It is a sad thing that now that the issue of food has finally returned on the agenda, governments are collectively incapable to think beyond their common divisions and short term interests. The fiasco of the Doha Round of global trade liberalisation talks last July shows that they lack a visionary framework to agree on reforms, in particular in agriculture. Yet it is not too difficult to imagine new ways to restructure farming.

This has to start with the recognition that agriculture serves many purposes in society, from producing food, feed and fibres to maintaining biodiversity, preserving landscapes and water storage – green and blue services respectively. Not all farmers should be obliged to provide all these services. A logical distinction has to be made between farmers who work in favourable areas in terms of natural resources and infrastructure, and those who do not. In such areas, farmers should be able to compete on the international market and – perhaps after a transition period – should not receive income or production support. These farmers must comply with agreed standards of emissions to the environment. Only if these farmers are required to make additional efforts to provide green and blue services, they need to be compensated.

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The 700 billion dollars requested from US Congress by Treasury Secretary Paulson to buy up bad mortgage-backed and mortgage-based securities from American banks is not going to solve the crisis, although it can be part of a solution. I assume that 700 billion dollars will allow the purchase by the Treasury of at least 2 trillion dollars worth of mortgage-related securities at face value, as it would not make sense for the US tax payer to pay much more than 33 cents on the dollar for the mortgage-related rubbish that banks have loaded onto their balance sheets. Pricing the assets punitively makes it possible to save the financial system while punishing the financial sinners at the same time.

But the US banks have large amounts of bad assets on their books that are not mortgage-related. Basically, any financial instrument that implies significant exposure to the US household sector is dodgy and doubtful. I expect that Secretary Paulson or his successor will, if Congress grants the 700 billion dollars request, be back for more before long.

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A familiar picture emerges after each meeting of the EU ministers of foreign affairs. Maxime Verhagen, the Dutch foreign minister, comes out to tell the press that the Netherlands cannot go along with the large majority of European Union member states in bringing Serbia closer to the EU. Frustrations among Verhagen’s colleagues are mounting. They don’t understand why the Netherlands was resisiting to support the democratic forces against the nationalists in the elections (in May) and keeps objecting to reward the Serb government for delivering war criminal Radovan Karadzic to the International Tribunal in The Hague (in July). Lees verder »

Prostitution was legalised in the Netherlands in October 2000. The law formalised a long-standing Dutch tradition of tolerance towards the practise of buying and selling sex. Eight years later, however, the Dutch police and politicians start to realise that the women and girls who sell their bodies, however, are routinely threatened, beaten, raped and terrorised by pimps and customers alike.

Most of these women come from families disjointed by incest, alcohol abuse and parental suicide. Or they come from countries in Eastern Europe or Southeast Asia and have fallen victim to human trafficking, being lured with decent job offers or simply sold by their parents.

The women are the number one tourist attraction in Amsterdam. According to the police, 50 to 90 percent of the women working behind the famous red lit windows are actually sex slaves. They are being raped on a daily basis while Dutch police standing by idly. Only this year has the city administration of Amsterdam started to close down some brothels because of their ties to criminal organisations.

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The national budget for next year holds no surprises. This government still refuses to acknowledge the fears of a vast growing majority of Dutch people that believes Islam is the greatest threat to our national identity. Staggering amounts of immigrants are entering our country, while almost 60 percent of Dutch people consider mass immigration to be the biggest mistake since the Second World War, a history monitor by the Historisch Nieuwsblad revealed. The budget for 2009 shows that the financial burden of the government’s mass immigration policy is astronomical and puts a huge strain on Dutch society.

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