Rien

Living in Utrecht, the Netherlands.
Married to Wendy.
Enjoy:
* learning (about history, [geo]political developments, technology, psychology)
* playing (from soccer, swimming, running, boulder-climbing up until bord games)
* listening/reading (to beautiful stories and music)

Working in mental health care.

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Last Notes

2026-04-08 07:58:20 UTC

Toch een klein beetje jaloers op lef, integriteit en communicatieve vaardigheden van de Spaanse minister-president..
Die uitdrukking van 'daar is geen woord Spaans bij' past beter bij Sanchez dan bij welke Nederlandse politicus ook:
"The Spanish government will not applaud those who set the world on fire just because they show up with a bucket."
#geopolitics
https://files.mastodon.green/media_attachments/files/116/368/010/586/642/811/original/7dc4e66bce2959af.jpg

2025-07-05 06:42:40 UTC

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seems like the Trump regime is trying to take Putin away from China and into their own pockets. This will fail badly but the Trump regime is stupid enough to believe that they can pull off a fairytale like this.

2025-06-24 13:37:15 UTC

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I share your surprise; another thought: could it be that he is so committed to the long term plans and schedules his ruling party developed that he sticks to them? Would that mean 2027 is the year we have to watch out for?

2025-06-24 13:15:03 UTC

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glad to see tough how the support for and cooperation with Ukraine is at the heart of the NATO-summit so far!

2025-03-28 06:39:34 UTC

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he is giving Trump a masterclass "how to retain your maximalist objectives in negotiations with a desperate other".
One of the main things he does is bringing additional demands to the table every single time, while he cuddles the others ego by giving him paintings and sweet-talk about friendly prayers.

2025-03-07 12:02:35 UTC

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eens, alleen maar op zoek naar verdere gelegenheden om zijn ego op te pompen (het gaat hem om zijn Nobelprijs, niet om de duurzaamheid of rechtvaardigheid van vrede)

2025-03-07 11:55:27 UTC

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agreed! In the podcast betrouwbare bronnen the hosts discuss the possibility that Trump wants a deal with Poetin and Xi (to have press conferences presenting him as the great deal-maker), and that in order to do that he needs Poetin to come out of the Ukraine conflict as a 'winner'. Thereby what Trump wants for himself is the opposite of the interests of Europe, Ukraine, NATO and even the future of the USA.
https://art19.com/shows/betrouwbare-bronnen/episodes/1470ab7b-7d1b-4138-be83-0d4bdd6f37aa/

2025-02-28 09:51:50 UTC

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very interesting overview of ideas and developments in the rest is Politics today: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4hl89zE5emTgWlJmWAw5wh?si=-2JVJh-WSEC5dYUSCV5CcA

2025-02-27 20:16:48 UTC

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as a Dutchman sadly I have to agree about our weak government and the corrosion caused by allowing the PVV to be part of the coalition.
Poland is on a way better track at the moment!

2025-02-22 08:19:28 UTC

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Now that he is floating stupid ideas about deals (Gaza - resorts, Ukraine - rare earth minerals, etc) we should try to expose him for the amazing clown and show-maker AND the terrible deal-maker that he is.

2025-02-22 08:18:00 UTC

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the reputation of the self-declared 'best deal-maker in het history of mankind' should have been torn apart (by the media) after his so-called deal with North-Korea years ago. A press-conference for the sake of attention, a surreal movie about real-estate developments and building beautiful resorts.
Did we ever hear anything about this deal in the last years? Did it make any real difference for the USA or the people in North-Korea?
The answer is no, it was just a show.

2025-02-16 11:45:31 UTC

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glad you can enjoy it, that says the frustration is my own ;)
I do get frustrated often about Dutch politicians cowardly performing this bullshit for internal use - as they are so afraid to tell society that sometimes steps that we do not initially like.or want, are necessary for the common good in our European future.
Thanks for helping me laugh about it also and see it for the BS theatre it is ;)

2025-02-16 11:11:53 UTC

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I get your frustration about this.
From a Dutch perspective, even the political party of this minister of defence (VVD, Dutch liberals who are famous for their frugal perspective on EU finances) is admitting behind the scenes that they probably can not prevent shared loans/funding. That gives me some hope that they will (finally) come around now the urgency climbs so high so clearly.

2025-02-16 11:06:15 UTC

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Vance showed us this will not be over anytime soon, not even when Trump would die. He is trying to put loyalists (and potential successors) in place already.
European leadership has to acknowledge this now, in that way the events on the security conference in München may have been a blessing in disguise. This is not a deranged one man show, it is a dangerous ideology that has taken the (Republican) USA by storm.

2025-02-15 19:06:54 UTC

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hopefully Weimar+ is talking about just this tonight, tomorrow and Monday. We need to be quick in our response now.

2025-02-15 13:46:39 UTC

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Former NATO secretary-general Jaap de Hoop Scheffer seems to agree with your point about not waiting for treaty change. He says we need to move forward with 'coalitions of the willing and able', both on industry policies (see Draghi report) as on creating a European defense collective.
Source (podcast in Dutch): https://www.bnr.nl/podcast/boekestijn-en-de-wijk/10567279/dealen-met-trump

2025-02-15 11:42:29 UTC

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I understand your point of view. I have no clue however if we are ready and able to make do without intelligence sharing right now.. we have so much work to do and little time to do it..

2025-02-15 10:37:17 UTC

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now we need swift reforms in how we make decisions in the European Council. In these times we cannot allow ourselves to be taken back by veto's (treats or actions) from Kremlin/Trump-minded regimes like Orban and Fico. Decision by qualified majority will be a necessity I think.

2025-02-12 21:30:09 UTC

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so painful to watch this country tear apart both itself and the rules-based international order..

2024-10-18 06:28:38 UTC

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ik moest gniffelen bij het lezen van de zin 'Maar binnen de coalitie valt te horen dat de situatie met de PVV langzaam onwerkbaar begint te worden.'
Alle begrip dat de toekomst voorspellen in het algemeen onmogelijk is, maar dat samenwerken met de PVV totaal onwerkbaar is had iedereen al jaren kunnen weten. Hier past 'bezint voor u begint'. Dat hebben VVD en NSC nagelaten en is verwijtbaar.

2024-10-09 06:13:34 UTC

Eng hoe dit in een paar jaar kan gaan als radicaal rechts/conservatief ruimte krijgt..
https://eenvandaag.avrotros.nl/item/hoe-extreemrechtse-trump-aanhangers-de-macht-grepen-in-dit-gebied-in-californie-ik-ga-je-neerknallen/

2024-09-29 20:14:25 UTC

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klinkt alsof Wilders alvast voor aan het sorteren is op zijn nederlaag wat betreft noodwet. Kan hij straks zeggen dat de PVV kiezers nou eenmaal nog geen absolute meerderheid hebben en dat dit volgens hem moet veranderen bij volgende verkiezingen.
(Ik vermoed dit omdat zijn tekst bij voorsorteren op winnen waarschijnlijk zou zijn 'het volk / heel Nederland wil dit'; expliciet noemen dat alleen de PVV-kiezer is die dit wil biedt ruimte voor 'toegeven' verderop in het proces)