International

Yesterday in New York, SP Member of Parliament Krista van Velzen participated in a mass demonstration against nuclear weapons. Many thousands of demonstrators marched from Times Square to the United Nations headquarters with the message that a world free of nuclear weapons is now more than ever necessary. Today sees the start in New York of the Review Conference for the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which SP defence spokeswoman Van Velzen will attend as part of the Netherlands delegation.

SP Member of Parliament and foreign affairs spokesman Harry van Bommel described the behaviour of Labour Party leader Job Cohen as "bizarre and disgraceful" as Cohen expressed support for sending hundreds of Dutch soldiers to Afghanistan. The Labour leader's statement came only days after last week's vote by Labour in Parliament against the proposal. "Labour broke with its coalition partners and brought the government down over Afghanistan, but now wants to send hundreds of soldiers and police officers there. How often can you do this kind of about face before the voters have been driven mad by it? I find it bizarre and disgraceful. You can't carry on like this with the voters, and you don't treat soldiers like that!"