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de Winter, Leon
3 articles of this author have been cited in the European Press Review so far.
Leon de Winter defends Ayaan Hirsi Ali
The former Dutch Member of Parliament of Somali origin Ayaan Hirsi Ali had to go back to the Netherlands on Monday, October 1st, as the Dutch authorities no longer wanted to pay for her protection if she prolonged her exile in the United States. The Dutch writer Leon de Winter reacts. "Society should cover the cost of this protection, for freedom of expression, one of the pillars of our culture, is being questioned. ... The cost of this protection is nothing compared to its goal, which is to guarantee the continuity of our values. Ayaan Hirsi Ali's case is special. She was threatened at the time as a Dutch citizen and Member of Parliament for having voiced her opinions on political Islam ... It appears that the Dutch government is refusing to protect one of the biggest combatants in the struggle for freedom in Islam for budgetary reasons. How much do royal hunting expeditions cost us?"
» full article (external link, Dutch)
More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Religion, » Weltanschauung, » Netherlands
Leon de Winter on Dutch discomfort
Dutch writer Leon de Winter tries to understand the "general discomfort" of his compatriots as revealed in recent elections. He tells Hans-Peter Born: "It comes from unhappiness with the antiquated, indirect democratic system. Our people are well educated, like the Swiss. We have lots of information. We can read, absorb, and choose. But we only are asked to express our opinion once every four years. Our mayors are not elected, but appointed. Up until a few decades ago, an indirect democracy was needed. But times have changed. We recognize problems, we analyze them, and we are more or less on a par with our politicians... Yet we are condemned to passivity, while our will to take part in the political process has grown exponentially."
» full article (external link, German)
More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Netherlands
Oil finances the jihad
In a joint appeal first published in Global Viewpoint, Dutch politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali and writer Leon de Winter call on the West to free itself from its dependence on oil from the Middle East, saying this would be the most effective weapon against despotism and Islamism. "The ideology of radical Islam cannot be defeated by Western military power, but it can be defeated by another power: by the power of creative and inventive Western minds. In his State of the Union speech earlier this year, President George Bush rightly noted America's oil addiction, but he left the essential point unsaid: this addiction is financing the roadside bombs in Iraq, the development of the Iranian A-bomb, the oppression of women and the proliferation of radical mosques. If you want to defeat bin Laden and the mullahs, start by driving a hybrid."
» full article (external link, German)
More from the press review on the subject » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Energy, » Global
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