Geert Wilders brands Dutch hate speech trial 'a charade'

Dutch anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders has told a court that his trial for alleged hate speech is a "charade, a disgrace for the Netherlands, a mockery for our society".

In a televised statement on the last day of the trial, he said that if he was convicted "millions of Dutch citizens will be convicted with me".

The charges were brought after he led a chant for fewer Moroccans in the Netherlands at a rally 18 months ago.

He denies inciting racial hatred.

Mr Wilders has denounced the trial as an attempt to suppress freedom of speech. If convicted, he faces a fine and a year in prison. The verdict is due next month.

Read more:Geert Wilders brands Dutch hate speech trial 'a charade' - BBC News

Turkey: Turkish Expatriates and Diaspora abroad lack the courage to speak out for Democracy

It must be difficult today for the Turkish expatriate community around the world, specially those who believe in Democracy, Secularism and the ideals of Kemalism, created by the founder of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, and to watch what is happening politically in Turkey.

 Specially, if personal friendships have developed between expat Turks, Turkish dispora and Turkish Diplomats

Regardless of that fact, and whatever way you turn it, these diplomats are the mouthpiece of the Turkish Foreign Ministry, which is an integral part of the Erdogan Government. As the saying goes: "He who pays the piper calls the tune". 

Case in point  re: The letter of H.E. Serdar Kılıç, Turkish Ambassador to the US, to the Wall Street Journal on November 16, 2016, which is a "rambling" defense by the Turkish Ambassador in Washington to justify that in effect all is "hunky dory" in Turkey and that democracy and freedom of the Press are, alive and well. Reading the interview, the feeling can't escape you, if he believed what he was saying himself.

As one Turkish citizen living in Paris, who often entertains and socializes with Turkish diplomats noted: "I have some very good friends among Turkish diplomats here in France, but that does not stop me in questioning them about the state of democracy in Turkey, or in signing petitions against the Erdogan Government ".

"This is not disrespectful, it is in fact the duty of every Turk, who lives abroad and believes in Democracy".

"Turkish diplomats, like any diplomat around the world, have to write numerous reports to their Ministry, including those on issues like "what their nationals are thinking and saying  about their home country and government".

"Consequently you are not doing your country a favor, by keeping your mouth shut on matters that are of importance to you and your country . Democracy in Turkey is on a steep descent and you have got to speak out".

©  EU-Digest

The Netherlands The EU’s New Bomb Is Ticking in the Netherlands - by Simon Nixon

Geert Wilders: "a lot of talk and spin, rather than substance"

If the European dream is to die, it may be the Netherlands that delivers the fatal blow. The Dutch general election in March is shaping up to be a defining moment for the European project The risk to the European Union doesn’t come from Geert Wilders, the leader of anti-EU, anti-immigration Party for Freedom. He is well ahead in the polls and looks destined to benefit from many of the social and economic factors that paved the way for the Brexit and Trump revolts.

But the vagaries of the Dutch political system make it highly unlikely that Mr. Wilders will find his way into government. As things stand, he is predicted to win just 29 out of the 150 seats in the new parliament, and mainstream parties seem certain to shun him as a coalition partner. In an increasingly fragmented Dutch political landscape, most observers agree that the likely outcome of the election is a coalition of four or five center-right and center-left parties.

Instead, the risk to the EU comes from a new generation of Dutch euroskeptics who are less divisive and concerned about immigration but more focused on questions of sovereignty—and utterly committed to the destruction of the EU. Its leading figures are Thierry Baudet and Jan Roos, who have close links to British euroskeptics. They have already scored one significant success: In 2015, they persuaded the Dutch parliament to adopt a law that requires the government to hold a referendum on any law if 300,000 cIfitizens request it. They then took advantage of this law at the first opportunity to secure a vote that rejected the EU’s proposed trade and economic pact with Ukraine, which Brussels saw as a vital step in supporting a strategically important neighbor.

This referendum law is a potential bomb under the EU, as both Dutch politicians and Brussels officials are well aware. Mr. Baudet believes he now has the means to block any steps the EU might seek to take to deepen European integration or stabilize the eurozone if they require Dutch legislation. This could potentially include aid to troubled Southern European countries such as Greece and Italy, rendering the eurozone unworkable.

Indeed, the Dutch government gave a further boost to Mr. Baudet and his allies when it agreed to accept the outcome of the Ukraine referendum if turnout was above 30%, even though it was under no legal obligation to do so. This was a major concession to the euroskeptics, as became clear when strong turnout among their highly motivated supporters lifted overall turnout to 31%. With Mr. Wilders’s party, currently polling above 25%, and both Mr. Baudet and Mr. Roos having launched their own parties, Dutch euroskeptics are confident they will be able to reach the 30% threshold in future referendums.

From the rest of the EU’s perspective, the central question of the election is whether mainstream Dutch parties can find a way to defuse this bomb. That won’t be easy.

The first challenge is to find a way out of the Ukraine impasse. Prime Minister Mark Rutte remains committed to ratifying the deal but he needs to do so in a way that won’t expose him to charges of ignoring the referendum result, thereby stoking euroskeptic support. Dutch, EU and Ukrainian negotiators will sit down next week and try to hammer out a legally binding clarification that makes clear that the agreement doesn’t include military assistance and doesn’t offer a path to Ukraine’s EU membership.

But even if the rest of the EU and Ukraine can reach such a compromise, Mr. Rutte may not be able to secure the backing of the Dutch Senate, where he lacks a majority. Opposition parties don’t want to be seen to be participating in what will inevitably be portrayed as an establishment stitch-up so close to elections.

The second step to defusing the bomb is to amend the referendum law to exclude international agreements. But while pro-European politicians privately say this is their goal, few are willing to say so publicly. Parties on the center-right don’t want to antagonize their increasingly euroskeptic voter base, while much of the center-left is hamstrung by its past support for the referendum law, which they backed because of a long-standing enthusiasm for direct democracy.

Instead, some mainstream politicians are privately pinning their hopes on the Christian Democrats, a center-right party currently in opposition and traditionally suspicious of direct democracy, riding to the rescue by insisting on an amendment to the law as a condition of any future coalition agreement. Yet the Christian Democrats don’t appear in any mood to let other parties off the hook so easily: The party is currently leading the parliamentary opposition to the government’s efforts to ratify the Ukraine deal.

Not surprisingly, the mood in Brussels, where this situation is being watched closely, is gloomy. One top official reckons the chances of the Dutch government defusing this bomb at less than 50%. Those may turn out to be the odds on the ultimate survival of the European project.

Read more: The EU’s New Bomb Is Ticking in the Netherlands - WSJ

Morocco: COP22: 16-Year-Old Moroccan Girl Delivers Fantastic Gripping Speech in Front of World Leaders - by Ghita Benslimane

As a “Representative of the Moroccan Youth,” Meryem Mawhoub was invited to deliver a speech at a COP22 event in Marrakech, which has been taking place from November 7 and ended on Saturday, November 18.

After a short introduction by COP22 President and Foreign Affairs Minister Salaheddine Mezouar, Meryem delivered the speech in flawless English in front of hundreds of COP22 attendees, including many heads of state as well as his majesty King Mohamed VI.

In her speech, Meryem said the following: “Like two billion young people my age, I aspire, after finishing my studies, to work in service of my country and of my fellow human beings […] For me, my generation, and future generations. A number amongst the multitude of available data outlines a huge challenge.”

“According to the Human Rights Committee on the Rights of the Child, composed by international and independent experts, air pollution has killed 600,000 children under the age of 5 since 2013. It’s up to you and to us to put a decisive end to such situations, and it is within our reach if the great wisdom which we showed last year in Paris is staying alive and if the watchfulness of the citizens of the world does not falter,” she continued.

Read more: COP22: 16-Year-Old Moroccan Girl Delivers Speech in Front of World Leaders

Germany: As a result of Trumps election Angela Merkel hopefully will and should take Global liberal lead

Angela Merkelthe the new global Liberal leader ?

Can Germany, the country that once unleashed Nazism, lead the free world? The idea that the former home of militarism and nationalism could become a beacon for human rights and peaceful international cooperation within one lifetime may seem far-fetched. But with outsider Donald Trump’s election as US president and the rising strength of far-right and populist movements in Europe, some have suggested that German Chancellor Angela Merkel is left as the last powerful defender of liberal values in the West.

Since taking office in 2005, Merkel has been a fixture of the international summit circuit, often providing the only dash of color in row upon row of grey suits. She has outlasted most of her contemporaries, save for Russian President Vladimir Putin, and won plaudits for successfully steering her country through the turmoil of the global financial crisis.

Along the way, the trained physicist has deftly maintained relations with allies as they gained new leaders, including prime ministers and presidents whose positions were very different from her own. Merkel navigated embarrassing moments, too, such as when US President George W Bush caused her to recoil in shock by playfully rubbing her neck at a G8 summit in 2006 and after former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was quoted making sexually explicit comments about her.

Merkel’s relationship with US President Barack Obama hit a stumbling block when it was revealed that the National Security Agency had been monitoring her cellphone, but both leaders weathered the strain. Peter Tauber, the general secretary of Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union party, noted that the uncertainty surrounding another country’s new administration usually makes people think “cooperation won’t work anymore.”

With the German chancellor having demonstrated otherwise, “there is a certain opinion that maybe it would be good if Angela Merkel would remain as an anchor of stability among the statesmen of the Western world,” Tauber said. Merkel departed from the usual diplomatic script after Trump’s election last week by suggesting that respect for liberal values was a precondition for Berlin’s continued good relations with Washington. Many commentators saw her remarks as a sign that the chancellor was thrusting Germany into the forefront of international politics.

As if to drive home her point, Merkel repeated Monday that Germany was prepared to “protect the dignity of every person, and that’s independent of religion, origin, sexual orientation, gender or other attributes.” Obama himself reinforced the image of passing the baton to Merkel by choosing to spend two days in Berlin during his final foreign trip as president, and declaring that the German chancellor had “probably been my closest international partner these past eight years.”

Rather than bid farewell to Europe in Paris, the capital of America’s oldest ally, or in Britain-which prides itself on a having a “special relationship” with Washington, Obama’s choice signals recognition that the heart of the old continent now lies in Berlin. The leaders of Europe’s other major powers- Britain, France, Italy and Spain-will meet Obama in the German capital Friday, a day after he confers at length with Merkel.

“The phrase ‘leader of the free world’ is usually applied to the president of the United States, and rarely without irony,” Timothy Garton Ash, a historian and professor of European studies at Oxford University, wrote Friday in Britain’s left-leaning Guardian newspaper. “I’m tempted to say that the leader of the free world is now Angela Merkel.”

Yet skeptics point out that Merkel may not be suited to rally the West. Her decision last year to open Germany’s borders to hundreds of thousands of people fleeing war and poverty was seized upon by European nationalists and featured prominently in Britain’s debate over quitting the European Union, which the ‘leave’ camp narrowly won.

European allies blame her for earlier stoking popular unrest by insisting on the need to cut public spending during the continent’s debt crisis. And in Ukraine, Merkel’s recent efforts to maintain a united European front in the face of Russian aggression are looking increasingly fragile. Domestically, Merkel is battling a new nationalist foe in the form of Alternative for Germany, a party that has surged in popularity by railing against refugees. Rather than confronting the party head-on, Merkel has instead stuck to her measured mantra of “We will manage.”

“Germany can’t replace the United States as the leader of the free world,” Josef Braml, an expert on international affairs at the German Council on Foreign Relations, said. “At best, it can protect Europe from nationalist tendencies and remind America that the liberal world order it established is also in the economic interests of the United States. That’s something the new businessman in the White House should be able to understand.”

Close allies say Merkel-who is expected to declare her intention to run for a fourth term in the coming days-is conscious both of her responsibility and the limits of her power. “She is absolutely determined, willing and ready to contribute to strengthen the international liberal order,” said Norbert Roettgen, the head of the German Parliament’s foreign affairs committee. “But we can’t see the chancellor of Germany as last man standing. This will only work together, within Europe, and if we can have the backing of the trans-Atlantic alliance.”

For now, German officials are hoping Trump, who called Merkel’s immigration policy “a catastrophe” while campaigning, will tone down his rhetoric once he’s inaugurated. They are conscious that Berlin is in no position to solve problems such as climate change and crises in the Middle East without American help.

In the meantime, Germany hopes that its post-war history will at least serve as an example to other nations. “Our country embodies, perhaps more than any other country in the world, the experience that war can become peace, division can become reconciliation, and that the mania of nationalism and ideology can eventually be replaced by political sanity,” Germany’s Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Wednesday.

Donald Trump election puts pressure on Angela Merkel to take liberal lead | The Indian Express

USA: Cabinet Link with Turkey via Dutch Company Inovo BV owned by Turkish businessman Kamil Ekim Alptekin

Kamil Ekim Alptekin - Erdogan's Link to Trump

Donald Trump has repeatedly promised to “drain the swamp” of Washington corruption.

The new ethics pledge he announced Wednesday would prohibit registered lobbyists from working for his transition team or administration.

But Trump’s supposed aversion to lobbyists has not harmed the fortunes of Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, one of Trump’s earliest and most visible supporters, now a vice chair of the transition team and a rumored frontrunner for the influential post of national security adviser.

Though Flynn is not a lobbyist himself, his company, Flynn Intel Group, is registered with Congress as a lobbying organization, and has a registered lobbyist on its staff. A Flynn Intel Group client, Kamil Ekim Alptekin, a Turkish businessman with real estate, aerospace, and consulting interests, told The Intercept on Thursday that one of his companies, Inovo BV, paid Flynn’s company “tens of thousands of dollars” for analysis on world affairs.

On election day, Flynn published an opinion piece for The Hill urging U.S. support for Turkey’s controversial strongman president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and pushing for the extradition of Erdogan’s political rival, Fethullah Gülen, who now resides in Pennsylvania. “From Turkey’s point of view, Washington is harboring Turkey’s Osama bin Laden,” Flynn wrote, on November 8.

In a statement, Flynn said that he would sever ties with his own company if he entered Trump’s administration. He did not say whether he would close the business, where his son is listed as chief of staff, or disclose his other clients.

Alptekin said that while he agreed with what Flynn wrote, he did not have any influence over his views. “There is no money in the world that could make Gen. Flynn or anybody else who is being considered for a cabinet post write that article on election day,” he said. “I don’t think a billion dollars would make him do that.”

The ties between Flynn Intel Group and Inovo BV, Alptekin’s company, were previously reported by The Daily Caller and Politico. Robert Kelley, the Flynn Group’s general counsel and the main point of contact with the Inovo account, told Politico that the company’s duties included reporting on “the present situation, the transition between President Obama and President-elect Trump.”

Alptekin said that was “absolutely untrue. We never had a single conversation on that issue.”

He said he told the Press that he hired Flynn Intel Group “three months ago.” He said he knew of Flynn’s relationship with President-elect Trump, but that had no bearing on his decision to become a client. “It was more his reputation for integrity, and as a decorated war hero who knows the region,” he said. “I didn’t work with him directly. I never discussed the [election day] article with him directly. I didn’t sign off on the article.”

While Alptekin says the payments were not for lobbying, Flynn Intel Group is registered as a lobbyist for Inovo BV, a Dutch company controlled by Alptekin.

Flynn Intel Group had not registered as a lobbying entity until September. That month, Kelley, the company’s general counsel, registered as a lobbyist for Inovo BV. (A third filing, from late October, identifies a government relations company called SGR LLC as lobbying Congress on behalf of the Flynn Intel Group.)

Earlier 2016 filings with the Department of Justice from Kelley’s law office identify him as an agent of the National Mobilization Forces, an Iraqi military group trained by the Turkish government and controlled by the former governor of Nineveh province. The filings show that Kelley received a total of $90,000 from the Iraqi group and terminated the relationship in June.

Alptekin, a Turkish citizen who worked on Capitol Hill as a congressional fellow in 2003, confirmed that Inovo BV, his Dutch company, was a current client of Flynn Intel Group. “I don’t know him so well, but I met him a few times,” he said, of Gen. Flynn. “In general, when [Flynn] meets someone from the region, he ends up talking about the danger of radical Islam. He mentioned that radical Islam in Turkey is no different from other radical Islamic leaders in the past, with a different front face, a different back office. He compared Gülen to Ayatollah Khomeini. I remember that of the talking points he discussed with me. But I never said ‘go out and say this and do that.’”

“Mr. Flynn does not work on my contract,” he added. “Mr. Bob Kelley does.”
Neither Flynn nor the Trump transition team responded to requests for comment. Reached by phone on Thursday afternoon, Kelley read a three-sentence statement which he said had been prepared by Flynn. “Our counsel, Bob Kelley, registered pursuant to law for our company to represent the interests of a private company,” the statement read, in part.

It continued: “If I return to government service, my relationship with my company will be severed in accordance with the policy announced by President-elect Trump.”

Kelley declined to say whether the Flynn Intel Group had any foreign governments as clients. When asked whether Flynn’s son Michael, whose LinkedIn profile has him as Flynn’s “chief of staff,” would continue to have a role at the firm should his father move on to the White House, Kelley declined to respond.

“I can’t give you more than what’s in the statement,” he said.

The Dutch Business Newspaper NRC in a recent article also confirms that Mr. Flynn's Intel Group was hired by Inovo BV a Dutch Company, owned by Mr.Kamil Ekim Alptekin, mainly to get Fethullah Gülen from the US to Turkey.  Alptekin, who also studied in Utrecht, the Netherlands, and he is a prominent member of the Dutch council of Foreign Economic Relations which, has close ties to the present Turkish Government. In 2003-2004 he worked as a counselor to Fatma Koser Kaya. a Dutch D66-party member of Parliament.

Almere-Digest

The Netherlands: strong Germany is in the Netherlands' best interests, says Dutch foreign minister

Germany must accept its
leadership role in Europe, following Britain’s vote to leave the EU and
Donald Trump’s election as new US president, according to Dutch foreign
minister Bert Koenders.

Both the US and Britain are now likely to put their relationships with
Europe to the test, Koenders told a Leiden University meeting, according
to website Nu.nl.

‘Intensive American involvement in European security is no longer a
certainty and a strong Germany is now, more than ever, in the
Netherlands’ interests,’ Koenders is quoted as saying. ‘I would say the
Netherlands must help Germany accept its leadership role in Europe, now
of all times.’

The interests of Germany and the Netherlands often coincide, the
minister said. ‘From agreements within the EU to a strong euro and open
economy. That is more important than ever given that the UK is going to
leave us.’

Koenders said that US loss of interest in Europe is not new. Europe is
going to play a smaller role in the world economy in the coming decades
and it has irked America for years that only a few European countries
meet Nato targets, he said.

However, despite the increasing need for a strong Germany, the US and
Britain must remain involved, Koenders said. ‘It has always been
important to the Netherlands that Anglo Saxon [countries] contribute to
maintaining the balance of power in Europe,’ he said.


Read more at DutchNews.nl: A strong Germany is in the Netherlands’ best interests, says Dutch foreign minister http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2016/11/a-strong-germany-is-in-the-netherlands-best-interests-says-dutch-foreign-minister/

Germany must accept its leadership role in Europe, following Britain’s vote to leave the EU and Donald Trump’s election as new US president, according to Dutch foreign minister Bert Koenders.

Both the US and Britain are now likely to put their relationships with Europe to the test, Koenders told a Leiden University meeting, according to website Nu.nl. ‘Intensive American involvement in European security is no longer a certainty and a strong Germany is now, more than ever, in the Netherlands’ interests,’ Koenders is quoted as saying.

‘I would say the Netherlands must help Germany accept its leadership role in Europe, now of all times.’ The interests of Germany and the Netherlands often coincide, the minister said. ‘From agreements within the EU to a strong euro and open economy. That is more important than ever given that the UK is going to leave us.’

Koenders said that US loss of interest in Europe is not new. Europe is going to play a smaller role in the world economy in the coming decades and it has irked America for years that only a few European countries meet Nato targets, he said.

However, despite the increasing need for a strong Germany, the US and Britain must remain involved, Koenders said. ‘It has always been important to the Netherlands that Anglo Saxon [countries] contribute to maintaining the balance of power in Europe,’ he said.

Read moreL A strong Germany is in the Netherlands' best interests, says Dutch foreign minister - DutchNews.nl