donderdag, januari 28, 2010
US NATO envoy urges Dutch to remain in south Afghanistan
he US envoy to NATO has urged the Netherlands to keep its troops in volatile southern Afghanistan, saying that 2010 is a pivotal year for the international military effort there.Ambassador Ivo Daalder praised Dutch troops for their work in Uruzgan province helping to improve the lives of some 360,000 people, and urged the government not to pull forces out just as they are having an impact.
Read more >> | AFP Google News
Labels: Afghanistan, Dutch politics, Foreign Policy, NATO
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Wilders gets Canadian support on eve of trial
n the same day that the Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders appeared before a court in the Netherlands on charges of incitement to hatred and discrimination against the religious beliefs of Muslims, about 150 people filled a room in Toronto’s Zionist Centre to show their support for Wilders and view his controversial film, Fitna.The Toronto rally was hosted by the Jewish Defence League of Canada whose national director, Meir Weinstein, introduced the guest speakers and gave the final speech of the evening.
Read more >> | Jewish Tribune
Labels: Fitna, Wilders Trial
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Goldsmith at Chilcot: line by Lyne
he attorney general's change of mind on the legality of force against Iraq appears a tragic compromise of his independenceLord Goldsmith's appearance at the Iraq inquiry was just what one would expect from a leading lawyer who is used to appearing before the country's highest courts. He was calm and reassuring – a bit like drinking hot chocolate, said a friend – and he was well-prepared and authoritative.
But did he do enough to dispel the doubts about the integrity and independence of the decision-making process that led to his eleventh-hour opinion that the Iraq war was unambiguously lawful?
By Philippe Sands
Read more >> | The Guardian
Labels: Irak onderzoek, Iraq Inquiry Chilcot, United Kingdom
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US lawyers persuaded Lord Goldsmith to change his mind on Iraq war
ony Blair only got the “green light” to invade Iraq after his Attorney General visited Washington and was told by US lawyers that he was wrong to oppose the war.Lord Goldsmith told the Iraq Inquiry today that he altered his advice a few weeks before the bombing of Baghdad after a series of meetings with American legal advisors. He had initially warned that United Nations resolution 1441, passed in November 2002, did not provide a legal basis for overthrowing Saddam Hussein.
Read more >> | US lawyers persuaded Lord Goldsmith to change his mind on Iraq war - Times Online
Labels: Irak onderzoek, Iraq Inquiry Chilcot, United Kingdom
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woensdag, januari 27, 2010
Dutch comeback kid to revive Swedish Saab
iny Dutch Spyker will buy the once mighty Saab, with help from the Swedish government. If it goes wrong, Swedish tax payers have to foot the bill.The question on everybody's lips at the press conference in Stockholm on Tuesday was raised by Spyker chief executive Victor Muller himself. "How can such a small Dutch company take over Swedish Saab?" He answered it by saying these are abnormal times in the car industry during which unusual transactions take place. "Under normal circumstances, probably Saab would have been buying Spyker," Muller told reporters.
Read more >> | NRC-Handelsblad
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NATO Envisions Many More Years in Afghanistan
eads of NATO member states are fond of talking about when the alliance might begin to withdraw from Afghanistan. But a draft communiqué ahead of the conference in London makes it clear: NATO will stay in the war-torn country for years to come. It may also start paying Taliban fighters to lay down their arms.Read more >> | Der Spiegel International
Labels: Afghanistan, NATO
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dinsdag, januari 26, 2010
Chilcot inquiry: Lawyers expose pressure to give green light for war
oreign secretary resisted legal advice on invasion of Iraq- Attorney general's advice not sought until eleventh hour
While Jack Straw, then foreign secretary, was roundly dismissing the unanimous advice of his top lawyers that an invasion of Iraq would be illegal, officials in Downing Street were strongly resisting similar unwelcome advice, this time from Lord Goldsmith, the attorney general.
Previously classified documents released today at the Chilcot inquiry offer a rare, perhaps unprecedented, insight into manoeuvring at the heart of government about one of the most serious issues to confront ministers – whether to go to war, and the lawfulness of it.
Read more >> | The Guardian
See also >> | Lord Goldsmith
See also >> | Straw's clash with lawyers laid bare at Iraq inquiry - BBC News
Labels: Irak crisis, Irak onderzoek, Iraq Inquiry Chilcot, United Kingdom
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Spyker saves Saab from the scrapheap
e iconic Swedish carmaker has been saved from closure after the Dutch carmaker Spyker announced an 11th hour dealSaab, the iconic Swedish carmaker, has been saved from closure after the Dutch carmaker Spyker announced an 11th hour deal to buy its operations from its US parent company General Motors.
GM, which has been seeking to offload the loss-making Saab operations for a year, confirmed the deal, but would not disclose the price, which is thought to be in the region of $74 million.
Read more >> | The Times Online
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EP|TV looks back at commission hearings
ast week the hearings of the new EU Commission took place. Europarl|Tv looks back.Also a report on the evaluation of the EP on the Climate talks in Copenhagen.
Labels: Copenhagen, European Commission, European Parliament
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Dutch royals do not come cheap
he Dutch monarchy is the second most expensive one in Europe, only after the UK’s, according to Belgian professor Herman Matthijs.The Brussels' professor of political science came to this conclusion after studying the costs incurred by Europe’s various royal families.
Read more >> | nrc.nl - International - Dutch royals do not come cheap
Labels: Dutch politics, Monarchy
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Labour leader Bos leaves 'the third way'
odern capitalism is disrupting society and undermining human values, Labour party leader Wouter Bos said in a major speech in Amsterdam on Monday night.Bos used the annual Den Uyl speech, named after the former Labour prime minister Joop den Uyl, to discuss the effects of globalisation, neo-liberalism and capitalism which, he said, had not 'led the west into widescale poverty'.
Bos used the speech to say farewell to the Third Way, the left-wing Liberal movement which social democratic parties embraced in the 1990s. Bos, the paper said, admitted he was a child of the Third Way and said it had 'corrected high expectations from the state'.
Read more >> | DutchNews.nl - Labour leader Bos leaves 'the third way'
Labels: Dutch politics, Labour Party PvdA, Wouter Bos
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zondag, januari 24, 2010
Dutch PM: Chávez’s allegations "pure fiction"
he Dutch Prime Minister has hit back at the Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez over accusations that the Netherlands is helping to stage a military strike against his country.During an exclusive television interview with Radio Netherlands Worldwide, Jan Peter Balkenende dismissed as pure fiction Mr Chávez’s allegations that US war planes were being deployed in the neighbouring Dutch Antilles as part of a planned attack.
Read more >> | Radio Netherlands Worldwide
Labels: Balkenende, Chavez, Dutch politics, Foreign Policy
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vrijdag, januari 22, 2010
Evaluation of Hopenhagen from Europar|tv
Labels: Climate Change, Copenhagen, Europar|tv
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China returns fire against US in Google-war
hina today inflamed the international row with America over cyber-attacks on Google, denouncing Hillary Clinton’s criticism of the country's internet curbs as “information imperialism”.The Global Times, an English-language newspaper published by the state, said today that information from the West comes “loaded with aggressive rhetoric against those countries that do not follow their lead".
“Unlike advanced Western countries, Chinese society is still vulnerable to the effect of multifarious information flowing in, especially when it is for creating disorder,” it said.
Read more >> | The Times Online
See also >> | Remarks on Internet Freedom - Hillary Rodham Clinton
See also >> | Google's challenge to China: the reaction - The Guardian - Videoreactions from Chinese bloggers
See also >> | James Fallows - A momentous 40 hours, leading to Clinton/China/Internet - More on Hillary's speech in The Atlantic
Labels: China, Google, Hillary Clinton, Internet, United States
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European parliament shows its teeth
fter a full day of negotiations and rumours, Neelie Kroes was approved by the European Parliament as the new European commissioner for the ‘digital agenda’ post on Wednesday night.The tortuous process of her confirmation reflected a new balance of power existing in Brussels since the Treaty of Lisbon became effective last December. José Barroso, chairman of the European commission, will be facing a more powerful European parliament in the next five years. It has already appropriated the right to reject individual commissioners.
Read more >> | nrc.nl - International - European parliament shows its teeth
Labels: European Commission, European Parliament, Kroes
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donderdag, januari 21, 2010
Aid minister welcomes critical report
ert Koenders feels the WRR-report supports his policies.On Tuesday a Dutch government think tank, the Scientific Council for Government Policy (WRR), published a report critical of current foreign aid policy.
Bert Koenders, the minister responsible for foreign aid and a member of the Dutch Labour party PvdA, was not disturbed by the criticism. He feels the report was “constructive” and contained “many valuable ideas.”
An interview with the dutch forain aid minister.
Read more >> | nrc.nl - International - Aid minister welcomes critical report
See also >> | An imminent revolution in Dutch foreign aid?
Labels: Development aid, Dutch politics
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Hillary Clinton throws gauntlet down to China over censorship
he US today threw down the gauntlet to China over its internet censorship of its citizens in a hard-hitting speech by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.She urged China to investigate cyber attacks that led Google to threaten to pull out of the country - and challenged Beijing to publish its findings.
"Countries that restrict free access to information or violate the basic rights of internet users risk walling themselves off from the progress of the next century," she said, adding that the US and China "have different views on this issue, and we intend to address those differences candidly and consistently".
Read more >> | The Times Online
See also >> | Update on Google/China-ology
Labels: China, Google, Hillary Clinton, United States
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Jack Straw appearance at Chilcot Inquiry blows open Iraq war divisions
he stark divisions at the heart of government on the eve of the Iraq war were blown open again today when Jack Straw hinted that he considered his position in the build-up to the conflict.The Justice Secretary, who was Foreign Secretary at the time of the invasion, handed a 25-page memo to the official Iraq Inquiry before he gave evidence this afternoon, which stated that he believed he had a "profoundly difficult" moral dilemma when he was asked whether to support the war.
“The moral as well as the political dilemma were profoundly difficult," he wrote. "I was also fully aware that my support for military action was critical.
Read more >> | The Times Online
See also >> | The Jack Straw Memorandum (pdf)
See also >> | Chris Ames - The Guardian
See also >> | I could have vetoed UK military action in Iraq, Jack Straw tells inquiry - The Guardian
See also >> | Jack Straw at the Iraq war inquiry - The Guardian
See also >> | Jack Straw says 45-minute Iraq claim has 'haunted us'
See also >> | The Iraq Inquiry Timetable
Labels: Irak onderzoek, Iraq, Iraq Inquiry Chilcot, United Kingdom
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A Deal with the Taliban?
or thirty years Afghanistan has cast a long, dark shadow over world events, but it has also been marked by pivotal moments that could have brought peace and changed world history.By Ahmed Rashid
Read more >> | A Deal with the Taliban? - The New York Review of Books
Labels: Afghanistan, Bookreview, Taliban
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Sarkozy’s Three-Way NATO Bet
rance’s return to NATO’s integrated military structure after a 43-year absence last year brought to an end one of the exceptions françaises. It also helped frame the growing debate over whether to develop European defense more effectively or to seriously reform the Atlantic alliance.At first glance, it may seem that France chose NATO at the expense of the ten-year-old European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP). But that interpretation takes too pessimistic a view of ESDP’s achievements over the past decade, and is based on a flawed understanding of the relationships between NATO and the European Union.
By Camille Grand
Read more >> | Project Syndicate - Sarkozy’s Three-Way NATO Bet
Labels: European Union, France, NATO
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UN fudges Copenhagen Accord deadline
s the European Union tussles over which carbon reduction figures to inscribe in the annexes of the controversial Copenhagen Accord produced in the dying hours of December's climate summit, the UN's climate change chief has warned that few countries, including the major emitters, have so far signed up with their own emission reduction plans.Whether the European bloc signs up with a commitment of 20 percent, 25 percent or 30 percent CO2 cut, it is likely become one of the few powers that respond to the accord in time.
Read more >> | EUobserver / UN fudges Copenhagen Accord deadline
Labels: Climate Change, Copenhagen, European Union, United Nations
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Wilders' trial to resume in February
he trial of MP Geert Wilders on inciting hatred and discrimination charges will resume on February 3, judges in Amsterdam said on Wednesday.Following yesterday's initial hearing, judges will now decide who will be called as witnesses and on other procedural motions from both the prosecution and defence.
Read more >> | DutchNews.nl - Wilders' trial to resume in February
Labels: Dutch politics, Geert Wilders, Wilders Trial
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Zapatero sets out economic vision
pain's prime minister sees special role for electric cars in Europe's economic growth over the next decade.José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Spain's prime minister, today suggested that energy, technology and education and electric cars should serve as the cornerstones for economic growth in Europe over the next decade.
Presenting his economic vision to the European Parliament on Wednesday (20 January), Zapatero, whose government currently holds the EU's rotating presidency, also called for a new “social pact” between trade unions and companies to help ensure social stability.
Read more >> | Zapatero sets out economic vision | Policies | Economics | Management | European Voice
Labels: Economy, European Parliament, European Union, Spain
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Inside Google's Secret Struggles With Chinese Cyber Power
.S. intelligence officials have concluded that December's mass cyber attack against 33 American companies was most likely the result of a coordinated espionage campaign endorsed by the Chinese government. Google's revelation that they'd been hit was deemed a "watershed" moment by security industry analysts, but the other 32 companies who were hit have not followed suit and have begged the government to keep their identities a secret. The government has no choice but to protect their identities -- even as U.S. policy encourages greater transparency about the scope of such attacks.
Read more >> | The Atlantic
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A Cool Head for the Hottest Issues
Obama inherited a terrible legacy – recession, financial meltdown, Iraq, Afghanistan. He has not solved all of these problems. But it is difficult to see any really bad mistakes, except perhaps allowing himself to be pushed around by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and giving China the impression that he was prepared for a bilateral relationship entirely on China’s terms.That seems to be changing now. Obama may have come to understand that when you are the leader of the world’s only superpower, you need to be feared just a little if you are to be respected.
By Chris Patten
Project Syndicate - A Cool Head for the Hottest Issues
Labels: Barack Obama, Foreign Policy, United States
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woensdag, januari 20, 2010
First day in Wilders trial
he trial of the Dutch politician Geert Wilders, began this Wednesday.The lead judge of the court started off by addressing Geert Wilders, leader of the populist PVV party, directly. The judge said that while the media might have portrayed his case as foregone, his court “would not cast judgment before the last word has been spoken”.
Read more >> | nrc.nl - International - First day in Wilders trial
See also >> | Wilders' trial for inciting hatred starts - DutchNews.nl
Labels: Dutch politics, Geert Wilders, islam, Wilders Trial
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Update on Google/China-ology
wo belated points about the still-unfolding Google/China saga, and then one reader message.Point one: "soft power" - or lack thereof. In the immediate aftermath of Google's decision, there was assorted mild carping from Western observers about what Google's motivation "really" was. Were they escaping a bad business situation? (no), were they just trying to score PR points in the rest of the world? (not really), was there some other motivation apart from the stated one of exasperation at dealing with the intrusions and harassments inside China?
By James Fallows
Read more >> | Update on Google/China-ology
Labels: China, Foreign Policy, Google
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Has Wilders broken the law?
eert Wilders’ inflammatory anti-Muslim statements are well known. Are they illegal?Rumour has it that Geert Wilders, the leader of the populist PVV party, hopes to call Mohamed B., the man who killed Theo van Gogh, as a witness in his up-coming trialm which starts this Wednesday. Probably to establish the connection between the Koran and violence that Wilders assumes. The prosecution, however, will focus on the Dutch criminal code, particularly the two articles the politician is alleged to have violated: 137 c and d. Wilders is charged with slandering a group and sowing hate, and discrimination on the basis of race or religion. He has targeted muslims on the basis of their religion, the prosecution will argue, and non-western migrants or Moroccans on the basis of their race. The trial is expected to last months.
Read more >> | nrc.nl - International - Has Wilders broken the law?
See also >> | The Indictment (in dutch, pdf)
See also >> | Geert Wilders - Wikipedia
See also >> | Wilders' inciting hatred court case starts - DutchNews.nl
See also >> | Wilders on trial: who's funding his defence? - RNW
See also >> | GeertWilders.nl - Diana West - IFPS The Trial of Geert Wilders: A Symposium - Daniel Pipes
See also >> | Shrugging off Spinoza - Sappho.dk
See also >> | The Wilders’ trial: what you wanted to know but couldn’t ask - by Prof. dr Ybo Buruma, Radboud University Nijmegen (pdf)
See also >> | Wilders' inciting hatred court case starts - DutchNews.nl
See also >> | Wilders on trial: who's funding his defence? - RNW
See also >> | GeertWilders.nl - Diana West - IFPS The Trial of Geert Wilders: A Symposium - Daniel Pipes
See also >> | Shrugging off Spinoza - Sappho.dk
See also >> | The Wilders’ trial: what you wanted to know but couldn’t ask - by Prof. dr Ybo Buruma, Radboud University Nijmegen (pdf)
See also >> | Vervolging van Wilders legt een fundament van beschaving - NRC - J. Th. Degenkamp (dutch)
See also >> | Het proces tegen Wilders is anti-liberaal - NRC - Frank Ankersmit
See also >> | Wilders-proces: de geest uit de fles - Bart Jan Spruyt - Binnenlands Bestuur
Labels: Dutch politics, Geert Wilders, islam, Wilders Trial
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An imminent revolution in Dutch foreign aid?
report published earlier this week by a government think tank is welcomed by right-wing liberal Arend Jan Boekestijn.On Monday, the WRR, a Dutch government think tank, presented its long awaited and highly critical report on foreign aid to minister Bert Koenders.
Arend Jan Boekestijn
Read more >> | nrc.nl - International - Opinion - An imminent revolution in Dutch foreign aid?
Labels: Development aid, Dutch politics, Foreign Policy
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Kroes sails through second parliamentary screening
eelie Kroes has managed to convince MEPs that she is up to the job of commissioner for the EU's 'Digital Agenda', according to MEPs who had the opportunity to quiz the Dutch candidate for a second time.Read more >> | EurActiv
Labels: European Commission, European Parliament, European Union, Kroes
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dinsdag, januari 19, 2010
The European grill
very EU presidency, however carefully planned, always comes up against an unexpected crisis that puts its real capacity for active response to the test. As the Spanish presidency begins, Haiti has become the first test case of the EU's capacity for coordinated foreign policy action.As opposed to the bureaucratic and technical squabbles that have dominated discussion in recent months, we now have a real opportunity to see how coordination is going to work between the stable presidency and the rotational one. At the immediate subpresidential level, on the one side we have Lady Ashton and the Belgian Karel de Gucht; on the other, the Spanish Deputy Prime Minister María Teresa Fernández de la Vega and the secretary of state for cooperation, Soraya Rodríguez.
Read more >> | The European Council on Foreign Relations | The European grill
Labels: European Commission, European Union, Foreign Policy, Haïti
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Iraq inquiry: Hoon says UK war backing not inevitable
ritish involvement in the invasion of Iraq was not decided until it was approved by MPs, Geoff Hoon has said.The ex-defence secretary said the UK always hoped diplomatic efforts on Iraq would be successful and had never given "unconditional" support for war.
It would have been "inappropriate" for the cabinet to discuss the legal advice it received on the war, he said.
Letters show that the attorney general warned Mr Hoon in April 2002 about the legality of military action.
Read more >> | BBC News
Labels: Irak crisis, Iraq, Iraq Inquiry Chilcot, United Kingdom
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Goldsmith was not convinced war was legal even after UN resolution – Chilcot
hairman of Iraq inquiry also suggests then-attorney general was discouraged from expressing his doubts about war in writingLord Goldsmith was not convinced that war in Iraq would be legal even after the UN security council passed resolution 1441 in November 2002, Sir John Chilcot said today.
Basing his remarks on papers he has read but which have not been made public, the chairman of the Iraq inquiry said that the then-attorney general, "immediately after 1441 had been secured, said he would need some time to reflect on it. And it appears from what we read that he did not feel convinced at that time – I'm talking about post-November, before March – that standing on its own it would be a secure base."
Chilcot also suggested that Goldsmith had been discouraged from expressing his doubts about the war in writing.
Read more >> | The Guardian
See also >> | The Times: Lord Goldsmith warned Tony Blair over legality of the Iraq war
See also >> | Iraq Inquiry Digest
See also >> | Telegraph: Iraq Inquiry: Lord Goldsmith 'materially' changed legal advice in days before war
Labels: Irak crisis, Irak onderzoek, Iraq, Iraq Inquiry Chilcot
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Day 1: Regulators in spotlight at credit crisis probe
he government's macro economic policy unit CPB did not warn the government too late about the looming credit crisis in 2008, the institute's director Coen Teulings told a parliamentary committee on Monday.Read more >> | DutchNews.nl - Regulators in spotlight at credit crisis probe
Labels: Dutch politics, Financial Crisis Inquiry, Financial Policy
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Report on foreign aid finds policy too pretentious
he development of a nation is only marginally dependent on foreign aid, states a report by a government think tank that argues for a more modest policy.Does foreign aid help countries develop? Or does it have the opposite effect? The question is not new, but the debate surrounding it has become almost religious in nature as of late, with believers on both sides proclaiming their own dogmatic truths – both in the Netherlands and elsewhere.
The report Less Pretentious, More Ambitious reads as an attempt to bring the debate back down to earth. High time, according to the Scientific Council for Government Policy (WRR), a government think thank that produced the 352-page report that was published this Monday.
Read more >> | nrc.nl - International - Report on foreign aid finds policy too pretentious
Labels: Development aid, Dutch politics, Foreign Policy
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Kibbutz
y Sixties were a little different from those of my contemporaries. Of course, I joined in the enthusiasm for the Beatles, mild drugs, political dissent, and sex (the latter imagined rather than practiced, but in this too I think I reflected majority experience, retrospective mythology notwithstanding). But so far as political activism was concerned, I was diverted from the mainstream in the years between 1963 and 1969 by an all-embracing engagement with left-wing Zionism. I spent the summers of 1963, 1965, and 1967 working on Israeli kibbutzim and much of the time in between was actively engaged in proselytizing Labour Zionism as an unpaid official of one of its youth movements. During the summer of 1964 I was being “prepared” for leadership at a training camp in southwest France; and from February through July of 1966 I worked full time at Machanayim, a collective farm in the Upper Galilee.By Tony Judt
Read more >> | The New York Review of Books
Labels: Tony Judt
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maandag, januari 18, 2010
Parliament launches inquiry into banking crisis
oth the Dutch and US governments have begun inquiries into the origins of the financial crisis. Five questions on them answered.Public hearings by committees of inquiry into the current financial crisis have been launched in both the US and the Netherlands. Last Wednesday, the first four American bankers reported to the American Financial Crisis Inquiry Committee. This Monday, in The Hague, the Temporary Committee Investigating Financial Systems, better known as the De Wit Committee, holds its first public hearing. What are the most important similarities and differences between the two approaches?
Read more >> | nrc.nl - International - Features - Like US, Dutch launch inquiry into banking crisis
Labels: Dutch politics, Financial Crisis Inquiry, Financial Policy
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Dutch should focus aid on 10 countries
he Netherlands should overhaul the way it structures its development aid programme and focus specialist attention on 10 countries, according to a new report by the government's scientific council for government policy WWR.In order to do this, the government could set up its own umbrella organisation of experts, as the US and Britain have done the WWR said. Aid should be focused on actual development, based on a country's specific situation.
The report, entitled Less Pretention, more Ambition, has been two years in the making.
Read more >> | DutchNews.nl - Dutch should focus aid on 10 countries: report
See also >> | WRR Report
Labels: Development aid, Dutch politics, Foreign Policy
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Shell faces shareholder revolt over Canadian tar sands project
hell chief executive Peter Voser will be forced to defend the company's controversial investment in Canada's tar sands at his first annual general meeting, after calls from shareholders that the project be put under further scrutiny.A coalition of institutional investors has forced a resolution onto the agenda calling for the Anglo-Dutch group's audit committee to undertake a special review of the risks attached to the carbon-heavy oil production at Athabasca in Alberta.
Read more >> | The Guardian
Labels: Climate Change, Environment, Oil, Shell
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EU divided over jump to 30% cut in CO2
uropean Union member states are divided over the bloc's pledge to raise its CO2 commitment up to a 30 percent cut by 2020 in the wake of the Copenhagen UN climate summit debacle.Environment ministers from across the bloc over the weekend met in Seville, Spain, to assess the reasons for the failure in the Danish capital in December and to map out the EU's next moves.
Read more >> | EUobserver / EU states divided over jump to 30% cut in CO2
Labels: Climate Change, Copenhagen, European Union
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Last week in the Netherlands
weekly report by Radio Netherlands Worldwide on the Iraq report, the dutch aide to Haiti, skating, the Wilders trial and the death of Miep Gies.Labels: RNW Weekly report
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zondag, januari 17, 2010
Straw privately warned Blair that Iraq invasion was legally dubious
etter to PM from foreign secretary challenged gravity of threat from Saddam in lead-up to pivotal meeting with BushJack Straw privately warned Tony Blair that an invasion of Iraq was legally dubious, questioned what such action would achieve, and challenged US claims about the threat from Saddam Hussein, it was revealed today
Read more >> | The Guardian
Labels: Foreign Policy, Irak crisis, Irak onderzoek, Iraq, United Kingdom, United Nations
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Tablet is the new book
rediction roundup: How Steve Jobs' rumored gadget could change the way we readUnless you’ve been trapped under a very large P.C. for the last year, you’ve likely heard the about Apple’s rumored new tablet device (now being heralded as the “iSlate”). The device is thought to be an 8 (or 10, or 11) inch flat iPod-like gadget that will be a mix between a Mac laptop and a Kindle. Most rumors suggest that it will have a touch interface and video capabilities, and, thanks to today’s Wall Street Journal, it has a likely release date: March. (According to the article, Apple will show it to the public later this month.)
Read more >> | Salon.com Tablet is the new book
Labels: Apple, Books, Gadget, Tablet
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Major Antarctic glacier is 'past its tipping point'
major Antarctic glacier has passed its tipping point, according to a new modelling study. After losing increasing amounts of ice over the past decades, it is poised to collapse in a catastrophe that could raise global sea levels by 24 centimetres.Pine Island glacier (PIG) is one of many at the fringes of the West Antarctic ice sheet. In 2004, satellite observations showed that it had started to thin, and that ice was flowing into the Amundsen Sea 25 per cent faster than it had 30 years before.
Read more >> | Major Antarctic glacier is 'past its tipping point' - environment - 13 January 2010 - New Scientist
Labels: Climate Change, Climate research
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Car giants giving false hope of emission-free future, report says
ar companies are raising false hopes of emission-free motoring in order to continue profiting from large, fuel-hungry vehicles, according to a study.Read more >> | Car giants giving false hope of emission-free future, report says - Times Online
See also >> | The future for low-carbon transport
Labels: Climate Change, Energy policy, Environment, Transport
- posted by DD @ 5:12 p.m. Perma Link/Print (0) comments
World misled over Himalayan glacier meltdown
WARNING that climate change will melt most of the Himalayan glaciers by 2035 is likely to be retracted after a series of scientific blunders by the United Nations body that issued it.Two years ago the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued a benchmark report that was claimed to incorporate the latest and most detailed research into the impact of global warming. A central claim was the world's glaciers were melting so fast that those in the Himalayas could vanish by 2035.
In the past few days the scientists behind the warning have admitted that it was based on a news story in the New Scientist, a popular science journal, published eight years before the IPCC's 2007 report.
Read more >> | World misled over Himalayan glacier meltdown - Times Online
Labels: Climate Change, Climategate
- posted by DD @ 4:52 p.m. Perma Link/Print (0) comments
Be Like Reagan
n Iran, Obama should talk about democracy and support the demonstrators—but give the regime a chance to negotiate.Iran is the new Eastern Europe during the last phase of the Cold War. Like Poland during the heady days of Solidarity in the early 1980s, the protestors in the streets of Iranian cities are not crazed ethnics demonstrating on behalf of some illiberal blood-and-soil nationalism, but enlightened, technologically savvy multitudes crying out for universal values of democracy and human rights. As such, they have captured the imagination of liberal intellectuals in the West.
By Robert D. Kaplan
Be Like Reagan - The Atlantic
(January 16, 2010)
Labels: Foreign Policy, Iran
- posted by DD @ 2:56 p.m. Perma Link/Print (0) comments
vrijdag, januari 15, 2010
Prime minister disgraced, governing coalition strained
he Labour party (PvdA) emerged victorious from political scuffles surrounding the Iraq inquiry report. But it may yet pay a price.Deputy prime minister Wouter Bos was finally allowed to address parliament an hour after midnight during the debate Wednesday night. Until then, the leader of Dutch Labour party PvdA had sat silently beside prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende, his head bowed modestly, constantly fidgeting with his Blackberry. The body language of the leaders of the two largest governing parties revealed a fissure between them that words did not express.
Bos’ Labour party, PvdA, was trying hard not to wallow too much in its victory, striving to remain cool and collected, and not aggravate the prime minister’s Christian democrat CDA party any further.
Read more >> | nrc.nl - International - Background - Prime minister disgraced, governing coalition strained
Labels: Dutch politics, Foreign Policy, Irak onderzoek, Iraq
- posted by DD @ 11:52 a.m. Perma Link/Print (0) comments
Kroes off her game
utch candidate for the European Commission's digital portfolio fails to live up to her reputation.Neelie Kroes went into her hearings for a second term as European commissioner with a handicap that other re-nominees did not have. By the end, the effect of the handicap was all too evident.
Read more >> | Kroes off her game | Policies | EU governance | Commission | European Voice
Labels: EU Policy, European Commission, European Union, Kroes
- posted by DD @ 9:51 a.m. Perma Link/Print (0) comments
Europe’s Fearful Natives
referendum in Switzerland forbids the construction of new minarets. Racial violence explodes in the southern Italian region of Calabria. An intense and controversial debate takes place in France on the issue of national identity. These events have little in common, yet they all point to a growing European trend.More than ever before in recent decades, fear is becoming the dominant force in European politics. And it is not an abstract, undefined fear: it is above all the fear of the non-European “other,” perceived by a growing numbers of “white” Europeans as a threat to our European identities and ways of life, if not our physical security and jobs.
Dominique Moisi
Read more >> | Project Syndicate - Europe’s Fearful Natives
Labels: Christendom, Debat, France, islam
- posted by DD @ 9:38 a.m. Perma Link/Print (0) comments
HOE EUROPA HAAR ZELFVERTROUWEN VERLOOR
e moeizame integratie van moslims in de westerse cultuur wordt gekenmerkt door tal van incidenten die vaak potsierlijk zijn, maar die er ook steeds blijk van geven hoe gering het zelfvertrouwen van het Westen is. In Amsterdam schorste het GVB (het openbaar vervoer) onlangs een trambestuurder omdat hij een christelijk kruisje droeg op zijn uniform. Het dragen van een islamitisch hoofddoekje boven datzelfde uniform is wel toegestaan. De tramconducteur werd door de rechter in het ongelijk gesteld. Een Nederlandse advocaat weigert op te staan als de rechter binnenkomt, omdat hem dat door zijn godsdienst, de islam, verboden wordt. De desbetreffende rechter, Peter Ingelse, zei dat de advocaat mocht blijven zitten, omdat hij, Ingelse, zich niet beledigd voelde. De rechter vergat daarbij dat advocaten niet moeten opstaan uit respect voor de rechter, maar uit respect voor de wet.Frits Bolkestein
Lees verder >> | Liberales
Labels: Christendom, Debat, Frits Bolkestein, islam
- posted by DD @ 9:26 a.m. Perma Link/Print (0) comments
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