Belgium was founded exactly 175 years ago, in 1830. The cover of A Throne in Brussels, the book I wrote for its anniversary, depicts the map of the European Union in the Belgian colours. This is no coincidence. As Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt recently said: “Belgium is the laboratory of European unification. Foreign politicians watch our country with particular interest because it can teach them something about the feasibility of the European project.”

Two peoples live within the Belgian state: Dutch-speaking Flemings and French-speaking Walloons. In 1830 the country was part of the Dutch-speaking Netherlands. The Belgian revolution was the work of French-speaking rebels who wanted to have it annexed to France. The international powers stepped in and, by way of compromise, decided to make Belgium an independent kingdom with at its helm a German prince, Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, who was a member of the British royal family.

The Danish Foreign ministry has warned Danish citizens not to travel to Pakistan. The Pakistani religious party Jamaat-e-Islami and its youth branch have offered a bounty for anyone who murders the Danish illustators who drew cartoons of Muhammad for the Danish daily newspaper Jyllands-Posten. Last September the newspaper asked twelve cartoonists to draw the pictures to test whether there was freedom of expression in Denmark after a Danish author had complained that no-one was willing to illustrate his Muhammad book. Muslims regard it as blasphemy to depict the Prophet.

As a consequence the offices of Jyllands-Posten have to be protected by security guards after receiving bomb threats, and some cartoonists went into hiding after receiving death threats. Muslims and Muslim organizations, both in Denmark and abroad (including Pakistan), protested the publication of the pictures. In October ambassadors from eleven Muslim countries sent a letter to the Danish Prime Minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, demanding that he see to it that Jyllands-Posten apologize for the publication.

On Friday the justice and interior ministers of the 25 European Union member countries agreed to oblige operators to store all data of phone, cell phone and internet communications for at least 6 to 24 months. The stored data detail the caller’s and the receiver’s numbers, but not the actual conversations themselves. The data retention measure was adopted in order to fight terror and organised crime, but the EU members disagreed so much that they could only reach a watered-down decision. Storing the data of the past 6 to 24 months is already required by most national regulations. This renders the EU decision entirely irrelevant.

It is still uncertain what the effects of this decision will be for prepaid phones. Most terrorists and professional criminals probably do not use normal phone lines nor cell phones that can be directly linked to them. They probably do not use international credit cards either, unless they are on a suicide mission. What this means, of course, is that the people affected by the EU decision, if it leads to a ban on pre-paid phones, will be poor people with bad credit standing. Hardly the people that need more hardship.

Last Tuesday, Högsta domstolen, the Swedish Supreme Court, acquitted the Lutheran pastor Åke Green, who had been prosecuted on charges of inciting hatred towards gays. Two years ago, in a sermon entitled “Is Homosexuality Genetic or an Evil Force that Plays Mind Games with People?” Green said: “Sexual abnormalities are a deep cancerous tumor in the whole of society.” He added that “sexually twisted people” rape animals and children and opined that homosexuality was not something one was born into, but rather the result of choice.

Green held the sermon on July 20, 2003, in a small church in Borgholm, on the island of Öland, for a congregation of barely 50 people. He ended his sermon with the words “What these people need, who live under the slavery of sexual immorality, is abundant grace. We cannot condemn these people. Jesus never belittled anyone. He offered them grace.” The pastor was taken to court on the basis of Sweden’s hate speech law. On 29 June 2004, the Kalmar district court sentenced the pastor to one month of imprisonment. The court stated that “the right of homosexuals to be protected from such language outweighs the right to make homophobic statements in the name of religion.”

Guy Verhofstadt, the Belgian Prime Minister has written an extraordinary piece for this week’s European Voice (sub only). The piece, entitled “Forging ‘United States of Europe’ is key to the future,” is a telling contribution to the post Constitutional, post democratic European Union. First he describes the threats as he sees them to a European hegemony, “it is already clear that in four years’ time the world will have four major powers: the US, China, India and Japan.”

The answer to Guy is obvious, a ‘United States of Europe.’ What is interesting of course is that what he is proposing betrays a striking resemblance to the Europe that was supposed to be created by the unlamented European Constitution. The key areas in which the EU should become one?

“Social protection and taxation…research and development […] transEuropean information networks […] single European Area of justice and security […] joint armed forces […] foreign policy.”

In Belgium the World Aids prevention day is a day of celebration for many. First and foremost for those who earn a living by it, especially the many government funded social workers who never need to go near an AIDS patient but spend their time “increasing awareness” among the masses. One powerful group in this respect is the Belgian organisation SENSOA (abbreviated from: “Increasing Awareness about Sexually Transmitted Diseases”).

Because AIDS is such a terrible thing, no-one dares to question or criticise these people’s activities. Their funds increase with every AIDS campaign and the government gives them any other convenience their work may require. Such as access to the nation’s schoolchildren through the school curriculum and extracurricular activities.

Their latest activity is an exhibition and activities book about sex and relationships that targets children of preschool and primary school age. It is a permanent exhibition in one of the oldest educational science centres in the country, housed in the former St. Peter’s Abbey in the town of Ghent. The initiative is hailed with enthusiasm by the entire press. “In the exhibition you are allowed to peep into the bathroom and overhear what is happening in the bedroom. Even dirty jokes are permitted,” one newspaper burbles.

The first Western suicide bomber is a Belgian woman. How come we are not surprised? Because Brussels has long been known to be a Jihadist hub.

On 9 November, 38-year old Belgian Muriel Degauque blew herself to pieces in Baghdad near a group of Iraqi policemen, killing five other people. The woman had converted to Islam after marrying a Belgian of Moroccon origin. Her husband was shot down by American troops. The American authorities informed the Belgian authorities of the woman’s identity a few weeks ago, but Brussels kept it secret. Yesterday evening the Franco-Luxemburgian network RTL announced the news.

Last night, the Belgian police arrested 14 people. Nine of them are Belgians, mostly of foreign origin, three are Moroccans and two are Tunisians. They are said to belong to the same network as the woman suicide bomber. Today a 27-year old man was arrested in Paris. He is suspected of belonging to a group that takes Jihadists from Belgium to Iraq.

Bernie Ecclestone

If you want to earn easy money, sign an English-language contract with the regional government of Wallonia, the French-speaking socialist southern part of Belgium. The Walloon Socialist politicians do not understand English. As a consequence, you can get them to sign anything, even an obligation to pay you 14 million euros a year.

Two years ago the Parti Socialiste (PS), the largest party in Wallonia, threatened to bring the Belgian government down if the ban on tobacco advertising was not modified. Tobacco advertising had just been banned at the request of the Greens and… the Socialists, when the new government bill was read by Bernie Ecclestone, the British owner of Formula One Holdings and the organiser of the Belgian Formula One Grand Prix in Spa-Francorchamps (Wallonia). Ecclestone said he would abolish the annual race if tobacco companies were no longer allowed to sponsor teams in the Belgian Grand Prix.

Since the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Geneva in 2003, many in the United Nations and in the European Union have created the impression that a struggle of epic proportions was at hand with the aim of depriving the United States of its control over the Internet. However, two weeks ago, at the WSIS meeting in Tunis, a compromise was reached.

For the time being, the management of the Internet will not be taken away from
the International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and transferred to the United Nations. A new Internet Governance Forum, made up of governments as well as private organisations, will be installed next year. Though its purpose is to strengthen the input of governments on internet policy issues, including the domain name system, it will not act as an oversight body for ICANN. All governments have agreed to work within existing organisations, i.e. within the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) of ICANN. The latter is an American organization, over which the US Department of Commerce has vetoing power, but it was created to ensure that there will be no government control of the Internet.

Car dealers importing American cars in Belgium are on the brink of bankruptcy. For the past three months the Belgian government has been refusing to deliver the required safety certificates for the cars. Since 1 September companies importing non-European cars must be able to show European certificates guaranteeing the safety of the cars.

The Belgian authorities are making no problems for Japanese, Korean or other non-American cars, but are refusing to give safety certificates for Dodges, GMCs, Chevrolets, Chryslers, Lincolns and other American car brands. Belgian dealers can import the cars via Germany, where the certificates are delivered without any fuss, but this costs them up to an additional 3,000 euros per car – a surplus which they do not like to inflict on their customers.