Fairweather Friend Award: secretary Ben Bot

(This new award will be given to those that betray their principles in order to gain recognition from others, and who are therefore not the kind of people you'd want to go sailing with, unless to leave them in the New York harbor, Sopranos-style.)

Ben Bot, of the Dutch ministry of Foreign Affairs, is not my favorite member of the government (not that there are ones I like at the moment, but anyway). He has spoken with understanding about Syria's president Assad in the past, and only recently failed to stand up for the right of left-wing organizsation 'De Balie' to hold a debating night on violations of human rights in China. The Chinese embassy had protested that debating night taking place. It did anyway, but without government funding for it, whereas other approved parts of a China festival that was taking place at the moment did get their euros.

Now Mr. Bot has made the case that the US and the UK shouldn't have gone to war with Iraq. Now I know many sensible people that were and are opposed to that war. I myself was and am in favor of the decision (even though I lament some aspects of its implementation). It's an issue on which reasonable people can disagree.

If there's one thing I hate, however, it's when someone changes his decision on such an important topic because he didn't like how it worked out, and now seeks to gain from his lack of backbone. I strongly suspect this to be the case with Mr. Bot, who made a few half-assed statements about the war 'possibly not having been a good idea', at the same time stating 'the US and the UK's decision was understandable'.

If there's one thing on this planet I hate more than partisan bigotry, and that goes for both the left and the right, it's non-partisan opportunism.

20:27

permalink comment(s) (0) trackback(s) (0)

Prohibitionism doesn't work

Mark Steyn, amidst his usual anti-Islamism rantings:

'You can be a hippie-dippy hey-man-I-love-everybody-whatever-your-bag-is-cool backpacking Dutch stoner, and they'll blow you up with as much enthusiasm as if you were Dick Cheney.'

He has a point there. I used marihuana (oops, there goes my shot at the American presidency, even if the Schwarzenegger Amendment gets through) a total of six times in my life. Five of those were in Australia, when I was indeed backpacking, and where (the ACT and Nimbin excepted) marihuana is looked down upon a lot more than here. I never had to buy it myself. There was always an Englishman, American or Ozzie around distributing the stuff, eager to share the proverbial forbidden herbs (or was that fruits? orang-utans? sloths?).

It just isn't as much fun when the authorities/your parents/the neighbours don't frown upon you using the stuff.

Now where did I leave that heroin syringe.

10:25

permalink comment(s) (1) trackback(s) (0)