1. How certain is it that Mark Rutte will become NATO Secretary General?
"I think he is quite close. Rutte has also been working on this for a while. These types of appointments are never completely transparent. And of course all countries and all NATO allies must agree to it."
"So you don't really know for sure about these things until it's down to the wire and the decision has been made. But I think he's really close."
2. What does a Secretary General do?
"If you look at the role of a secretary general, he is more of a secretary than a general, so it is a position that must also serve the allies. He also has no decision-making power of his own. Ultimately, the decisions lie with the allies, they must approve everything unanimously. The most important one is of course the US."
"The Secretary General is often also the one who has to assess what all the positions are. So where are the problems? And they have to be ironed out behind the scenes. And these are exactly things that Mark Rutte has always been very good at in the past. has been in, so he will bring those skills with him."
3. Does Rutte have the qualities to become Secretary General?
Deen thinks so. Rutte has a very good chance. "He has gained a lot of experience in his political and diplomatic skills, such as in the European Council. So he is good at those kinds of things. He has also been working at the highest level for a long time and you deserve a certain respect for that."
"He used to be a prime minister who did not necessarily make foreign affairs his first priority, but later started to do so. And especially around the war in Ukraine, after February last year, he has manifested himself as someone who was very proactive. He also started talking differently about EU enlargement, for example, than he did before."
"It was no longer just 'no', but it was 'no, unless'. It became a bit more constructive. And he has advocated arms deliveries to Ukraine. The Netherlands has been a leader in this, and Rutte is also in this regard in his term has shifted considerably. And that will not have gone unnoticed."
4. Was it a surprise that Rutte wants this position?
"No, you already saw signs that this candidacy was coming. He already regularly went to the US, gave interviews for American television and he already appeared a lot at NATO meetings."
5. What will determine whether Rutte gets the job?
"These types of decisions are often not made on the basis of personal qualities, but for all kinds of political considerations. Such as the country of origin, political relations within and between countries, etc.."
"NATO remains an alliance where opinions often differ on all kinds of things. Everyone now agrees on the need for credible deterrence against Russia, but some other big questions such as 'what should be done with China?' 'what should be done with the southern flank of NATO?', 'what is the balance between what the European countries in NATO should do and what the United States should do?', those kinds of questions are still there."
"And it could be that one of those cracks within NATO will arise again in the run-up to, for example, the summit in Washington. And that could pose a problem. So it could still break down in many ways. I have seen that in other international organizations also see this happening."
Rutte's appointment must be decided unanimously, so all member states must agree. "So any of those government leaders or parliaments can suddenly decide to throw a spanner in the works."
[Source: EenVandaag – 29 Nov. 2023]
Most interesting statements by Deen are not in the article and there is no full transcript of the news documentary ...
The George Bush years with Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld ...
Here are three examples of this rhetoric at work:
- "You're with us or against us"
- Action vs. Inaction
- Good vs. Evil
9/11: The Steel of American Resolve
Making Old Europe Irrelevant
Quotes ...
My diary about the development of NATO on a global stage, not for the defense of the Northern Treaty Organization ... going on the offense as the Sword of the American Gladiator ... the EU as Slave of the New World ...
Continuing the interview with my own transcript and translation:
Kaja Kallas, PM of Estonia (1:30 min):
"You know there was a joke I heard the other day, it was like this: yes the next Secretary General should be from a new member state, new being 20 years in NATO, it should definitely be from a country that has spend 2 per cent on defense, and it would be nice if it would be a woman ... so it is logically Mark Rutte." [laughter]
Kaja Kallas the prime minister of Estonia is seen as the major rival of Mark Rutte. She had been joking about the situation and named another stumbling block ...
Why the new NATO boss should be a signal to Eastern Europe
Bob Deen from Clingendael was during the Cold War a Institute to study Peace and diplomacy, since the fall of the Berlin Wall has become a right-wing think tank to compete with the AEI and Hudson Institute. See recent speech by Ursula on der Leyen and the speech of Mark Rutte at Sobibor. Extreme rhetoric has been normalized as the EU top diplomat Josep Borrell has proven to White wash racism and xenophobia ... EuropeFirst! statement on immigration and a wall to keep the Barbarians out! Of course Bob Deen has contributed to the ugly anti-Russia arm of Dutch warmongers "Raam op Rusland" or "Window on Russia" of Hubert Smeets.
Worthwhile reading, my diary last year about right-wing extremism advocated in The Netherlands ... the political majority has succeeded to be xenophobic supported by Geert Wilders and Mark Rutte adding the splinter groups of Thierry Baudet and Joost Eerdmans (JA21).
CIA's Research in Behavioral Modification
QUOTE
Rob de Wijk has left Institute Clingendael together with VVD right-winger Arend Jan Boekestijn and founded HCSS to advise the Dutch government on foreign policy.
Rutte Beating the War Drums Ahead of the Troops
By accident I came across a post with appreciation for Dutch PM Mark Rutte and FM Hoekstra willing to send a few F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine. The post was written in a diary at Daily Kos, a rightwing blog in the US as it as a channel for White House ugly war propaganda or terror porn 😡 at least the affiliated bloggers were true patriots for war.
I haven't visited dKos for a very long time ...
END OF QUOTE
Beating the drums of war as a new career model for personal benefit 😡
Bob Deen: In particular, the Eastern European member states ["New Europe"] that joined NATO on a later date, are now really making the point that it is time for a different type of leadership, from one of the newer member states that also have a different relationship with Russia. They have called for deterrence from the start, while a number of allies, including the Netherlands, were quite moderate.
[...]
There are also certain pitfalls in another corner... for example, the election results in the Netherlands and the premiership or Wilders can provoke quite a bit of resistance internationally.
Bob Deen: The election results in the Netherlands have gone through the international media like a shock wave, of course also within the NATO allies... Turkey will not have missed what Geert Wilders said, among other things, that he wants Turkey out of NATO. It may be a complicating factor, but that does not necessarily have to be an obstacle to his appointment.
Dutch PM Mark Rutte is no fan of Erdogan or the Turks ... quite similar to his former mentor Geert Wilders when Mark made career in the VVD party.
Turkish president files complaint against Dutch MP | Anadolu Agency - 27 Oct. 2020 |
Geert Wilders, known for his anti-Islam stance, tweeted insulting cartoon of President Erdogan
'Mark Rutte portrays me as inferior' | Het Parool Opinion - |
As Prime Minister, Mark Rutte should create solidarity, writes student Spurgeon Maria. But with his recent statements, Rutte misses the point and is only sowing more division.
A few weeks ago I was shocked by the message: 'If you don't like it here, leave the country.' In an interview, Mark Rutte said that if you live in a country where you are so annoyed by how we treat each other here, you should leave.
I think that as a Dutch person, who was born here with Surinamese-Antillean parents, he portrays me as inferior with that statement. In fact, Rutte says that we in the Netherlands should be grateful and not complain about abuses in Dutch society.
Mark Rutte must realize that the cause of this complaint can partly be explained by discrimination and racism in Dutch society.
With this statement, Mark Rutte approaches diversity as a problem instead of seeing diversity as the strength of Dutch society. To say from this point of view that someone like me should just fuck off if I don't like it, I consider it very wrong.
Would a Prime Minister of a multicultural country like the Netherlands be allowed to make such a statement?
Turkey finds the statements about Turkish Dutch citizens in the Summer Guests program inappropriate and unworthy of Prime Minister | AD News |
Rutte responded in Zomergasten [Summer Guests] to a video in which demonstrators with Turkish ancestry made it impossible for NOS reporter Robert Bas to work in Rotterdam. This happened after the failed coup in Turkey in mid-July 2016. The reporter was told to "fuck off."
Rutte reacted fiercely. "My primary first feeling is: fuck yourself. Go back to Turkey yourself. "Pleur op" [a vulgarity], Rutte said when he saw the images.
Turkey considers the statements inappropriate for a prime minister. The Turks think that the statements can be misused against Turkish Dutch people. At a time when aversion to foreigners is increasing in Europe, the statements harm joint efforts to allow Turkish Dutch people to fully participate in society, the statement said.
Mark Rutte with his political friend Halbe Zijlstra, short life as VVD FM, and lie about presence in Putin's dacha ... years of anti-Russia propaganda left its mark in the EU.
The World According to Dutch FM Halbe Zijlstra
Mark Rutte with a collection of "yes" men surrounding him supporting his falsehoods and a small army of PR specialists to dictate to Dutch media what the "facts" are the ideal narrative for the Dutch public.
U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld touched a nerve in Europe this week, dividing the continent into what he called "old Europe" and "new Europe." Reaction from France and Germany -- which Rumsfeld put squarely in the "old" category -- was swift and harsh. But the U.S. official's underlying point cannot be denied. On Iraq, divisions in Europe appear to run deep, with the main fault line falling between NATO's "older" European members and its new ones.
Transatlantic differences over Iraq turned bitterly personal yesterday as political leaders in France and Germany hit back at the US defence secretary's dismissal of their cherished alliance as representing "old Europe".
So heated was the response to Donald Rumsfeld's remarks, particularly and all the more surprisingly on the right, that the French president, Jacques Chirac, appealed for calm.
Nato's secretary-general, George Robertson, also tried to play down the rift, insisting that there was no row within the military alliance over providing logistical and other support for US-led action against Iraq. He said Washington's European allies were divided only over timing of action.
But Germany's foreign minister, Joschka Fischer, confirmed that Berlin was working on a plan aimed at slowing the drift to war. The German representative on the UN security council is to call for a further report from the weapons inspectors to be delivered in mid-February.
Ultimately the United States will win and destroy the European Union as we know it and was founded. Fascism triumphs.
