Comedy show in Dutch Parliament by Government Coalition on purchase Lockheed F-35 avoids crises

EU-Digest

Comedy show in Dutch Parliament by Government Coalition on purchase Lockheed F-35 avoids crises

The discussion on buying two JSF test planes brought the Dutch governing coalition - the Christian Democrats, the Labor Party and the Christian Union - close to crisis this week after the Labour MPs said they would not agree to buy the controversial Lockheed F-35 fighter aircraft. Following a variety of intense meetings between the partners in the coalition a compromise was reached whereby it was decided to put a non-refundable down payment on the purchase of one JSF operational test aircraft and to delay a final decision on whether or not to buy that single aircraft until next year and to move the final decision to purchase 85 of the F35 Joint Strike Aircraft to 2012, one year after the next general elections.

Buying one JSF test plane would cost the Netherlands 113.2 million euros, but financing one would still be around 100 million euros. Opposition parties considered this a complete "turn-around" by the Labor party and a "comical" performance by the whole government coalition, whereby nothing has changed except that the verb purchasing was changed into the verb financing. They noted that financing the test plane comes down to the same thing as buying it. Opting out of the test phase at a later stage will cost the Netherlands between 20 and 100 million euros, according to insiders.

The bottom-line is that the Government coalition probably realized that if the confrontation had resulted in early elections, the populist conservative hardliner, Mr. Geert Wilders, chairman of the Party for Freedom (PVV) probably would have been the next PM of the Netherlands. Consequently the F-35 Joint Strike drama will continue in the Netherlands.

Radio Netherlands: Dutch Government coalition labor party opposes purchasing F-35 prototype

For the complete report from Radio Netherlands click on this link

Dutch Government coalition labor party opposes purchasing F-35 prototype

A crisis is brewing in the Dutch cabinet over the proposed purchase of two US-built Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) prototype jet fighters. The JSF is the proposed successor to the fleet of F16s currently used by the Royal Dutch Airforce. A decision on whether to spend 6.1 billion euros to buy 85 of the JSF fighters does not have to be taken until 2010. However, the three coalition parties do have to decide this year whether to buy the two prototypes. Coalition member the Labor Party now opposes the purchase, which would cost 274 million euros. It says that while it wants the Netherlands to remain involved in the development of the fighter - because this will offer employment and research opportunities to Dutch companies - it also believes that agreeing to buy the prototypes will commit the country to further purchases. Labor supporters are opposed to spending such a huge sum of money on a fighter jet in these troubled economic times.

The Huffington Post: How Europe & Canada Could Help Us! - by Steve Cobble:

The F-35 Joint strike Fighter - does anyone really need it?

For the complete report from the Huffington Post

How Europe & Canada Could Help Us! - by Steve Cobble

Europe (and our good friends the Canadians) can help the U.S. get its act together by putting on the brakes--not the economic brakes, but the military brakes. Here are some suggestions: Help get us out of Iraq; Don't join us in Afghanistan with military forces; Give up on the Bush/Cheney idea of European Missile Defense; Help us getting rid of several hundred overseas military bases; Pull out of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, before it's too late to stop it. The time is now, when President Obama's budget is being considered in Congress. It is particularly disappointed to see the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, and Canada on it. I sort of expect the U.K. to go along with whatever grandiose military ideas the Pentagon comes up with, since even massive Labor Party antiwar activism could still not stop Tony Blair from his stupid, illegal, and disastrous backing for George W. Bush's invasion of Iraq. But why is the Netherlands building F-35s? Why are Norway & Denmark?

Pentagon's proposal is to build 2,458 of these F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, at a minimum cost of $100 million apiece, the future costs are huge. Some experts believe that the life-cycle costs of the F-35 will approach a trillion dollars, more than Obama's first stimulus package!