Mad Romney

Imperial Tropes

“We face the threats from rising powers — China, India, others — that we have to always be aware of and try to make sure that we always have sufficient force protection out there in the Pacific to make sure they know we’re never going anywhere.”

Leon Panetta
(US Defense Secretary)

Dutch Treat 3

Check this out. Right after the Second World War in 1946 the Dutch government had plans to annex territory from Germany. You learn something every day. The plans were denied by Allied command in light of tensions with the Soviet Union and the necessity to build a strong, new Germany to confront the communist threat.
The Dutch annexation plan was actually the second proposal in their quest for compensation. In 1945 the Dutch state demanded 25 billion guilders from the Germans. Needless to say that this plan also didn't come to fruition. In the end Germany paid the Netherlands the amount of 280 million marks. Read more about it here. From my perspective it also shows the contemporary mindset of colonialism, seize every bit of land that you possibly can.

Dutch Treat 2

Interesting bit of news surfaced today in the newspapers. The Netherlands, along with the U.S.A., had formulated a plan to military intervene (invade) the South American country of Suriname. In 1986 the Dutch government was very concerned about its citizens who were residing in Suriname. The latter being a former colony of the Netherlands who gained independence in 1975. The resulting democracy was short lived since in 1980 a military coup overthrew the government and declared a socialist republic. Under the leadership of Desi Bouterse a number of citizens were executed in 1982 and a civil war ensued.

Most fascinating some 25 years later is that an invasion plan was actually considered at the time. The current Dutch cabinet remarks that the plan never reached the point of a political decision and remained in the consideration 'stage.' However, the ministers who went public today refuse to reveal the associated documents to the public. They simply remain classified. Which in some way is also revealing, secrecy still being the name of the game.

Highwayman Donner

Something hilarious just transpired in Dutch politics. Earlier this month on the 9th of September the Supreme Court in the Netherlands decided that upon requesting an ID card, which is done at the local town hall normally, no fee can be asked. The essence of the verdict by the court was that an ID card should be free of charge for every citizen and current legislation doesn't justify paying for it, yet it is normal practice that a town generates revenue with issuing passports, documents etc.

The court even decided that people who had paid for a card the last few months should get their money back. Needless to say that many people hurried to the town hall to request a new ID card. City officials got swamped with work.

Enter minister Piet Hein Donner from the Christian Democrat party (CDA). Just a few weeks have passed since this new approach was put in effect, the good Christian minister just forwarded a new bill today basically reinstating the previous arrangement and where people have to pay (generously) for their new ID cards. Just comical how money takes precedence in the political process seeing how fast these highwaymen, I mean politicians, react when it becomes impossible to rob the citizens of their cash.
Tax decreases 'have to be studied' but new tax legislation can be implemented with light speed so it seems. Donner also slaps the Supreme Court in the face by basically countermanding/overruling their decision. When legislation is quickly changed to suit the profit motive, you can ask yourself what democracy really means.

Lefty

I made some comments on YouTube last week concerning a video Michael Moore uploaded and where he supports Julian Assange (from WikiLeaks) even going so far as donating money. Most comments on that video were positive but there were also a number of Moore detractors making themselves known. I decided to reply to some comments and rather quickly rubbed someone the wrong way. When I criticized the Bush administration for plunging the U.S. into an unjust war in Iraq I was branded a leftist (and a number of other things which I wont mention here).

Not an unfair accusation since I've often voted for the Dutch Labour Party, but if you have some degree of knowledge of Western European socialist parties you would know that these organizations aren't exactly communist or unsupportive of American policy. In fact, the Dutch and British Labour Parties supported the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, even sending the troops. Labour Parties in the aforementioned countries are still capitalists. Maybe that is something some Americans forget. While they have the workers rights high on the agenda - they wont interfere with business mechanics (that much).

What's more interesting to note is that blame is put on leftist politics like that is the cause of all the problems. I've seen this many times in my own country where left wing politicians are often blamed for failed policies. That's an outright falsehood since in the last 40 years in Holland there was always a right wing party who also sat in the government. That argument, blame the left, is blatantly false. In the U.S. the conservative Republican Party often ruled the country and from 2000 till 2008. How you can blame 'the left' for that era is beyond me.

Of course American politics differs from European. It might interest the reader to know that the Democrats in the U.S. are more right wing than the right wing party VVD here in Holland, but have you seen us in Holland dressing up in red and yell 'comrade?' With politics and parties you need a thorough understanding of what they actually stand for. The Nazis weren't socialists. Communist China aren't exactly communists, they are doing fine as an economy with their capitalistic approach. Even Cuba is taking China's approach. It's in the details and by their actions they show their true colors.

Which brings me back to the argument I had with an American who defended the Bush administration and was offended since by criticizing that administration I had also hurt the people that voted for it. Here's an excerpt of what he wrote to me;

The American people elected Bush twice so we must have liked him. Our Give is elected so when you slam Bush and the American Gov then it is perceived as slamming us as well. Plus it is well known that Americans are treated badly is some parts of Europe. One of our problems is that the newss you see coming from America has been decidedly partisan mostly to the left...but only 20% of Americans are far left types...which is most of what shows up on U Tube running off at the mouth. The vast majority of Americans don't think like them at all. On Iraq...the real reason for that war was to create a Democracy as an example in the Middle East and to drive a wedge between Iran and it's prozy armies in Lebanon.

There are a number of issues I could go into but I wont do that right now. The one I will address now is the (false) perception that 'left wing ideology' is somehow at fault here. Even news organizations are branded as partisan. Quite strange since from what I've seen real journalism and objective reporting has gone largely missing in American media. If I can be a bit straightforward and rude, I think the person I had a discussion with doesn't realize how fascist his thoughts have become. I think that person doesn't want his motives to be questioned nor does he wants to examine them and instead acts defensively.

Maybe we need to be careful where we put the blame and give it much more thought. Nowadays I'm not even a 'lefty' anymore. I've come to the realization that left and right wing policies actually don't differ that much in a democracy because it's all about the money and GDP's anyway. Money rules, not some political party. Lightbulb! See beyond superficial politics will you?

The Rat

Forgot something regarding WikiLeaks in my previous blog. There was an interesting leak regarding to what some of our (Dutch) politicians had been up to. On the left here is Maxime Verhagen, former Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Cabinet Balkenende IV. On 14 July 2009 Verhagen and then Prime Minister Balkenende (both belonging to the conservative Christian political party CDA) met with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. In the leaked the document the following is revealed;

Mr Verhagen alluded to comments made by Jan Peter Balkenende – the Dutch Prime Minister at the time – to President Barack Obama. Mr Balkenende apparently told Mr Obama that, while there was disagreement in the cabinet on the Dutch military mission in Afghanistan, he was convinced that the Netherlands would continue to have a presence there to carry on the ‘3-D’ approach – defence, diplomacy and development.

What's so strange about this you might ask? Well, the Dutch mission in Afghanistan was extended twice and the last time with the explicit condition that the troops would be withdrawn by 2010. The document reveals that Verhagen and Balkenende alluded to extending the mission even though there was a lot of opposition, including from the coalition partner PvdA (Dutch Labour Party) who was strongly opposed. It gets worse. The Dutch government fell over this issue. The Labour Party gave the cabinet a deadline to confirm it would withdraw all 1,600 Dutch soldiers no later than December 2010 and the CDA and the CU refused.

Let me put it in more simpler terms. Verhagen and Balkenende went back on their promise of taking the troops home and (vaguely) promised to extent the mission (in some capacity), also knowing that their coalition partner would be against such action. This clearly is a violation of previous agreements. When the government fell the CDA and especially Verhagen vehemently blamed the Labour Party. The document however, reveals that Verhagen was engaged in some backdoor diplomacy. When this news came out this week I discovered that Verhagen already had a nickname that was used by many people to describe him. "The Rat." To top it off, Verhagen is again a minister in the current Dutch cabinet. You can't make this stuff up.