International

SP Member of Parliament Harry van Bommel, in Russia as an election observer for the Organisation for Security Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), spoke this weekend to a number of Russian citizens who voted, against their better judgement, only because they feared that they would be punished should they register an abstention by staying at home. At the same time, while visiting a polling station he was told by local election observers that in a number of cases ballot slips had been photographed. Other OSCE observers also came across clear abuses. "These parliamentary elections have made it clear that a considerable amount remains to be done if Russia wants to be seen as a real democracy," Van Bommel concluded.

Prolongation of the Dutch military mission in Uruzgan can do nothing further to help Afghanistan and is primarily a move to prevent NATO from suffering the loss of face it fears it would undergo should the mission be discontinued. So argues SP foreign affairs spokesman Harry van Bommel in reaction to the government's decision to extend the Netherlands' military presence in the country until at least 2010. “This decision means that we are once again investing a billion euros in an impossible armed mission, while we would be doing a lot more to help the Afghan people if we were to invest instead in the reconstruction of education, health care and infrastructure in the more stable, peaceful areas,” Van Bommel said.