Diplomatic Briefing
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Newsline: Dutch man attempts suicide near embassy in Indonesia
A Dutch man set himself on fire near the Netherlands embassy in the Indonesian capital. The man, identified as Albert Johannis Cornelis, doused himself with two bottles of gasoline, according to an embassy building security officer. “He then entered the embassy and got out and set himself on fire,” said the official. Cornelis later collapsed in a park near the embassy. He was taken tom a hospital. Police confiscated a black bag, a cell phone, an umbrella, a copy of a passport and a green lighter from him. The reason behind his suicide attempt was not known.
http://india.nydailynews.com/business/edf3911bc85c888725965f185d1aad8e/dutch-man-attempts-suicide-near-embassy-in-indonesia
Newsline: Dutch diplomat arrested for spying in HK
A controversial diplomat has been arrested on suspicion of spying for Russia during his four-year stint at the Dutch consulate in Hong Kong. Raymond Poeteray, who made headlines in 2007 for abandoning his adopted South Korean daughter to the care of local welfare staff, is said to have passed secrets to a German couple linked to US-based Russian agent Anna Chapman. Poeteray also face claims of money laundering in casinos, running telephone scams and illegally owning a gun. Although Poeteray, vice-consul in Hong Kong between 2004 and 2008, has not been identified as the Dutch foreign service employee arrested on espionage charges last month, his son confirmed his identity to a newspaper in the Netherlands and two sources have also independently told the Postthat he had been arrested. According to the Dutch Public Prosecution Office, the arrested diplomat appeared on the Dutch authorities’ radar earlier this year after the arrest in Germany of Andreas and Heidrun Anschlag, from Marburg, southern Germany. He is said to have passed classified information to the German couple in return for a monthly payment. Earlier this month, he appeared at a closed pre-trial hearing in the Netherlands, and prosecutors have been given 90 days to investigate further and decide whether to bring charges. “The judge decided that the defendant needs to remain in custody for 90 more days, based on all accounts: bribery, passing on classified information to the couple in Germany … making preparations to spread state secrets, money laundering and possession of a firearm,” a spokesman for the Dutch public prosecutor said. The couple are said to have sent encrypted radio messages to the SVR – the successor to the KGB – for 23 years, and maintained close contact with Chapman, the flame-haired sleeper agent who became a media celebrity in Russia after her deportation from the US in 2010. It remains unclear how Poeteray came into contact with the Anschlags, but he is said to have started his illegal activity seven years ago – during his time in Hong Kong. Dutch media reports suggest that Poeteray had large debts.
http://topics.scmp.com/news/hk-news-watch/article/Diplomat-arrested-for-spying-in-HK
Newsline: East European ambassadors lash out at Dutch website
A Europe-wide row has broken out over a website launched by the populist Freedom Party. On the site, people are asked to “tell their stories” about trouble caused by East European migrants to the Netherlands. The European Union has branded the site “an open call for intolerance”. Ten ambassadors from East European countries have sent a letter of protest to the Dutch parliament. The government declines to comment, but the anger is growing. The Netherlands has once again some international explaining to do about Geert Wilders’ right-wing Freedom Party (PVV). The release in 2008 of his anti-Islam film Fitna caused outrage, and now the party’s website for complaints about East Europeans in the Netherlands has sparked another controversy. The website invites people to register complaints about nuisance and job losses caused by Poles, Romanians, Hungarians and other East Europeans in the Netherlands. Respondents can also level accusations of crime, alcohol and drug abuse and prostitution at the group. The PVV says people have in the past been reluctant to make official complaints about East Europeans because they thought nothing would be done about it. The party has undertaken to collate information from the website and present it to the Dutch government. The website has elicited anger, especially in East and Central Europe. As early as last week, the Polish ambassador to the Netherlands gave vent to his outrage. “The picture sketched by Mr Wilders’ of hard working Poles contaminating the Dutch jobs market is an insult,” he said.
http://www.rnw.nl/africa/article/eu-anger-%E2%80%98xenophobic%E2%80%99-dutch-website
Newsline: WikiLeaks confirms US nuclear arms in The Netherlands and Belgium
Leaked secret messages on the Wikileaks website between the US State Department and its diplomatic missions abroad have confirmed the presence of US-owned tactical nuclear arms in the Netherlands and Belgium. A secret message sent by the US embassy in Germany to the State Department in Washington mentions the presence of US tactical weapons in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Turkey, the daily Algemeen Dagblad and Radio Nederland reported. Wikileaks also revealed the presence of US nuclear weapons in Belgium. “The presence of US tactical nuclear arms in Kleine Brogel (a Belgian military basis in Flanders) was an open secret” for the local population”, the daily reports. Successive Dutch and Belgian cabinets have refused to confirm or deny the presence of US nuclear weapons on their territories.
Newsline: US diplomat missing in Curacao
Curacao detectives are still trying to solve the disappearance of a U.S. diplomat whose bloodied clothes were found three months ago on a rocky beach. The 49-year-old U.S. Vice Consul James Hogan vanished Sept. 24 after leaving his Curacao home for one of his regular late-night walks. Police said a trail of Hogan’s blood was found on rocks leading to the water at Baya Beach, where his clothes were folded neatly. An expensive kitchen knife and Hogan’s cell phone were found in the water just off the beach. Curacao investigators have said they are considering all possibilities, including suicide. Hogan, a Florida resident, arrived in Curacao in August 2008 for a two-year assignment. The Dutch island off the coast of Venezuela is the seat of the Netherlands Antilles government.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gH_Ebn3Z80d0mZh7qmEDDvZaCNIwD9CN8F8G5
Newsline: Dutch to summon Venezuela ambassador on comments
Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen denied fresh accusations by the Venezuelan government that the Netherlands is supporting U.S. spy flights over Venezuelan territory. Verhagen condemned the comments as “inaccurate, unjust and really out of place” in a statement and said he would summon Venezuela’s ambassador again to explain the remarks. Twice in the past two weeks, the government of President Hugo Chavez has publicly claimed that the Dutch have let the U.S. military launch spy flights from bases on the territories of Aruba and Curacao under the guise of drug surveillance missions. On December 17 Chavez said the Netherlands was planning “aggression” against Venezuela in concert with the United States, and on Thursday his government again charged the Dutch with “complicity” in such plans. Verhagen said the Netherlands had made clear to the Venezuelan government that the civilian airports in the Dutch islands have been made available to the United States solely for unarmed drug surveillance missions. The United States has for years had a military presence on Curacao and Aruba, with about 250 Air Force crew and ground staff involved in counter-narcotics and surveillance operations over the Caribbean region.
http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFTRE6000R120100101
Newsline: Dutch Ambassador’s Cape Town residence for sale
The former residence of the Netherlands Ambassador in Cape Town will soon fall under the hammer. According to the appointed auctioneers, ClareMart Auction Group. The luxury property which is situated in Constantia, will be sold at public auction in on Thursday, 10 December. Current Consul General, Mr David de Waal, confirms the instruction and explains that the decision to sell the residence, which has been Dutch property for 43 years, forms part of the Netherlands Government’s international drive to ensure cost-efficiency. Situated at 87 and 89 Southern Cross Drive, this 975m² residency includes a homestead and a granny flat all on a massive 16 191m² erf (4 acres). Constantia is located in the centre of the Cape Peninsula, and is only minutes from the centre of town.
http://www.realestateweb.co.za/realestateweb/view/realestateweb/en/page309?oid=52846&sn=Detail
Commentary: Diplomacy must remain a national affair
November 28, 2009 at 10:11 am · Filed under Commentaries, Netherlands
Diplomacy must remain a national affair
With around 7,000 employees and expenses of roughly 500 million euros per year, the Netherlands has one of the largest diplomatic services in Europe, roughly 25 percent larger than other countries of the same size. According to a parliamentary initiative the service should be down-sized and embassies transferred to the EU. Saving expenses is a good thing, writes the liberal-conservative news magazine Elsevier, but not at any price: “Cynics who say that the main thing is for Dutch diplomats and politicians to secure themselves the best jobs are probably right. This could all be done much more cheaply. And that will be necessary. … But that doesn’t mean that our diplomatic services can be transferred to the European Union. … That would be silly. It is very smart to work with the embassies of other European countries in certain areas. But relinquishing our diplomacy to Brussels would mean doing away with another little bit of the Netherlands. And that would not serve our country’s interests in the slightest.”
http://mobile.eurotopics.net/m-en/ps/top/detail/ARTICLE61312
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