Muslime werden immer religioeser" – Young Muslims become ever more religious. I’ll translate the gist of it:
Recep is a pupil in the Hector-Peterson College in Kreuzberg and four times a week in a Quran school. The 16-year old tries to live according to the words of the Prophet: pray five times a day, fast during Ramadan, never drink alcohol. He doesn’t go to the disco, but every Friday to the Mosque. That girls enter marriage as virgins is for Recep as evident as it is for his female colleague, 17-year old Meryem. Since the fourth grade she wears the hijab, prays five times a day and visits the Mosque every day during Ramadan….
The Hector Peterson College’s staff estimates that over the past five to eight years its Muslim youth has become ever more religious. Of 490 pupils, three quarters are Muslims. Today four out of 20 girls per class wear the hijab – where ten years ago it was four in the entire school. Back then, girls participating in swimming lessons and school travels was no theme for their parents – it is now.
Hamburg-based sociologist Necla Kelek, questioning Muslim youths for over ten years now, estimates that today at least half of them follows lessons in Quran schools. The politician’s hopes that Germany’s Muslims would secularize more as they further integrated into German society has proven vain. To the contrary: the 100,000 Muslim youths living in Berlin are more religious than they were one generation ago.
Gerhard Raehme, Principal of the Carl-Von-Ossietzky College sees a link between ardent faith and social problems: "the 90s generations still found a job on the chain (automobile industry, MFBB). These jobs are just not there anymore". For the frustrated, the Quran offered a new identity and confidence, as well as the desire to be different from the "infidels" – and better. Frustrations do however not start upon beginning to look for a job. The past year, 40% of Muslim youths left the Carl-Von-Ossietzky college without a diploma.
(from the Berliner Tagesspiegel)
MFBB's simple peasant's brain figures that if in today's world you don't work and study F*CKING HARD to acquire a minimum of technological skills, you are at best doomed to some pussy superfluous badly paid government job and at worst screwed big time. Also, in November he had a conversation with one of his clients, a woman who worked as a stock keeper in a Colruyt storage facility in Halle/central Belgium (Colruyt being the Belgian equivalent of Wal-Mart). Many of her co-workers were Moroccans. Male Moroccans, that is. They DO NOT ALLOW their women to work outside the house. Now, you may or may not know that Belgium is an expensive country. You wanna get your children the best education and still live a comfortable life, both you and your wife have to have full time jobs. Even so, with soaring ground prices and excessive taxes, there will be precious little left for some extravaganzas. What ‘s the result for the families of my clients Muslim co-workers? Relative poverty. Their children finding themselves on problem schools, more often than not becoming problems themselves all too soon. In schools in Brussels, a grand majority of teachers, confronted regularly with violence, effected insurances against such violence on their own, abandoned as they generally are by the school staff and the Ministry of Education.
Look, I ain’t a racist. I wholeheartedly support the US effort to plant the seeds of democracy in the Middle East. We have to stand by moderate, peace-loving Muslims and encourage them with all means possible to advocate professing a truly humane form of Islam. And I do hope with all my heart that in the hopefully many states where Freedom and Rule of Law will reign, moderate Islamic scholars will find the courage to come forward to define a modernized Islam adapted to today’s world and no longer forming a burden for the faithful in achieving prosperity.
I further hope, WITH ALL OF MY HEART, that from this blossoming of a newly defined Islamic religion a benevolent fallout will in time reach Europe to teach our Muslim populations how Islam can be lived without jeopardizing your own chances of success in today’s complicated world.
But…
Only a fool would just resort to possibly idle expectations. I hope just as strongly that in Europes military headquarters contingency plans using military force are being prepared to confront massive Muslim violence in a time span of, say, twenty years. You know, just in case. Anyone thinks MFBB has lost it, You Are A Fool.
The trends are there, plain to see. The US effort in the ME is literally a race against time to turn Islam into something no longer threatening the rest of the world. It may have come just in time. It may not have. Future will tell.
MFBB
Saturday, January 22, 2005
The Hasselhoffian Recursion
Go ahead. Check it out. You'll never be the same again.
Hat tip to Jonah at The Corner.
Go ahead. Check it out. You'll never be the same again.
Hat tip to Jonah at The Corner.
Sunday, January 16, 2005
CAPITALISM ALIVE AND KICKING IN POLAND (1/2)
Ok ladies and jerks, around New Year’s Day we spent a week in Poland to visit my wife’s family in the City of Wroclaw, Poland’s fourth largest (pop. Some 634,000). The distance from our doorsteps to my mother-in-law’s apartment is some 1,100 km if you take the E 40, and thus you could do it in a day if you got up early, ate while driving and didn’t pee too often; however, having a little kid with us and generally not wanting to be in a hurry when driving through beautiful central Germany, we always do it in two days – until now, since in Weimar we had some car trouble causing us a delay of another day, making a ride which started on a Monday end on a Wednesday. But I digress.
Btw, Weimar. Now, Weimar may well be Germany’s small cultural Mecca par excellence, in historical terms at least. Indeed, the famous poets Goethe, Schiller and Herder lived here, as well as the composers Bach and Liszt. Quite a few Weimarer Gebaude are recognised by UNESCO as World Heritage buildings. If you intend to visit it soon, 2005 is the year since the city commemorates the 200th year since Schiller deceased. I suppose though that for those who heard a bell ring at the mention of the name, they rather connected it with Germany’s ill-fated and short-lived bourgeois democracy during the Interbellum’s first half. If so, that assumption was also correct. The statue of Goethe and Schiller stands right in front of the Weimar Republic’s Parliamentary Building (if you clicked on the previous link, Goethe is the chap on the left).
Hmmm, when I first saw that building, I couldn’t help but wonder that the Weimar Republic was probably doomed from the start. Germans are a Proud People and like Decorum, Gravitas and Grandezza. Now, the Parliament looks more suited to serve as Luxembourgs Town Hall or something – though of a sound architectural design, much too modest imho for an 80million nation and leading industrial power.
Anyway, thanks to Herr Lutz Wagner from Autohaus Glinicke we were able to pursue our journey and left Weimar on Wednesday at around 11 o’clock. Some 30 kloms further, along the E40, we passed by the City of Jena, see pic below.
I mention Jena because despite its size (it counts some 103,000 inhabitants) it’s a rather important educational and industrial center. Its role as the former is emphasized by the presence of the famous Friedrich-Schiller University Jena (some 20,000 students) and the Fachhochschule. But that’s not all, in addition there are the:
• Hans-Knöll-Institut für Naturstoff-Forschung e.V.,
• Institut für Molekulare Biotechnologie e.V.
• Institut für Physikalische Hochtechnologie e.V.,
• Fraunhofer-Institut für Angewandte Optik und Feinmechanik Jena,
• Max-Planck-Institut zur Erforschung von Wirtschaftssystemen,
• Max-Planck-Institut für Chemische Ökologie und
• Max-Planck-Institut für Biogeochemie
As you can see Jena is no place for Hollywood celebs. As an industrial center, Jena distinguishes itself through renowned companies like Carl Zeiss Jena GmbH (I’m sure you heard of their famous binoculars) and the pharmaceutical giant Jenapharm GmbH & Co, but there are many more.
From Jena it was still a ride of some 300 kloms to the Polish/German border, which we crossed easily, Poland now being an EU member. It was a tremendous relief not having to wait in a long queue before suspicious-looking guards allow you to proceed. Wroclaw itself, some 150 kloms inside Poland, was reached by 6pm on Wednesday evening, by which time it was already dark. It would have been even later had we not been able to use the almost refurbished E40, which until at least Easter of this year was composed of ancient concrete slabs varying 2-3cm in height at the junctions, making a ride at even only 80kloms an hour a butt-numbing experience. As we reached Wroclaws outskirts, the dark of the highway was replaced by the white-yellow glare of thousands of sodium lamps with an array of freshly erected supermarkets bathing in it: TESCO, Auchan (French equivalent of Wal-Mart), Makro, Le Roy Merlin, Media Markt, IKEA etc…
Now, since I did not have the means to photograph this scenery you will excuse a little cheating from me, since the pic I provide to illustrate the industrial building activity is one I took last April – hence the green grass and blossoming flowers. It shows one of many newly erected industrial buildings housing small and medium-sized companies around Wroclaw, in this case Tektura:
I did a Google for "Tektura" + "Wroclaw" and lo and behold, there we got their site: it appeared to be the Polish daughter of German packaging specialist Tektura!
Excerpt from their fine site:
Two Martin inline-machines with up to three printing units, two Bobst flatbed diecutters with up to five printing units and two Bobst six-corner folder-gluers are installed there. Of course all machines are state-of-the-art. So there we are also able to provide our customers with a broad bandwidth of packaging. With a production capacity of about 60 million square metres per year we are among Poland's biggest packaging producers. The whole plant has been configured and equipped in accordance to the latest technological findings. So we can be sure of having set a new standard in the corrugated board industry.
Oh yeah, see that car in front of the sign? That’s MFBB’s Audi!
Now, before I elaborate on our days in Wroclaw a few words on the country itself: Poland is officially a Republic, with a population slightly less than 39 million (July 2004 estimate) and a surface of 312,685 sq kloms, making it almost the size of New Mexico. Head of State is President Aleksander Kwasniewski, Prime Minister is Marek Belka. That last name may ring a bell to Iraq News crunchers, since Mr. Belka was CPA Financial Director under Paul Bremer the previous year. Like the US, Poland has a bicameral system with a 100 strong Senate and a 460-strong House of Representatives called the Sejm. Check out their neat site.
As you may all have heard, the communist government under General Jaruzelski was challenged in 1980 by the emergence of the free Labor Union Solidarnosc under Lech Walesa. A decadelong bumpy ride including a brief stint of Martial Law, imprisonment of key Solidarnosc members, government-ordered murder (anyone remember Father Popieluszko?) saw communist rule finally break down by 1990. Since then Poland has undergone an economical shock therapy which transformed its economy since then in one of the most robust of the former Eastern European countries.
However, over the past years things didn’t look that bright anymore: the Poles just emerge from a four year reign under Prime Minister Leszek Miller. Naturally, being a former communist he and his government screwed things up royally and currently Poland suffers from high unemployment and low GDP growth. Btw, Poland’s GDP is some 427 billion US$ (2004 estimate). With abovementioned population of 39 million that yields a GDP per capita of 11,100 US$. Millers main credit is guiding Poland into the EU, although of course he also deserves praise, along with president Kwasniewski, for Polands valoured contribution as a member of the Coalition of the Willing, with an important role in Iraq. Helpful in this respect was also the fact that Poland is a NATO member in 1999.
(to be continued)
(old Polish Air Force MiG21 from some Aero Klub near the border)
MFBB
Ok ladies and jerks, around New Year’s Day we spent a week in Poland to visit my wife’s family in the City of Wroclaw, Poland’s fourth largest (pop. Some 634,000). The distance from our doorsteps to my mother-in-law’s apartment is some 1,100 km if you take the E 40, and thus you could do it in a day if you got up early, ate while driving and didn’t pee too often; however, having a little kid with us and generally not wanting to be in a hurry when driving through beautiful central Germany, we always do it in two days – until now, since in Weimar we had some car trouble causing us a delay of another day, making a ride which started on a Monday end on a Wednesday. But I digress.
Btw, Weimar. Now, Weimar may well be Germany’s small cultural Mecca par excellence, in historical terms at least. Indeed, the famous poets Goethe, Schiller and Herder lived here, as well as the composers Bach and Liszt. Quite a few Weimarer Gebaude are recognised by UNESCO as World Heritage buildings. If you intend to visit it soon, 2005 is the year since the city commemorates the 200th year since Schiller deceased. I suppose though that for those who heard a bell ring at the mention of the name, they rather connected it with Germany’s ill-fated and short-lived bourgeois democracy during the Interbellum’s first half. If so, that assumption was also correct. The statue of Goethe and Schiller stands right in front of the Weimar Republic’s Parliamentary Building (if you clicked on the previous link, Goethe is the chap on the left).
Hmmm, when I first saw that building, I couldn’t help but wonder that the Weimar Republic was probably doomed from the start. Germans are a Proud People and like Decorum, Gravitas and Grandezza. Now, the Parliament looks more suited to serve as Luxembourgs Town Hall or something – though of a sound architectural design, much too modest imho for an 80million nation and leading industrial power.
Anyway, thanks to Herr Lutz Wagner from Autohaus Glinicke we were able to pursue our journey and left Weimar on Wednesday at around 11 o’clock. Some 30 kloms further, along the E40, we passed by the City of Jena, see pic below.
I mention Jena because despite its size (it counts some 103,000 inhabitants) it’s a rather important educational and industrial center. Its role as the former is emphasized by the presence of the famous Friedrich-Schiller University Jena (some 20,000 students) and the Fachhochschule. But that’s not all, in addition there are the:
• Hans-Knöll-Institut für Naturstoff-Forschung e.V.,
• Institut für Molekulare Biotechnologie e.V.
• Institut für Physikalische Hochtechnologie e.V.,
• Fraunhofer-Institut für Angewandte Optik und Feinmechanik Jena,
• Max-Planck-Institut zur Erforschung von Wirtschaftssystemen,
• Max-Planck-Institut für Chemische Ökologie und
• Max-Planck-Institut für Biogeochemie
As you can see Jena is no place for Hollywood celebs. As an industrial center, Jena distinguishes itself through renowned companies like Carl Zeiss Jena GmbH (I’m sure you heard of their famous binoculars) and the pharmaceutical giant Jenapharm GmbH & Co, but there are many more.
From Jena it was still a ride of some 300 kloms to the Polish/German border, which we crossed easily, Poland now being an EU member. It was a tremendous relief not having to wait in a long queue before suspicious-looking guards allow you to proceed. Wroclaw itself, some 150 kloms inside Poland, was reached by 6pm on Wednesday evening, by which time it was already dark. It would have been even later had we not been able to use the almost refurbished E40, which until at least Easter of this year was composed of ancient concrete slabs varying 2-3cm in height at the junctions, making a ride at even only 80kloms an hour a butt-numbing experience. As we reached Wroclaws outskirts, the dark of the highway was replaced by the white-yellow glare of thousands of sodium lamps with an array of freshly erected supermarkets bathing in it: TESCO, Auchan (French equivalent of Wal-Mart), Makro, Le Roy Merlin, Media Markt, IKEA etc…
Now, since I did not have the means to photograph this scenery you will excuse a little cheating from me, since the pic I provide to illustrate the industrial building activity is one I took last April – hence the green grass and blossoming flowers. It shows one of many newly erected industrial buildings housing small and medium-sized companies around Wroclaw, in this case Tektura:
I did a Google for "Tektura" + "Wroclaw" and lo and behold, there we got their site: it appeared to be the Polish daughter of German packaging specialist Tektura!
Excerpt from their fine site:
Two Martin inline-machines with up to three printing units, two Bobst flatbed diecutters with up to five printing units and two Bobst six-corner folder-gluers are installed there. Of course all machines are state-of-the-art. So there we are also able to provide our customers with a broad bandwidth of packaging. With a production capacity of about 60 million square metres per year we are among Poland's biggest packaging producers. The whole plant has been configured and equipped in accordance to the latest technological findings. So we can be sure of having set a new standard in the corrugated board industry.
Oh yeah, see that car in front of the sign? That’s MFBB’s Audi!
Now, before I elaborate on our days in Wroclaw a few words on the country itself: Poland is officially a Republic, with a population slightly less than 39 million (July 2004 estimate) and a surface of 312,685 sq kloms, making it almost the size of New Mexico. Head of State is President Aleksander Kwasniewski, Prime Minister is Marek Belka. That last name may ring a bell to Iraq News crunchers, since Mr. Belka was CPA Financial Director under Paul Bremer the previous year. Like the US, Poland has a bicameral system with a 100 strong Senate and a 460-strong House of Representatives called the Sejm. Check out their neat site.
As you may all have heard, the communist government under General Jaruzelski was challenged in 1980 by the emergence of the free Labor Union Solidarnosc under Lech Walesa. A decadelong bumpy ride including a brief stint of Martial Law, imprisonment of key Solidarnosc members, government-ordered murder (anyone remember Father Popieluszko?) saw communist rule finally break down by 1990. Since then Poland has undergone an economical shock therapy which transformed its economy since then in one of the most robust of the former Eastern European countries.
However, over the past years things didn’t look that bright anymore: the Poles just emerge from a four year reign under Prime Minister Leszek Miller. Naturally, being a former communist he and his government screwed things up royally and currently Poland suffers from high unemployment and low GDP growth. Btw, Poland’s GDP is some 427 billion US$ (2004 estimate). With abovementioned population of 39 million that yields a GDP per capita of 11,100 US$. Millers main credit is guiding Poland into the EU, although of course he also deserves praise, along with president Kwasniewski, for Polands valoured contribution as a member of the Coalition of the Willing, with an important role in Iraq. Helpful in this respect was also the fact that Poland is a NATO member in 1999.
(to be continued)
(old Polish Air Force MiG21 from some Aero Klub near the border)
MFBB
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
MAYBE IT AIN'T THAT BAD AFTER ALL...
While Belgium unfortunately chose not to join the so-called "Coalition of the Willing" after OIF by providing troops for the peacekeeping effort in Iraq, at least a (small) contribution to the War on Terror has been made by, a.o., the deployment of some 630 troops to Afghanistan within the framework of NATO’s ISAF operation. ISAF stands for International Security Assistance Group and army contingents and/or airforce elements from various NATO countries, such as Canada, Germany, Romania, Norway and Portugal participate.
The Belgian contribution to ISAF consists mainly of:
a.) Guarding and securing Kabul International Airport (KAIA) – some 400 Army troops
b.) One Para Company as part of the so-called Battlegroup 3
In addition, a handful of soldiers have been detached to the German-led PRT for Kunduz. PRT, for Provincial Reconstruction Team, the concept being an Afghan government "antenna" of reconstruction teams protected by ISAF troops to remote Afghan areas, to restore a semblance of governmental control in areas hitherto considered the realm of warlords. Also, the Belgian Air Force provides one C 130 Hercules aircraft for air transport throughout Afghanistan.
Scene at Kabul international Airport (KAIA). The soldiers look rather bored.
Since I have only scant information regarding the KAIA detachment but plenty on Battlegroup 3, I’d like to focus on the latter.
The 550-strong Battlegroup 3, or BG3, is one of three battlegroups forming KMNB (Kabul Multinational Brigade). BG3 is thus battalion-sized and consists of three elements: a Norwegian company-sized (180 men) Kavaleri Eskadron drawn from 8th Division, equipped with Mercedes scout cars and tracked M113 and CV90 APCs (tracked Armoured Personnel Carriers). Then there are the Hungarians of the 1st company (170 troops) of the 34th Long Range Reconnaissance Group "Bercsenyi Laszlo", equipped with Mercedes scout cars and BTR 80A APCs. The third element of BG3 is the 200-strong reinforced 21st company of Belgiums First Para Battalion from Diest. Their mounts are Bombardier Iltis jeeps and Pandur wheeled APCS.
BG3’s staff is composed of 16 Norwegians, 16 Belgians and 2 Hungarians. Commander is the Norwegian Lt. Col. Odlo, who describes the Battle groups mission as follows:
"Battlegroup 3 is a highly professional unit which is available when needed to assist in providing security in Kabul and its surrounds for organizations working in the area."
Above, Pandur APC in action. The 21st Coy has 8 at its disposal, each armed with a .50 cal machinegun, plus two equipped for medevacs. Below, the soft-skinned Bombardier Iltis jeep on patrol in Kabul. I'd rather sit in a Pandur than in an Iltis of course. The Iltis jeeps are Canadian and the relatively strong Canadian contingent in Afghanistan has them too on their inventory. In January 2004 a Canadian soldier was killed by a mine blast while travelling in the light jeep (much lighter than a Humvee, anyway), sparking a row in Canada on whether it was appropriate to send troops into combat in such light vehicles.
BG3s main task is assisting the diverse Afghan security organs, like police and NSD (National Department of Security) to create a safer climate in and around Kabul, thereby making it clear that the government is now in charge of the situation and that not only is there no place anymore for the Taliban but neither for the warlords, who still consider each progress by the central government outside Kabul as an incursion in their fiefdom. As the Afghan National Army (ANA) still has only some 21,000 troops, ISAFS presence and high visibility is still necessary.
BG3’s soldiers carry out daily patrols, on foot as well as by road and during the day as well as the night. Each patrol has an interpreter with it and very often works with local police. Another main purpose, apart from thwarting attacks and instilling faith in the people by making it clear who’s boss, is to gather intelligence.
Battlegroup 3’s Base Camp is in the Canadian "Julian" Camp, some 20 kloms southwest of Kabul Airport.
This dude on duty on KAIA looks eerily like me. The gun he is holding is our home-made FNC assault rifle. Home-made, since from the FN (Fabrique Nationale) factory in Herstal, eastern Wallonia. Mind you, he's not serving with 21st company in BG3 so he's not a Para but an army guy. All Belgian uniforms you see in this photo have this strange camo, although the Paras have by now received new desert camo.
All pictures taken from the Belgian Armed Forces site.
MFBB
While Belgium unfortunately chose not to join the so-called "Coalition of the Willing" after OIF by providing troops for the peacekeeping effort in Iraq, at least a (small) contribution to the War on Terror has been made by, a.o., the deployment of some 630 troops to Afghanistan within the framework of NATO’s ISAF operation. ISAF stands for International Security Assistance Group and army contingents and/or airforce elements from various NATO countries, such as Canada, Germany, Romania, Norway and Portugal participate.
The Belgian contribution to ISAF consists mainly of:
a.) Guarding and securing Kabul International Airport (KAIA) – some 400 Army troops
b.) One Para Company as part of the so-called Battlegroup 3
In addition, a handful of soldiers have been detached to the German-led PRT for Kunduz. PRT, for Provincial Reconstruction Team, the concept being an Afghan government "antenna" of reconstruction teams protected by ISAF troops to remote Afghan areas, to restore a semblance of governmental control in areas hitherto considered the realm of warlords. Also, the Belgian Air Force provides one C 130 Hercules aircraft for air transport throughout Afghanistan.
Scene at Kabul international Airport (KAIA). The soldiers look rather bored.
Since I have only scant information regarding the KAIA detachment but plenty on Battlegroup 3, I’d like to focus on the latter.
The 550-strong Battlegroup 3, or BG3, is one of three battlegroups forming KMNB (Kabul Multinational Brigade). BG3 is thus battalion-sized and consists of three elements: a Norwegian company-sized (180 men) Kavaleri Eskadron drawn from 8th Division, equipped with Mercedes scout cars and tracked M113 and CV90 APCs (tracked Armoured Personnel Carriers). Then there are the Hungarians of the 1st company (170 troops) of the 34th Long Range Reconnaissance Group "Bercsenyi Laszlo", equipped with Mercedes scout cars and BTR 80A APCs. The third element of BG3 is the 200-strong reinforced 21st company of Belgiums First Para Battalion from Diest. Their mounts are Bombardier Iltis jeeps and Pandur wheeled APCS.
BG3’s staff is composed of 16 Norwegians, 16 Belgians and 2 Hungarians. Commander is the Norwegian Lt. Col. Odlo, who describes the Battle groups mission as follows:
"Battlegroup 3 is a highly professional unit which is available when needed to assist in providing security in Kabul and its surrounds for organizations working in the area."
Above, Pandur APC in action. The 21st Coy has 8 at its disposal, each armed with a .50 cal machinegun, plus two equipped for medevacs. Below, the soft-skinned Bombardier Iltis jeep on patrol in Kabul. I'd rather sit in a Pandur than in an Iltis of course. The Iltis jeeps are Canadian and the relatively strong Canadian contingent in Afghanistan has them too on their inventory. In January 2004 a Canadian soldier was killed by a mine blast while travelling in the light jeep (much lighter than a Humvee, anyway), sparking a row in Canada on whether it was appropriate to send troops into combat in such light vehicles.
BG3s main task is assisting the diverse Afghan security organs, like police and NSD (National Department of Security) to create a safer climate in and around Kabul, thereby making it clear that the government is now in charge of the situation and that not only is there no place anymore for the Taliban but neither for the warlords, who still consider each progress by the central government outside Kabul as an incursion in their fiefdom. As the Afghan National Army (ANA) still has only some 21,000 troops, ISAFS presence and high visibility is still necessary.
BG3’s soldiers carry out daily patrols, on foot as well as by road and during the day as well as the night. Each patrol has an interpreter with it and very often works with local police. Another main purpose, apart from thwarting attacks and instilling faith in the people by making it clear who’s boss, is to gather intelligence.
Battlegroup 3’s Base Camp is in the Canadian "Julian" Camp, some 20 kloms southwest of Kabul Airport.
This dude on duty on KAIA looks eerily like me. The gun he is holding is our home-made FNC assault rifle. Home-made, since from the FN (Fabrique Nationale) factory in Herstal, eastern Wallonia. Mind you, he's not serving with 21st company in BG3 so he's not a Para but an army guy. All Belgian uniforms you see in this photo have this strange camo, although the Paras have by now received new desert camo.
All pictures taken from the Belgian Armed Forces site.
MFBB
Sunday, January 09, 2005
THREE KILLERS IN THEIR OWN RIGHT
a.) Mark Steyn
Oh man, where the fuck did you learn to write??? You kill me!
...As for the most striking photograph of this disaster, it's by AFP's Jimin Lai. I haven't seen it in any of the papers, oddly enough. It shows a tsunami-devastated village in Galle on the southwestern coast of Sri Lanka: a couple of rescuers are carrying away a body while, behind them, smack dab in the centre of the picture, a young man looks on. He's wearing an Osama bin Laden T-shirt.
I gave up worrying "Why do they hate us?" on the evening of September 11, 2001. But, if I were that Osodden bin Loser guy watching the infidels truck in water, food, medical supplies and emergency clothing for villagers whose jihad-chic T-shirt collection was washed out to sea, I might ask myself a more pertinent question: "Why do they like us?"
The path of the tsunamis tracked the arc of the Muslim world, from Sumatra to Somalia; the most devastated country is the world's most populous Muslim nation, and the most devastated part of that country is the one province living under the strictures of sharia. But, as usual, when disaster strikes it's the Great Satan and his various Little Satans who leap to respond. In the decade before September 11, the US military functioned, more or less exclusively, as a Muslim rapid reaction force – coming to the aid of Kuwaiti Muslims, Bosnian Muslims, Somali Muslims and Albanian Muslims. Since then, with the help of its Anglo-Australian allies, it's liberated 50 million Muslims in Afghanistan and Iraq.
b.) Aleksander Lukashenko
Try to avoid this dude. Boss of Europes last dictatorship. Apart from Belgium, that is.
The US State Department has said it considers as credible allegations that the Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko or his close entourage are involved in the disappearance of up to 30 opposition figures.
The high-profile disappearances include some of President Lukashenko's key opponents: Yuri Zakharenko, the former Interior Minister; Viktor Gonchar, the former Chairman of Belarus's Central Electoral Commission; and Dmitri Zavadksi, who once worked as President Lukashenko's personal cameraman.
FYI, Belarus, or White Russia in English, is a former USSR Republic, population some ten million, capital Minsk. It borders on Poland in the West and Russia in the East. Lukashenko has been in power for over a decade. True, the fella got re-elected again in 2000. But the OSCE, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (to you Americans it may seem a shadowy outfit, but in Europe it really has weight) said that the minimum requirements for free and fair elections had not been met. In 2003, from June to November no fewer than 4 major media outlets were closed. One year ago we were all witnesses of Georgia's popular revolt against Shevardnadzes unjust rule as the young and western-minded Saakashvili was elected. The past week we saw a comparable thing happen in Ukraine with Yuschschenkos victory. These events were dubbed the Rose and Orange revolts. This is how Lukashenko reacted to them:
Belarus President Aleksander Lukashenko has insisted there will be no people's revolutions, whether "rose, orange or banana", in his country.
c.) Anke Vandermeersch
A picture tells more than a thousand words.
MFBB has noticed that a certain contributor to this blog seemed more than a little impressed by Mrs. Vandermeersch's, erm, charisma. That's why MFBB provides this fine Compatibility Test.
FYI, MFBB is the Proud Owner of an 80% result.
MFBB
a.) Mark Steyn
Oh man, where the fuck did you learn to write??? You kill me!
...As for the most striking photograph of this disaster, it's by AFP's Jimin Lai. I haven't seen it in any of the papers, oddly enough. It shows a tsunami-devastated village in Galle on the southwestern coast of Sri Lanka: a couple of rescuers are carrying away a body while, behind them, smack dab in the centre of the picture, a young man looks on. He's wearing an Osama bin Laden T-shirt.
I gave up worrying "Why do they hate us?" on the evening of September 11, 2001. But, if I were that Osodden bin Loser guy watching the infidels truck in water, food, medical supplies and emergency clothing for villagers whose jihad-chic T-shirt collection was washed out to sea, I might ask myself a more pertinent question: "Why do they like us?"
The path of the tsunamis tracked the arc of the Muslim world, from Sumatra to Somalia; the most devastated country is the world's most populous Muslim nation, and the most devastated part of that country is the one province living under the strictures of sharia. But, as usual, when disaster strikes it's the Great Satan and his various Little Satans who leap to respond. In the decade before September 11, the US military functioned, more or less exclusively, as a Muslim rapid reaction force – coming to the aid of Kuwaiti Muslims, Bosnian Muslims, Somali Muslims and Albanian Muslims. Since then, with the help of its Anglo-Australian allies, it's liberated 50 million Muslims in Afghanistan and Iraq.
b.) Aleksander Lukashenko
Try to avoid this dude. Boss of Europes last dictatorship. Apart from Belgium, that is.
The US State Department has said it considers as credible allegations that the Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko or his close entourage are involved in the disappearance of up to 30 opposition figures.
The high-profile disappearances include some of President Lukashenko's key opponents: Yuri Zakharenko, the former Interior Minister; Viktor Gonchar, the former Chairman of Belarus's Central Electoral Commission; and Dmitri Zavadksi, who once worked as President Lukashenko's personal cameraman.
FYI, Belarus, or White Russia in English, is a former USSR Republic, population some ten million, capital Minsk. It borders on Poland in the West and Russia in the East. Lukashenko has been in power for over a decade. True, the fella got re-elected again in 2000. But the OSCE, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (to you Americans it may seem a shadowy outfit, but in Europe it really has weight) said that the minimum requirements for free and fair elections had not been met. In 2003, from June to November no fewer than 4 major media outlets were closed. One year ago we were all witnesses of Georgia's popular revolt against Shevardnadzes unjust rule as the young and western-minded Saakashvili was elected. The past week we saw a comparable thing happen in Ukraine with Yuschschenkos victory. These events were dubbed the Rose and Orange revolts. This is how Lukashenko reacted to them:
Belarus President Aleksander Lukashenko has insisted there will be no people's revolutions, whether "rose, orange or banana", in his country.
c.) Anke Vandermeersch
A picture tells more than a thousand words.
MFBB has noticed that a certain contributor to this blog seemed more than a little impressed by Mrs. Vandermeersch's, erm, charisma. That's why MFBB provides this fine Compatibility Test.
FYI, MFBB is the Proud Owner of an 80% result.
MFBB
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)