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SandroFantora

Listed below are comments made by SandroFantora between Saturday, 26th April 2008 and Monday, 1st September 2008.

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A serious summit 11:15am on 01 Sep 2008 Mark,

To answer your question; backing away from sanctions would be common sense, surely.

First of all, Georgia started this whole thing by attempting genocide in South Ossetia (what else can you possibly call opening fire on civilian residences in the middle of the night?).

Secondly, Russia has the right to 'recognize' South Ossetia as an independent state in much the same way the West had the right to recognize Kosovo's independence (remember both Georgia and Serbia opposed those recognitions).

Thirdly, we in the West supposedly believe in the Right to Self Determination. Well then, let the South Ossetians determine where they wish to live; in Georgia, an independent South Ossetia, or in Russia. Many seem to favor the latter. Who are we to deny the South Ossetians the right to join Russia?

More than anything, many in the West seem annoyed at Russia's fearless challenging of Western power. That's not a good enough excuse to risk a (cold) war.

Not that Russia can be trusted, mind. That nation is historically incapable of remaining peacefully inside its own borders. But Georgia is just a little more complicated than that.
Layers of make-believe 08:41am on 24 Jul 2008 That reminds me, Mark, if you need a catchy word to describe the Hague, the Dutch use "Residentie" (capital R) a lot. It translates as "Residence"and refers to the city being the seat of government as well as the home town of the royal family.

As for the unpleasant first comment; that seems to be a one-off. I've lived in the Netherlands for a very long time and I don't know anyone who would snap that sharply at foreigners making this (easily made and equally forgiveable) mistake.
Layers of make-believe 6:41pm on 23 Jul 2008 Mark, don't worry about the capital city issue. It's a very peculiar situation, unique in the world in its complexity.

In a nutshell:
- The Dutch constitution reads Amsterdam is the capital city because that is where the Kings of the Netherlands are (and must be) inaugurated.

- The Hague is seat of government mostly due to the messy nature of the Dutch 80 years struggle of Independence. The evolution into a unitary state has been particularly chaotic. I believe Dordrecht has also been the seat of government at some point in history.

For lack of a fixed city from where the government ran the country, Amsterdam as biggest city and economic center of the country evolved into a symbolic capital city where all the important nationalist traditions took place (such as the inaugurations of kings). For the sake of tradition, the Dutch leave it that way. Moving the government to Amsterdam would also be very costly.
Karadzic finally captured 11:58pm on 22 Jul 2008 Thank you for your insight in this topic, Mark. I'm looking forward to the next entry.

Personally, I remain underwhelmed by Serbia's efforts to co-operate with the ICJ. Where is Mladic? I'm also terrified by images of pro-Karadzic rallies on the streets of Belgrade. The scary kind of nationalism is still prominent in Serbian society; a nation not even remotely ready to join the European Union as far as I'm concerned.

This is a small step in the right direct, just a small one. Let us not mistake this for significant progress.

As a Dutch citizen, I hope justice will be served. The Srebrenica massacre is a national trauma for us. Our outnumbered troops were abandoned by NATO/UN partners and failed to protect thousands of innocent people. When our government (after an inquiry into the massacre) fell and parliament was dismissed, leading to new elections, it felt like a fresh start but true resolve is still out of range.
We crave a just ending.
Crunch time for Platini 12:34pm on 02 Jul 2008 Mr Bose,

I resent the suggestion that Euro2000 in the Low Countries was as divided a tournament as the 2002 World Cup.

The groups in Euro2000 were not organized in order to keep one set of teams in Belgium and the other in the Netherlands, as was the case in Korea and Japan which were divided by an ocean.
Belgium and the Netherlands had created a single organizing body for the event, unlike Korea and Japan.
Also, Belgium and Holland have a combined total area much, much smaller than that of Germany which hosted the 2006 World Cup. Travel distances for fans were negligible compared to tournaments in nations such as France or the US.

If anything, Euro2000 was a fine example of how to co-host a tournament, and the 2002 World Cup was the exact opposite.
It's a shame England aren't here 11:11am on 21 Jun 2008 The overall sentiment here is that it's a pity none of the British teams managed to qualify. But then, we are the Dutch and we traditionally view the British as our closest allies we share many ties with.

What I'm trying to say is, if you want a neutral view, don't ask a Dutchman.
A European destiny for Serbia? 4:34pm on 15 May 2008 There are a lot of interesting questions raised in the comments before mine but the real question ought to be: Mark, why on Earth were you attending a Eurovision rehearsal??
Ten years of the euro 12:26pm on 07 May 2008 From an economic point of view, the UK should refrain from joining the Eurozone. The British economy is distinctly different from continental economies (it more resembles the American economy than it does the European model) and has a very different life cycle. Bluntly put: the two (UK and Eurozone) don't match.

From a socio-political point of view, the British people might be more willing to join the Eurozone if the pound keeps losing value and starts to seriously hurt the British economy. At that point, however, the UK won't meet the strict entry requirements for adopting the Euro and thus would be turned down by the ECB and European Commission.

Basically, it's not going to happen.
Way out in Flemish 09:58am on 28 Apr 2008 MichaelBXL;

I personally keep running into various options for the different versions of English on DVDs but I won't claim to be a fan of each and every genre or subsection or that I'm an expert in the field so I suppose my experiences could be highly subjective. Nevertheless, cartoons for my children virtually always offer a choice between American and British English in both audio and subtitles. The same goes for subtitles for the hearing impaired on just about every movie I've ever watched on DVD which I don't personally make use of, but some of my friends do out of necessity.
But I digress.

My original point is this: I would expect an intelligent and capable BBC correspondent who resides in Belgium to know that the official languages of the country are Dutch, French and German and that Flemish is not a language. I stand by that.
Way out in Flemish 09:56am on 26 Apr 2008 "For those of us living in Flanders perhaps you could explain that to the Flemish before making such criticisms.

Certainly I can understand how someone from another country could believe that is the case, because more often than not I find myself hearing the phrases 'Vlaams gesproken' (Flemish speaking), 'Vlaamse taal' (Flemish language), or when pressing play on a DVD I've just bought the options are invariably 'English', 'Nederlands' or 'Vlaams'." --- MichaelBXL

Be that as it may, there is a great number of DVD's (to use just one example) that provide you with the options "British English" and "American English" so you would think a native of the English speaking world who moved to a region of the Dutch speaking world would be able to understand the situation. It's really very much the same concept, even if the terminology is somewhat more confusing (I suppose it would be helpful if instead of just "Vlaams" they would use "Vlaams Nederlands").

And in any case, Mark Mardell as one of the most famous and established BBC correspondents clearly does not lack in intelligence. Since his blog is somewhat of an authority in European affairs related media, I would appreciate a correct use of terminology concerning the one and only Dutch language.

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