We are all chambermaids 09/06/2011
 ‘Dix minutes, douche comprise’. This famous catchphrase, used to describe Jacques Chirac’s daily encounters with his courtesans, has been illustrative of French political culture for decades. With very strict rules on privacy and a nationwide appreciation for ‘the game of seduction’, the sexual liaisons of French leaders have never before been a serious subject of negative public scrutiny. In fact, it seemed that every respectable politician was expected to have a powerful libido.
TEXT: Goos Hofstee PHOTO: Cody Simms, painting by Banksy Add Comment  Recently, we saw in the news, the story of a boy selling his kidney in exchange for an Ipad and Iphone. Widespread practice among the desperately poor for many years: has it spread to the 'average' poor? What can be made of such an evolution? A singular case or prelude to what is coming?
TEXT: Christiaan Wöhle PHOTO: Leondel Welcome Mister President! 23/05/2011
 About President Obama’s appearance in the international arena has been spoken quit a lot in the past years. Reason enough to shed some light on the protocol and etiquette that is in place for meetings with the president of the United States. What does the diplomatic protocol subscribe for Obama? What the president does and does not do when visiting foreign states is monitored with eagle eyes. Here are some examples of what might go wrong.
TEXT: Laura Kox PHOTO: Pete Souza/White House Dr Strangelove and the legal loophole 23/05/2011
 Dr. Kissinger ‘Laws are like cobwebs, which may catch small flies, but let wasps and hornets fly.’ When the English writer Jonathan Swift wrote this in 1707, he was referring to the age-old truth that the judicial system functions well to catch relatively small offenders, but that it is much harder to prosecute the big ‘bad guys’. They use their connections and diplomatic immunity to stay out of trouble and get away with serious atrocities, even in these days of international Law and the ICC.
TEXT: Goos Hofstee PHOTO: Marion S. Trikosko The strange allegiance to Pakistan 16/05/2011
 Bin Laden finally caught, shot in the head and dumped in the sea by U.S. Military, is good news by any account, followed nevertheless by the jubilation of many as if having won a football match. Yet sadly, since the celebration of violent death has never truly been something I could enjoy, my mind quickly concentrated on the obvious situation of widespread Pakistani collaboration with the prominent figure. Though not a surprise itself, the lack of consequence in the news about it seemed baffling to me.
TEXT: Christiaan Wöhle  Politics is always a dangerous matter to balance, especially in democracies. For this system has neither the freedom to ignore nor repress dissent without harming the very foundation of its inner mechanics. This leaves it open to bigotry and ignorance, as populists make use of the loophole to gain influence. And when such people take a hold of the religious tendencies it becomes a whole new force altogether, capable of taking whole countries, previously committed to human rights and civilisation, to degrade into the patterns of the Middle Ages.
TEXT: Christiaan Wohle PHOTO: Daskar The Turning of a Page 25/04/2011
 PHOTO: Olly Y Lately, the popular revolts we have seen in Tunesia and Egypt, and are currently witnessing in Lybia, Syria, Yemen and Bahrain, have been dominating the news. The Israel-Palestinian conflict, which up to a few months ago often took center stage in news coverage of the Middle East, has now gone onto the so called backburner. However, Middle East experts are already talking about what these revolutions mean for the Israeli-Palestinian relations.
TEXT: Goos Hofstee  The past weeks, the banking sector caused a controversy with the rewarding of abundant bonuses. Especially in the case of ING, that even though it is still heavily indebted to the Dutch state, rewarded a bonus of 1.25 million euros to an ING top executive. Even though the executive finally did not accept the bonus, the situation caused great annoyance to the parliament and the unions. High bonuses are controversial, because these are thought to support risky behaviour with bankers. And it is this risky behaviour that is thought to be one of the causes of the crisis.
TEXT: Laura Kox IMAGE: Pauw en Witteman The crime of non-interventionism 03/04/2011
 I am in favour of forceful intervention in other countries, notably the recent examples of Iraq and Libya. Thus hitting upon the often offended and/or surprised look from my fellow students and other acquaintances, who believe a self-respecting humanitarian cannot possibly be in favour of the mass killings all wars initiate. With this I do not agree, for I am convinced of exactly the opposite: that a humanitarian cannot avoid going to war, that pacifism is a case of moral bankruptcy, and neutrality a case of never wanting to grow up. But with that: let us begin with summarising the “lefties” arguments before I destroy them.
TEXT: Christiaan Wöhle PHOTO: Joriel “Joz”Jimenez The tangled web 27/03/2011
 Earlier this month, former secretary of state Colin Powell announced that he would be asking questions as to why the American intelligence agencies failed to inform him, before the invasion, that the testimonies of the major (and pretty much only) source of Iraqi eyewitness intelligence were unreliable. The US’ primary justification for invading Iraq in 2003 was the alleged presence of biochemical labs and WMD’s. The empirical “evidence” for this claim was provided by an Iraqi defector known as “Curveball” (real name Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi). Now, anno 2011, Curveball has admitted that he made everything up.
TEXT: Goos Hofstee IMAGE: David Levene |
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