Is Italy capable of delivering a thermonuclear strike? Could the Belgians and the Dutch drop hydrogen bombs on enemy targets? And what about Germany — a country where fear of atomkraft is so great that the last government opposed all civilian nuclear power? Germany’s air force couldn’t possibly be training to deliver bombs 13 times more powerful than the one that destroyed Hiroshima, could it?

It is Europe’s dirty secret that the list of nuclear-capable countries extends beyond those — Britain and France — who have built their own weapons. Nuclear bombs are stored on air-force bases in Italy, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands — and planes from each of those countries are capable of delivering them. The Federation of American Scientists believes that there are some 200 B61 thermonuclear gravity bombs scattered across these four countries. Under a NATO agreement struck during the Cold War, the bombs, which are technically owned by the U.S., can be transferred to the control of a host nation’s air force in times of conflict. Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Dutch, Belgian, Italian and German pilots remain ready to engage in nuclear war.

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From Telegraaf:

Nederland koopt 34 miljoen vaccins tegen de Mexicaanse griep (officieel: Nieuwe Influenza A (H1N1)). Dat heeft minister Ab Klink (Volksgezondheid) donderdag besloten. Deze week sluit hij contracten met fabrikanten. Met hen is afgesproken dat de vaccins uiterlijk eind dit jaar klaar moeten zijn.

34 million swine flu vaccines ordered, ready by year end. Hollands population: 16.4 million.

A Dutch TV jury has found Osama bin Laden not guilty of the Sept. 11 attacks.

In the conclusion Wednesday night to the show “Devil’s Advocate” on Dutch public broadcaster Nederland 2, the jury of two men and three women, along with the studio audience, ruled there was no proof bin Laden was the mastermind behind the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in 2001.

The Netherlands, home to “Big Brother” creator Endemol, is known for being on the cutting edge of format-based television. But even for Dutch standards, “Devil’s Advocate,” from Amsterdam production house AVRO, pushes the envelope.

The show features star defense attorney Gerard Spong standing up for some of the world’s worst criminals.

Read the full article on Hollywood Reporter.

The following Dutch documentary from 2005 poses a mindblowing “worst case” scenario where speculation on the currency exchange market and a substantial sell-off of dollars from a hedge fund causes a chain reaction in the markets around the world, leading to a complete collapse of the banking system, and effectively resulting in a political escalation of blame around the globe. Features Peter Schiff, Stephen Roach amongst others.