Our expatriate Dutch correspondent H. Numan sends this evaluation of the current political landscape in his home country:
The situation in Holland seems to spiral into chaos: the queen took a very political stand — which she is not allowed to do, by convention as well as by law. For the first time, her speech was openly questioned. All thanks to bloggers and the Internet.
The prime minister stands firm behind (the skirt of) the queen. So he should, as he is the chap responsible for whatever she says in public. As the queen is politically invulnerable, it’s his head that will be on the block.
The speech wasn’t too bad, actually. Just the common platitudes, and some sneering from a “have” about the have-nots who should be happy.
It’s rather hypocritical to speak about egoism and lack of solidarity when one earns €8 million, plus bonuses and benefits, tax free. All the more so, since the crown always finds ways to place the tax burden on somebody’s else shoulders: the royal yacht is maintained by the navy, the palaces by the IRS directly, and royal hunts are also diverted to the taxpayer.
The rub was what happened before. The Argentinean wife of the crown prince said in public that the Dutch identity does not exist. This went down quite badly.
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After that blunder the royal family went on a state visit to India where another two blunders were added: first, the fact that child labour is extensively used was neatly avoided. And the crown prince, who specialises in water “something” (presumably management, but he is much better in managing lager) said that Indian farmers should not drink water or wash themselves, but use it to grow crops.
As a kind of penance Princess Maxima was dressed in orange much of the visit.
One might expect some leeway from the queen given the aforementioned bloopers.
What was taken badly in her speech were the barely veiled threats to the PVV (Mr. Wilders’ party, Partij voor de Vrijheid). “Some” forces were rude, brutal and polarising society. Wilders took offense here, although personally I wouldn’t. Because I feel that those “some” forces are the chappies who cannot speak Dutch, and lift their butts in the air five times per day.
The government let out “by accident” the date Mr. Wilders will air his video: 25 Jan 2008.
Already many Muslims voice veiled and not-so-veiled threats against Geert Wilders and public order. If this video is aired… (violence, plunder, chaos) the ‘moderates’ play good cop (“something we cannot prevent”) while the other 99% plays bad cop by publishing pamphlets calling for violence if the ‘noble’ Koran is threatened.
What is good is that the public opinion is changing rapidly. The Socialist Party dropped a massive 50% in popularity. Wilders is steadily rising, and TON (Trots op Nederland, a breakaway right-wing faction of the conservatives of VVD, Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie) polls at least double the size of the VVD. Actually, the first breakaway right-wing faction of the VVD was Wilders himself.
If elections were held now, a coalition of TON (25), PVV (15), VVD (14(!)), and CDA (Christen Democratisch Appèl) would become a right wing majority cabinet. It is almost possible to form a cabinet without the CDA. And if Wilders’ video causes havoc, that is what is likely to happen.
16 comments:
Actually sounds like good news, seems like quite some Dutchmen have been torn out of their sleepwalking... More of the same and we'll have some nice party going in the Netherlands...
The real test as to whether the Dutch are waking up, will come at the elections
I wAS WATCHING THE FOXNEWS WEBSITE VIDEO with the new year festivities in Amsterdam. Disgusting. Right now they've been playing ORIENTAL MUSIC for 10 minutes.
There's a lot to do in 2008!
Love to you all and esp. Baron and Dymphna.
Happy New Year!
Berlin now.
Turkish Girlie band.
Puke!
What did the queen say that got her in trouble... i wasnt able to make sense of it.
Mr Numan shows some wishful thinking here.
These are the present polls from de politieke barometer.
The VVD together with both "breakaway factions" now are at 30,4%.
To suggest that they could form a cabinet without the cristian democrats, hm.
Even if the three of them would gain the majority of votes it is far from self-evident they would form a government-coalition.
But things are changing indeed.
January 26 will show a follow up of the Sioe-demonstration in Brussels: more information here
And best wishes for 2008.
Laat de leeuw niet in zijn hempie staan, Hollanders!
Were the Turkish girls cute?
Geert Wilders should stand model for the Western politician of the future. Very much pro- Israel (Dutch secret service had him followed each of the many times he was at the Israeli embassy), very much pro- US ( he once said the Netherlands should join NAFTA) and an absolute hawk on the cult of death. He is independant, doesn't allign with anybody to make sure he can keep his course without endless debate and people pushing their own agenda ánd ( I think) to prevent dragging in someone elses skelleton in his closet and keeps a good grip on his organisation. Mean, lean and smart. The man is a phenomena.
I wish every islam- watcher all over the world a politician like him to trust their precious vote to. Best wishes and keep courage. Things might change step by step in 2008.
Baron and Dymphna: keep up the excellent work and many thanks for your very important and much appreciated work.
Already many Muslims voice veiled and not-so-veiled threats against Geert Wilders and public order. If this video is aired… (violence, plunder, chaos) the ‘moderates’ play good cop (“something we cannot prevent”) while the other 99% plays bad cop by publishing pamphlets calling for violence if the ‘noble’ Koran is threatened.
This is one ration of horseradish that really should be stopped right away. Saying that "I cannot promise there won't be any violence" is tantamount to assuring there will be. It is merely a code to green-light the jihadis under such circumstances. These veiled threats should be interpreted as open advocacy of violence. If an individual is against violence, then they had better bloody well come down on the side of condemning it instead of intentionally highlighting uncertainty about such matters.
Claiming such violence is "something we cannot prevent" while doing absolutely nothing to stop it should be a non-starter. Masking Islamic terrorism in this time-honored fashion needs to be publicly ridiculed as impotent leadership. Terrorist abettors of this sort should be tarred with permanent suspicion and vilified for their unwillingness to encourage peaceful coexistence. Outing these passive-aggressive jihadis needs to be a top priority. They must no longer have any opportunity to portray themselves as concilliatory "good cops" when they are, in reality, the most dishonest of players.
Can one of our Dutch friends here please advise how the PM and Queen may be contacted?
Contacting Wilders would be interesting. Any ideas how?
You can contact Geert here:
http://www.geertwilders.nl/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=107
Suppose the Dutch elected a coalition including Wilders, and that government proceeded to call a halt to moslem immigration, prohibited the construction of mosques, closed Islamic schools, etc.
What would the European Union do? Would the Netherlands be subject to some sort of sanction by the EU for "discriminating" against its moslem minority?
This post is one of the few that have given me hope. It may be that Mr. Wilders will make a significant contribution, with the infidels who sense danger striving to rebut the naifs who do not.
Tvdog asks, What would (or could) the EU do? A good question, and another is, What would the infidels of France and Germany and England do regardless of EU action, as they come to recognize that influential voices are being raised and a European country is becoming energized?
I wonder if we will discover that Wilder's bravery was a seminal event; perhaps even literally seminal.
Can Europeans take back their lands?
Unfortunately mr Wilders shows lots of courage but little statemanship. Just like mrs Verdonk he supported the dutch government on the decision not to pay for the security of mrs Ayaan Hirsi Ali abroad.
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