The complexity of the US "Fiscal Cliff"
TV screen shot: Last night the Belgian program "Ter Zake" tackled the difficult subject of the US "Fiscal Cliff".
Or was it the "Ficscal Cliff"? Read the full post...
Showing posts with label Belgium. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Belgium. Show all posts
TV screen shot: Last night the Belgian program "Ter Zake" tackled the difficult subject of the US "Fiscal Cliff".
Or was it the "Ficscal Cliff"? Read the full post...
Khadaffi's daughter launches law suit against NATO
Aisha Khadaffi, "the man's daughter", filed a law suit against NATO. Legal papers were submitted to the prosecutor's office in Brussels her French lawyer.
Ms Khadaffi's four-month daughter, Mastoura, was one of Khadaffi's four grandchildren killed during a NATO bombing raid. (Even though Berlusconi - for one credible news source- alleges this to be propaganda)
The lawsuit is quoted saying "The target was a civil building inhabited by civilians and was neither a command post nor a military control [centre] of the Libyan regime" (Source)
It will be interesting to see how the Belgian court system will react, knowing how fast they backed out of the lawsuit against Bush, Powell, Cheney et al, during the Iraq war. It only took Bush to hint at moving NATO out of Brussels, for Belgium to change the law on war crime law suits.
At least Khadaffi's lawsuit might shed a juridical light on whether NATO steps out of its legal boundaries by providing a tad more than a mere air blockade and safeguarding of humanitarian corridors. Which it grossly does, according to me.
And mean while, we stand by and watch worse happening in Syria and Bahrain.
Picture courtesy Mohamed Messara/EPA
Wanted: a government for Belgium...
Today, we broke a new world record. Belgium now beats Iraq's record as the country without a new government for the longest period of time since a general election: 249 days. (Source)
Seems the international community cares more than the Belgians themselves. Voices from abroad say we might need an international mediator like ex-Finnish president Ahtisaari to help us out of the impasse... Guess that puts Belgium on the same level as Kosovo...
Cartoon courtesy Toonpool Read the full post...
A distracted mind
Two similar boxes, right? A green and a blue one. For two winters, I have been driving around with the blue box in my trunk, thinking it contained snow chains.
Until today, I found the green box on the shelf in my garage.
So apparently, for two winters, I have been driving around with a "jeu de boules" in the back of my car.
Oh well... Read the full post...
Snapped: Winter landscape in Belgium
It has been snowing for a couple of days in Belgium. Apart from -what is said to be a record- 511 km of traffic jams on Friday, it gives nice photo opportunities.
The Snapped Series: mobile phone shots from the hip. Read the full post...
Security... Much blabla, little boumboum.
Case #1:
Yesterday, Italian prime minister Berlusconi was hit by a guy hurling a statuette at him. He was taken away with blood all over his face. The hospital later confirmed he broke his nose and two teeth.
Berlusconi was amidst a crowd handing out autographs. Only last weekend tens of thousands marched in Rome to demand Berlusconi's resignation, accusing him of conflicts of interest and of tailoring laws to protect him from prosecution in cases involving his media, real estate and sports empire, and links to the mafia.
Case #2:
"EU leaders must show leadership!" shouted one while two others waved yellow flags reading "EU Save Copenhagen" and another started reading out a statement on the red carpet meant for the EU top officials: A bus load of Greenpeace activists stunned security officials at last Thursday's EU-summit in Brussels.
Eleven people dressed in suits, driving hired limousines, displaying look-alike security badges - displaying the Greenpeace logo and their real name -, were waved through at both a police and a private security firm's roadblock, before arriving at the red carpet amidst top politicians.
The reaction from the Belgian officials flabbergasted me: "If we would have thought anyone would be stupid enough to do this kind of dangerous stuff, then probably this would not have happened", said Christian De Coninck, the Brussels police spokesperson. "If people use heavy material like faked police cars, and ditto badges, than of course anyone can get in". He stressed the police had not made a single mistake and "there are no holes in the security system at the EU summit."
Securitas, the private security firm which staffed the last road block before entering the red carpet zone, stated: "It is our duty to check all delegate cars. For security reasons, none of these cars should stand still, so we can only do a superficial check." According to Paul Schoolmeesters, spokesman from Securitas, "we only did what the client asked of us".
My case:
Having worked for years in security constrained humanitarian operations, the comments in the last case have me rolling over in (cynical) laughter.
Both cases prove three things:
- If anyone wants to 'hit' anything or anyone, they can do so. Easily. It only takes some guts, creativity and very few means.
- Any security system has flows, flows which we don't see because we don't want to see them.
- Any security system is only as strong as the weakest link. The weakest links are often the people who implement the security checks.
No matter how good we think our security system are, there are always flaws. For as far as I know, no humanitarian organisation employs a "dirty Bob": a person with the sole task to try and break existing security systems, exposing their weaknesses. The results would be astonishing.
Pictures courtesy BBC and De Redactie Read the full post...
The concept of "service" these days
Belgian economy minister Van Quickenborne wants to counter the flood of complaints about the country's telecom operators. He proposes a new law setting "two and a half minutes" as the maximum time before you get a "human person" on the hotlines. If the operators would be too busy, the customer can hang up, and should be called back within 24 hours.
Government owned Belgacom, the largest Belgian telecom operator, called this proposal totally unrealistic. There are already 1,400 people working at the Belgacom's call centre.
Maybe it's the Belgian way to reduce the unemployment rate without efforts to improve the core service: just put more people in the complaints department. ;-)
This morning, I spent 18 minutes on hold, when I wanted to verify why €300 of service cheques we ordered three weeks ago, had not arrived. On December 3rd, we got an email confirmation the cheques would arrive within 3 working days. But until today, nothing. No response on Email neither.
Eighteen minutes of hold time later, I was informed that "We are very sorry, but there is a general delay in the delivery of service cheques. Everybody has the same problem. You will have to wait. Probably you will get the cheques this week." Punto.
So what right of appeal does one have? Nothing. This service has no competition. All I can do, is whine about it on my blog. :-))
The nuissances of a comfortable life. I wonder how Mats is doing in Bor, South Sudan. And Jalal in Islamabad. I hope they are safe.
Picture courtesy The Tribune News Read the full post...
Snapped: Sunset at the Belgian coast
I was born and raised here: Oostende on the Belgian coast.
Have you read my shortstory about Le Plat Pays? It's an ode to my roots.
The Snapped Series: mobile phone shots from the hip.
PS: Doesn't my iPhone make smashing pictures? Read the full post...
My angels
I was home, in Belgium, for the weekend. It is at those moments I realize how deep a father's love runs. Lana and Hannah are 15 and 12 now.
Weekend in The Ardennes
This weekend, I flew back home to celebrate my parents' 50th anniversary. We all spent a weekend in the Ardennes, right on the border between Luxembourg, Belgium and France.
The walks reconfirmed every country has gorgeous sights. Every trip reveals some great sights, where you can just sit and enjoy the beauty.
This trip was no different. Some snapshots:
We ended up in a small French town, Williers, just on the border between France and Belgium. Total population: 44. 
44 people and one huge walnut tree...
44 people and one hotel/restaurant, called 'Chez Odette', after the previous owner. Odette's cafe once was famous for its swallows nesting inside the cafe every year, flying in and out through the door and windows.
And of course, a walk in the Ardennes *has* to be concluded with a beer from one of the monasteries. 
Walking by the Scheldt
The Scheldt (or "de Schelde" in Dutch), is the main river in our part of the country. It makes Antwerp a key sea port before spreading wide into a huge estuary. The southern part of this estuary runs close to the Belgian-Dutch border, and features rich nature reserves and astonishing sceneries.
Seeing the ocean vessels pass by, almost in a hand's reach reminds me of the Suez canal.
The strong tides and labyrinth of sand banks not only makes it treacherous to navigate, but offers beautiful landscape.
It was the last walk with the girls and "Mr.H", our pup, before I fly back to Rome this afternoon.
Behind the dikes, the vegetation is green lush, and stretches as far as the eye can reach.
Now, all that is left is to pack my bags, and get on a plane. The two weeks of holidays are over. The horizon is calling again....
Spring in Belgium
As we were driving through Belgium, Luxemburg and Germany, we were saying to eachother how it looked like spring was pushing to break through.
A week later, when we came back, we found everything in bloom. Spring has arrived.
A view from our home in Belgium:
Wild flowers in our garden:
World Water Day: Record for longest toilet queue
I hope not many people really "had to go urgently", but on the occasion of World Water Day, UNICEF, the UN's Child's Fund, got 756 people lined up to a latrine in central Brussels to raise awareness for the need for clean water on World Water Day. (Full)
The 2009, the theme for World Water Day is "Shared Water - Shared Opportunities", with a focus on transboundary waters.
Many claim the global water crisis is one of the causes of the global food crisis. And soon will become the scarcest natural resource. (Full)
Interested? Here is some background reading on the importance of water hygiene, sanitation and the right to access to clean water. (Thanks Simon!)
More on The Road about water
Picture courtesy Belga
Why do things always break when I am at home?
In case you have not realized this yet: Tine and the girls live in Belgium and I live.. eh.. in other places. Currently I am based in Rome, Italy.
The agreement is that when I am home, Tine can give me a stack of things to do. Things she had no time for while running a family with two teenagers and a dog, a house and garden, and a full-time job (still a mystery to me how she does it).
The funny thing we have noticed is that things typically "wait to break", until I am home. The moment I step through that door, lights stop working, doors don't open anymore and locks break.
Last year, on Christmas Eve (!) coming home at midnight, Lana noticed a problem with the power lines along the street, leading to our house.
She said "Dad, funny, these wires are really dragging... Something seems wrong." As usual, dad ignored the remark, but once in the house, we found we had no power.
Earlier that night, a lorry caught one of the electricity wires further down the street, and with a domino effect, all the poles started to bend over.
Guess who was at the end of the line? Right, our house. So our connection got partially ripped off. Black marks on the wall showed where the sparks had been flying.. ;-)
No power on Xmas eve, at 1 AM... ! No electricity means no heating neither. No warm water. To my surprise, the power company came to repair it at 2:30 AM. By 3:30 AM we were in business again.
To keep up with this Murphy tradition this year, the fresh water pipe broke and flooded the lawn.
Oh and the dishwasher also gave up. And the toilet downstairs stopped working. And for some strange reason all doors started to squeak. Oh and the grill melted one of its iron supports. Oh, and also...
Today, the last bit is repaired. I am ready to fly back to Rome. I just hope nothing else is breaking before I leave. Everyone has strict orders not to touch anything anymore until I left. :-) Read the full post...
Home, the Flemish coast.
Remember the short story Home - Le Plat Pays in which I raved about my roots, the place I was born, the Flemish coast?
Today, in a ice cold biting wind, we made a wonderful walk through the dunes. A day out of a thousand. Some shots:
Watch the hires pictures in a Flickr slideshow:
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Peter. Flemish, European, aid worker, expeditioner, sailor, traveller, husband, father, friend, nutcase. Not necessarily in that order.
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