Posted on 02/15/2018 9:57:40 AM PST by Michael van der Galien
Dutch Foreign Minister Halbe Zijlstra said for years that, when he was working for oil company Shell in 2006, he attended a meeting in Russia with President Vladimir Putin. Putin, Zijlstra explained on several occasions, said he aimed to restore "Greater Russia" in its full glory. Belarus, Ukraine, and the Baltic states were all part of this "Greater Russia."
On Monday, we found out that Zijlstra wasn't in any meetings with Putin back in 2006.
He admitted this to Dutch daily the Volkskrant after having repeated the story for years, including at his political party's congress back in 2016.
[VIDEO]
According to Zijlstra, however, the story was basically true; Putin did say these things, it's just that he didn't personally hear Putin say it. He got the story from a close friend of his who did attend the meeting and later told him about it.
That's when another minor problem arose: the source -- Shell's Jeroen van der Veer -- says that Zijlstra "misinterpreted" Putin's words. Yes, Van der Veer says, Putin talked about "Greater Russia," but this was nothing more than an explanation of Russia's history -- not an announcement of future military conquests, which is what Zijlstra has said.
According to Zijlstra, Putin had said that he wanted to retake the Balkans, Belarus, and Ukraine. "Kazakhstan would be nice to have." That sounds frightening. But, says Van der Veer, "the term 'nice to have' isn't mine." In other words, Zijlstra fabricated that supposed 'quote.' "An aggressive interpretation" of Putin's statements, Van der Veer says, "isn't mine nor (related to) my choice of words."
(Excerpt) Read more at pjmedia.com ...
Now there’s a switch. “C’mon fellas, I colluded with Putin. Why won’t you believe me?”
LOL. Collusion with Putin is a global phenomenon.
This guy should have been an American politician, where it is OK to lie about being sent to Cambodia or being shot at in Sarajevo.
But historically Russia has always been the “protector” of the Slavs and their fellow orthodox.
Of the Balkan Slavs, the Serbs, Bulgarians, Macedonians, and Montenegrins are Orthodox, while the Croats and Slovenes are Catholic. The Western Slavs are historically Catholic or Protestant (Poles, Slovaks, Czechs, Sorbs). I don't think the Poles think of Russia as a protector and the Czechs and Slovaks don't have fond memories of 1968.
Don’t disagree!
Most nations do things that are in their interest.
And that really is as it should be, doing things for altruistic purposes just keeps you in permanent conflict somewhere in the world. It spends your peoples lives and treasure foolishly!
Will this affect The Neiderland’s position on Turkey ?
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