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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...ch_politics_dc
i'm wondering: what does this mean? is it a normal function of a parliment to collapse every so often? maybe collapse means something other than what i think it means here. i'm not starting a flame war. i'm just asking for someone to clarify what this means.
A lot of parliamentary members resigned.
The government (political party in power) no longer has a majority and can therefore nol onger govern the country.
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hmmmm. . .the country goes to polls next month
this wouldn't be a creative way of avoiding taking the blame for this now would it?
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A part of the Dutch army went to Srebrenica, a part of former Yugoslavia. They were send there by UN operation to protect the locals from the troops of Mladic.
But it didn't help, Mladic's troops took Srebrenica in and many thousands of Muslims disappeared, were killed. This is partly because of failure of the Dutch army and government. The army was too light armed and was given the order not to fight.
The Dutch institute of War has written a report of about 3900 pages in which it explains what happens. From the report it seemed that the Dutch government had failed.
Because of this, prime minister Wim Kok has been to the Queen to tell that the government will step back. The government takes political response for what happened in Srebrenica. The complete government will now be substituted by a temporary government.
In may we have polls and we will choose a new government. I'm very curious what is going to happen.
who is the temporary government made up of? why did everyone leave office? is this kind of thing abnormal for a parliment?
>who is the temporary government made up of?
Other politicians.
>why did everyone leave office?
The Dutch parliament made big mistakes years ago when Srebrenica was taken in by the troops of Mladic. They were there in name of the UN and commanded by UN, but the Dutch are of the opinion it is their failure too. Since they were present in Srebrenica. So the parliament has taken responsibility and resigned.
>is this kind of thing abnormal for a parliment?
I don't know. But I think that if you made big mistakes which led to the lost of many lives, I think you should take responsibility and resign.
Perhaps also some people at UN level should take their responsibility, it was them who coordinated the operation.
What the Dutch government did takes real courage. But they where there in name of the international community and therefor they aren't souly responsible. I did not follow this affaire from the beginning nor did I realy know the details. But Like Shiro said: it whas the UN that coordinated the operations and there for also have responsabilities. I have great respect for Wim Kok and the government of my norther neigbour.
But why didn't he wait for the debate in the senate(I think it is that, de 2de kamer?) ? Was he affraid for a parlement investigation(sorry for the translations but I hope Shiro understands me: een parlementaire onderzoeks commisie)? And I think I read in the news that there still will be one.
[dutch]Effie een andere vraag: skoft, wat betekent dat? Is het fries? De rest denk ik dat ik begrijp: De tijd geen ... [/Dutch]
The pressure on former prime-minister Kok was very high. Especially when minister Pronk told on TV that he would resign because of the results from the report. Since the government is a team and operates as a team, they whole government would need to resign. Further his political opponents laid big pressure on Kok. Especially because of the government polls next month. His opponents smelled blood and attacked Kok from many sides.
There's a senate and a parlement. The parlement is "de 2de kamer" and the senate is "de 1ste kamer".
There will be a parlement investigation, that's for sure. Though there is much discussion when it has to be taken and by whom. Some say by the parlement, but the parlement was involved in taking the decision for Dutchbat going to Srebrenica. So they are also responsible. Therefor many people say it's better to let the senate do the parlement investigation.
Further one can ask if it is the right time for a parlement investigation right now. The report is very large and very new, it takes time before people have read and understood it. I think a parlement investigation is too early right now, since in my opinion the parlement investigation should make things in the report clear. If there will be a parlement investigation when just few people have read and understood the report, they will be asking questions already answered in the report.
[Dutch]Skoft is het Friese woord voor pauze.[/Dutch]