Vacancies at the AIVD

Amongst others, the Dutch intelligence agency AIVD is looking for an 'operational' staffer. You'll be charged with surveillance assignments, during which you'll be inconspicuously following people and cars. Does that sound spooky enough to you? Then click here for details on how to apply.

20:39

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New anti-terrorism unit

Here's the interesting part: it was founded on the first of September, before the Van Gogh murder. According to the Reformatorisch Dagblad (a Christian broadsheet - yes, we have those here too), it's called BBE-SIE (Bijzondere Bijstandseenheid - Snelle Interventie Eenheid), or Special Support Unit - Fast Intervention Unit. The article can be found here. It sounds pretty much James Bond to me: the team is comprised of marines, police officers and MP's. According to the anonymous source in the article, BBE-SIE has been deployed a number of times already. Which makes it rather likely they were on duty during the siege in The Hague as well.

19:42

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Queen visits immigrants

I am a (rather passive) supporter of the Dutch Republican Society, but nevertheless I think it's a good thing queen Beatrix went to speak with several immigrants today.
I hope she will follow up with a visit to a group of native Dutch. There's plenty of frustration there as well, and the last thing we need now is someone accusing the monarchy of one-sidedness.

15:00

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Paramilitary training camp discovered in the Netherlands

A paramilitary training camp of the Kurdish separatist organization PKK was dismantled in Liempde, in the south of the Netherlands.. A total of 29 people were arrested. The Kurds used a camp site as their base. Later today, three people were apprehended in Rotterdam, and there are rather vague reports about other arrests in other places. The PKK is on the European Union list of terrorist organizations.
According to the very tight-lipped authorities, the bust had nothing to do with the Van Gogh murder, but I find that a little bit hard to believe. Never before have there been so many terror-related arrests in only ten days time.

14:50

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Parliament and Balkenende administration want drastic measures to combat terrorism

Although the bickering about the position of secretary Johan Remkes was ongoing, the Second Chamber and the Balkenende administration have actually done some work in the meantime as well. The list of proposed measures to combat terrorism is pretty long, so I put them on a separate page, which you can reach by clicking 'Lees verder'. Thanks to my colleagues at Elsevier News Weekly for providing the bulk of the information.

More...

14:34

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After the debate

For reasons which seem as inexplicable to me as my love for jelly beans, secretary Johan Remkes of Domestic Affairs survived the debate in the Second Chamber. A 'motion of distrust' was filed, but it didn't get enough votes. In fact, only the LPF voted in favor of it (the same party whose chairman sent a fake threat letter to MP's of his own party), as well as maverick MP Geert Wilders. The latter isn't really that surprising since he filed the motion in the first place.

Considering the huge number of 'backroom meetings' during the night, it seems likely that Remkes is still hanging by a thread. It's probably easier to let him continue for the time being, whilst a suitable replacement is sought in the meantime. After all, it's not like he could do more damage than he has already, and changing captains while navigating the cliffs is never a good idea.

Read more about the debate at Expatica, and don't forget to visit Peaktalk.

14:27

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Tasteless pictures

I'm not going to steal their glory, so I'll just post this link to the 'FotoFuckFriday', the weekly Photoshop contest of Dutch blog Retecool. This week, the subject is of course the aftermath of the Van Gogh murder and the war against terror. Warning: do not go there if you are easily offended, for example by coarse language, nudity or politically incorrect jokes. Quite a few of them are in English. The level of jokes varies from childish to brilliant.

13:19

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Freedom of cowardice

Of course, Index was just being 'ironical' in its diatribe against Theo van Gogh.
Irony is the perpetual defense of a person who desperately wants to say something, but lacks the courage to say it.
No wonder Index tried to tear down a dead man who had plenty of the latter, but only when he couldn't defend himself anymore.

11:50

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He's still there

Johan Remkes is allowed to remain as secretary of Domestic Affairs.

More later, got to run for the hospital to get hepatitis shots for a trip to Jordan.

8:24

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Remkes on a knife's edge

What exactly did secretary Johan Remkes of Domestic Affairs think he was doing tonight? His political future depends on the debate with the Second Chamber, the Dutch Lower House, he's engaged in. He has to redeem himself after the AIVD failed to properly assess the risk that the murderer of Theo van Gogh, Mohammed B., posed. The AIVD didn't consider B. dangerous enough to follow him around the clock. If that had been the case
But what did Remkes do? He again tried to blame his colleague Piet-Hein Donner of Justice. Donner is indeed responsible for the coordination of all counterterrorism efforts. But at the time the crucial mistakes regarding Mohammed B. were made, this wasn't yet the case.
I will not shed any tears if I wake up tomorrow morning and it turns out there's a vacancy at Domestic Affairs

0:30

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Wire tap on Mohammed B. till the 21st of October

The Dutch intelligence service AIVD had a wire tap on the murderer of Van Gogh until the 21st of October. Mohammed B. killed Van Gogh less than a fortnight later. Why is Johan Remkes still in charge of the department of Domestic Affairs?

0:26

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The Dutch 9/11

According to Jozias van Aartsen, chief whip of the Liberal Party (which is a right-wing party), the 2nd of November was the Dutch equivalent of the attack on the World Trade Center.
Although the loss of life in the USA was a lot larger from a numerical point of view, I can't say it's an unwarranted comparison.
If someone dies as the result of an accident it's tragic. But if someone is murdered, not for what he is but for what he represents, as was the case both in NYC and in Amsterdam, it is a disaster, for it is the entire country that is attacked by proxy.

0:23

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