Stronger than fear

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Stronger than fear

By Phd. Dorian Vlădeanu.

How much is too much?

Can one write anything new about manipulation and fake-news? Maybe or maybe not but certainly the attention, the concern and especially the counter-action must enter into the daily survival procedures of any of us, far from excesses and paranoia, in which case we would not have solutions anymore, we would have nothing more to do. Neither for us, nor for our children or for tomorrow’s generations (if we are interested in that anymore).

Who knows what public opinion is anymore (having an opinion on public opinion does not mean knowing what this complex concept with many false meanings represents)? We recall some of the defining elements of this theoretical elaboration which is far from being of a great and inaccessible complexity, incomprehensible to the great majority of … the public opinion!

The opinion comes from the Latin “opinio” (derived from “opinari”) – to express an opinion (equivalent to the Greek “doxa”). And publicus comes also from Latin – from the oldest “populus”: people. Therefore, the public opinion is equivalent to the opinion of the people.

Therefore it is inadequate (not to express ourselves more severely) to say, what one has been hearing from morning until next morning, for decades in a row, on all meridians, that “the public opinion demands”, “the public opinion wants”, and so on. No, the opinion does not ask!

The accepted general idea (totally, partially or totally rejected) of a state of affairs can be considered to be a “public opinion” but its personalization and its transformation from effect to cause (its own cause) is already the first manipulative step in the vast arsenal of these actions’ specific techniques.

Raising the public opinion as an absolute judge represents a risk about which, eight decades ago, Jean Stoetzel (1943) spoke, warning the world about the danger of deifying the public opinion.

The public opinion cannot be confused with a sum of individual opinions, although it exists only in relation to persons, individuals and not independently of them. The public opinion could be considered a kind of people’s conscience, an informational matrix that generates mass behavioral attitudes, impulses and experiences that can easily degenerate into so-called revolutions that, not once, have actually proved to be insurrection arrangements.

The public opinion, alongside culture, education, traditions and beliefs, is an important and perhaps the most dynamic component of the social cognition.

The political power has always known how to “play” with the public opinion, with the feelings and emotions of a gregarious being such as the human being. The modern manipulation techniques are based upon S. Freud‘s methods supported by the hypothesis that unconscious psychic processes play a major role in creating subtle ways of manipulating masses in contemporary societies, whether they are democratic or not.

More than a century before (18th century), Immanuel Kant urged the population, saying: “Have the courage to use your own sense of reason” … – where to originate the courage?

Gustave le Bon (in The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind – 1895), the parent of the first treatise on manipulation techniques, wrote: “The unconscious action of crowds substituted for the conscious action of individuals is one of the distinguishing features of the present era.”

The American Revolution, the French Revolution, the Russian Revolution and the revolutions of the ’90s were also based upon this “distinctive feature” … Was there or was there not too much manipulation? Was there or was there not too much “public opinion”? Was the collective unconsciousness  too much stimulated or not enough? Was it too much or not enough? …

It was and it surely will be! …

  •  The masters of manipulation

Sun Tzu had neither the concept of manipulation nor any treatise on this subject, but his teachings were the basis of all the manipulation and propaganda techniques theorized and applied (or vice versa), many centuries later.

According to British historian Philip Taylor, one of the earliest and most representative propagandists in Europe was Henry VIII, a controversial historical figure who planned in detail the coordinates of a fierce state-funded campaign against Rome, the papacy and Catholicism (a campaign ended with the definitive exit of England from the papal guardianship).

A few decades later (1622), Pope Gregory XV founded the Congregatio de Propaganda Fide (Congregation for the Propaganda of Faith), an institution that aimed to support the spread of Catholicism in non-Catholic territories around the world and especially in the colonies (it seems that it is also the first institution in modern history to explicitly use the term “propaganda”). It should be noted that the activity of the congregation continues even today…

In the context of the French Revolution, an association was established in Alsace, simply called Propaganda, whose purpose was to spread and “cultivate” revolutionary ideas.

A promoter of the freedom and ideas of the Revolution, Napoleon, as soon as he became first consul, introduced censorship and banned, in just one year, (1800-1801), 64 of the 73 publications that were printed in France at that time. “Three hostile newspapers are more to be feared than 1000 bayonets … If free press continued to exist, I would not have been in power for more than three months,” wrote the emperor in his memoirs, as a legacy for the centuries to come.

In fact, Napoleon created the first state based upon official propaganda (even if, under his reign, there was no specialized institution in this regard – that institution was Napoleon himself!).

The American Revolution also involved the use of an entire arsenal of “communication techniques” accompanied or preceded by a rich suite of subversive actions (such as the Boston Harbor tea business), the rapid propagation of their versions of events, the “bombardment” and the saturation of the public with messages (with varying degrees of truth), on as many communication channels specific to the end of the 18th century.

In April 1914, a series of violent riots broke out at the mines of billionaire Rockefeller (the owner of Standard Oil corporation). These riots were bloodily put down by the National Guard (dozens dead and wounded). With a collapsed image and severely repudiated by the “public opinion”, J.D. Rockefeller hires an intelligent journalist, named Ivy Lee Feller, to design, organize and run a press company to bring him back to the “graces” of the public opinion. Then Feller launches the famous words: “Tell the truth, because sooner or later the public will find out anyway.”

In the world of the press, there is a strong unanimity in considering Ivy Lee as a precursor to the field of public relations, with many considering him the very founder (Lee has used this concept – public relations – since 1905).

But Edward Barnays (Sigmund Freud‘s nephew) had a major role in the development of propaganda and manipulation techniques, a man  who “mixed” the ideas of Gustave le Bon and his famous uncle so that the result was to “preserve the appearance of a democratic society in which people thought they were in control”. And they still believe it…

Freud’s fundamental idea “creatively” applied  by Barnays, was that neither individuals nor, at least, masses can be driven by rational thoughts but only by primitive and unconscious desires and impulses.

Edward Barnays goes “further” (he was called “the new Machiavelli” for a good reason) and argues with “scientific” arguments that, in his opinion, propaganda is a necessary procedure of “enlightenment of the masses” because it channels the energy and desires of the masses and it is a compulsory component of democratic societies, a guarantee of their stability.

Edward Barnays was born in Vienna (1891). He studied and lived in the US and did not have a higher education in the field he later became a “great master” thereof (he was an agronomist engineer, just like another “great master”, Heydrich Himmler, who was a zootechnical engineer, who later turned from an animal butcher into a butcher of people).

He completed his “internship” by promoting popularization campaigns for a number of artists of the time and then co-opted into a government working group whose main purpose was to gain popular support for the entry of the United States into World War I (the group was led by George Creel).

The Public Information Committee (the official name of the group) has masterfully fulfilled its role so that E. Barnays was rewarded with the honor of being among the participants in the Paris Peace Conference (1919). One should bear in mind that, also, due to his well-articulated propaganda campaign, Woodrow Wilson, the president of the United States, was already assimilated into the public consciousness as a “liberator of peoples” (not long after, history has met this name but that time it was attributed to I.V. Stalin – how bitter are the lessons not learned from history!).

Barnays, however, did not like the term “propaganda” because it already had negative connotations through its use by his German “colleagues” so that the phrase “public relations” was being used; it was a phrase that emerged with the assertion of the nation-state …

Gradually and also benefiting from the immense advantage of being S. Freud’s nephew, Barnays succeeded in shadowing Ivy Lee (Rockefeller’s “benefactor” in harmonizing the billionaire’s image with the rest of the world), guiding the public relations issues from the simple information to the structural understanding of the public.

Meanwhile, Walter Lippmann made his presence felt in the public space and with his essay, Public Opinion, in which he asserts his desire to be not only an analyst (like Barnays) but also an invisible influence factor, a director of a great mystery for public opinion … In 1925, W. Lippmann in The Phantom Public wrote very explicitly and convincingly: “The ordinary citizen has come to feel like a deaf spectator, in the back row, who has to look at a mysterious spectacle, barely refraining from sleeping.”

Particularly prolific, in 1928, Lippmann published his famous book called Propaganda, which explicitly and without doubt presented the manipulation made by a small group of people – an invisible government – that shaped minds, formed opinions and guided the tastes of citizens (it was one from the first and most explicit acknowledgments of the existence of a shadow government – or parallel state, as it is called today).

With Lippmann, a new term appeared on the propaganda scene – the consumerism, which is the main way in which people are given the illusion that they are in control; in fact it is about transforming them from active citizens into passive consumers (in other words, consumerism has transformed citizens from free and healthy people into a kind of “happy” and sick slaves).

E. Barnays also contributed to the development of the “culture” of consumerism, in which: “people buy what they do not want and satisfy needs they do not have“. Thus, he successfully initiated and completed a lot of “consumerist emancipation” actions such as the popularization of smoking amongst women (cigarettes and smoking being presented as essential symbols of women’s independence), promoting car brands by inserting sexual symbols in advertisements, and many other such examples of … emancipation!

Starting from Gustave le Bon’s ideas set forth in the work Psychology of the Crowds, regarding the “law of the mental unity of the masses” but also from Kunczik‘s ideas, according to which “intelligent individuals maintain the stability of society and prevent chaos, to the benefit of all”, Barnays built the theory and working methodologies with three principles in his thesis:

  • atheism;
  • Freudianis (as a grandson of S. Freud);
  • the concealment of manipulators of public opinion (hidden action of manipulators of public opinion, through which the “human herds in the right stables” had to be handled).

Within the Institute of Propaganda Analysis, established in Chicago in 1927, propaganda was defined as “the collective attitude management obtained by manipulating significant symbols in the public consciousness.”

If we were to propose a definition of propaganda then it would have a much more up-to-date statement, as it is in fact the sum of the techniques applied to manipulate the irrational beliefs and behaviors of the population or of some important segments of it by using symbols and speeches by the interested power centers.

Harold Lasswell, a political scientist and communications theorist, specialized in propaganda analysis, professor at the aforementioned institute of propaganda in Chicago, in his work The Encyclopedia of Social Sciences explained a number of essential theoretical aspects and elements:

  • social managers must focus on “a completely new control technique, mainly through propaganda”;
  • one should admit “the ignorance and the stupidity of the masses and we must not give in to the democratic dogmatism in which the people, the public are the best judges of their own interest”.

The democratic dogmatism – a label that not even the greatest communist opponents used …

Theodor Adorno (German philosopher, psychologist and sociologist of the last century but whose theories are still applied today) and Herbert Marcuse identified three problems, three “potentialities” of the cultural industry:

  • reducing human beings to the state of mass with controllable plasticity by blocking, preventing the emergence and development of emancipated individuals, who are capable of making rational and altruistic decisions;
  • the replacement of the legitimate desire for autonomy and self-awareness through the security of conformism, mimicry and passivity;
  • the permanent support and validation of the idea that people are trying to flee, to escape the absurd, painful, unfair and cruel world in which they live by transferring to an unreal, hypnotic, illusory world of self-satisfaction and material satisfaction.

Aldous Huxley wrote conclusively and cynically in his book, Brave New World: “In one word, the early advocates of universal literacy and the free press did not consider the almost endless appetite of man to be distracted.” And he continues with an unequivocal warning: “The impersonal forces over which we have almost no control seem to push us all in the direction of the wonderful Brave New World nightmare; and this impersonal thrust is consciously accelerated by the commercial and political organizations that have developed a series of new techniques for manipulating the thoughts and feelings of the masses in the interest of minorities”.

The democratic propaganda was not built upon the basis of class struggle, racial and / or religious, cultural, antagonisms, but upon interests.

The totalitarian propaganda had (and still has) as ideological axis either the class struggle, or the differences of race, religion, or some of all these differences.

The totalitarian propaganda also has a number of characteristics common to any form of dictatorship:

  • a unique control center;
  • it is absolute, in the sense that it covers all social segments and the whole spectrum of activities;
  • it is centered upon the cult of personality;
  • it is the carrier of the most severe means of censorship;
  • it rarely has effects beyond the borders of one particular country.

Which of the two types of propaganda have a better “opinion” about the public opinion?

As already shown in these few lines, democratic or not the propaganda considers the masses, the public opinion, the citizens a kind of more or less speaking and rarely thinking flock.

Democracy means neither greater respect (respect, no fear) for the public opinion nor the lack of censorship, but only masking it in forms that are much harder to detect (and thus more effective).

The model of corporate propaganda was founded and theorized by Noam Chomsky and Herman Edwardswho showed that due to the organization of media institutions in corporations, here also, as in other economic sectors, to pivot the entire activity and all the dear values of the press (independence, truth, objectivity, deontology, etc.) appeared around the supreme criterion of economic efficiency: the profit. The “natural” follow-up appeared immediately: the entire media was infested with fake stars, fake news, the thrill-seeking, many words and little information.

This is why the media was associated with propaganda, the fake news, the mediocrity, the post-industrial “modernism”, the biased “truth”, and so on.

The fact that the propaganda became white, black or gray was only natural in the context in which in the press, as in other areas, the fighters for truth and independence are on the verge of extinction but are stubborn enough to go on.

We conclude this paragraph with a quote from the wisdom of Walter Lippmann: “It is no longer possible to believe in the original dogma of democracy” (from his book, Public Opinion) – and this was written immediately after the end of the First World War even by one of the founders of CFR (Council for Foreign Relations) – the shadow government of the United States of America.

  • Manipulation and fake-news

It is difficult to assess whether the joy triggered by the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the socialist states is still preserved today, but according to the opinion of General (put in reserve) Mihai Mărgărit (former head of the Army Intelligence Directorate), the manipulation of public opinion continued even after the 1990s, using other terms, for other purposes, with a different intensity, and with a vastly superior arsenal of means.

Three decades after Milton Friedman’s global victory of capitalism, Wolfgang Streeck published a book called Buying Time: The Delayed Crisis of Democratic Capitalism.

We have written on numerous occasions that, in our opinion, the political movements of “ideological liberation” which started between 1987-1989, had as a deep motivation the salvation and prolongation of the life of democratic capitalism but, at a certain moment in life one could notice on all levels of social, economic and political life, that democracy is seriously entangling vectors of power, and the manipulation of the media, the control of the media and the fake-news are sound arguments in support of this hypothesis.

The double standards, the multi-speed integration, the justice games in the “cleansing” of the market and the  political world of the “undesirable” people, the media offensive against the state, its institutions and the regulatory processes are all forms by which democracy will be the next victim of the market, the new ideological-religious construction in front of which all the humans must prostrate in an absolute  and endless admiration…

A new (though old) activity has appeared, developed and permeated in each person’s life, day and night, characterized by a general and total comprehension, with little possibilities for circumvention: the surveillance, without many of us knowing that this rarely means more safety but it always means more control.

The censorship (the most well-known form of media surveillance) does not mean, first of all, blocking the information considered uncomfortable or too “elevated” for the ordinary citizen’s mind, but infesting the public consciousness with misinformation, and actions that distract from the truly significant and important events.

On the one hand, the epidemic of fake news is one of the most terrible diseases of democracy, against which there is still no vaccine and which represents nothing but a permanent state of freedom induced coma. The big problem with fake news is that, like any expression of evil, it is infinitely easier to inoculate, to cultivate, to develop than to combat it.

On the other side, the truth is infinitely more difficult to propagate, to assimilate, to tolerate, to seek, to present (it does not produce raiting! …) and it is infinitely easier to cast ridicule on it, to ignore it, to label it as fake!

This is how fake news becomes the absolute winner in any commercial, political, ideological or military struggle. General (put in reserve) M. Mărgărit shows that “the problem of the existence and launch of fake news, as a social phenomenon, continues to be a major threat even during the post-Cold War period”.

We can safely say that fake news is media terrorism and it is indispensable for political regimes, from left to right, from dictatorships to democracies (or what’s left of them) and vice versa.

As a result, there is no independent media. Even if the media wanted to be independent, it could not be, for the simple reason that every news story goes through a “contaminated” environment, every news article comes from an interested (or “poisoned”) source, it has attached from the birth a fake-news appendix, precisely as a result of the widespread and general infestation of the “news” streams, simultaneously or gradually, by the most unfathomable institutions and centers of power, visible but especially invisible, well and carefully protected by the institutions of the “legitimate” power (justice, intelligence services, army, etc.).

Therefore, how can one define the fake news? Without claiming a universally valid definition, the fake-news is a set of specific media and communication procedures structured into actions and operations planned to co-opt, process, store, evaluate and provide partially or wholly false information, in relation to a predetermined program or strategy, for the purpose of interested manipulation of the public opinion and the competing power centers.

But let’s not confuse fake-news with propaganda and propaganda with manipulation (the first two make up the foundation of the third). In addition to these, subliminal publicity, the desensitization, the accelerated saturation of public consciousness must be mentioned.

For example, the issues that required desensitization techniques (or predictive psychic programming) were among the most complex: from accepting military interventions in Iraq (on chemical weapons grounds and supporting terrorism – both accusations later proven to be false), to the opposition against the dictatorship (Sadam Hussein, portrayed as a satrap) until the tacit acceptance of human cloning, transhumanism and other experiments, more or less recognized, on human subjects (including the “market” of human organs).

The occult symbolism is not a novelty in terms of manipulating public opinion (except in the light of the fact that it is increasingly difficult to remain hidden and occult).

The occult knowledge is considered to be sacred, timeless and impossible to access by the irrational plebeians, dominated by quantity and by the instinct of self-preservation of the species and property, by the anonymous voters (even though its initial basis and foundations are long lost, even for those more initiated or truly initiated).

Manly P. Hall wonders, in the work Secret Teaching of All Ages, whether: “The arts and sciences that the human race has inherited from the nations and civilizations of the older world are hiding under a fair exterior a mystery so great that only the most enlightened intelligence can understand its importance and subtleties? ”

The symbolic “code” the most accessible to the masses but also the most encrypted was and is the religion supported by a suite of traditions from time immemorial, a religion which has been practiced in an organized, institutional way for centuries and millennia.

But now, through the new “temple” briefly called Mass-Media, with the new god, the money, with the new religion, the market economy is the systematical and insistent demolishing of traditional values, be they moral, religious or political is being preached, but also by the extreme materialism, the primitive selfishness,  the spiritual void, the strictly individualistic, reductionist and reduced existence of consumer goods, without too much education and with a minimal culture, that is exactly what it takes to be as democratic as possible (but also less free).

For who is still free when he or she is “bound” by so many expressions of a materialism for which the term itself has become insufficient and gentle in defining and characterizing the present and the agglutination, the absolute osmosis between man and matter?

Michael A. Hoffman, in his book, Secret Societes and Psychological Warfare, emphasized the following: “These blind people are told they are free” and that they are “highly-educated” even as they walk behind the signs that it would make any medieval peasant run away from them with horror and panic.”

In order to paraphrase these words and to adapt them a little to our specifics, we must say that one ought not, however, to wage endless and raging campaigns against little old women who kiss with veneration the icons or relics of a saint.

However, whoever believes that these women are more ignorant than a flock of young people crossing the street with their headphones in their ears and their eyes on their smartphones under the assault of hundreds of “blessings” shouted with 100 dB by car drivers, is bitterly misleading.

And we can also remember the words of the great man, Petre Ţuţea, according to which: “An old woman who prays to God on her knees is worth a thousand philosophers who think on their tips.”

  • Conclusions

We have never been able to find an explanation for how it was possible for millions of people who have never seen each other, who had nothing to share with one another, to kill each other with such cruelty, for years in a row, during the First World War.

And again, we have never been able to find an explanation, which might have any trace of reason, about how it was possible for tens of millions of people who have never seen each other, who have never spoken to each other, who had nothing to share with each other, to kill each other so massively , with such cruelty, during the World War II.

If propaganda and mass manipulation were the tools that triggered and carried out crimes of such magnitude, it means that there is no other way than to urgently reconsider our position of higher beings, of civilized beings without which the planet would die, which are illusions and names that are expected to lift the human being from his state of affairs, making him believe he is in a position where he has never been.

And if, after such cataclysms, if someone thinks that the human race has learned anything at all, they are wrong. Completely wrong! …

In 2014, the NATO strategists were completely taken by surprise by the appearance out of “nowhere” of tens of thousands of soldiers, without military insignia, armed to the teeth, who occupied Crimea in the most authentic type of blitz-krieg (in parallel The Kremlin blamed the fascist regime in Kiev, a regime that had just exiled Yanukovych to Moscow).

We do not mean to say that the wars in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, etc. Had transparent, purely altruistic, arguments for the eternal peace and good of humanity, but only to note the moment of the birth of a new type of war, a war in which propaganda and the manipulation had a role at least as important as the weapons themselves.

An intervention of the Russian military-political conglomerate, the hybrid (or non-linear) warfare is a type of post-modern war (as Professor Mark Galeotti of New-York University points out), a war that is ongoing but which is never always officially declared.

The means used include, besides the actual weapons (which are not the only stars of the war anyway) and the non-military means: massive lobbying operations, cyber attacks, propaganda, manipulation, public opinion poisoning, the “blinding” of the centers of competing power in terms of intelligence, the media and so on.

By summarizing the information, in a minimum of lines the main characteristics of this type of war can be presented as follows:

  1. The lack of official declarations of war (which gives the advantage of permanent and ample diplomatic and political maneuvers, of tacit agreements, and so forth).
  2. The international laws of the war are ignored (the deregulation so much requested by corporations in the financial-banking field thus acts in the sphere of military conflicts).
  3. The financial component (manifested through sanctions, embargoes, caused fluctuations in energy prices and strategic raw materials) has a major dimension.
  4. The propaganda that accompanies the hybrid war embraces all forms and covers all sensitive points (nationalist, religious, racist messages, etc.) but does not have a consecrated ideological landmark.

About the role of manipulation and fake news in the financial world and their impact upon the life of the entire planet, there is only one way to talk – nothing has been learned here either!

But let us not forget E. Barnays and especially what he said: “The conscious and intelligent manipulation of organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element of the democratic society. Those who manipulate the unseen mechanism of society represent the invisible government that is the real omnipotent and intangible power in our country (USA – author’s note). In many cases, our invisible governors do not know the identity of their colleagues from the inner cabinet ”.

And then who should the public believe anymore? The few commentators who are wandering on some TV screens who do their best to convince the viewers that there is no “parallel state” or one of the founders of the Council on Foreign Relations of the United States of America?

We end this brief material about manipulation, fake news and propaganda with two “warning” quotes:

  1. Walter Lippmann: It is no longer possible to believe in the original dogma of democracy.
  2. Thomas Jefferson: If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, it expects something that has never existed and will never exist.

We do not really feel like drawing the final conclusion but we have no choice: we entered the era when power is stronger than fear! The time of hope is past; “The good” does not win in the movies either! For the first time in our life we hope that we have been manipulated and that we are, in fact, completely wrong about everything we have already discussed above…

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Phd. Dorian Vlădeanu Ist degree senior researcher within the Romanian Academy. Associate university professor. Degree in economics and automation and computers, Doctor of Economics, author of over 100 works in macroeconomics. He developed the first strategy on public services at a national level. Author, co-author and coordinator of the first generation of legislation made by the Romanian Government for public services (2002-2004).

Alemania, la nítida

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Alemania, la nítida

Por S.E. Mr. Manuel Mejía Dalmau, Embajador del Ecuador en Alemania.

Sobrevolábamos la campiña alemana antes de aterrizar en Frankfurt  y mi compañero de asiento, viendo por la ventana uno de esos pueblitos que parecen de cuento, me preguntaba qué tal es Alemania, a lo que le contesté: si usted baja este rato a ese pueblito no encuentra un solo papel en el suelo, se lo apuesto.

No creo que fue muy generosa, y por lo tanto buena, mi explicación, pero no le mentí.

En Alemania, el orden es una forma de ser, la limpieza es parte de ese orden y todo ello termina siendo síntoma de respeto, de democracia, entre los germanos.

Hay algunos hábitos que todavía recuerdo de cuando joven vivía en Munich. Caminar a la izquierda de una persona más importante es uno de ellos. Presentar una persona de menor jerarquía a otra de mayor, es un  error. Pedir permiso antes de hablar es obligación de los niños y jóvenes frente a un grupo de personas mayores.

No decir “prost”, o sea brindar, antes de beber el primer sorbo de cerveza o vino, es de pésima educación; su falencia podría destrozar la tertulia que se estaba iniciando.

Decir que hace frío, o calor, es de mala educación. El interlocutor bien le podría contestar: “nosotros también sentimos la temperatura, no hace falta que nos la recuerde”. Y así.

Pero dentro de ese esquema, aparentemente sólo rígido, hay una montaña de sutilezas que sólo buscan hacer más grata la vida. Practicarlas se convierte en una necesidad.

Botar un papel al suelo es pues, una falta de respeto a los demás.

En Frankfurt llegamos a un hotelazo de esos que deben haber permanecido milagrosamente intactos después de la guerra, o fueron reconstruidos conservando sus detalles.  La ciudad, sede del primer parlamento alemán, es, como toda Alemania, nítida. Su catedral más bien simple, no así su ópera.

Goethe presente con la casa que guarda muchísimas de las vivencias de ese escritor que, gracias a un desamor, pudo ordenar sus obras, recluyéndose los últimos años de su existencia. Octogenario, Goethe había perdido la cabeza por una adolescente en Marienbad, sin que ella no le corresponda más allá de la admiración por el legendario hombre de letras.

Qué miedo enamorarse así de viejo …

En Frankfurt nos recibió el Cónsul Ad Honorem, un caballero alemán, acompañado de una estupenda y guapa española que luce ser la Gerente, Secretaria, Mariscal de Campo y Sargento del consulado.  Se llama Marina y es de esas personas que llegan enseguida, directa pero agradable, de esas latinas que contagian entusiasmo y tienen mucho que conversar.

Muy poco tiempo para disfrutar las exquisiteces de ese gran país.

Pakistanisation of Britain: Is Johnson the last UK Prime Minister?

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Pakistanisation of Britain: Is Johnson the last UK Prime Minister?

By Enes Güzel.

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson won a considerable victory in December’s U.K. general election after voters backed his pledge to “Get Brexit Done” and take Britain out of the European Union by the end of January. It was the biggest Conservative majority since Margaret Thatcher in 1987.

As this election was all about Brexit, one can say that with this election, the Brexit dilemma is finally over and long-awaited stability is on the horizon. For many years, Brexit has consumed too much time and energy in the U.K. and occupied much of the country’s political, social and economic life.

No Exit (Brexit as the Huis Clos)

Both Boris Johnson and his predecessor Theresa May lacked a parliamentary majority and had failed to obtain approval for withdrawal bills from Parliament. With this election, Johnson has now gained the parliamentary majority, which provides him with enough seats in Parliament to pass his Brexit deal with the European Union without negotiating with other parties. The victory gives him the full mandate to deliver Brexit. Once the U.K. Parliament has ratified the withdrawal agreement, the European Parliament will give its consent in January, before the U.K.’s departure on Jan. 31.

Well-informed Philip Stephens of the Financial Times laments: “Mr Johnson’s insistence on an end-2020 deadline for negotiations with Brussels means the best Britain will get from the EU is a bare bones deal covering trade in goods. The damage to the economy inflicted by Brexit will thus be at the pessimistic end of expectations. The facts of geopolitics are likewise unaltered”. This basically reinforces a diagnosis of prof. Anis H. Bajrektarevic about the ‘classical imperial self-entrapment’, when professor says that: “…it is how the capability of the Anglo-Americans to maintain its order started to erode faster than the capacity of its opponents to challenge it”. 

Stephens goes on lamenting: “…the Pax Americana is ending as power shifts to China and other rising states and the US grows ever more reluctant to assume global leadership. The rules-based international system is fragmenting. Coming decades will more closely resemble the great power competition of 19th-century Europe than the end-of-history liberal order many imagined would persist after the end of the cold war. These are all trends that will leave Britain — a middle-ranking nation with widely dispersed global economic and security interests — more vulnerable than most comparable democracies.

The last time the UK claimed a serious global role was during the 1960s when it operated a string of military bases across the Middle East and south-east Asia. After sterling’s devaluation in 1967, Harold Wilson’s government beat an enforced retreat from the last outposts of empire east of Suez. The withdrawal from Singapore and the Gulf marked Britain’s admission it was a European rather than a global power — a shift cemented by joining the European Community. Half a century later, Mr Johnson’s government proposes to turn things on their head. Britain, we are to suppose, is once again a global power… This charade will soon reach beyond absurdity.”

Scotland’s homeland call

Although the December election came as a relief for many people that uncertainty is now over and Britain can finally leave the European Union, the election has brought greater challenges even bigger than Brexit. Nationalist parties both in Scotland and Northern Ireland have also achieved victories. As these two countries voted remain in the 2016 Brexit Referendum, their respective nationalist parties have called for a break away from the U.K. to remain in the European Union. As a result, calls for independence have put the political and territorial integrity of the United Kingdom at stake.

In this election, Scotland voted overwhelmingly for the Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP). Tories lost almost all their seats in the country, as the SNP made a strong comeback under Nicola Sturgeon. The SNP captured 48 of Scotland’s 59 seats in Scotland, which immediately intensified the debate over independence. The result provides the party with a mandate to ask for a new Scottish independence referendum.

SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon after the election reiterated her argument in following the election results: “Boris Johnson has a mandate to take England out of the EU. He must accept I have a mandate to offer an alternative future for Scotland.” On the other hand, Johnson said he would refuse the referendum. Therefore, it will be interesting to see how he will resist the pressure from the SNP to call for another independence referendum in Scotland.

Northern Ireland – and the beat goes on

Equally significant is that the Tories’ former coalition partner, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), has lost its majority of seats in Parliament. Northern Ireland elected more Irish nationalists, who support unification with the Republic of Ireland, than pro-British unionists for the first time since 1921. As one of the crux questions regarding Brexit has centered around the position of Northern Ireland, the issue still remains unsolved.

Theresa May’s withdrawal agreement with the EU was rejected three times by the U.K. Parliament because of opposition to the Irish backstop by hard-Brexiters within the party. Subsequently, Johnson’s new deal, which removes the Irish backstop, was rejected by coalition partner DUP on the basis that the deal would create an economic border in the Irish Sea between Britain and Northern Ireland.

However, as the DUP’s influence on Brexit has now seeped away, the Tories’ large majority means that the government can now progress with Johnson’s initial deal that unionists argued would weaken Northern Ireland’s position in the U.K. This could eventually prompt calls for a border poll.

As a result, the question is what Brexit will mean for the relationship between Northern Ireland and the U.K. and whether or not Northern Ireland remains part of the U.K. or unifies with the Republic of Ireland.

This election clearly offered Johnson a political endorsement to pull the U.K. out of the EU and move onto negotiations about Britain’s future relationship with the bloc; however, the bigger challenges ahead for Johnson appear to be whether he will be able to keep the union intact and stop any secession from the kingdom. There is already a large amount of pressure from the SNP and Sinn Fein, which want to leave the U.K. and remain part of the EU. It will be interesting to see how Johnson will tackle that challenge and preserve the political and territorial integrity of the kingdom.

While many hailed the Tories’ victory in the election as the end of the Brexit saga, the latter seems to have a long life ahead. It is not only going to affect the U.K.’s relationship with the EU but may also represent the end of Britain’s territorial integrity.
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The author is Deputy researcher at TRT World Research Centre, PhD candidate majoring in political science and international relations.

Picture ENES GÜZEL / copyrights ENES GÜZEL

Understanding European Crisis

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Understanding European Crisis

Tiberio Graziani, Chairman, Vision & Global Trends – International Institute for Global Analyses, gives an interview to Diplomat Magazine. In this interview Graziani gives his views on relations between the EU and its members, and the European political-economic future.

 gives an interview to the editor-in-chief of the Soviet newspaper Izvestia. In this interview, the President gives his views on relations between the Soviet Union and the USA, and the crises of the Cold War.

Many people have been talking about the EU crisis for a long time. George Soros wrote an article “Europe, please wake up” at the beginning of this year. In this article, he predicts that the EU could collapse, as the USSR did. Can we really state that Europe is in crisis? What, or who, could split the European Union?

Europe is in full and deep crisis, this is undoubtedly. However, I do not agree with the analogy made by Mr. Soros. In particular, because the USSR, unlike the EU, was a cohesive geopolitical entity centred on Russia, which constituted its pivot. The USSR was, for the most part, the heir to the tsarist empire. The collapse of the USSR was the collapse of a cohesive, unitary system of political, economic, and military power.

The case of the European Union is completely different. To understand its current crisis and hypothesize its possible collapse, as well as to identify what or who could cause this, I think we need to remember what the European Union is. The EU is an international political organization of several independent States, based on a common market and that presents, in an ambiguous and contrasting way, for some functions and sectors, the characteristics of federations of states and confederations. It is therefore a very particular and fragile supranational political-economic organization; it is not a geopolitical entity, it does not have a common foreign policy, it does not have a common energy and industrial policy, and it does not have its own army.

Since it is embedded in the so-called Western system, these latter factors of weakness expose it to the American hegemonic strategies in the economic, monetary, political and military fields. The current crisis of the European Union is the intertwining of other crises: that of the distant 2007, the enduring contradictions between the national needs of the single states, the crisis of the bureaucratic structure. In the current historical phase, Europe, as it holds a single currency and a quality manufacturing system, disturbs the American economic and monetary policies. Therefore, it is probably in the interest of the USA to weaken or to split Europe.

– The European Union was originally created by six European countries to solve economic problems. The current version of the EU is a purely bureaucratic one. And there are many more member states now. Has there really been a union with the newly integrated countries? Or did Western Europe simply swallow up Eastern Europe, without letting it into its structure?

As far as the economic and financial sphere is concerned, the enlargement of the European Union to the East has been performed too fast. The EU structure has not been able to handle this enlargement, observable on the fact that Germany itself still encounters many difficulties in the integration process of the former DDR. Thus, many Eastern European nations refer more to Washington than to Brussels.

– How noticeable is the difference in approaches and decisions of the Old World, and the Eastern European countries?

The difference between the historical block of the EU and the countries of Eastern Europe is considerable. The newcomers demand an EU aid, while not taking into account the economic and commercial interests that France, Germany and Italy have towards Russia.

– EU is very diverse. It was a combination of two so different systems, inhabited by too different nations. Is the EU primarily a political association?

The European Union is essentially a supranational political-economic association without a precise geopolitical identity, with a very powerful and self-referential bureaucracy.

– Speaking of foreign policy differences, between which countries in the EU does the line of conflict cross? What line is this?

In the global context, all the countries of the European Union conduct a foreign policy that is too unbalanced towards the United States, going against its own national interests. At domestic level, some parties foment their own electorate against France and Germany, this is the case of the extreme right-wing Lega and Fratelli d’Italia parties, who consider France and Germany responsible for their national crisis. I don’t think there is a single line of conflict as the issue is very complicated. For example, the interests of Italian and European companies would advise greater attention to Iran, Russia and China, however this is not heard by the ruling class.

– Why is there a rise of Euro-sceptic and Euro-protest sentiments in Europe?

The growth of sceptical and anti-European sentiments is due to the bad management of the European Union and the national self-interest of some states. European citizens were expecting a lot from the Union in terms of well-being and security, however, their requests were unheard. Moreover, the hyper-liberal turn and the austerity imposed on the countries that suffered the most from the economic crisis have increased the distrust of European citizens towards Brussels. On these elements, the so-called sovereign parties have achieved their success.

– Can a UK exit affect EU unity?

The UK’s exit may set an example for some countries. But I don’t believe that other continental European countries follow it. Great Britain can afford it because it has its own currency, still strong despite everything. In addition, it is an integral and leading part of another international political and economic body: the Commonwealth Realm.

– How do you see the future of the EU?

I see it very uncertain. However, I do not think of its dissolution. Certainly, it will continue in its weakening, unless new events intervene in its favour. I think that the European Union should strengthen its currency and impose its use in the exchanges with non-European countries. 

Croatian Presidency of the Council of the European Union: A strong Europe in a world of challenges

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Croatian Presidency of the Council of the European Union: A strong Europe in a world of challenges

By H.E. Dr. Gordan Grlić Radman,  Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Croatia.

The Republic of Croatia is proud to take over the presidency of the Council of the European Union for the first time in the first half of 2020. During the six-month period, Croatia is determined to promote the interests of the European Union and its citizens and position itself on the European and international political, economic and cultural scene.

Croatia’s Presidency comes at a time of great changes for the European Union; the beginning of a new institutional and legislative cycle following the new multiannual financial framework, as well as the challenges resulting from the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union, uneven economic development, climate change, increased migrations, dissemination of disinformation and growing populism.

Croatia believes that strong and united Europe is the only answer to the challenges of today’s world. Hence, under the motto “A strong Europe in the world of challenges” Croatia is preparing a presidency agenda based on four priorities.

The first priority of the Croatian Presidency is “Europe that is developing” in a balanced, sustainable and inclusive way. This development includes strengthening competitiveness and skills adjusted to the jobs of the future, promoting balanced regional development while at the same time taking into account the sustainability of that growth, protecting the environment and combating climate change that is becoming one of the Union’s key tasks. Croatia will also encourage horizontal debate on demographic challenges, which is a problem affecting not only Croatia, but also many other Member States.   

 The second priority is “Europe that connects” in terms of development of transport, energy and digital infrastructure and responding appropriately to all challenges posed by the new technologies and digitalization. In order to achieve full social, economic and territorial cohesion, there is a need for transport, energy and digital infrastructure to be further developed. Croatian Presidency will encourage policies that strengthen infrastructural connectivity of the Union and bring together its citizens, primarily through education, culture and sports.

With the third priority, “Europe that protects”, Croatian Presidency is determined to further establish the Union as an area of freedom, security, and justice founded on common values, democracy and the rule of law. This includes strengthening internal security, protecting freedoms and democracy, ensuring full interoperability of  IT systems, strengthening resilience to external threats and malicious cyber activities, and active work on comprehensive and sustainable migration policy. Croatia is decisive to advocate for a coherent and comprehensive approach to external and internal aspects of migration, including legal migration. 

H.E. Dr. Gordan Grlić Radman, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Croatia.

“An influential Europe” is the final priority of the Croatian Presidency. Croatia intends to promote multilateralism and international development while promoting European values and interests as the main point of reference for the Union’s external action. Its credibility in international relations is also reflected in a responsible approach towards its neighborhood, including the Western Balkans in its immediate surroundings.

During Croatia’s Presidency, an EU-Western Balkans Summit will be organized between the leaders of the EU and Southeastern European countries aspiring to become EU Member States. Croatia will advocate for revitalization and strengthening of the EU prospects for Southeast Europe, based on the complete fulfillment of membership criteria.

 Croatia’s priorities have been attentively chosen to address the challenges the European Union is facing today. In today’s complex setting, Croatia is confident in taking an important role at the helm of the joint European project in further building a strong Europe in a challenging world. Croatia is dedicated to conducting its Presidency as a mediator and builder of compromise based on shared values and respect for mutual interests between Member States: by enhancing dialogue, promoting consensus, and seeking compromise rather than creating divisions.

Mexico: Much More than Meets the Eye

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Mexico: Much More than Meets the Eye

By H.E. Mr. José Antonio Zabalgoitia, Ambassador of Mexico to the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Mexico fascinates, conquers and amazes everyone who visits it, but it also faces stereotyped perceptions from those who have never been there. Let me try to convince you to go, or to return one more time.

Perhaps you have heard about its wonderful tourist destinations, its rich and delicious gastronomy, or its natural diversity and eye-catching landscapes. From a relaxed stay at the blue Caribbean Sea to an eco-touristic adventure through the whale sanctuaries in Baja California, Mexico has traditionally been an attractive tourist destination. In 2018, the country reached the 7th position in the World Tourism Organization’s Ranking, receiving a total of 41 million foreign visitors. 

When talking about food, it is not only about tequila and tacos, but an extensive list of traditional dishes whose cultural richness and value begins well before the kitchen: at the hands of Mexican farmers. In 2010, Mexico’s traditional cuisine was inscribed on UNESCO’s intangible cultural heritage list, recognizing not only its flavors but the ancestral practices and skills that surround every meal. The experience is about the colors, the fragrances, and the richness of taste of every dish in the different regions of the country.

Mexico is all of this and more. Beyond the mariachi and increasingly renowned festivities like Día de Muertos, Mexico is a leading country in a variety of industries.  We are the 15th largest economy in the world, deeply integrated into global production and value chains. With 13 free trade agreements signed with 52 countries, Mexico provides preferential access to a market of 1.3 billion consumers in all corners of the world.

Mexico promotes international trade based on rules. We are huge exporters: 450 billion dollars in 2018, of which 397 billion were manufactures. Mexico is the number one producer and exporter of avocados, tomatoes, papaya, berries, lemons, and beer. We are also leaders in exports of flat-screen TVs, two-door refrigerators and smartphones. This is possible thanks to Mexico’s greatest asset, our people. Mexicans are creative, productive and hardworking; committed to making our country a reference in reliable and innovative manufacturing. In fact, every year Mexico graduates more engineers than Germany, France, the UK or Brazil. 

Furthermore, Mexico is strategically integrated into the North American region. Along with our partners, Canada and the United States, we jointly manufacture a wide diversity of products. For example, any car sold by Mexico, Canada, or the United States, crossed the borders between these countries at least 7 times during the production process. With the signing and ratification of the new USMCA, Mexico and its North American partners will continue growing as a highly competitive region and providing certainty for foreign investors and local entrepreneurs.

On this side of the Atlantic, Mexico and the European Union are currently in the final stages of modernizing their Global Agreement, which not only will continue expanding commercial opportunities, but will also allow us to face together a series of pressing world challenges. Mexico is committed to an international system that fosters cooperation in important matters such as climate change, human rights, economic development, and the rule of law, to name a few. 

On a bilateral level, Mexico and the Netherlands have a strong and dynamic relationship being both gateways to bigger markets in North America and Europe. The Netherlands are the 16th trading partner for Mexico and the 5th among members of the European Union. Dutch firms are the 6th source of foreign direct investment in Mexico at the global level and the 3rd within the EU. Mexico offers important opportunities for Dutch companies in key sectors such as logistics, transport, maritime, agroindustry, innovation, and life sciences and health. Our deep friendship is also based on our shared values and a solid commitment to collaborate at the bilateral and multilateral levels.

Finally, it must be said that Mexico, like every country, faces its own set of challenges. We acknowledge that there is still work to do in terms of economic growth, reduction of inequality among our population, eradication of poverty, and improvement of security. These are all areas of opportunity in which the Mexican government committedly works every day.

Mexico will overcome these challenges putting together both governmental and society’s resources. Key to this task is our openness to the world and our drive to use our competitive advantages, such as our strategic geographic position, our open economy, and our young, diverse, and hard-working population.

I sincerely hope that, after reading this, you realize that when talking about Mexico, there is much more than meets the eye. 

Cohesive and Responsive ASEAN in a Changing World

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Cohesive and Responsive ASEAN in a Changing World

Priorities of Viet Nam’s ASEAN Chairmanship in 2020

By H.E. Ngo Thi Hoa, Ambassador of Viet Nam to the Netherlands

Viet Nam takes over the ASEAN Chairmanship in a rapidly changing regional and  global landscape where opportunities are intertwined with challenges. Amidst the prevailing trends of peace, stability and cooperation for development, new uncertainties, disruptions and complexities are arising from the geostrategic, political, economic, societal and technological domains. As a result, regional countries are under greater pressure to carefully navigate their policies to maintain an environment conducive to peace, stability and economic growth. 

Multilateralism in Viet Nam’s Foreign Policy 

2020 holds a significant meaning as Viet Nam will assume both the ASEAN 
Chairmanship and a non-permanent seat at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). At the UNSC, Viet Nam will work earnestly with other Council members, to preserve regional and international peace and stability, and to promote sustainable development goals and inclusive economic growth. It is also our priority to act as a bridge between ASEAN and the UN to realize common goals, particularly in conflict prevention and sustainable peace.

 2020 also marks the 25th anniversary of Viet Nam’s ASEAN membership. Viet Nam has made great strides over the past 24 years in fulfilling its membership duties, honouring its commitments to ASEAN agreements, and actively contributing to ASEAN’s development. For example, Viet Nam is the second ASEAN member state after Singapore to implement all the AEC action lines, and is a pioneer in maintaining peace, stability and security in the region.

2020 Theme: Cohesive and Responsive ASEAN

The theme of Viet Nam’s ASEAN Chairmanship 2020 – Cohesive and Responsive ASEAN – reflects the spirit of “Thinking as a Community, Acting for Community” in response to the challenges and opportunities ahead. Guided by this overarching theme, Viet Nam will focus on five key priorities during its ASEAN Chairmanship.

Unity and Solidarity: Unity and solidarity form the most important glue that makes a cohesive and responsive community. ASEAN has helped transform Southeast Asia from instability to stability, antagonism to cooperation, poverty to prosperity, a loose association to one of the world’s most viable and successful regional organisations.

These past records attest to ASEAN unity and solidarity as the key to its success and strength. Viet Nam will work to reinforce ASEAN Centrality and solidarity, forge closer relations and mutual support among the Member States, develop ASEAN’s collective approach on international and regional issues, and respond to challenges and threats to regional peace and security in an effective and timely manner.

Economic Interests: Common interests lay the foundation for a cohesive community.Viet Nam will look to maximise the convergence of economic interests among ASEAN member states who share the key objective of achieving an ASEAN single  market and integrated production base. 

Commonalities: As a cohesive community, ASEAN should forge commonalities through regional events that touch our everyday life. For example, the recent decision for ASEAN Member States to launch a joint bid to host the 2034 FIFA World Cup will help inculcate a strong sense of community among Southeast Asians. Viet Nam will step up efforts in raising ASEAN’s profile and visibility in the Member States, so that their citizens understand ASEAN’s importance at the grassroots level. 

Partnership: The past 52 years have shown that ASEAN cannot advance its goals  alone. ASEAN community-building requires both intra-regional integration efforts and partnerships with different countries and organisations further afield. Viet Nam will look to reinforce partnerships for peace and sustainable development through deepening and elevating relationship with partners around the world, enhancing ASEAN’s role and image in the global community, and contributing to shaping the 
new regional and global architecture. 

Institutional capacity: A cohesive and responsive community must be anchored in its strong institutional capacity. To stay relevant to new developments, ASEAN-led mechanisms and processes must be effective, efficient, nimble and outcome-driven. 

Viet Nam will therefore seek to increase ASEAN’s operational capacity and efficiency through institutional reforms and improvement of rules of procedures and processes within ASEAN-led mechanisms

The past achievements and experiences will enable Viet Nam to assume the ASEAN Chairmanship with confidence. As the ASEAN Chair, Viet Nam looks forward to promoting bilateral relations with fellow ASEAN member states and external partners.The Chairmanship also provides opportunities for Viet Nam to enhance its international profile, and promote the Vietnamese culture and soft power to the world.

El Salvador to Host Historic Edition of 2020 ISA World Surfing Games

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El Salvador to Host Historic Edition of 2020 ISA World Surfing Games

By H.E. Mr. Agustín Vásquez Gómez, Ambassador of El Salvador to the Netherlands.

The International Surfing Association (ISA) announced by mid January 2020 that El Salvador has been chosen as host of the 2020 ISA World Surfing Games, to take place on May 9 – 17 of this year. Twelve Olympic Qualifiers will be determined, making 2020 a historic edition of the event.

ISA President Fernando Aguerre said, “The ISA World Surfing Games will bring an unprecedented level of global attention to the country and the nearly unlimited world-class resource that is its year-round waves.

Olympic dreams will be fulfilled, creating a highly anticipated level of world-class surfing, camaraderie, and excitement…. We look forward to building momentum towards Tokyo 2020, displaying the youthful, high-performance values of our sport that will contribute to the great success of the Games.”

The historic edition of 2020 ISA World Surfing Games are one of the jewels of the crown within “Surf City El Salvador” that is a leading initiative that President of El Salvador Nayib Bukele set at the beginning of his mandate in June 2019, as one of the main anchors to promote tourism, development and public works, along with connectivity and security, everything within an ideal environment, as part of an integral approach to change radically the social and economic conditions of the country and its offer to the world.

The objective of the initiative is to position El Salvador as one of the main tourist destinations of the surf sport and industry internationally. Due to the privileged location in the heart of the Americas, Salvadoran beaches are among the top ten in the world for practicing surfing. 

Sun set at Surf City, El Salvador.

Some of the potentialities that Salvadoran beaches offers are the quality of the waves, the water temperature, tropical climate, proximity to many more tourist destinations with a variety of gastronomy, no sharks and friendly and helpful people. 

President Nayib Bukele expressed his pride that El Salvador “will always be remembered and associated with the historic recognition of surf as an Olympic sport”, adding that this event “will be the window to show the world-class waves and destination that Surf City El Salvador offers. El Salvador is open and ready to embrace new ideas, challenges and innovation. This Olympic qualifying event is a milestone for Surf City El Salvador and we are certain it will contribute to the consolidation of our beautiful country as a premier destination for surfing.”

Surf City is one of El Salvador’s efforts that seek to strengthen sports and cultural diplomacy as instruments of international cohesion, as well as generator of opportunities for a Nation that has historically been linked to social and political phenomena that were not attractive to be considered as a tourist destination. 

Now El Salvador is a place to discover and enjoy, and together with the recognition of International Authorities such as ISA, as Ambassador of El Salvador in the Netherlands, I invite European surfers and particularly the Dutch, to dare to enjoy some of the best waves in the world and the unbeatable warmth of our people.

China receives the new Dutch measures on telecommunication safety and integrity

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China receives the new Dutch measures on telecommunication safety and integrity

In the picture His Excellency Dr. Xu Hong, Ambassador of China to The Netherlands.

The Dutch government has recently issued an administrative order on Safety and Integrity of Telecommunications. Speaking to the press, China’s Ambassador to the Netherlands rejected speculations claiming that the order would negatively affect Chinese companies like Huawei.

The Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate has recently issued an administrative order concerning the Safety and Integrity of Telecommunications. The order stipulates that “critical parts” of the Dutch telecommunications network must be provided by so-called “trusted suppliers” – a limitation that would kick out of the game providers suspected of being engaged in espionage activities, either directly or through ties with third-party agencies. 

The implications of this order could be rather significant – especially in the framework of the debate around Huawei’s role in building the new 5G infrastructure in Europe and beyond. Over the last months, the United States have conducted a diplomatic campaign – led by State Department’s Robert Strayer – aimed at establishing strict regulations on the supply of parts used to build 5G infrastructure. While the US has officially stated that such regulations should not target any specific country, the campaign is widely seen as an effort to curb the role of the powerful Chinese multinational Huawei in the provision of 5G equipment.

In a press conference with Chinese and Dutch journalists, China’s Ambassador to the Netherlands, Dr. Xu Hong, sought to explain how the new administrative order issued by the Dutch government would not target Chinese companies. In a thinly veiled reference to the US diplomatic campaign, the Ambassador accused those lobbying against Chinese companies of failing to provide “any solid evidence”, as well as of working against the spirit of law and fair competition.

Chinese ambassador with colleagues during the press meeting.

Those who fear China’s espionage – Dr. Xu Hong said – generally misread China’s National Intelligence Law. The law’s Article 7 stipulates that “any Chinese organization or citizen should support, assist and cooperate with state intelligence work in accordance with Chinese law” – the Ambassador clarified, stressing that the article should be read in the context of the entire Chinese legal system, rather than in standalone mode. Such laws, the Ambassador argued, are present in other countries too, including the Netherlands. 

To the contrary, he stressed, China is less invasive than other countries when it comes to collecting information overseas. “Unlike a few countries using long-arm jurisdiction, China is cautious on applying extraterritorial jurisdiction” – the Ambassador noted, highlighting how other countries, such as the United States and Australia, employ laws requiring companies “to provide the government or intelligence agencies with trans-border access to communications data”. “China opposes to such practice” – the Ambassador stressed, also underscoring his country’s opposition to “the use of cyber facilities for espionage” more at large. 

Seeking to reassure those who may still be worried, the Chinese Ambassador underscored the willingness expressed by Chinese companies such as Huawei to take preventive approaches in order to mitigate risks. Dr. Xu Hong praised the positive performance of Huawei during the strict scrutiny undergone recently, as well as its willingness to accept further third-party tests and supervisions with a “frank and open attitude”. 

In light of these observation, Ambassador Xu Hong voiced his country’s expectations on the implementation of the Dutch administrative order. “We hope that the Netherlands will make assessments on an objective and fair basis, and provide a fair, just and non-discriminative environment for the normal investment and business between enterprises”.

ICC hosts The Hague Judicial Club Colloquium 2019

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ICC hosts The Hague Judicial Club Colloquium 2019

On 27 November 2019, the International Criminal Court (ICC) hosted The Hague Judicial Club Colloquium 2019 on the theme “International Law and Contemporary Challenges – 75 Years after WWII”. The colloquium gathered Judges and Registrars of the ICC, the Supreme Court of the Netherlands (Hoge Raad der Nederlanden), the International Court of Justice, the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal, the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, the Permanent Court of Arbitration, the Residual Special Court for Sierra Leone and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. 

“By many accounts, the institution-based multilateral international system of international law that we have today started taking shape after the end of WWII”, said ICC President Judge Chile Eboe-Osuji opening the event. “As that system is under acute pressure, which is also felt in our courts and tribunals, it is meaningful for us to discuss our similar challenges with one another”, he added.

In addition to the ICC President, speakers included the President of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, Judge Ivana Hrdličková, Judge Antônio Augusto Cançado Trindade of the International Court of Justice, and ICC Judge Raul Pangalangan. The First Vice-President of the ICC, Judge Robert Fremr, gave closing remarks.

The event was co-sponsored by the Municipality of The Hague. Speaking of the judicial club, Deputy Mayor of The Hague Saskia Bruines said: “It is encouraging to see The Hague’s international courts and tribunals take the initiative to come together”. “These gatherings stimulate the sharing of knowledge, contacts, and experiences that help lead to further improvements in the field of peace and justice. The Municipality of The Hague will continue to stay actively involved in future editions!”, she added.

The Hague Judicial Club strives to bring together Judges and Registrars of international courts based in The Hague as well as the Supreme Court of the Netherlands to offer opportunities for networking and exchange of ideas at the highest level.  

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