International

“By refusing observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) access to parliamentary elections scheduled for 2nd December, Russia is revealing its true, undemocratic face," says SP Member of Parliament and foreign affairs specialist Harry van Bommel. Van Bommel would have been a participant in an OSCE mission which the organisation has now cancelled under pressure from the Russians.

That Defence Minister Eimert van Middelkoop stated at a recent debate organised by this newspaper – the Reformatorisch Dagblad (RD) -that he is funds to prolong the military mission in the Afghan province of Uruzgan is something to which Harry van Bommel, Member of Parliament and foreign affairs spokesman for the SP, is completely opposed. Below, he argues that the money would be better spent on real development workers.