Croatia, the place to be...

This year we went on vacation to Croatia. That country is just fantastic. To start with.... they probably have the finest highway that I have ever had the pleasure of using. It runs from Zagreb to Zadar and further (they are still working on the tail end). It is clean, smooth and beautiful.

First we went to stay in Viganj. For that we had to cross the Adriatic Sea between Ploče and Trpanj. We used Viganj as our base camp for this vacation. We checked out the region by foot, car and boat. The weather was stable and warm with some refreshing winds in the afternoon. We visited Korčula where Marco Polo is supposed to have lived. Actually we visited this beautiful place a couple of times. In order to get there we crossed the Adriatic again between Orebič and Korčula. We went Lumbarda to check out the Mediterranean Sea.

During the last week we checked out places like Lovište watching a fantastic sunset, and Stankoviĉi, where my son made some beautiful dives till 20 meters below sea level. The water everywhere is so cristal clear, you can hardly imagine. The beaches, bays and nature are magnificent. Croatia is truly blessed with such a beautiful nature. I truly hope they will preserve it as it is.

The people of Croatia are very friendly and hospitable. If you make the first move they open up, they tell you stories about the region and share the nicest food with you. They love their country. We've also met very nice folks from Slovenia and Bosnia Herzegovina.

We will be back to Croatia soon. There is so much more to check out. Croatia, the place to be...

Let's meet up with President Assad soon ..

What will happen if hundreds and hundreds of us from all over the world would buy return tickets to Damascus to meet up with President Assad? Simply to sit down with him having a chat about the future of his beautiful country and wonderful people. Let us take a positive approach.

Let us do what our politicians fail to do till today. Let us talk with the President, not just about him. He was born like all of us, as a human being believing in good and bad. Surely he does not want the things to get out of control. Let us sit down with him so he can explain to us what his problems and plans are. Some of his plans will surely show an overlap with the plans of his people. So the goal is to spend time exchanging ideas about what they differ about. What can we, the outside world, do to help resolve the problems between him and a majority of his people.

Till today our politicians are responding to the Syrian crisis as they have done so many times before. They sent out warnings to the President, they reduce trade with Syria, they freeze Syrian bank accounts abroad, ... these things have never done miracles. So, it is time to try something else.. again, let us take a positive approach.

Please share your thoughts....

ENECO redeneert krom...

ENECO levert prima stroom en gas. Ik heb daarover geen enkele klacht. De technische kant van ENECO lijkt zeer goed onder controle. Datzelfde kun je niet zeggen over hun klantendienst. Het is werkelijk dramatisch hoe die dienst werkt. Die dienst kost vermoedelijk erg veel geld, maar die dienst levert echt niet de (door de klant gewenste) kwaliteit. Maar goed, daarover wellicht later meer...

Hier wil ik de aandacht vestigen op de scheve manier van redeneren door de administratie van ENECO. Als je naar de klantendienst belt en vraagt 'wat is mijn saldo?' dan krijg je daarop vrijwel direct een antwoord. Welnu, ik heb bij een bepaalde afdeling van ENECO een tegoed opgebouwd onder een leveringsprogramma, dat ik niet langer gebruik. Nu komt het gekke... het kost die afdeling naar eigen zeggen minstens drie weken om dat tegoed aan mij terug te betalen, want zij moeten eerst beoordelen of ik geen openstaande nota's heb. Dat is krankjorum, dat heb ik hierboven aangetoond. Eén belletje naar de klantendienst en je weet het... Nee hoor, dat kan men niet binnen ENECO. Het moet en zal drie weken of meer gaan duren. Ik vind dat beklagenswaardig....

Where are we heading to?

Where are we heading to? That is the question that keeps me busy lately. The USA and Europe are deeply involved in economical, financial and environmental problems. The enemies seem to be living among us rather than in far away countries. They are our next-door banker, or the stoke broker that we play tennis with or the marketeer that has just succeeded again in selling us backed-air for a lot of money. We are throwing immense amounts of good money after bad. We are keeping countries, institutions and corporations alive because they are too big to fail. Everyone in 'the west', including our leadership, seems very busy solving the short term problems. Our so-called leadership has one simple strategy; it's called 'cutting costs at any price.' All of us seem to be in the 'defense mode.'

In the meantime the rest of the world is overtaking us on all sides. We are not paying any attention. They are buying our bonds, shares and talent. We even help them doing it. Why? well, short term that's good!, says our leadership. Well, I'll tell you, that may be so when considering their bonuses and frequent flyer points, but it sure as hell is not good for the rest of us, let alone our children. It is kicking the can down the road while we can and one day seeing that can dropping down a very high cliff. By then, it's too late...

We need to start getting our act together. We need an 'offensive strategy' to get us out of the s... and back in business again. We need better leadership and most of all, we need directions and a fresh, attractive perspective.

At the moment we have the leadership that we deserve. Hence, we need to change. Once we do, we'll be getting the leadership we deserve right then. That leadership will be better in every aspect of the word.

Kans ontnomen, eeuwig zonde!

Het is eeuwig zonde, dat de Nederlandse politiek, meer speciaal Wouter Bos, de stekker uit de missie in Uruzgan heeft getrokken. Alles duidde erop dat 'de Nederlanders' goed werk leverden in Uruzgan met veel respect voor de plaatselijke bevolking en machtsverhoudingen. Brigade-generaal Van de heuvel kon het niet treffender samenvatten tijdens zijn rede bij de overdracht van de scepter aan de Amerikanen en Australiërs: 'Er is nog tijd nodig’, aldus de Van de Heuvel, ‘En daaraan ontbreekt het meestal in onze westerse samenleving (lees ook: Volkskrant.nl/rede brigade generaal van de heuvel)’ Kortom, er is zowel de bevolking van Uruzgan als ook de bevolking van Nederland een kans op een goede toekomst (met elkaar) ontnomen. De Nederlandse politiek heeft weer eens bewezen uitsluitend met korte termijn en eigen belang bezig te zijn.