What does it look like?

Today the leaders of VVD, CDA and PVV publicly presented the outlines of the government agreement between CDA and VVD and the support agreement between them and the PVV under the motto 'Freedom and Responsibility' (p, thanks to DDS).

A Dutch right-wing government: What does that look like? Here are some of the points that may be of interest to an international audience:

Security

The government will employ 3,000 extra police and will nationalize the police force to enable more efficiency. The quota for handing out fines will be abolished. Minimum sentences will be formulated from criminals that commit an offence with a penalty of 12 years prison or more within 10 years after their last conviction. The (in)famous Dutch coffeeshops will become members-only clubs. Only Dutch will be allowed membership.

Immigration/Integration

Immigrants allowed access will start with a temporary of five years. If in that time a crime is committed for which there is a penalty of 12 years in prison or more, citizenship will be revoked and the immigrant will be expelled. Immigration rules will be sharpened with an eye on reducing non-western immigration by 50%. This includes limits on marriage migration, the responsibility to pay for your own integration courses and upping the difficulty level of the exam. Illegal immigration will become a legal offence for which a criminal prosecution can be started. There will be a general ban on the burqa and a ban on wearing a headscarf for police, the public prosecutor's office and the judiciary. Marriage of cousins will be banned in principal.

Finances

Development aid will be reduce from 0.8% of Dutch GDP to 0.7% GDP. Both parliamentary houses will be reduced by a third (50 MP seats in Second chamber, 25 seats in the Senate) to cut government expenses. City, provincial other local councils will also be reduced in size. The budget for Defence will be cut with another 600 million. However, 1 billion extra will be added to the budget for care for the elderly.

Other

The government will work to lower the Dutch contribution to the EUnion. It vowed to work at changing EUnion migration rules to enable a better screening if immigrants. On the other hand it will introduce an energy surcharge to finance subsidies to renewable energy project. While the government is proposing a two-state solution in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it states that it will 'further invest' in relations with Israel.

It is a bit of a mixed bag. I don't particularly like the cuts in Defence or the investment of public money in those infernal 'green' renewables schemes. But overall there is a lot to like about the agreements.

The next, and hopefully last, big hurdle will be the CDA party conference. That will be held next Saturday, the exact same day that Geert Wilders has a public engagement in Berlin, in favour of what may become a German sister party to the PVV.

Within the CDA parliamentary fraction there is still discord about the co-operation between CDA, VVD and PVV, with the two remaining dissidents still unwilling to support the agreements on 'principled grounds'. But if an overwhelming majority at the conference votes in favour of the agreements, there will be nowhere left for them to turn to.

Having said that, the conference is set to become a tense one. The attendance will be three times as large as a regular CDA conference, judging from pre-registrations. The two remaining dissidents and former minister Ab Klink have already requested extra speaking time, as has Justice minister Ernst Hirsh Ballin, another known opponent of the agreements. On the positive side: Most reactions from local CDA chapters are positive (NL). The few negative reactions all have to do with Geert Wilders personally, while still positive about the agreements. So possibly they can be convinced to chose substance over form.

The President and the UN

Every Patriotic American Should Support the President ... of the Czech Republic.

That, at least, is the message Dan Mitchell, senior fellow at the Cato Institute, is spreading.

This is about the Czech president Vaclav Klaus criticizing U.N. calls for increased “global governance” of the world’s economy, saying the world body should leave that role to national governments.

The solution to dealing with the global economic crisis, Klaus told the U.N. General Assembly, did not lie in “creating new governmental and supranational agencies, or in aiming at global governance of the world economy.”

“On the contrary, this is the time for international organizations, including the United Nations, to reduce their expenditures, make their administrations thinner, and leave the solutions to the governments of member states,” he said. (...)

Klaus, a free-market economist who oversaw a wave of privatization in the 1990s after communism collapsed in his homeland, also said the world was “moving in the wrong direction” in combating the economic crisis. “The anti-crisis measures that have been proposed and already partly implemented follow from the assumption that the crisis was a failure of markets and that the right way out is more regulation of markets,” he said.

Klaus said that was a “mistaken assumption” and it was impossible to prevent future crises through regulatory interventions and similar actions by governments. That will only “destroy the markets and together with them the chances for economic growth and prosperity in both developed and developing countries,” he said.

The speech was evidently a reaction to an earlier speech by the Swiss president of the General Assembly, Joseph Deiss, who said at the opening of the annual gathering of world leaders in New York last Thursday that it was time for the United Nations to "comprehensively fulfill its global governance role."

A "global governance role"? If I remember correctly, this was not why the UN was set up. It has no "global governance role". And I for one, certainly and emphatically do NOT want to be governed by a body where sadistic, self-enriching autocrats from underdeveloped shit holes seem to be calling the shots (UN Human Rights Council, anyone?).

Incidentally, Helen Szamuely asks: Why is it that none of our politicians has the guts to say what President Klaus says? Why indeed...

To all heads of state and government leaders...

... who feel the urgent need to publicly pontificate on the new realities in Dutch politics:

Dear Sir/Madam/Your Excellency,

You may have done so already. Or you may feel the urge in the days ahead: To air your objections to the newly formed Dutch cabinet and the fact that this cabinet gleans it's mandate from the parliamentary support of the PVV of Geert Wilders. My friendly but urgent advice is for you to resist that urge in the name of international relations and your own reputation.

It is rather difficult to understand for us, what you are actually protesting against. Evidently you object to the person of Geert Wilders. Even more so now that his party has some say in the government of the Netherlands. But is that enough substance for any credible objection? Doesn't this reveal more about your own narrow prejudices?

Like so many Don Quixottes  you are charging against wind mills. Geert Wilders is not the government of the Netherlands. Hence, even if you belief everything Geert Mak is whispering in your ear about the evil creature that Wilders is, does your political savvy not inform you that a government made up of two mainstream parties will of necessity form a mainstream government?

You are pronouncing verdict over something of which you know nothing. You know nothing, because we know nothing. The details of the governing and support agreements will be made available only later today. A few titbits have been leaked, but it is far too early to say anything of substance about the likely character of the new Dutch government. Simply because we do not have the information yet.

But all practical and political issues aside, you are treading where, by international agreement,  no one of your stature should be found: Interfering with interior affairs of a fellow nation state. You are committing, or are about to commit, a tremendous faux pas, one which ordinary Dutch citizens will not likely forget. If there is one thing the 'liberation' of the 1960's has instilled in the Dutch, it is the absolute allergy to complete strangers telling us what we can and cannot do.

That you have (or are about to) interfere in an exclusively interior and perfectly legitimate, democratic political process is not only evidence of extremely poor taste. It also exposes conceit bordering on arrogance in the assumption that your opinions should carry more weight then those of ordinary Dutch participating in the elections. It does not, nor should it. You wading into the Dutch process would be evidence that you think it does, which would reflect rather poorly on your character.

It is not your place to pronounce verdict over this new government. You are not Dutch, you did not vote in these elections and you took no part in the process. You do not live in Holland, or more specifically: in one of the Dutch big city neighbourhoods where Geert Wilders finds such loyal support. You do not govern us, we owe you neither allegiance nor loyalty.

We have no reason whatsoever, apart from common courtesy, to listen to what you have to say. We will take your objections for what they are worth: pontifications of a non-Dutch non-resident who in all likelihood is not aware of the realities on the ground. Someone who is interfering in something of which he or she knows nothing about. A fool, therefore.

One would think this is a perception that politicians strive to avoid at all cost. Hence, my advise to you: Let us get on with our (not your) business. With time you will find proof that we did not collectively lose our minds (rather the opposite!) and that we are still the civilized, easy-going fellow Earth inhabitants you have come to know and love. Don't give in to the urge. Spare yourself the humiliation of making a fool of yourself or your office.

Yours sincerely,
KV

This open letter (which is more of a note, I'll admit) was written as a reaction to:

• Jean-Luc Dehaene (NL), Belgian ex-PM and EUrocrat, who stated that the new Dutch cabinet, called 'Rutte I' is a 'danger to democracy', without being able to specify the danger.

• Angela Merkel German Bundeskanzlerin, who stated yesterday she 'will do her best to work with the new Dutch government, although she regrets its make-up'.

• But most of all to Geert Mak (NL), who, in an interview with German magazine Die Zeit (D) called upon the 'international community' to assert increasing pressure on the Netherlands over the Rutte I cabinet. In the process he manages to paint the Dutch as the stupidest, most retarded group of people in the history of mankind. To a foreign audience. One wishes traitors like him could still be shot at dawn.

The Reverse Majority Rule

Within the EUnion the next step to kill off democracy and the nation-state is being prepared. Flagged up by England Expects, Herman 'not my president' van Rompuy is about to introduce 'The Reverse Majority Rule'. If the name reads like an Orwellian expression denoting the abolishment of consensus decision makeing, you'd not be far off. From the van Rompuy speech (pdf) that introduces this new concept:

Whenever possible, decision-making rules on sanctions should be more automatic and based on a reverse majority rule, implying a Commission proposal is adopted unless rejected by the Council.

Got that? A EUnion Comission proposal is accepted, unless rejected by a majority of Council votes. Gawain Towler explains:

From what I can work out from the explanations given it means that the nation states need to get 51% of the votes to block a proposal from the Commission rather than the Commission requiring a majority of 62% to get something passed. If so this is of enormous importance to the balance of power in the European Union.

The thing is: Nowhere in the Lisbon Treaty Turnip is there any provision for introducing this new Reverse Majority Rule. Thus the introduction of this new rule would seem to be a clear violation of the Turnip and hence illegal.

Incidentally, this new rule may make life for the EUrocrats a little uncomfortable, since it represents a massive transfer of power away from nation-states. In the UK prime-minister Cameron has promised that in such a case, there would be a referendum in the UK. This may precipitate yet another crisis for the EUnion.

Mumbai-style attack in Europe foiled

Sky News reports that a major Mumbai-style terrorist attack on cities in the UK, Germany and France has been foiled.Militants based in Pakistan were planning simultaneous strikes in London, as well as cities in France and Germany. The plan was in an "advanced but not imminent stage" and the plotters had been tracked by spy agencies "for some time". The planned attacks would have been commando-style raids similar to those in Mumbai carried out by Pakistan-based gunmen in 2008.

Esther, who is also on the case cites ABC News:

ABC News reports the information about this plot comes from a suspected German terrorist who was caught on his way to Europe. The man is Ahmad S., who was captured in early July. Ahmad was linked to the Taiba mosque in Hamburg (The 9/11 mosque). German authorities closed down the mosque a month later.

In early September, Der Spiegel reported Ahmad S. had warned of possible terrorist attacks in Germany and Europe. Bernard Squarcini, head of France's counterterrorism and counterintelligence agency, said at that time that "All the lights are red. They are flashing from everywhere". Since then there have been four bomb alerts in Paris - two in the Eiffel Tower and two in metro stations - forcing police to clear out hundreds and thousands of people every time.

The information that this Ahmad S. gave intelligence services led to a ramping up of missile strikes against militants in Pakistan's tribal regions by the CIA.

The strikes, launched from unmanned drone aircraft, represent a rare use of the CIA's drone campaign to preempt a possible attack on the West.

The plot was to be carried out by the Haqqani network, closely linked to Al Qaeda. This is particularly worrisome, according to Bruce Hoffman, a professor at Georgetown University who has written extensively on terrorism. The Haqqani group is one of the more skilled and competent groups spreading its wings. If they really are involved in the plot, this would represent the first time the Haqqani network is seeking to attack outside of South Asia.

It appears from the WSJ article that this Ahmad S. sang like a canary after his arrest. Says a US official in the WSJ "Our operational tempo has been up for a while now, we have good information driving it, and—given the stakes involved—we hope to keep the pressure on as long as we can".

"The strikes are a product of precise intelligence and precise weapons," the official said. "We've been hitting targets that pose a threat to our troops in Afghanistan and terrorists plotting attacks in South Asia and beyond."

According to the WSJ some 20 air strikes using UAV's have been carried out this month. Elsewhere, NATO helicopter strikes into Pakistan have killed 70 Taliban and suspected terrorists. Given the sheer number, these attacks were aimed at terrorist camps.

Nice bit of clean up, that...

[UPDATE001] Jihad Watch has a follow up, including Pakistans adverse reaction and the German jihadis full name: Ahmad Siddiqui.

Finally

From DutchNews.nl: The Netherlands set to get right-wing minority cabinet, with Wilders' support.

On Tuesday night, the leaders of the three parties – the VVD, PVV and Christian Democrats - said they had finalised a draft agreement which covers the main policy plans for the next four years.

‘I am very pleased with the result. An awful lot of people are going to be delighted,' VVD Mark Rutte was quoted as saying by Nos tv.

PVV leader Geert Wilders, who is due to appear in court on Monday charged with inciting hatred and discrimination, described the agreement as historic. The PVV will have 'an enormous amount of influence' as a silent partner, he said.

Snouck has video of the announcement.

Details of the agreements are still sketchy. It is expected that the contents will be made available on Thursday, after the respective parliamentary fractions have been informed. The final hurdle will come Saturday, when the party conference of the CDA will pronounce verdict over the agreements. If the CDA backs the deal, Mark Rutte will begin the process of finding ministers and putting the cabinet together.

On the left the wailing and gnashing of teeth has started with Labour leader Job Cohen saying a right-wing minority cabinet would be the worst possible outcome for the Netherlands. ‘The PVV has far too much power and very little responsibility’. D66 leader Alexander Pechtold even labelled the likely new government as an ‘unsavoury adventure’.

Too soon yet for that cartoon, but like Chris Matthews before me, I feel a tingle...

[UPDATE001] And we're off to a flying start! According to De Telegraaf (NL) the new government will end the smoking ban in small café's without employees, directly in opposition to EUnion ambitions for a EU-wide blanket smoking ban. This may be a signal that this new government will not jump to at every brainfart wafting down from Brussels. Maybe even a little resistance? One hardly dares to hope...

Hope and Change

Glen Greenwald: Obama argues his assassination program is a "state secret"

There's another word for that: Tyranny

I don’t trot that word out lightly. But Jesus. (...)

There are no mitigating factors, here. Obama is arguing the executive has the power to execute American citizens without a trial, without even so much as an airing of the charges against them, and that it can do so in complete secrecy, with no oversight from any court, and that the families of the executed have no legal recourse. (...)

If there’s more tyrannical power a president could possibly claim than the power to execute the citizens of his country at his sole discretion, with no oversight, no due process, and no ability for anyone to question the execution even after the fact... I can’t think of it.

So, how's that Hopey-Changey thing working out?

Plane stupidity

WUWT: Cancel all your European travel and vacation plans – carbon trading extortion is here

The EU carbon trading cabal has decided to extort the rest of the air travel world starting in 2012. In a nutshell, they’ll ban flights from landing if the airlines don’t engage in carbon trading.

You *will* pay us for hot air!

[UPDATE 001] Or how about this one: EU to punish succesful economies

According to draft regulations drawn up by Rehn's agency, countries with chronic current account surpluses or deficits (in other words, countries that export far more than they import, or vice versa) are to pay an annual fine amounting to 0.1 percent of their gross domestic product (GDP), because they threaten the stability of the euro zone.

Seemingly of some significance

In the Telegraph James Delingpole notes something that may be quite significant in Global Cooling and the New World Order.

Bilderberg. Whether you believe it’s part of a sinister conspiracy which will lead inexorably to one world government or whether you think it’s just an innocent high-level talking shop, there’s one thing that can’t be denied: it knows which way the wind is blowing.

At its June meeting in Sitges, Spain (unreported and held in camera, as is Bilderberg’s way), some of the world’s most powerful CEOs rubbed shoulders with notable academics and leading politicians. (...)

Which is what makes one particular item on the group’s discussion agenda so tremendously significant. See if you can spot the one I mean:

The 58th Bilderberg Meeting will be held in Sitges, Spain 3 – 6 June 2010. The Conference will deal mainly with Financial Reform, Security, Cyber Technology, Energy, Pakistan, Afghanistan, World Food Problem, Global Cooling, Social Networking, Medical Science, EU-US relations.

Yep, that’s right. Global Cooling.

Which means one of two things.

Either it was a printing error.

Or the global elite is perfectly well aware that global cooling represents a far more serious and imminent threat to the world than global warming, but is so far unwilling to admit it except behind closed doors.

Delingpole then continues to explain why this may be a bombshell waiting to explode. In essence the wheels are coming off the Global Climate change narrative. Energy is getting more and more expensive, in a large part due to the hidden taxations that are used to subsidize 'green' projects. These have been justified by the elites by pointing to the necessity of 'mitigating' climate change.

But winters are getting colder. On top of that we have, at regular intervals, some new story pointing out the hypocrisies, the contradictions and the plain old fraud which is used to support the AGW narrative. And people are starting to disbelieve. Yet the elites forge ahead attempting to throw our economies back to the late 1800's in their insane CO2 reduction goals, impoverishing all but the energy industry stakeholders. the disconnect between rulers and ruled is deepening ever faster.

The tension in the system is building with every day passing. Something, somewhere will have to give. Delingpole is arguing for Climate Change Nuremberg trials. Richard North (who says of Delinpole: He's right...) has a far more expedient measure as a first thought. But then he concludes that shooting them all is a messy and inefficient way of going about things. The wrong people get topped and, likely, it is the corporate selling the guns and making the profits. Profits are profits, whether from carbon credits or cordite.

On top of that we have the fact that none of the Western European countries is a fully functional democracy any more. Big industry and big politics are the seem group of people. A group that will try their utmost to hold on to the reigns of power and keep the general population out of the loop.

They have been getting away with this, because the general population has been quite passive, as Richard also observes. However, that passivity may have been a function of the fact that things were generally going okay. Economies were growing, the population was getting richer and more comfortable.

Not so any longer. The financial crisis of 2008 have pointed out to many just how fragile and frankly unsustainable capitalist economies based on loans and fractional reserve banking really are. World-wide the economy is anaemic and slow to recover, having been teetering on the brink of a new collapse for more then a year now. The population has stopped earning more and in many cases have to make due with substantially less.

But we are not getting poorer. We are *made* poorer by the elites ever growing thirst for our money, new taxes, bail-out schemes that don't work and so on.

And the people are getting just a tad restless. Just witness the political tectonic shifts in Sweden and my own Netherlands. The people's passivity may be coming to an end. The Saxons hate may be about to come out in the open.

[UPDATE001] On a related note: WUWT has an interesting post up showing a clear relation between northern hemisphere climate and North Atlantic sea surface temps (SST):

[The] European station record is well correlated with the Atlantic SST changes, and lags the SST record by some 5 years. It is thus obvious, that it is the Atlantic decadal variability, which dictates the European climate.

No CO2 necessary to explain our climate. That largish body of water to the west of us is all we need, apparently.

The wrath of the Saxon

.. or Beware the Saxon II. It would behove our 'betters' in The Hague, Brussels and elsewhere to heed the warning so eloquently expressed in Kiplings poetry involving Saxons. You may think this is all ancient history, but in my experience folk character is a tenacious thing, lasting century after century.

THE BEGINNINGS
(1915, published 1917)

It was not part of their blood, It came to them very late,
With long arrears to make good, When the Saxon began to hate.

They were not easily moved, They were icy — willing to wait
Till every count should be proved, Ere the Saxon began to hate.

Their voices were even and low. Their eyes were level and straight.
There was neither sign nor show, When the Saxon began to hate.

It was not preached to the crowd. It was not taught by the state.
No man spoke it aloud When the Saxon began to hate.

It was not suddenly bred. It will not swiftly abate.
Through the chilled years ahead, When Time shall count from the date
That the Saxon began to hate.

Rudyard Kipling

(h/t ATW. Incidentally, the answer to question 17 seems to be a resounding 'YES')

Mentally deficient

EUnion commissioner Viviane Reding is not in possession of a full set faculties. That was already evident from the impossibly ill-conceived Godwin she shot at the French government over their plans to end the thousands of illegal camps set up by Roma coming in from Bulgaria and Romania. The angry reactions from the French have forced her to retract her indecent accusation. As well she should. According to Le Monde (FR) her unfortunate remarks were the cause of a fierce row between Sarkozy and El Presidente Barroso.

But that does not mean that Mrs. Reding is now infused with a much needed dose of reality and humility. In German newspaper Die Welt (D), Mrs Reding is threatening to hit EUnion companies with quota for women in top positions.

If by the end of 2011 there is no improvement, we must think about legislating minimum numbers. As a target I am thinking of 30% women in boards of directors by 2015. By 2020 this must be increased to 40%.

Coming Spring Mrs. Reding wants to engage large European companies about a plan to increase the number of women in top positions.

Mrs. Reding wants women in key positions in European industry. Irrespective of competence. Evidently she doesn't realize that this will be a set back for those few women that make it to the top on their own. Any woman reaching a top spot in a company by virtue of her own ambitions and abilities will be looked down upon as one of 'Redings girls', not actually good enough for the job, but endowed with the right gender. This would set back the equality agenda, because it would likely have the effect of women being present, but being ignored, not taken seriously.

Companies that comply with Mrs. Redings insane quota will be sub-optimally directed, just by the 'virtue' of not being able to put in the best person for the job. Any company not complying will either be slapped with huge fines (payable to the EUnion, of course) or move elsewhere, decreasing employment, domestic income and expertise. At any rate, the industry will lose much of the competitive advantage it has left after the huge costs in money and manpower to comply with the EUnions irresponsibly complicated 'Single Market' directives.

In short, this inane idea will seriously hamper European companies, and with it the economies of EUnion member states. It will have negative consequences for employment and revenue. And thus it will make us all poorer. All that at a time when we can ill afford unnecessary friction in our fragile economies. And to top it all off, it will do exactly nothing for the cause Mrs. Reding claims in proposing these meddlesome measures. In fact, it will be detrimental to it.

Which leaves us with two possibilities. Either Mrs. Reding knows this, but doesn't care, which makes her a sociopath of the outer category. Or she doesn't know this, proving she is criminally incompetent, not to mention stupid. Either way: She is mentally deficient. That she managed to nestle in the high echelons of the EUnion tells you all you need to know about the character and beneficence of the EUnion.

Can we leave yet?

No mosque here!

Geert Wilders gave his speech at the demonstration against the Ground Zero mosque. And by all accounts it was a good speech, that was well-received. The above is part 1 of the Youtube version of the speech. Part 2 is here, and part 3 is here.

The text of the speech can be found here (though I wish the good people in charge of the PVV website knew the concept of paragraphs). [Minor update] The .pdf of the speech is more readable.

Reactions in the Netherlands are moderately positive. To everyone's relief (or disappointment, as the case may be) Wilders did not say anything that might jeopardize the formation of a 'Danish' cabinet.

Yes, I know, on an evening as this, that might come over as a case of screwed priorities, but that is how Dutch politics are at the moment.

I've watched the speech myself, and I have to say: My compliments, Mr. Wilders. Well done!

Always forbidden, sometimes mandatory

About that planned Koran burning on 9/11 of the year that is 2010: Personally I think that the planned burning of the Koran is an obnoxious, insensitive and hurtful stunt. And yet, I find I am in a curious dilemma. On the one hand I want to condemn the stunt for the puerile and obnoxious mischief that it is. On the other hand, watching the over the top reactions from both sides, I wonder whether this isn't a necessary exercise to let us confront some cold, hard truths about where we stand.

For all the condemnations raining down on him, Pastor Terry Jones' plan is on par with, and has precedents in, stupid projects like Piss Christ, Made in God's Image or Jesus on a Leash (From the TV program 'God bestaat niet' (God does not exist), RVU, 2005, The Netherlands). These three examples are no less obnoxious and hurtful (not to mention plain obnoxious) as is the deliberate burning of a Koran. But back then we were told this was 'modern' and 'edgy', that it was a way of shaking off old, worn-out beliefs in a process towards a New Humanity (tm).

This time around the reaction from public figures is completely different. The Western MSM and leadership are falling over themselves to condemn the planned Koran burning. Angelina Jolie said "I have hardly the words that somebody would do that to somebody's religious book". A very high-minded sentiment, tolerant of and sensitive to people that have a belief system different from hers. But where was she when 'artists' invited the public to desecrate a Holy Bible with their scribblings? Where was Hillary Clinton when Serrano lowered a crucifix in a jar full of urine? Uncalled for and provocative as the plans of the Gainesville pastor are, it is no more provocative then hanging an 'anatomically correct' statue of Jesus made out of chocolate from a crucifix in a church (p).

It is the asymmetry in the reactions (1) that point to what is the real issue: fear. Christian don't react with riots, murder and mayhem at the slightest provocation. Muslims do. This issue has nothing to do with minster Terry Jones being uncouth or uncivilized (which he is). It has everything to do with our fear for the muslim reactions to this little episode. The issue is the uncivilized and uncouth reaction of muslims to whatever it is they perceive to be a slight. And how our 'leaders' subsequently respond.

You know that sweet lady down the street, a little twee, but the neighbourhood is cutting her some slack because of the rumours about her husband and what he's like after a few drinks? That's us! Muslims foist abuse after abuse upon us, from the atrocity of 9/11 to the monument of muslim victory that is to be erected on Ground Zero. And we react by doing nothing about the abuse. Instead we do everything in our power to avoid and prevent anyone who might set off yet more abuse.

That is the quality of the leadership in the West these days. Churchill was a man, he stood and fought. Obama (and all others, including our own Dutch leadership) is that twee, little lady down the street, wearing shades to hide a black eye. And it deeply saddens and sickens me, that we have been reduced to this.

But here's where Jones' plans become a useful exercise: It exposes the cringing battered-wife attitude that we in the West display when confronted with yet another tantrum from the Religion of Perpetual Outrage. So, reluctantly I have to admit that, while I still belief ceremoniously burning a Koran is hurtful, unnecessary, unfeeling and uncivilized, it isn't without purpose, it isn't useless.

This is a classic case of what has become one of lifes motto's for yours truly: Always forbidden, but sometimes mandatory. There are times when what would be absolutely beyond the pale becomes a necessary action to prevent greater evil. No moral principle devised by humans is (or can be) absolute.

Having said that, though, I have to agree with Michelle: Don't burn the Koran! Read it! If you want to understand why I and so many others have reservations about the growing influence of islam in the West: Go to the source texts. Read for yourself what Allah supposedly told Muhammed, and decide for yourself whether the principles laid out in the low point of human literature that is the Koran make for a viable, and liveable, society.

(1) And speaking of asymmetry:  Ferdy provided me with a a nice list of links to items about Bible burnings that got absolutely no traction in the MSM. At least, I don't remember Angelina Jolie getting worked up about these:

Muslims Burn Bibles Routinely and Often
Saudis Do Destroy Bibles, Think Tank Affirms
Burning Alive : The fate of Pakistani Christians
Iran - The Burning of Hundreds of Bibles by the Government Security Forces
North Carolina church plans Halloween Bible burning
US army: burns unsolicited Bibles sent to Afghanistan
Bible shredding in Saudi Arabia
Pakistan: Islamic threats in church: bible burned, appeal to conversion
Wahabi Imam to burn the Bible in Cairo!
Koran burnings by Saudi goverment
Somalia: Burning bible and christians

[UPDATE001] All of the above is now moot. Pastor Jones will not burn a Koran: 'Not today, not ever'. Which isn't to say that no Korans were burnt. They were (video here, thanks to Ferdy). Just not by pastor Jones.

What about a first amendment in Europe?

Speech about freedom of speech in Europaliament earlier this week. Speaker is Daniël van der Stoep of the Dutch delegation of the Party For Freedom (PVV) founded by Geert Wilders.

Up, down and up again

The attempts at formation of a Dutch cabinet are increasingly resembling a ride on the Goliath (p).

Today, quite suddenly, the ringleader of the CDA dissidents against a government supported by Wilders' PVV announced his decision to leave parliament and give up his seat.

Christian Democrat MP Ab Klink, whose opposition to an alliance with the anti-Islam PVV precipitated the collapse of talks on forming a right-wing government, has resigned as an MP.

'The events of the past week have created an unworkable position for me within the CDA MP group,' Klink said. That meant the basis for working together had been damaged and he could no longer do his job properly, Klink said. He will remain a member of the CDA.

This on the day that all fractions leaders were invited by the Queen for a consultation round. Wilders' reaction, via SMS (NL), was hesitant: 'I've learned of Klink leaving. there are two dissidents left. We will see where this will lead'.

Mark Rutte, fractions leader of the VVD and designated PM, said after his visit with the Queen that the key to a right wing cabinet (NL) is with Wilders. Rutte has advised the Queen that he would like to write a preliminary covenant of government (the 'treaty' on the basis of which a coalition forms a working government) and that he where he is concerned a co-operation of right-wing parties is still his preferred option.

Even better: This morning Rutte immediately ruled out the Purple+ variant, where the cabinet would include the VVD and all the main left fraction in parliament. Which gives one no end of relief.

All in all this last week has been spectacular, in Dutch political terms. High drama is followed by depression, is followed again by elation. Just when hope seemed all but lost, it is yet again very much alive. The tension is killing me!

[UPDATE001] Snouck has some background info and commentary on the current situation here and here.

[UPDATE002] To those readers that had expectations for me to predict how this will play out: My apologies. But I don't feel comfortable giving any more then just the dry facts right now. The political situation at the moment is so fluid (which is a nice, neutral word for 'unstable') that anything I, or anyone else, is predicting may be mooted within now and a couple of hours. I don't remember Dutch political wranglings this convoluted, ever. This surely is unique in recent Dutch history.

Put on the spot, I'll admit I've a hunch that a right wing cabinet may be pulled out of the hat yet in the days to come. Then again, something unexpected may crop up again tomorrow to throw a monkey wrench into the works. There's just no telling.

[UPDATE002] And there it is: Right-wing coalition back on the table as Wilders says 'I'm in'.

Your Sunday read

This week Stephen Hawking has declared that his latest work shows there was no creator of the universe. Our universe followed inevitably from the laws of nature. God is not needed as a variable in Hawkings equations.

So, what does that actually mean? Wretchard takes a closer look at this question and comes up with an answer that rather moderates Hawking's extreme-scientist assertion.

The great majority of atheists and deists will have no clue to the mathematics or physics involved. Most of those who argue there is no love and meaning will stand on the great and prestigious academic credentials of Dr. Hawking, not upon their own logic. Those who reject it will doubtless quote other authorities. Very few will bother to notice that Hawking’s theory says nothing about meaning or love, other than that he does not need it in his equations.

Much of humanity has a great hunger for answers to questions to which Hawking does not concern himself. They will not be rigorously banished by claims they are illegitimate concerns or forbidden terms. Men will keep asking them and that is a sort of proof, by a sort of construction, that they have some existence.

In the process, Wretchard points out that Hawkings argument that the Laws of Physics are god, post-modernist philosophy must be rejected. Ending his stroll, he arrives at Pascal's Wager. All in all some good stuff to mull over on this day.

Have a good Sunday.

[UPDATE001] On Pajamas Frank Tipler describes Hawking proving the existence of God, without wanting to.

The worst newspaper in Holland

My former house daily, Trouw (Dutch for 'loyalty'), started life as an underground resistance paper during the Nazi occupation of Holland. It was loyal to the Netherlands as a sovereign nation, and loyal to the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It has an honourable history both during WW2 and after. Up until four years ago it was the only major Dutch newspaper who dared to be critical of islam.

But something has happened over the last few years. The editorial tone of the newspaper became increasingly left-wing, EUrophile, green-oriented and pro-islam. In the process Trouw abandoned its editorial objectivity and embraced naked political activism, first to give Doekle Terpstra a boost and lately by openly siding with the left-wing CDA fossils in their attempts to sabotage a 'Danish' cabinet.

I had already given up Trouw years ago, discovering I could get more balanced coverage of the news through the internet. But I kept an eye on my former favourite Saturday read. When a paper includes columnists like Sylvain Ephimenco or Elma Drayer, hope is still alive.

That now has all changed. In the comments under the web-article (NL) about the Australian imam stating that Geert Wilders needs to be beheaded, there is a comment left by a 'johan', who writes (in appalling Dutch):

I think Feiz Muhammad is right. This Wilders must be beheaded. He brings discredit to the faith of islam.

An unfortunate commenter unloading his verbal diarrhoea. We've all seen them, right? The reaction will be moderated and the commenter banned in due time, right?

Except that the comments on the Trouw site are pre-moderated. That's right: If you leave a comment, some moderator must first approve your comment, before it can be seen on the website.

Let that sink in for a while: This 'johan' made a comment, agreeing with that Australian cretin that Wilders should have his head cut off. That comment lands on the desk of whatever moderator/editor is in charge of the comments. And he thinks this comment is perfectly sensible and worthy to publish on the site. In other words: A major Dutch daily has approved the call, by a commenter, to have a Dutch political leader beheaded for 'discrediting' islam.

This is so sick, I honestly don't know what to say. The Trouw advertising slogan used to be "Trouw. Maybe the best newspaper in Holland". I think we can adjust that slogan slightly to properly reflect the trashy, left-wing action pamphlet it has become: Trouw. Probably the worst newspaper in Holland.

(via GeenStijl)

[UPDATE001] Well, somebody woke up and thought 'This isn't right'. The offending comment was purged this morning. Silently, though. No apology, just like that. The comment, and its approval, never happened... down the memory hole. Should have kept a screen-cap, but alas.

Trying hard not to laugh

The EUnion is superior to the United States, because the EUnion has THREE presidents: José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission,  not-my-president van Rompuy, president of the European Council and the president of the European Parliament Jerzy Buzek.

Barroso will make a 'State of the EUnion' address on Tuesday, in an apparent bid to (1) trying live out the fantasy that the EUnion is a global big boy, and (2) one-up his closest rival van Rompuy. And if you are wondering 'How did I miss this important news?' don't worry too much. I hadn't heard of this momentous occasion until yesterday either. For such a high point in the EUnions calendar publicity on the event is rather understated.

Even within EUrocrat circles, the expectations are that many a MEP will want to give this event a miss as well. Or that is what you'd gather from the unexpectedly brilliant move by EP president Buzek to fine MEPs who are skipping Barroso's historic oration. In an email to all MEPs, Buzek writes:

With a view to ensuring the highest possible attendance at the debate on the State of the Union, the Conference of Presidents decided at its meeting on Thursday 2 September 2010 to introduce specific checks on Members’ presence in the Chamber using the electronic system at three different moments during the debate.

The President will inform the Bureau of this decision and ask it, as the body responsible for such matters, to fix the appropriate penalty for those Members who are not present for at least two of the three checks.

Do I sense a little vain insecurity on the part of the EUnion presidents there? Anyway, I am trying hard not to laugh. If the EUnion has to resort to these kind of measures to prop up El Presidente's legitimacy, I think it is safe to say that the EUnion has had it's day and is slowly rotting into oblivion.

A threat and an ally

Couple of items I pilfered from Gates of Vienna:

1) There is a new threat out against Geert Wilders. Apparently, an Australian imam named Feiz Muhammad has issued a fatwa calling for the Dutch politician’s beheading. This particular character is viewed by intelligence agencies around the world as one of the main jihadist ideologues. De Telegraaf has video of this cretin going off on his rant (thank you, Esther).

2) A bit of happy news: Paul Belien, founder of the Brussels Journal, is going to work as Wilders' personal assistant. Read the news (and some considerable background) here.

Breaking: Negotiations for a Dutch 'Danish' cabinet fail

After the furore of the last few days, Geert Wilders and the PVV have lost faith that negotiations will lead to a covenant that will not in the end be sabotaged by the three 'dissidents' that precipitated the crisis with the CDA: Geert Wilders pulls plug on coalition talks with VVD and CDA.

Geert Wilders has announced that he is pulling out of talks to form a coalition government. He said his anti-Islam PVV party will not support a Liberal (VVD)-Christian Democrat (CDA) cabinet because he no longer has confidence in the latter.

Wilders had asked the three dissidents sign a written statement saying that if the CDA party conference would adopt the covenant, the three would either drop their resistance or make their seats available to CDA MP's that would. Maxime Verhagen (p. above right) rejected this request on constitutional grounds (in the Dutch constitution a parliamentarians freedom of action without burden or consultation is enshrined. A request like the one Wilders made could infringe on that freedom). But general opinion is that asking for a declaration from these three would send the CDA in a terminal crisis. Either way, the request, understandable though it is, means that the basis if trust needed for successful negotiations has vanished. And with it the opportunity for a real right-wing cabinet.

VVD leader Mark Rutte (p. at the press conference) has stated he will now proceed with writing a covenant by himself, based on the rounds of negotiations that have been. After making this new covenant available he will see which parties want to enter negotiations for a cabinet.

If the Queen lets him, of course. Formateur Ivo Opstelten will finish his report and offer it to the Queen this weekend, after which she will decide the next course of action. Which may well be new elections. A new stroll into the voting booth has become quite likely all of a sudden.

photos courtesy of GeenStijl

[UPDATE001] If you read Dutch: De Volkskrant has a nice piece up describing what went on behind the closed door where the CDA fraction were fighting out their differences and the evntual break-up of the negotiations. If I get around to it, I'll translate the key passages from that article. But I promise nothing.