Christien Blogt

Video Items CNC World

Christien — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 10:15:08 +0000

http://www.cncworld.tv/news/v_show/20520_Dutch_Miljonairs_fair.shtml

http://www.cncworld.tv/news/v_show/17217_Gay_parades_in_Europe.shtml

http://www.blinkx.com/watch-video/noah-ark-in-the-netherlands/Krr_wHedRQY9DAF0nrSuVg

http://www.cncworld.tv/player/17729/v.swf

http://www.cncworld.tv/news/v_show/17729_Living_on_the_water.shtml

http://www.cncworld.tv/news/v_show/21341_New_artistic_movement_animamix_show.shtml

http://cncworld.tv/news/v_show/21549_Chinese_new_year_in_Netherlands.shtml: IN cooperation with http://thexpat.tv

http://www.cncworld.tv/news/v_show/21079_Bookstore_project.shtml

http://www.cncworld.tv/news/v_show/21029_Dutch_ice_sculpture_festival.shtml

African leader shows his two personalities

Christien — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 10:16:37 +0000

The city of The Hague doesn’t let any opportunity pass by to show their focus on international justice. It has become serious city marketing: With institutions such as the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court and several temporarily tribunals, the city has become renowned even in the far away regions of Africa.

At the Peace Palace a seminar was held on international peace, justice and crisis management on Nov. 9th. ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo was one of the speakers among several African delegates.

All of them entered the stage, stressing the importance of a legal framework that is internationally recognized.

Great and hopeful words, but sounding strange and slightly ackward when you know the background of some speakers.

Burkina Faso’s president, Mr. Blaise Compaoré, has held power for more than two decades in his country. He was often accused of ruling with an iron fist.

In addition, during the trial of Charles Taylor, who spread a civil war in neighbouring Sierra Leone, UN reports accused him of backing Taylor’s rebels (RUF) by providing weaponry. But the evidence was not enough to indict him.

During that particular trial, Prosecutor Nicholas Koumjian told the judges that leaders such as Muammar Gaddafi and Blaise Compaoré of Burkina Faso had also supported the RUF, but it remained “a proxy army under one person, Charles Taylor.”

But, Gaddafi, Compaoré, “helped build that web [of the crimes in Sierra Leone] and they helped maintain that web through Charles Taylor. The international community did not go to Gaddafi, did not go to Blaise Compaoré; they went to Charles Taylor, because he’s the one who had control over the leaders of these groups that were perpetuating such horrific crimes.”

And so due to a lack of strong evidence Compaoré remained a free man and became closer friends with the western world. Mr Compaoré even travelled to The Hague, where he held a speech about the importance of International Law.

“Crises continue to affect some regions of the world and the resulting humanitarian dramas call on the entire international community on the need to come up with effective mechanisms and strategies for their peaceful settlement.” He said.

Not so long ago rumours were spread that Burkina Faso was willing to host the on-the-run Muammar Gaddafi, when he was still alive and kicking.

Isn’t that ironic?

Is Amsterdam still Gay Capital of the World?

Christien — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 10:23:43 +0000

http://www.cncworld.tv/player/17217/v.swf

Christien van den Brink, a report for CNC World

Entrecote met lamsoor en zeesnijbiet

Christien — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 15:59:34 +0000

Christien van den Brink voor Het Parool

Zeewier of zeesla staat nog niet op het menu van menig restaurant. Toch moeten de zeegewassen binnenkort deel gaan uitmaken van de Nederlandse voedselproductie. Hoe? Door de komst van zeeboerderijen.

Het is inmiddels drie maanden geleden dat de universiteit van Wageningen de eerste zeeboerderij in Nederland opende. De verwachtingen waren hooggespannen. Omdat zeewier onder de kenners bekend staat als een gewas met een hoge voedingswaarde, kan de zeeplant een grote rol gaan spelen in de wereldwijde voedselproductie. Dit is nodig, want er wordt geschat dat de wereldbevolking over veertig jaar tot 9 miljard is gestegen. Om al deze monden te voeden, volstaat de huidige landbouwgrond die de aarde ter beschikking heeft, niet meer. De zee is daarentegen nog een onontgonnen terrein, vertelt Willem Brandenburg, projectleider van het zeeboerderij-experiment in de Schelphoek in Zeeland. “Je kunt het vergelijken met de Sahara. Maar in plaats van een gebrek aan licht of beplanting, is er in de zee op veel plekken juist schaarste aan voedingstoffen.”

Geen goede plek om zeegewassen te kweken, zou je denken. Maar op de zeeboerderij wordt druk geëxperimenteerd om de omstandigheden zo optimaal te maken, dat kweken op grote schaal mogelijk kan worden. Op een, ook dat nog, ecologisch verantwoorde manier. Brandenburg: “Een manier om dit te doen, is bijvoorbeeld zeewater vanuit een diepere zeelaag naar boven pompen. In die diepere lagen zijn er vaak meer nutriënten, ofwel voedingstoffen, aanwezig. Daar gaan we mee aan het experimenteren.” Pas zodra de juiste mix van een constante zeetemperatuur, genoeg licht en de juiste hoeveelheid voedingstoffen is bereikt, kan er nagedacht worden om op grote schaal verder te kweken.

Volgens Brandenburg zijn de eerste resultaten in ieder geval veelbelovend. De onderzoekers hebben er inmiddels drie reeksen proeven op zitten. Vooral de zeesla en de suikerkelp groeiden prima. “Als je ze afknipt, groeien ze gewoon door.” In oktober gaat de grote winterproef van start. “Dan willen we bekijken in welke winterse omstandigheden de gewassen het beste gedijen.”
Het bezwaar dat zeewier geen hapklaar product is dat de weg naar de keukentafel nog lang niet heeft bereikt, veegt Brandenburg van tafel. “Mensen beseffen niet dat ze zeewier al dagelijks eten of gebruiken. Het zit overal in. In Sushi, maar ook in poeders, zalfjes, puddings, noem maar op.”

En binnenkort dus ook op het menu. Dat had het Arcam museum aan het Oosterdok al goed begrepen. Het architectuur museum experimenteerde al, in samenwerking met kunstenaars Roel van Timmeren en Floris van der Kleij, met een tijdelijke, zilte proefboerderij op het ARCAM-eiland in het oosterdok. Daar ligt al drie jaar lang een enorme bak van 40 bij 13 meter. Een ideale plek dus om een zeeboerderij te starten. Een visverschrikker die ’s avonds dient als vuurtoren ‘waakte’ over de groei van gewassen als zeekraal, lamsoor, zeesla en zeebiet. En als klap op de vuurpijl verzorgde het museum ( Op 25 augustus) een volledig diner waar deze ingrediënten de menukaart sierden. Chef kok Roland de Thouars vertelt: “Als voorgerecht heb ik de zilte aardappel met zalm en rundertartaar en zeebietsalade geserveerd. Daarna coquilles met zeesla, zeekool en garnalen. Het hoofdgerecht bestond uit kalfsentrecot met lamsoor en zeesnijbiet.” De bittere smaak waar de gewassen om bekend staat laat de kok niet afschrikken. “Ik werk graag innovatief, puur natuur. Ik vind het juist prachtig om te experimenteren met smaakcombinaties als bitter-zoet en bitter-zuur. Voor mij is het echt een toevoeging op mijn keuken. Ik denk dat dit de groenten zijn van de toekomst.”

Zo ver is het in ieder geval nog niet. Eerst maar eens kijken hoe de gekweekte gewassen de winter doorstaan.

News analysis: How could new bacterium appear in Dutch hospital?

Christien — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 14:27:49 +0000

By Christien van den Brink

THE HAGUE, July 28 (Xinhua) — The Maasstad hospital in Rotterdam has been in the news since June this year after the outbreak of an antibiotic bacterium named Klebsiella Oxa-48 that has likely caused the death of 78 people since June.

Question arises on how this new bacterium could appear in the Netherlands.

Hospital bacteria are not a new phenomenon in the world. In a place where the use of antibiotics is widespread, the risk of resistant bacteria increases likewise.

A hospital in the southern region of the Netherlands for example decided to close its IC department on Monday after another bacteria, the so called MRSA , had been detected.

This bacterium has become resistant for the most used antibiotics. Thanks to a strict government policy that regulates the use of antibiotics, only 1 percent of the patients is contaminated with this bacteria.

Normally hospitals take their own responsibility in taking the necessary precautions to stop the spread of these hospital bacteria.

But this is not the case for Maasstad hospital in Rotterdam. In the beginning the Health Care Inspection (IGZ) was fully confident that the board of the hospital could combat the bacteria, but after a few unannounced edits this confidence was declaimed.

The hospital was put under intensified supervision for a period of two months in order to make sure that the right infection control measures were taken.

In addition, an independent supervisor was appointed to combat the bacteria. This will be a difficult task, as the Klebsiella Oxa-49 variant is known for its feature that it can abort almost every antibiotic.

Fortunately, it doesn’t spread through the air. In total 27 people who were infected with the bacteria have died. According to the latest statistics 78 patients are infected. Meanwhile the IGZ has reprimanded the hospital for their indolent working method.

“The hospital needs to arrange a better cooperation between the physician and the infection control microbiologists as quickly as possible,” IGZ told Xinhua.

When a contamination is detected, the doctor-microbiologist needs to be the co-treatment officer in cooperation with the regular doctor, IGZsaid, adding “We have seen that the microbiologist is not always involved in the treatment of the contaminated patients.”

IGZ had ordered the hospital to appoint an external supervisor who will have the final responsibility over the hygiene.

How the bacteria could spread in the hospital? “Either the hospital hasn’t followed the right quarantine procedures when a patient was brought in from abroad or the hygiene in the hospital was below requirements,” said a spokesperson for IGZ, stressing further research needs to be done.

The hospital has estimated that 1967 patients risk to be infected. This risk group needs to tested. Most patients who are carrier of the bacteria aren’t sick.

So far, the hospital hasn’t identified new cases of infections and concludes that the outbreak is under control. As a result, there is no admission stop for the hospital.

In addition, it remains uncertain whether the bacterium was the death cause of the deceased patients. The 27 people who died were carrier of the bacteria, but they were also very weak.

An independent investigation under the lead of the Leiden University Medical Center will research the causes of death. The results of the investigations are expected in September.

“We deeply regret that patients are infected with the bacteria and all possible measures are taken to prevent this in the future,” said Paul Smits, general director of the hospital.

It is the first time that this kind of bacteria is discovered in the Netherlands, yet earlier cases of outbreak have occurred in France, Israel and India, among others.

The antibiotic bacterium is found in the normal flora of the mouth, skin and intestines and can cause destructive changes to human beings in a weakened state.

Can ICC warrant really secure Gaddafi arrest?

Christien — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 12:54:06 +0000

By Christien van den Brink

THE HAGUE, July 1 (Xinhua) — The issuing of arrest warrant for Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and two of his family members was cheered by many desperates for signs of breaking a deadlock in the North African country but a new question arises:

Now that the warrants are out, how to actually arrest Gaddafi and by whom?

NATO forces operation in Libyan skies have no mandate to arrest suspects.

“It is not the NATO to enforce that warrant, that is for the appropriate authorities. Our mandate is to protect civilians from attacks. The decision of NATO and our ally partner to extend the mission for another 90 days is clearly a signal of that determination,” NATO spokesperson Oana Lungus said.

Then the task is mainly left on the shoulders of Libyan rebels.

Earlier this week, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Luis Moreno Ocampo said Libya has the primary responsibility to implement the arrest warrants for Gaddafi.

He said Gaddafi’s inner circle “to be part of the solution, rather than the problem,” hinting that the Libyan Transitional National Council (NTC) needs to play a major role in arresting Gaddafi.

Although Libya is not a member of the ICC, the NTC has promised to cooperate with it to arrest Gaddafi and his wanted family.

Mohammed al-Alagi, minister of Justice of this temporary Libyan government told Dutch local media that the arrest warrant could lead to a discouragement of the Libyan army when they realize that fighting for their leader results in nothing.

Mohammed believed it won’t be easy to arrest Gaddafi, stressing the need for cooperation between the NTC and the State Parties of the Rome Statute.

The NTC worked closely together with ICC prosecutor Ocampo during the investigation period.

The NTC said not to be afraid to investigate crimes and won’t hesitate to trial criminals themselves.

Another way of arresting Gaddafi is to wait until he travels to a member state of the Rome Statute, which has the obligation to cooperate with the court and to comply with requests for arrest and surrender.

But what about the non-parties of the ICC statute? There are still plenty of destinations, such as Saudi Arabia, Zimbabwe and Angola.

Gaddafi could even go to the United States as they are not a member party of the ICC.

The Security Council urges these countries to cooperate with the court but it also explicitly recognises that non-parties have no obligation under the Statute.

In an apparent effort to boost confidence in bringing Gaddafi and his family to court, Moreno-Ocampo on Tuesday cited the arrest last month of former Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic after 15 years on the run.

“It’s a matter of time. See what happened with Mladic,” he said. “Gaddafi will face justice. The arrest warrants are not going away.”

But Gaddafi does not seem the least impressed by the warrant and the NATO mission.

In a radio broadcast in June he said: “We are in our country and we insist on staying until death. We are staying, we are staying. Let them even use nuclear bombs. And if they come to the ground, we will wait for them, but they are cowards, they will not dare.”

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/indepth/2011-07/01/c_13961288.htm

Unemployment in the Netherlands lowest in EU

Christien — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 09:48:22 +0000

Christien van den Brink

News analysis: THE HAGUE, June 30 (Xinhua) – In the first quarter of 2011 youth unemployment in the Netherlands was the lowest in the European Union. These rates were presented by the Dutch Central Bureau for Statistics CBS after investigation based on CBS and Eurostats figures.

The reasons why the Netherlands was ranked this high is partly due to a stable economy and the structure of the job market, said financial spokesperson for CBS Senne Janssens.

“The overall Dutch unemployment has been very low for many years compared to other countries. Dutch are often employed as a part timer, which results in more jobs for the same production. In addition, the Dutch economy is rather competitive; the wage costs per product unit are relatively low, compared to most European countries. During the economic recession Dutch unemployment increased less than expected. Many econonomists think this is because companies were reluctant to dismiss their employees, as they were expecting better times. Also, the increasng amount of entrepreneurs helped to get the figures low.”

Young people often work as temporary workers, which was a vulnerable group after the economic crisis. Many companies fired these groups first, which explains the higher unemployment rate during the crisis.

In the Netherlands less young people work in construction business, which was a sector that was particularly hit by the economic crisis. Many young constructors in Spain and Ireland ended up jobless, while in the Netherlands this was not the case.

In the last few years the Dutch government has changed their policies to reduce youth unemployment by prolonging compulsory school attendance. Janssens: “This has proofed to be an effective measure. Many young unemployed are early school leavers. Adolescents without a certificate of qualification are unemployed twice as often than people with a diploma.”

budget cuts for truant students

Christien — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 10:05:30 +0000

The ministry of education wants to cut the budget of truant students, in an attempt to fight against premature school leaving, the website of the ministry reported Monday.

In the Netherlands students receive a study allowance from the government for a period of at least four years. But especially at schools called Regional Education Centers (ROC), many students in between 18 and 19 years old play truant for a long period, while still receiving their allowance.

This is no longer acceptable, Minister of education Van Bijsterveldt states: “School absence is the forerunner of premature school leaving. In order to fight against this phenomenon it is highly important to have a well working absence office. In addition, schools need to use the current arrangements in a more efficient way.”

By taking this measure, the government wants to reduce the number of premature school leavers from 40.000 to 25.000. The focus will be on the group of students in between 18 and 19 years old.

Marja Dullemond, team manager of the ICT academy in Amsterdam doesn’t believe this measure will have the hoped results: “Our ROC has already adopted a strict policy when it comes to truancy. Students are expelled from school when they lack to attend class, which includes that they lose their allowance automatically. As a result, classes are now full with students who are unwilling to learn and are a nightmare to some teachers. I think it is very important that students are guided towards the right school, corresponding to their interests. In this way students will be more motivated, which will result in a better work attitude at school.”

Business in renewable energy flourishes- despite Dutch government policy

Christien — Fri, 13 May 2011 10:55:35 +0000

Christien van den Brink for Xinhua

The discussion on renewable energy is a constant topic that dominates the Dutch newspapers. In this analysis an overview of the different visions of policy makers on the one hand and environmental organizations on the other hand.

According to a UN report published in May, renewable energy sources could supply the world with 80 percent of its total energy demand by 2050. The intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) set up this document counting 26 pages where they stressed that now 12. 9 percent of our worldwide energy supply is renewable energy.

Ambitions at the European level are high. European leaders jointly promised to reduce the CO2 emissions by 20 percent in 2020.

The Dutch government seems to follow another policy. Since the elections that were held in June last year, the cabinet scaled down their green ambitions to only 14 percent. Also, the construction of 4 coal plants in the south west of The Netherlands has already started, even though construction licenses haven’t been fully authorized yet. In addition, plans have been made to build another nuclear plant in Borssele, a small town in the southern part of The Netherlands.

Dutch professor Jan Rotman, who is the leader of a protest action that consists of 70 professors against the current policy, is doing everything to stop the construction of 4 coal plants. He would rather see the government investing in renewable energy instead.

Also, several organizations and media have shown their disapproval of the Dutch government policy in renewable energy. The Dutch television program Radar demonstrated in their show that nothing is done to facilitate and to promote renewable energy. Several interviews with users of solar panels showed that the panels produced more energy than the consumers needed. A good deal, you would think, but that didn’t turn out to be the case. The energy company took back the energy without compensating the consumers. Moreover, the consumers had to pay extra when they needed to use electricity of the supplier. Several cases were reported where consumers gave back1/3rd of their produced energy to their supplier without being compensated.

Despite these discouraging energy policies, the enthusiasm for renewable energy is still growing fast among the Dutch.

Miro Zeman, professor and Chairman of Photovoltaic Materials and Devices: “With the newest innovations within the solar panel industry solar panels get better and better. The Energy Pay Back Time proofs it; this system allows you to calculate the time a solar panel needs before becoming lucrative. Nowadays this is already after 2 years. And a solar panel can easily reach an age of 25 years!”

In addition, Dutch and Chinese energy companies show that they believe in renewable energy as a lucrative business and they are not willing to wait for Dutch government policy to be put in place. And so they concluded several enormous deals in the last couple of days. (In presence of Dutch minister of economy Verhagen, ironically enough) Solar Total, one of the biggest solar panel suppliers inEurope, placed an order with Yinli factory. The Dutch company bought solar panels with a capacity of 50 megawatt, which is 20 megawatt more than the total amount of energy generated in The Netherlands last year.

Beiruti taxidrivers

Christien — Mon, 02 May 2011 19:07:30 +0000

Saying that I have a love hate affair with taxidrivers might be the understatement of the year. Some of them have managed to irritate me in a way that I would be able to kill them. Fortunately I don’t hit guys.

Ok, I have to admit: most of the time Beiruti taxidrivers had deep and thoughtful conversations with me and thanks to them I was able to improve my Arabic language skills.

The following dialogue illustrates it all:

Welcome in my taxi
Thank you.
You’re welcome
Thank you.
No worries, you are welcome, more than welcome. You’re welcome to Lebanon.
Thank you.
Where are you from?
From Holland.

During the first week this is how the conversation went. But after a while I started to get tired of saying the same thing repeatedly, so I started to make up nationalities for myself. Ethopia was the one I used when I wanted the conversation not to get serious; Israel when I had a headache of the previous night and didn’t feel like talking.

Anyhow, despite the choice of nationality, the bit of conversation that followed was ALWAYS the same.

My brother/grandson/nephew/nephew of my fathers’ nephew also lives in Holland/Ethiopia/is in jail in Israel!

Fake astonishment: Really? What does he do there?

Well, he is a…..( Here follows a bit of conversation that until now I haven’t been able to follow, due to a lack of Arabic conversation skills)

O, wow, that is Very interesting, did I mention to tell you that what you just said is Very interesting?

At this point the taxidriver and I really started to develop a strong bond and this is probably the reason why the next conversation part always went like this:

Are you married?

No was the answer when I was still naïve. Yes, happily with four children was the answer when I was still naïve. I am a lesbian who is fundamentally against the principle of marriage as a life time commitment was when I had enough confidence and no, but would you like to be my new husband when I knew the destination was almost reached.

Funnily enough, whichever reason I gave them, the answer they gave me was, you might be surprised, always the same.

Well, if you want to improve your Arabic I can walk you around in Beirut next Sunday and I can also show you my house.

Once there was this taxidriver, who was that old that he had probably even fought against the Ottomans himself, who wanted to have my phonenumber.

The first time that this happened to me I looked at his wrinkled face before bursting out in laughter, saying that I higly appreciated his dry sense of humour, after which I left his taxi, leaving him surprised.

But I started to get used to this inappropriate behaviour and the next time when someone wanted my number I just asked their card saying that I would put them on this pile of other cards I had collected from Ali Anytime Anywhere, Moustafa and sons and Mohammed Abu taxi.

But now that I am back in the Netherlands, sitting in a crowded train with people staring silently out of the window I suddenly realize that even though there have been times that I despised the drivers in Beirut, I also really miss them.