Geert Wilders zei gisteren in een interview met een Australische televisiezender dat Islam niet vergeleken kan worden met het Christendom. Verder noemde de PVV-leider Islam een gewelddadige ideologie net als facisme en communisme. Hij riep ook op om alle immigratie van moslims naar Westerse landen te stoppen. 
Wilders is nu op weg naar New York waar hij zal spreken op de 9/11 rally tegen de komst van een Islamitisch centrum op enkele honderdsen meters van Ground Zero.

Dutch far-right Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders, has once again stirred controversy with new anti-Islamic statements. The disputed politician said that “Islam can not be compared to Christianity” and described its as “a violent ideology, like communism and fascism.”

Dutch fears as Geert Wilders is on his way to the US 

Abu Dhabi, The National - Geert Wilders, the Netherlands’ outspoken anti-immigrant politician, has announced he will attend a rally in New York to protest against the proposed Islamic centre near Ground Zero and Dutch government officials are urging him to “be responsible” when he speaks there.
Mr Wilders, who opposes any new mosque construction in the Netherlands, plans to attend the September 11 rally called to oppose construction of the proposed Park51 Islamic Centre. [read on] (more…)

Nu Europa één grote liefdevolle club van eensgezinde mensen is geworden, hoe moet het nu verder met schelden en belasteren? Dat vraagt de schrijver van dit artikel zich af.
Vroeger was het eenvoudig. De Britten vochten met de Nederlanders dus schreef een Brit vierhonderd jaar geleden: “Your tongue? ‘Twill teach you to kiss closer, not like a slobbering Dutchman!” Vele andere scheldwoorden (Dutch Courage) bestaan nog altijd zoals deze, mij onbekend: Dutch wife” (prostitute or sex doll). 
Wist u trouwens dat voor de WW’s Duitsers bekend stonden als de hippies van hun tijd: flamboyante romantici?
Maar nogmaals, nu de Europeanen geen oorlogen meer voeren en grenzen zijn afgeschaft, hoe weten de inwoners nou wie ze moeten beledigen en hoe? 

Where will Europe turn next in the search for insults?

Sun2Surf, Malayan Source for News - The European Union may have stopped its member countries from fighting wars all the time — but nobody seems able to stop them insulting one another. A scroll through Europe’s catalogue of humour reveals a tradition of national lampoons which has barely changed in 1,000 years. 
“The Germans, who stood out for their long hair, good looks and height, laughed at the French, who looked small to them… Many of the Italians pretended to be very brave, but fear, trembling and decadence were their basic instincts.” [read on] (more…)

Europe is a godless, atheist, socialist society, with apparently no freedom of speech or individual liberties. That’s how Republican Representative John Fleming (R-LA) frames the coming midterm election:

We are either going to go down the socialist road and become like western Europe and create, I guess really a godless society, an atheist society. Or we’re going to continue down the other pathway where we believe in freedom of speech, individual liberties and that we remain a Christian nation. So we’re going to have to win that battle, we’re going to have to solve that argument before we can once again reach across and work together on things.

That is the freakshow called modern American politics. And that is why DailyKos creator Moulitsas Markos wrote his new book, American Taliban: How War, Sex, Sin, and Power Bind Jihadists and the Radical Right. Thank God there is a big difference between the American Taliban and the Afghan Taleban. The American do not have the same sort of control over this country as their radical brethren do in fundamentalist nations. Yet!

by pavel constantin, romania

De taaloorlog heeft bij onze Belgische vrienden nu ook in het voetbal toegeslagen. Het is de jeugdtrainers van KFC Strombeek vanaf nu verboden hun instructies in het Frans te geven. Omwonenden klaagden over het feit dat de trainers veelvuldig het woord ‘ballon’ in plaats van ‘bal’ gebruikten terwijl de club op Vlaams grondgebied is gevestigd. De lokale bevolking diende een petitie in bij de burgemeester. Die het verzoek niet honoreerde maar wel inwilligde. C’est ca!

Strombeek: Club de foot francophone mise en demeure de s’entrainer en flamand

RTBF - Le climat reste parfois extrêmement tendu entre néerlandophones et francophones en périphérie bruxelloise. A Strombeek, une pétition signée par plus de mille personnes, exige qu’on ne parle plus français pendant les entraînements du club de foot local, alors que la majorité des jeunes joueurs est francophone.
La pétition émane d’un groupuscule local dont le président, Robert Timmermans, a reçu notre équipe dans sa coquette résidence. “Cette pétition“, précise-t-il, “vise à obliger la direction du KFC Strombeek à engager des entraîneurs néerlandophones.” L’entraineur, ainsi que 80 % des joueurs parlent le français; voilà qui dérange les membres du Werkgroep Vlaamse Actie Grimbergen.
[continue de lire] (more…)

The Christian Science Monitor - In Paris and London, opinion seems split between those who support and even admire New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s acceptance of the Islamic center and those who say the 16-story center is inappropriate or a provocation Americans shouldn’t accept. In France, stories on Mr. Bloomberg’s decision registered surprise that an America often seen here as narrow-minded and Arab-hating proved more open and tolerant in some ways than current French opinion.
“What we see [in New York] is a fair, balanced treatment of communities ….Let the Americans do it their way….most of their founders settled in the US in order to obtain absolute religious freedom, and this is what is being upheld by this [New York City] decision,” comments one François Bogard, in a Le Monde forum.
Yet striking among pundits, websites, and bloggers is an often articulate though sometimes churlish depiction of Islam as a single monolithic form of faith, inherently violent and extreme, and of Muslims as incapable of being moderate.

Wat vindt de redactie van het toonaangevende Arab News van het feit dat Geert Wilders waarschijnlijk betrokken wordt bij de nieuwe regering in Nederland?
Verontrustend en beangstigend! Overigens wordt in het stuk geen enkel dreigement geuit ten opzichte van het Westen in het algemeen en Nederland of Geert Wilders in het bijzonder. Dat vinden wij geweldig en dat mag ook wel eens gezegd worden. Toch? 
Arab News vraagt zich af hoe lang het gaat duren voordat er anti-Islam wetten gaan verschijnen? Zoals een verbod van de burka. De hoofddoek? De Koran?
En dat is allemaal niet nodig, meent Arab News. Volgens de schrijver laat Europa zich opfokken door de complotten van een miniscuul aantal vervreemde jonge lokale moslims.
Verder speelt een algehele teleurstelling met het leven in Europa een rol. Teleurstelling die wordt afgereageerd op moslims. En waarom worden deze vragen NIET gesteld in Europa? Vraagt Arab News zich af. ‘These are questions not yet being asked in Europe’. Dus stelletje luiwammesen stel die vragen eens.
JdeW heeft de schrijver gevraagd of hij denkt dat de leegte en teleurstelling in het leven hier misschien komt doordat Europeanen niet langer leven volgens de regels van God? Zodat we weten wat ons te doen staat. Nog geen antwoord gekregen.

Editorial: The Dutch dilemma

Arab News, The Middle East Leading English Daily - It is not only Iraq’s politicians who are having problems forming a government despite the passage of time since parliamentary elections.
The Netherlands is in a similar situation. It is two months since the Dutch went to the polls. Immediately following the election, the leader of the party winning the largest number of seats, Mark Rutte of the Liberals, was confident that he would form a coalition by the beginning of July.
The beginning of July has come and gone. So has the beginning of August and still the Netherlands is without a new government — and it looks as if it is going to be at least the beginning of September before an announcement. To be fair to Rutte, the arithmetic simply is not there. [read on] (more…)

Duitsers zijn op de Europese stranden nog minder populair dan Britten. Van alle Europeanen hebben Nederlanders het meeste moeite met Duitse vakantievierders. Het populairst zijn de Spanjaarden. 
FKK = Freikörperkultur

Wie ist es möglich? Die Deutschen sind an europäischen Stränden unbeliebter als die Briten. Deutschlands größte Kritiker kommen aus den Niederlanden. 
Liegen reservieren und Eimer saufen – so machen sich die Deutschen keine Freunde an den Stränden Europas. Laut einer Umfrage der Verbraucher-Community ciao.de (hier) wissen sie sich am Strand nicht zu benehmen und landeten deshalb auf dem letzten Platz. Damit sind sie sogar unbeliebter als die Briten. Die haben sich knapp den vorletzten Platz gesichert. [lese weiter] (more…)

LONDON - A full-fledged disintegration of the eurozone would trigger the worst economic crisis in modern history, devastate every country in Europe including Germany, and inflict a deflationary shock on the United States. There would be no winners, warns the Dutch bank ING in a new report, Quantifying the Unthinkable.
[read on] (more…)

by christo komarnitski - bulgaria

Dutch schoolchildren have less knowledge of the political system compared with their European peers but trust their government more than children in other European countries. Schoolchildren in Vlaanderen and the Netherlands are the most negative towards migrants.
[read on] (more…)

by rainer hachfeld - neues deutschland, germany

European leaders have finally given the green light for Iceland to begin EU accession negotiations, but the Dutch Prime Minister has indicated it will be hard for the country to join if it does not pay for losses incurred in the Icelandic banking collapse.
The European Council in Brussels signed off on language approving the start of official talks. The British and the Dutch insisted however on wording that made implicit mention of the ongoing banking dispute. whole story

gorilla

by patrick corrigan - the toronto star

by arend van dam 

by joep bertrams - the netherlands

Ficomic in Barcelona is een van de grootste stripbeurzen van Europa. Het trekt meer dan honderdduizend bezoekers in vier dagen. Dit jaar is Nederland gastland en dus zijn cartoons aanwezig van: Fokke en Sukke, Sigmund, Zusje en de kat Heinz. ‘Die blote Fokke en Sukke, die zijn wel erg macho!’

Dibujantes holandeses en Salón del Comic 

Quien visita Ficomic, uno de los principales salones europeos del comic, que se celebra en Barcelona, hallará famosas series holandesas, como Fokke en Sukke, Sigmund, Zusje y El gato Heinz.
leso verdero hiero>> (more…)

Brussels, EU Observer - The daughter of a former Bulgarian minister appears to have received €700,000 in EU aid last year. Notable sums were also paid to an accordion club and a billiard club.
Galina Dimitrova Peicheva-Miteva, the 27-year-old daughter of Dimitar Peichev, Bulgaria’s deputy agriculture minister until July 2009, who was responsible for handling EU funds, got €700,000 from the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) last year, according to the Danish and British-based pro-transparency NGO Farmsubsidy.org.
read on>> (more…)

by patrick corrigan - the toronto star

by paresh nath - the khaleej times, uae

by arend van dam 

by joep bertrams - the netherlands 

[..]A survey, which questioned 5,820 adults in nine European countries including Scotland, Wales and The Republic of Ireland, found that The Netherlands was the most patriotic European country while England was the least patriotic.
Just ten per cent of the English said they would happily fly the national flag on their house or in their garden, compared to more than a third of Dutch people, with more than a quarter saying they feared being called racist if they did so.[..]

Netherlands      7.18
Scotland            7.1
Wales                7.06
Italy                   7.01
Ireland               6.72
Spain                  6.57
France                6.44
Germany            5.81
England              5.80

England is the least patriotic country in Europe
England is the least patriotic country in Europe, with just one in three British people aware of the date of St George’s Day a survey has shown.
read on>> (more…)

by patrick chappatte - the international herald tribune

by frederick deligne - nice-matin, france

Een horde heidense losers, dat zijn wij, Europeanen, volgens deze tv-presentator van Fox News. Hij weet natuurlijk niet dat uit alle statistieken blijkt dat Europeanen gezonder, gelukkiger en veiliger zijn dan Amerikanen. Ze leven in een economie die bijna net zo groot is als die van de VS en China samen waar minder armoede heerst en die een hogere economische groei heeft. 

While debating raising taxes on the wealthy with radio host Mark Levine, Fox Business host Stuart Varney claimed that progressive tax policies will turn us into Europeans, who are “a pack of Pagan losers”:

VARNEY: Europe is paralyzed with debt, subject to massive entitlement programs, and riddle with anxiety. We are going down that road with our taxation policies. And once we enact a VAT, a hidden sales tax, we’ll go even further down that road. It is profoundly un-American. We’re going to resemble Europeans, who are essentially, a pack of Pagan losers. And I don’t want to go in that direction!

Varney’s claim is ironic, given the fact that the Fox Business host is British-born and a graduate of the London School of Economics. It should be noted that Western Europeans enjoy a lower poverty rate, an economy nearly as large as China and the United States combined, much more generous worker benefits and vacation time, and a higher per capita GDP growth rate than the United States.

The closer countries are geographically and culturally to Russia, the more cautious they are of NATO. In the southern and eastern regions of Ukraine that border Russia, residents are more likely than those elsewhere to perceive NATO as a threat. A September 2009 survey by the Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project found a similar pattern in Ukrainians’ views toward NATO membership: People in the East and South were more likely to oppose joining NATO. read on>> (more…)

in which european country do people still drive on the left

Glenn Greenwald over de geheime CIA- campagne om er voor te zorgen dat na Nederland - ‘worries that what happened to the Dutch will spread as a result of the “fragility of European support” for the war’ - niet ook andere Europese landen hun soldaten uit Afghanistan weghalen. De apathie onder de bevolking is mogelijk niet voldoende, aldus het rapport van de CIA. Daarom moet in Frankrijk van Afghaanse vrouwen gebruik gemaakt worden (sympathie) en in Duitsland van angst (de terroristen komen er aan).

The war on WikiLeaks and why it matters

A newly leaked CIA report prepared earlier this month (.pdf) analyzes how the U.S. Government can best manipulate public opinion in Germany and France — in order to ensure that those countries continue to fight in Afghanistan. The Report celebrates the fact that the governments of those two nations continue to fight the war in defiance of overwhelming public opinion which opposes it — so much for all the recent veneration of “consent of the governed” — and it notes that this is possible due to lack of interest among their citizenry: ”Public Apathy Enables Leaders to Ignore Voters,” proclaims the title of one section.
But the Report also cites the “fall of the Dutch Government over its troop commitment to Afghanistan” and worries that — particularly if the “bloody summer in Afghanistan” that many predict takes place — what happened to the Dutch will spread as a result of the “fragility of European support” for the war. As the truly creepy Report title puts it, the CIA’s concern is: ”Why Counting on Apathy May Not Be Enough“:
read on>> (more…)