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March 17th, 2008 | #1 |
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Belgium
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March 17th, 2008 | #2 | |
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Quote:
Although most of Taki's writings concern his life among the rich and famous, his political views always find their way into the text. His politics may be safely placed on the Right, but he holds controversial, sometimes close to contradictory, views on many subjects, a fact which makes many conservatives and right-wingers unwilling to associate with his positions. In his Spectator pieces, Taki comes across as a staunch defender of family values, yet he admits to actively pursuing wives he found attractive; he values friendship and comradeship, but some of the men he "cuckolded" (his expression) were close friends; he professes Christianity, but supports abortion rights and admits to violating most of the Church's commandments; he is strongly pro-American, but usually writes dismissively of American foreign policy; he is a fierce anti-communist, but has "no time" for the new Russian rich, whom he collectively labels "kleptocrats" and "nouveau-Russes"; he is a confirmed elitist and opponent of mass vulgarity, but reserves his harshest invective for the spoiled rich—among whom he admits he belongs; and so on. Consistently, nonetheless, Taki takes traditionalist, royalist and paleoconservative positions. Taki is an outspoken critic of the current Iraq War and lays the blame for the "fiasco", as he calls it, on American neoconservatives, who have "destroyed the legacy of Ronald Reagan", levying harsh criticism on people like David Frum, William Kristol, and John Podhoretz. He considers war supporter Christopher Hitchens to be among "the former Trotskyites now masquerading as patriotic Americans". (Hitchens, originally British, is now a naturalised American.) Taki is vocal in his criticism of vulgarity in both the media and in professional sports, but occasionally uses profanity himself in interviews, and says this is because he went "through hell" in the Navy.[2] Some of his more controversial statements are to be found in his articles on contemporary immigration policy (see below). He was prominent in the campaign to free the former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, whose arrest he considered inconsistent with international law. [3] |
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March 17th, 2008 | #3 |
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This thread could probably be merged if possible or I will just link it anyway.
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March 17th, 2008 | #4 |
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Inquiry into Belgium's Nazi record
Belgium may investigate the alleged complicity of its wartime authorities in the deportation and murder of some 25,000 Jews. The centre-left MP Olivier Maingain has proposed a committee of inquiry in the hope that it will prompt a national debate on the issue. Belgium's record during the second world war has long been a matter of debate. Occupied from 1940 to 1944, its king opted to stay in Belgium with most senior civil servants and police, while the government fled to London. Many Belgians allegedly helped the Nazis identify 25,257 non-Belgian Jews for deportation; 28 convoys were dispatched to concentration camps between 1942 and 1944, and only 1,207 Jews survived. Antwerp policemen allegedly helped the Germans and an SS regiment of native Flemish reservists carry out raids and arrest Jews. Mr Maingain says that with this year's 60th anniversary of the first deportation, it is time to establish Belgium's complicity. "Historians have revealed that the Belgians' help was indispensable in realising the final solution - and that the Belgian administration agreed to loan its services to a Nazi occupier which didn't have enough manpower to do the job itself," he says. An inquiry established after liberation tried individuals for war crimes but did not deal with deportations. A more recent investigation confined itself to damages. But Mr Maingain believes that looming elections next year, a fear of confronting the past and fierce opposition from the Flemish community will delay any inquiry. "I fear that it will be kicked into the long grass. There is incredible sensitivity about this issue and there was a very strong collaborationist streak on the Flemish side. In Belgium, we have a long history of not wanting to look the past in the face." |
October 25th, 2008 | #5 |
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True. Because, "Belgium" is an artificial country created by Napoleon to strategically invent a hundreds kilometers border with Holland. Only the Dutch speaking Flemish have relevance to this thread
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October 28th, 2008 | #6 |
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Culinary tv program featuring Hitler’s 'favourite meal' will not be aired
Original article: www.ejpress.org/article/31447 27/Oct/2008 BRUSSELS (EJP)---A tv station in Belgium has decided not to air on Tuesday a controversial culinary program which was due to feature “Adolf Hitler’s favourite meal." The Jewish community and former deportees groups had reacted with dismay at the VRT Flemish public television program which, they said, was turning Hitler into a banal figure. In the program called "Plat préféré" (Favorite Dish), a professional cook brings up the favourite meal of a personality. Among the figures already presented were Jacques Brel, Salvador Dali and Freddy Mercury. This time, the cook was due to go to Hitler's haunts in Bavaria, southern Germany, to prepare 'trout with butter sauce' which is said to be one of the Nazi dictator’s favorite meals. A Jewish magazine in Antwerp and CCOJB, the umbrella group of Jewish organizations in Belgium, denounced the program. "It is worrying to see that Hitler is turned into a banal figure, especially for the younger generation," Michael Freilich, chief editor of Joods Actueel magazine, said. In a reaction last week, the tv station explained it was not its intention “to make Hitler more humane but rather to put him in the right context." VRT had “apologised in advance” if some people felt shocked by the program's contents. The station has decided instead to feature Greek opera singer Maria Callas. According to a communiqué issued on Monday, "the VRT management defends the program’s content but prefers to cancel the airing because of the controversy around it," adding that the program clearly "shows that Jeroen Meus (the cook) has a dislike for Adolf Hitler and Nazism”. |
October 28th, 2008 | #7 |
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Wasn't he a vegetarian?
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February 1st, 2013 | #8 | |
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Quote:
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Christianity and Feminism, the two deadliest poisons jews gave to the White Race ''Screw your optics, I'm going in'', American hero Robert Gregory Bowers |
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March 16th, 2013 | #9 |
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10,000 workers protest EU austerity
Union members march during a demonstration outside of an EU summit in Brussels on Thursday, March 14, 2013. Thousands of workers are converging on EU headquarters to demand an end to austerity measures in a demonstration coinciding with an EU summit aimed at boosting growth and reducing unemployment. Thursday's protest showed frustration of the European trade union movement claiming years of austerity imposed by EU leaders is only worsening the recession while driving ever more people toward unemployment and poverty. http://www.nwaonline.com/news/2013/m...0315/?business |
March 18th, 2008 | #10 |
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Deal reached on programme for Belgian coalition government
BRUSSELS (AFP) - Belgian political parties struck a deal Tuesday on a programme for a coalition government under Christian Democrat Yves Leterme, who will take the reins on Thursday, the Flemish leader said.
"It's a good deal for a government, with balanced measures," Leterme said on local RTBF radio, announcing a pact that should bring to an end a nine-month political crisis that came close to splitting the country in half. Agreement on a political programme followed a night of negotiations between two Dutch-speaking Flemish parties and three francophone parties, allowing a permanent coalition government to be set up with an agreed agenda. Since the June 2007 elections, Belgium has been engulfed in a political crisis with the richer Flemish north seeking more regional powers, a move opposed by leaders in the poorer French-speaking southern region of Wallonia. The last sticking points included differences over social, health and justice policies. Leterme, 47, whose Christian Democrats came out on top in last year's general election, is due to present his ministers at the royal palace on Thursday morning. He will take up the reins from outgoing prime minister Guy Verhofstadt who had agreed to stay on as interim leader until now. The "balanced" deal was endorsed on the same RTBF station by francophone Socialist party chief Elio Di Rupo, current liberal finance minister Didier Reynders and the leader of the centrist francophones Joelle Milquet. The agreement traces the broad lines of a government programme aimed at offering the country some political stability after months in which raised the possibility of the country splitting in two along its linguistic faultline. Di Rupo hailed the agreement as a boost to the poorly paid, the retired and those on welfare benefits, while also pointing to measures on climate change. Reynders cautioned that it will take years to translate some of the broad policies into concrete measures. The five coalition partners have yet to divide up the cabinet portfolios. The profile of the incoming government will not very different from that of the outgoing interim team, which has been in place since December. The main difference will be that Verhofstadt has said he will take a "year's sabbatical" after nine years in power. With his popularity high he has said could take part in elections to the European parliament in June 2009. Leterme on the other had will head up a government already suffering low opinion poll ratings. According to the latest published Monday, just 10 percent of francophones and 45 percent of Flemish voters have confidence in him at the helm. Nor does the deal solve the problems which plunged the country into its rift between the Dutch-speaking majority (60 percent of the 10.5 million population) -- which wants more autonomy for Flanders -- and the francophone minority, which wants political powers to be held by the central government. |
June 27th, 2008 | #11 |
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Announcement by Vincent Reynouard
On June 19, 2008, section 61 of the Brussels criminal court found
Siegfried Verbeke and me guilty of "disputing crimes against humanity", sentencing us to a year's imprisonment and ordering us to pay 25,000 euros in fines, damages and various costs... Moreover, it ordered the immediate arrest of Siegfried Verbeke and perhaps of myself as well (a friend of ours who attended the hearing says no, but the press reports state opposite and we haven't been able to get an answer from the Clerk's Office... http://csvr.wordpress.com |
October 24th, 2008 | #12 |
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Belgian jewish and resistance groups slam tv culinary program
Belgian Jewish and resistance groups slam tv culinary program
Original article: www.ejpress.org/article/31343 24/Oct/2008 12:06 BRUSSELS (EJP)---The Jewish community as well as former deportees and resistance groups in Belgium reacted with dismay at a television culinary program to be aired next week which features “Adolf Hitler’s favorite meal”. In this program called "Plat préféré" (Favorite Dish) on the VRT Flemish tv station, cook Jeroen Meus goes to Hitler's haunts in Bavaria, southern Germany, to prepare trout with butter sauce which is said to be one of his favorite meals. The tv's website called it "a succulent festive eal." Michael Freilich, chief editor of the Joods Actueel magazine in Antwerp, criticized the program saying “it is worrying to see that Hitler is turned into a banal figure, especially for the younger generation.” He denounced the “naivety” of Jeroen Meus who, he said, doesn’t realize the emotional and historical weight of the Holocaust for those who survived Nazism. He stressed that neo-Nazi websites are now promoting the tv program and that Meus “has become their hero”. In a reaction, the VRT public station said it was not its intention “to make Hitler more humane but rather to put him in the right context." |
June 13th, 2010 | #13 |
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Belgium's Flemish separatist party, the New Flemish Alliance (NVA), has won more than 20% of the vote in parliamentary elections, according to early unofficial results.
If confirmed, the NVA would have the largest share of the vote, bringing the country closer to a split. The NVA wants to more fully divide the country between Dutch-speaking Flanders and French-speaking Wallonia. But the party would have to form a coalition with Wallonian parties. Such a coalition might force NVA leader Bart De Wever to tone down his Flemish nationalist rhetoric. "The NVA has won the election today," the party's leader Bart De Wever told supporters. "We stand before you with a party that has some 30% [of the Flemish vote]." Flemish media projected the NVA would take 30 of the 150 seats in the lower house of parliament, up from the current eight. The French-speaking Socialists were expected to gain six seats for a total of 26, Reuters news agency said. If the count holds, the result would be a significant loss for Premier Yves Leterme's coalition of Christian Democrats, Liberals and Socialists. His government collapsed in April over a long-standing dispute about voting rights for Dutch-speakers around Brussels and the election was brought forward by one year. Separate lives A split bringing an end to Belgium would not happen immediately. Belgian governments are required to be made up of a bi-lingual coalition of at least four parties. Language row looms over election Much of public and political life in Belgium is dominated by bitter debates around language and the allocation of public resources. Government aid to poorer Wallonia, home to four million French speakers, has caused resentment among Belgium's 6.5 million Flemish majority, correspondents say. Until now separatist parties have been on the fringes of political debate. But Mr De Wever, 39, has pushed his party into the mainstream over the last three years while the other parties have been locked in a political stalemate. The country also faces economic problems. During the last three years the national debt has grown to unmanageable proportions. The country's ratio of debt to gross domestic product is behind only Greece and Italy in the Eurozone, analysts say. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/europe/10303179.stm |
June 21st, 2010 | #14 |
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Anti-semitism drives Jews from European diamond centre
Anti-semitism drives Jews from European diamond centre
http://story.albuquerqueexpress.com/...d/650391/cs/1/ The De Standaard newspaper in Belgium has reported that Jews are deserting Antwerp, the country's diamond centre. The Belgian newspaper has predicted that in fifty years there will be no more Jews living in the city due to an increase of Anti-Semitism. It said many young Jews had been leaving the city to study in London, New York or Israel, where they could work more freely while still wearing their Jewish skullcaps, which have made them targets for anti-semites in Antwerp. It has also become more difficult for them to start a career in Antwerp since the Jewish community lost its dominant position in the diamond trade. De Standaard commented: "Only the poor Hasidic Jews stay and they refuse to adapt." |
July 11th, 2010 | #15 |
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Belgium: Vlaams Blok politician Roeland Raes sentenced 4 month
Belgium: Vlaams Blok politician Roeland Raes sentenced 4 month for alleged ‘holocaust denial’
The crime: Expressed doubt about the authenticity of Anne Frank's diary, and the extent and the systematic nature of certain aspects of what is popularly known as 'the holocaust'. The now former senator from the Flemish party 'Vlaams Blok', [now Vlaams Belang because of political and judicial harassment] Roeland Raes, had to consider statements he had voiced during a TV-broadcast by the Dutch TV-station NCRV in the program 'Network' in 2001, in a Court of Appeal in the Belgian Capital Brussels. Expressed doubts On this particular occasion the former Vice-President of Vlaams Blok had expressed doubts about the veracity of the famous novel 'The Diary of Anne Frank', and the extent of, and in how far, certain aspects of the so called 'holocaust' were to be classified as being of a systematical nature. This resulted in a conviction for what is popularly called 'holocaust denial' , in Belgium referred to as 'negotianism' for my lack of a proper English word. In the NCRV-broadcast from January 26, 2001, Roeland Raes, at that time Senator for the Nationalist party 'Vlaams Blok', was interviewed about his alleged connections to a right wing Dutch party. During this interview, Raes expressed his doubts about the authenticity of the Anne Frank novel, and very briefly on the extent of 'the holocaust' and the question of in how far certain aspects of the events could be classified as systematic. Extemination camps were work camps In a longer lasting part of the interview, Raes expanded on his opinions, and said that he thought the persecution of Jews was of a systematic nature, but not the alleged extermination. Therefore the official numbers pertaining to the alleged number of victims was highly exaggerated. He also said that that alleged extermination camps actually were forced labor camps, where the living conditions were appalling. Correctional Court Raes was dragged into the Brussels Court, which in it's Flemish title has the suitable word 'correctional' added before the word 'court'. I understand: It is the function of Belgian courts to correct Belgian subjects' opinions about novels and historical events, because Raes was sentenced to 4 month in jail for 'negotianism'. The former senator appealed the verdict, and last Tuesday the court proceeded in the case. A verdict is expected in September. Looking back: The traditional enemies of free speech pushed for prosecution Original videotape with Raes interview missing 'Forum of Jewish Organizations' [Forum der Joodse Organisaties] which says it represents Jewish societies and organizations in Flanders, immediately dragged him into court for 'negotianism'. Brussels' 'Correctional Court's Advisory Board' decided on February 7 [2006] not to prosecute Raes, but the Jewish umbrella organization appealed the decision. Today the prosecutor's office decides. 'It was clear to the board that the case against my client is amateurish. At no time could the whole NCRV-interview be produced; only short clips out of context were used as evidence. But the whole interview is important, to put certain things in their proper context. Apparently the master tape could not be found by the broadcaster NCRV', says Raes' lawyer Piet Noë. Here a short clip from the aforementioned TV-broadcast: Roeland Raes - Clip from interview broadcast by NCRV February 26, 2001 - English subtitles |
September 22nd, 2010 | #16 |
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Flemish leader sparks Belgian row over Nazi collaboration
http://www.expatica.com/be/news/belg...ion_98089.html The leader of the Flemish nationalist party opened a wartime wound on Wednesday, accusing Belgium's French-speaking region of historical amnesia over its collaboration with Nazis. Smack in the middle of tense coalition talks with French-speaking parties, Bart De Wever sparked a row by charging in a Flemish newspaper column that research on francophone collaboration during World War II was "particularly brief." The head of the N-VA party pointed to the lack of attention given to what he described as the anti-Semitism and fascist leanings of legendary comic book writer Herge, the creator of Tintin, during the 1940s. Contrary to French-speaking Wallonia, De Wever wrote, Flanders had owned up to its collaborationist past, making it impossible for the Flemish region to "sweep under the rug the 'New Order' temptation as if it had just been a fling. "It is better to shed light on a society's past without hiding reality," he wrote in a column in De Standaard daily entitled "Flemish Nazis." He accused Walloons of "judging by virtue of a moral superiority that is out of place and based on collective ignorance." The leading francophone daily, Le Soir, condemned De Wever's column in its own editorial on Wednesday, under the headline: "The Unhealthy Game of the Most Collaborationist Belgian." De Wever's grandfather was a member of a collaborationist party during World War II. The Flemish leader has himself been accused by francophones of having fascist sympathies. Many people in Flanders believe that the purge that followed the liberation of Belgium mainly targeted Flemish collaborators while prosecutions were more rare in Wallonia. Belgium has been without a new government since the June legislative elections when De Wever's party came out on top in Flanders. Marathon seven-party negotiations have so far failed to produce an agreement on Flemish demands for greater autonomy. |
April 20th, 2011 | #17 |
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February 10th, 2012 | #18 |
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Belgian Firefighters Turn Their Fire Hoses on the Police in Protest
Hose streets? Our streets! Belgian firefighters soak police in protest
Hundreds of Belgian firefighters hose down the prime minister's office as part of a protest against retirement plans Associated Press in Brussels guardian.co.uk, Friday 10 February 2012 07.40 EST Link to video: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/vide...-protest-video Firefighters hose down the prime minister's office Link to this video Several hundred Belgian firefighters have broken through police lines in Brussels and hosed down the prime minister's office in protest at the government's tougher retirement plans. The firefighters want to keep their early retirement age at 58, arguing their arduous job does not allow them to work into their 60s. Belgian police get wet as they guard the entrance to the cabinet office from protesting firefighters. Photograph: KeystoneUSA-ZUMA/Rex Features Such demands run counter to government plans to have the overwhelming majority of people work two years beyond 65 so it can afford an ever-increasing pension bill as Belgium's population ages. Firefighters aim a hose at the feet of Belgian riot police. Photograph: KeystoneUSA-ZUMA/Rex Features The deputy prime minister, Didier Reynders, said caving in to the firefighters' demands would "send the wrong signal" to everyone. Belgium has 17,000 firefighters. |
May 4th, 2012 | #19 |
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Belgian Train Announcement: “Welcome to This Train for Auschwitz. All Jews Get Off at Buchenwald”
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Passengers traveling from Brussels to Namur on Thursday via Belgium’s national railway company SNCB were shocked when they heard the following over the train’s loudspeaker: “Welcome to the train to Auschwitz. All Jews are asked to get off in Buchenwald.” According to a statement from SNCB, the man who made the announcement was not an employee of the company, saying “SNCB harshly condemns the act”. The European Jewish Parliament (EJP) and European Jewish Union (EJU) have come out strongly against the remark, noting that just two weeks ago the world commemorated the murders of millions of European Jews. “Two weeks ago we marched in Auschwitz where thousands of Jews were murdered on a daily basis,” said Tomer Orni, head of the EJU and leader of the United Kingdom’s EJP delegation. We will NEVER accept such remarks, not in Europe nor anywhere else.” In a statement sent to reporters, the European groups applauded the swift action taken by SNCB following the announcement made over the train’s speaker system. “EJP and EJU appreciate the immediate reaction of the National Railway Company of Belgium (SNCB) ‘strongly condemning these actions’ and note the transport company’s press secretary’s statement that the announcement was not made by a member of its staff.” http://www.algemeiner.com/2012/05/04...at-buchenwald/ |
March 8th, 2023 | #20 |
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Colonial statues in Halle given 'critical interpretation' but not removed
Tuesday, 7 March 2023 The Flemish city of Halle has decided not to remove but instead to adapt two controversial colonial references in one of its parks as a "reminder of the role Belgium played as a coloniser." In Halle's renovated Albert park stands a statue and a monument dating back to the colonial period: a bust of Leopold II and the monument 'Homage to the Colonial Pioneers'. Both have both stood there since 1953, but since Sunday last week, they have been given a new makeover and interpretation. https://www.brusselstimes.com/394563...ut-not-removed |
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