Belgian Big Bang???

[RetroRuss]

Ah but it was us British who discovered New York! and it was eventually named after one of our cities!!

Henri Hudson
In 1609, an English sailor named Henri Hudson discovered a great bay with a big river flowing into it from the mountains, at a latitude of forty-one degrees north and a longitude of seventy-four degrees west.
Hudson had been entrusted by the Flemings Emmanuel Van Meteren, Judocus Hondius and Petrus Plancius to discover a new passage to the land of Tartars and to China, on behalf of the East-Indies Company.
While he was exploring the coasts of America on his ship, luck would have him discover, 85 years after Verrazzano, the territory of the future New York, together with the river who was going to be called after him.

[dfc99bb]

Originally Posted by Headlamp

Ah but it was us British who discovered New York! and it was eventually named after one of our cities!!

That's right. We joke here on Staten Island that a lot of our traffic problems are due to the fact that we still have pretty much the same road network that the Dutch and British left us over 200 years ago.

[Videoskooter]

Originally Posted by Headlamp

Ah but it was us British who discovered New York! and it was eventually named after one of our cities!!

No, not exactly Read your own quote my dear Russ and discover that it was this man who really went their first:

Discoverers Web: Verrazzano

An Italian

But the whole point is: Belgians are always neglected somehow but maybe we are (too) modest and do not brag about everything like the Dutch always do

sssssshoooooo sssshorrrry!



And now back on topic: Flanders a part of Holland???

NEVAH EVAH!!! We kicked 'em out in 1830 and we are perfectly happy without 'em

[Videoskooter]

OK, I know I've let the board down on this because you are ALL desperately waiting for an update of this thread!

Well, it's getting worse every day now. Still no government after 155 days because...

The Flemish are not on speaking terms with the Walloons and wait for a goodwill gesture by the Walloons who won't speak with the Flemish because they wait for a goodwill gesture by the Flemish and both are ordered by the King to negotiate but still they won't speak to each other because both are still waiting for a goodwill gesture from the other party and now hate sites are being created that are not really helpful because if it goes on like this we will have a real big bang or civil war and in reality everybody's fed up with everybody here and I'm going to eat a pizza quattro stagioni!

Belgian crisis deepens after collapse of coalition talks - International Herald Tribune

The Walloons angry leaving after the Flemish voted on a part of the state reform:

[dfc99bb]

Originally Posted by Videoskooter

No, not exactly Read your own quote my dear Russ and discover that it was this man who really went their first:

Discoverers Web: Verrazzano

An Italian

TRUE! The bridge linking Brooklyn to Staten Island is the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, named after Verrazzano.

Now back to Belgium. When you say a civil war is possible, do you mean an actual shooting war like the US Civil War, or a bullshit all-talk European-style civil war??

[Videoskooter]

Originally Posted by dfc99bb

Now back to Belgium. When you say a civil war is possible, do you mean an actual shooting war like the US Civil War, or a bullshit all-talk European-style civil war??

First things first: it was 1 DELICIOUS PIZZA! MMMHHH!

Well, uptil 2day Belgians are joking about a civil war, but...too bad I can't post the famous Anti-Flemish hate site here, made by radical Walloons because it's in French (yeah, of course).

There are 6 million Flemish against 4 million Walloons. Don't forget that 1 million Flemish voted for the right-extremist Vlaams Belang (Flemish Interest). If those radicals (and believe me, they are heating up) will start retaliating to the provocations of some Walloon radicals we could have trouble and nobody knows where that will be taking us.

A shoot out? Probably and hopefully not, but it's time that some people come to their senses, if not, things can and will get out of hand.

Let's face it: if the Flemish Christian-Democrats and Liberal party (who won the election) will make a compromise/deal with the Walloon parties, next elections in 2009 (regional election) will be won by the radical extremists and they WILL declare Flemish independence!

I'll keep you posted

[Videoskooter]

And we all go down together!

Telex....still no government....last ultimatum expires Saturday 01/12/2007-9 AM Belgian time....if the Walloons say no the very last offer then....MAJOR CRISIS!

What a CHARADE

[dfc99bb]

So if Dec. 1, 2007 passes without the issues being resolved, then what? When I wake up tomorrow morning Belgium could be in chaos? Will Belgian Waffles be removed from the menu at my local diner? (And what does that fake movie poster translate to?)

[Videoskooter]

Originally Posted by dfc99bb

So if Dec. 1, 2007 passes without the issues being resolved, then what? When I wake up tomorrow morning Belgium could be in chaos?

Yes, then we have a constitutional crisis and we have to form an emergency government.

Originally Posted by dfc99bb

Will Belgian Waffles be removed from the menu at my local diner?

They will become very valuable-nostalgic food! Just like the Atlantis Burger!

Originally Posted by dfc99bb

(And what does that fake movie poster translate to?)

That's appearing everywhere right now. It mentions all the names of the party chairmen that are currently trying to govern and signifies the last days of King Albert II.

[dfc99bb]

I read in the Brussels Journal that talks have collapsed. Nothing yet on the cable news networks here, but I expect that this story will now get more coverage on US TV.

Story here: Brussels: Coalition Talks Collapse

[Videoskooter]

Indeed, we are in the biggest crisis ever. At this stage we can not form a federal government anymore. Flemish and Walloons have a completely different agenda and we need a sort of miracle to get the two ethnical groups on the same (Belgian) road again.

What now? Nobody knows! Every formula for creating a government has its boobytraps. New elections (with probably the same outcome)? Towards a confederation like Switzerland is a possibility. Or maybe, the implosion of Belgium will be happening very soon, in a few weeks or the second half of 2008).

I repeat, nobody knows how to handle the situation at the moment.

One nation under a groove?

The man (our man), Christian-Democrat Yves Leterme, who has tried to form a government over the last 180 days but failed today:

[Nano]

And now the Belgian bigbang virus is contagious! See Bolivia:

Four Bolivian regions declare autonomy from government - CNN.com

Some people here expressed doubts about Fox News' credibility, so I chose a respectable source: CNN

[Videoskooter]

Peeps, look what we got as Christmas present: a real federal government! Thank you Santa!

(This inbetween-government under former prime minister Guy Verhofstadt will stay on til' Eastern and then the real government with a new prime minister, mr. Yves Leterme, will be installed (if everything works out as planned of course!)

[Videoskooter]

Hi Tension Time again 2day (8th of May 2008)!

After 50 days of governing the battle is in full force again! At noon the Flemish will use their majority to vote against the Walloons on a very sensitive topic: the split of an electoral area around Brussels (sorry, even I can not explain that to non-Belgians).

3 possibilities:

- the vote will be avoided at the last minute
- the vote is on and that could mean the end of the current government and the start of a very deep institutional crisis.
- the government stays in power but with the next deadline on July 15th when the Flemish absolutely want their state reform.

U can't follow this anymore? Neither do we, ze Belgians

[Videoskooter]

OMG, we're getting press coverage in the US of A

Belgium News - Breaking World Belgium News - The New York Times

Belgium teeters on a linguistic edge - International Herald Tribune