De Hoop Scheffer: The Netherlands Damages NATO

Jaap de Hoop Scheffer (Christian Democrat), former secretary-general of NATO and former Dutch foreign minister, has said that The Netherlands has damaged the image of NATO. He was referring to the upcoming departure of Dutch troops from Afghanistan, despite the request of the current Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen to maintain a smaller mission there for another year. De Hoop Scheffer added that the letter by the current secretary-general, asking for this, was written in close consultation with the Dutch government.
www.nrc.nl/nieuwsthema/uruzgan/article2491892.ece/De_Hoop_Scheffer_Nederland_doet_afbreuk_aan_NAVO

Former Minister Calls Labor Party Leader a Liar

Former Liberal Minister Rita Verdonk, who has established her own party, said that Labor Party Leader Wouter Bos is a liar. Bos, who recently resigned as deputy prime minister, said that he didn’t know that NATO would request that the Dutch military stay in Afghanistan. Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen (Christian Democrats) has said that Bos knew about this. Verdonk remarked, “You are a liar.” She added that Bos had blushed the whole evening, a phenomenon one sees mostly on people who are lying.
www.trouw.nl/nieuws/nederland/article2996628.ece/Verdonk_vindt_Bos_nog_steeds_leugenaar.html

Former Minister of the Interior: Prime Minister Lies

Former Minister of the Interior Guusje ter Horst (Labor), who has recently resigned, says that Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen (Christian Democrats) threatened to resign if the Dutch troops would leave Afghanistan as planned. Prime Minister Balkenende’s denial of Verhagen’s threats is a lie.
www.telegraaf.nl/binnenland/6129597/__Ter_Horst__Premier_liegt__.html?p=3,2

Liberal Parliamentarian: Prime Minister is Liar

Liberal Parliamentarian Stef Blok said that Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende (Christian Democrat) is a liar. Blok mentioned that Balkenende claimed, at a meeting of the Christian Democrats in Nijmegen that Labor and the Liberals are blocking the discussion of the crisis law in the senate. Blok remarked that this is the third time that the Christian Democrats are lying about this. Earlier Christian Democrat Ministers Maxime Verhagen (Foreign Affairs) and Camile Eurlings (Transport) said that the Liberals were delaying adoption of the law. Blok added that it is the Labor Party and the Christian Union which are responsible for the delays.
www.telegraaf.nl/binnenland/6115974/__VVD-Kamerlid_Blok__Balkenende_liegt__.html

Neighborhood Spokesperson: Moroccans Increasingly Steal from Each Other

Joke Padmos, spokesperson for the Amsterdam’s Slotervaart neighborhood council, says that there has been a major increase in cases of Moroccans stealing from other Moroccans, for instance dowries. The neighborhood council chairman, Ahmed Marcouch has received letters from other parts of The Netherlands regarding similar problems. As a result, 1,400 families in a part of the neighborhood where burglaries increased by 67% last year, will be supplied with an anti-burglary substance with to be sprayed on their belongings. The substance contains microdots of synthetic DNA so that if stolen goods are found, ownership can be proved. Similar projects in other Dutch towns have reduced burglaries by an average of 50%.
www.telegraaf.nl/binnenland/article6111789.ece?cid=rss

Former Army Commander: Labor Party Let Dutch Soldiers Down

Former Army Commander Dick Berlijn has heavily criticized the Labor Party for insisting that all Dutch military should leave Afghanistan. (This has led to the fall of the government.) Berlijn said that the Labor Party doesn’t care about Afghanistan, but is mainly concerned about its own interests and its success in the municipal elections. He says that Labor parliamentarian Martijn van Dam has distorted the data when he says that the Dutch soldiers are the third largest group in that country. He has ignored the fact that other countries have many more troops in other locations. (In a later statement, Berlijn said that the Dutch soldiers are being treated like firemen who, in the middle of their work, are told that the house they are trying to save is worthless. Trouw, 20 February 2010)
www.volkskrant.nl/binnenland/article1350324.ece/Dick_Berlijn_woedend_over_PvdA-standpunt?service=Print

More than Six Hundred Soccer Hoodlums Expelled from Amsterdam

On Thursday, in anticipation of the soccer match between the Italian Juventus and Ajax from Amsterdam, more than 600 hoodlums were expelled from Amsterdam by the police. Not only fans of the two clubs were involved, but also violent supporters of other Dutch teams and even some from the Polish Legia Warschau who had come to Amstedam. All the windows had been destroyed on some metro and tram cars. Even a door of a metro car had been broken out. Amsterdam’s public transport company GVB said it had never experienced such a thing.
www.parool.nl/parool/nl/13/AJAX/article/detail/280158/2010/02/19/Ruim-600-hooligans-uitgezet.dhtml