These jokes are the worst.
…the US Ambassador to NZ has been an embarrassment.
Scott Brown is of course Ambassador to New Zealand. Who were leaders in the fight to kick nuclear testing out of the pacific because of the damage it was doing to the fishing and all the sealife and to the indigenous peoples. We sailed our navy ships into testing areas as protests. The French sunk a ship in Auckland Harbour because of this. We have a ban on nuclear powered ships. *This is all taught in our schools.
*
Of course we know the dangers of nuclear fallout. Who the hell does he think we are?
And more from Brown:
If you’ve never heard a Kim Hill interview before, then have a listen, she’s the best interviewer in the country, and one of the best in the world…its about an hour.
Could they BE any more undiplomatic?
Come on, this administration loves the Dutch. I’m sure Donald would fly in at a moments notice to put a finger in a dyke.
Oh, he wasn’t grabbing anyone by the pussy; he was… no, don’t even want to go there!
Well played.
The EU passed a law last year instructing member states to collect and share PNR data, and has entered into treaties to share the data with the US, Canada, and Australia, and is currently in negotiations with Mexico.
Hoekstra was asked by Dutch reporters about the no-go zone claims and the “fake news” denial in a news conference on Wednesday, saying, “I issued a statement, I expressed my regrets and my apology for the comments that I made. And I am not revisiting the issue.” When the reporters asked further questions, he stopped talking.
And a nitpick regarding the OP. During the December interview mentioned in the OP, I do not believe he was shown footage of his 2015 remarks. Instead, that video clip was played for the television viewer. The reporter later said he didn’t think it would be necessary to show the video to the ambassador.
A bit more information from the NY Times. First, he is Dutch born (not surprising as Hoekstra is obviously a Dutch name). But really strange was that he also claimed that the Muslims in The Netherlands were burning cars and politicians and that there are no-go zones. He gave a press conference when arrived as ambassador and when he was asked about this statement, he said he had already regretted what he had said. When the reporters present asked for further clarification, he clammed up and refused to answer any more questions, sitting mute while they peppered him with questions. Some ambassador.
Hoekstra represents everything that I see in modern American “conservatism.” An unflinching belief that he’s right and even if he’s forced to admit that he’s blatantly wrong, he’s not going to apologize for it. I’m glad the Dutch media actually does their fucking job, unlike our media which don’t really know how to. What our press does not seem to understand is that they don’t “win” against the president’s lies by baiting him and his apparatchiks into WWE-style interviews; they win by relentlessly demanding accountability and explanations of falsehoods. The media shouldn’t be exciting or entertaining. They should be demanding, and in America, they’re not.
That was my impression; he tried to get away with it because he thought he could get away with it.
Outside the USA, standing in front of a couple of head nodding sycophants making a statement in response is not the same as being held to account. Can you imagine President Trump doing this:
Ah. I did misinterpret that. But it seems from Hoekstra’s response that he did realize the content of previous statements and that the recording was available.
And his “statement” that he now refers to is the epitome of a non-pology.
Right out of the Trump/Huckabee Sanders-playbook: “It may be false, but the threat is real!”
Apparently he’s now made a more proper apology in a newspaper interview, but seems he’s still hedging it with “I got the country wrong.”