Posted on 07/25/2014 12:45:41 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
The Netherlands is poised to send its most elite soldiers to secure the crash site of Malaysian Airways MH17, the Telegraaf reports on Friday.
The paper says all leave for the commandos of the 11 Luchtmobiele Brigade based in Schaarsbergen and Assen has been cancelled and that soldiers will leave for eastern Ukraine this weekend.
In addition, Dutch special forces currently in Mali are being recalled and sent on to the area around Donetsk, the paper says, without quoting sources.
The aim of sending troops is to ensure the 23 Dutch crash investigators and 40 unarmed military police officers can do their job, the paper says.
Unarmed
On Thursday, Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte said the Netherlands is to send 40 unarmed military police officers to the MH17 crash site in Ukraine to help forensic experts look for the remaining bodies of the victims.
The military officers (marechaussee) will not be used to secure the the area, Rutte told a news conference.
Earlier this week it was reported the Netherlands and Australia were working on sending an international army and police mission to secure the crash site in rebel-held eastern Ukraine but Rutte refused to go into details.
‘We are looking for ways to stabilise the area,’ he said. ‘It is not clear if that will succeed.’
Australia
However, according to Australian media reports, Australia is sending up to 100 police officers to Ukraine, some of whom will be armed.
The Australian newspaper says Australia is close to securing a deal with Ukraine for federal police officers to secure the wreckage site of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17.
Prime minister Tony Abbott said 90 federal police officers were in Europe now and another 100 would be sent from Australia today.
In addition, he said a 'very modest' ADF team was in the Ukraine already for planning and protection duties.
Risks
Meanwhile, Dutch police unions have said they have serious doubts about sending unarmed officers to Ukraine and say there are major risks attached to their mission.
Police officers should be used as part of a UN mission, they said. ‘But sending 40 unarmed officers is not what we were thinking of,’ a spokesman from one union told Nos news.
Fine, let the Dutch fight the Russians. Not our problem.
Nothing’s ever your problem is it? People like you don’t really matter. You don’t care about the rest of the world, and neither does the rest of the world care about you and your opinion.
Can't blame them for stepping up. Obama sure as hell is not going to do anything.
I guess negotiations with Borodai for the return of the bodies of the MH17 victims that the Russians are holding for ransom didn't go very well.
“The paper says all leave for the commandos of the 11 Luchtmobiele Brigade based in Schaarsbergen and Assen has been cancelled and that soldiers will leave for eastern Ukraine this weekend.”
They’re sending a mobile field kitchen; how is that stepping up?
(Sorry)
Is that a threat —
So they'll be going Dutch.
But will they be going Commando?
Will their battle cry be “Remember Srebrenicza!?”
Hup, Holland, Hup!
Ukraine's not. If I don't really matter, then why are you answering me?
You mean "Hanes Off".
PLUS 1!
ouch.
My guess is the state department is in a dither.
The Netherlands IS a NATO member.
If this goes south, where does NATO stand?
If Russian forces attack Dutch soldiers inside the sovereign territory of Ukraine, the Netherlands will have the right to invoke article 5 of the NATO charter, requiring NATO to come to their aid against Russia’s aggressive acts of war.
If Russian forces attack Dutch soldiers inside the sovereign territory of Ukraine, the Netherlands will have the right to invoke article 5 of the NATO charter, requiring NATO to come to their aid against Russia’s aggressive acts of war.
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The heck with that, if the Dutch want to start their own little war, let them. Not my circus, not my monkeys.
Oh noes, not the Dutch special forces. No, not them. Run away Putin, RUN!
You don’t really get to decide.
You don’t really get to decide.
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I know. Sadly.
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