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A Rescue Package for Tehran?
If the leaked draft US-Iran memorandum looks even broadly like this, then from an Israeli perspective, it is hard to celebrate it as a diplomatic breakthrough. It looks more like a very familiar Middle Eastern genre: the West rewards a regime for perhaps, at some later point, being willing to talk about what it should have stopped doing long ago. According to the draft, Iran would receive a 60-day negotiation window. In the meantime, it could gain access to frozen funds, oil
Tamas Vajda
Jun 175 min read
Health Insurance Funds — Healthcare Costs, Social Benefits, and Government Oversight
Health insurance funds under fire - Billions for healthcare costs and social benefits with limited government oversight
Belgium's Health Insurance Funds play a central role in the distribution of Healthcare Costs reimbursements and Social Benefits. Every year, these organisations manage billions of euros in public funds on behalf of the federal government. However, criticism of the system continues to grow. While taxpayers provide the funding, the Health Insurance Funds are
Redactie / Editors
Jun 174 min read
Belgium's Infrastructure Crisis - Why the Road Network and Belgian Rail Must Be Urgently Expanded and Improved
Belgium likes to call itself the crossroads or heart of Europe. Geographically, that is accurate, but in terms of mobility, the country increasingly resembles a bottleneck rather than a hub. The chronic problems within Belgium Infrastructure, the daily traffic chaos on the Brussels Ring Road and the Antwerp Ring Road, and the shortcomings of Belgian Rail (NMBS/SNCB) all demonstrate that Belgium urgently needs an ambitious investment policy. Belgium's infrastructure is falling
Redactie / Editors
Jun 135 min read
The Digital Gulag
Von der Leyen’s Europe proudly presents itself as the cradle of liberty. The Enlightenment, the democratic rule of law, and Free Speech rank among the foundations upon which Europe built its civilisation and by which it inspired the rest of the world. Yet behind this self-assured display, a development is unfolding that is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore: the criminalisation of unorthodox opinions. Warnings about the steady erosion of free speech were dismissed for
Alexandra S. Villers
Jun 93 min read
The dystopia after the fall of the wall – A struggle between the horde and the swarm
1989 was welcomed as a year of liberation. A wave of freedom swept through Eastern Europe and brought with it a surge of hope that seemed to close the chapter of actually existing socialism once and for all. Francis Fukuyama wrote The End of History, interpreting this historical transition as the definitive triumph of liberal democracy. According to Luigi Curini, however, beneath the fallen walls lay ruins as well. The collapse of communism left behind a heavy legacy that has
Redactie / Editors
Jun 88 min read
Double standards in academia? Belgian universities, Israeli universities, academic freedom and foreign funding
The central question is not merely whether cooperation with Israeli Universities is desirable, but whether Belgian Universities apply the same standards to all of their international partners. When institutions invoke ethical principles, those principles must be applied consistently. Otherwise, the impression of political selectivity inevitably arises.
Redactie / Editors
Jun 74 min read
Brussels riots - Vlaams Belang demands tough crackdown after chaos over French-language education reform Belgium
The Brussels riots of June 4, 2026, left a city shaken. What began as a peaceful demonstration against the controversial education reform Belgium had put forward descended into arson, vandalism and violent clashes with police near Central Station. Vlaams Belang responded immediately, demanding a firm and uncompromising crackdown. Meanwhile, French-language education, already gripped by weeks of strikes, once again found itself at the centre of a broader political debate about
Redactie / Editors
Jun 54 min read
Belgian state reform - a confederation like Switzerland with lower taxes
Belgian state reform needs a clear next step: transform Belgium into a confederation inspired by Switzerland, with more autonomy, stronger responsibility and lower taxes. The current federal system has become too complex, with overlapping powers, too many political layers and an increasingly expensive state. A confederal model could make Belgium simpler, more efficient and more democratic. This is what the biggest coalition party the NV-A already prefers to obtain for the las
Redactie / Editors
Jun 35 min read
Democracy vs. Dictatorship - The free world must form one united front
The battle between democracy vs dictatorship is no abstract ideological debate, it is an existential confrontation unfolding daily on the borders of Ukraine, in the Taiwan Strait, and around Israel. Free world cooperation is not merely a political choice but a matter of survival. Without peace through strength and without fundamental NATO reforms and expansion to include like-minded democratic nations, the West will fall one by one under the pressure of autocratic aggression.
Redactie / Editors
Jun 25 min read
Gazalighting, hostages, accountability and double standards - On the selective outrage dominating our society, media and politics
There is a word that captures precisely what has been happening in our media and politics for the past two years: gazalighting. Just like gaslighting, the psychological manipulation of someone's grip on reality, gazalighting inverts the facts and turns perpetrators into victims. The starting point of this conflict, the bloody terrorist attack carried out by Hamas on October 7, 2023, in which more than 1,200 innocent civilians were murdered and over 250 people taken as hostage
Redactie / Editors
May 304 min read
The asylum crisis demonstrations are a warning to the governing class and democratic legitimacy - Playing with fire in the asylum and migration failure policy in Netherlands
The recent asylum demonstrations protest in Loosdrecht, IJsselstein, Uithoorn, and Apeldoorn are revealing something the Netherlands can no longer ignore. Demonstrators across the country are sounding the alarm: mass migration must stop, and public support has reached its limit. The asylum crisis Netherlands is making the country - along with the rest of Europe - increasingly unrecognisable and less safe. That deserves acknowledgment. More importantly, it demands governmental
Daniël de Liever
May 296 min read
The Double Standard of Belgian Justice - Two Measures, Two justices
Something is profoundly wrong with the Belgian justice system when it comes to freedom of speech. The double standard applied by Belgian justice can no longer be ignored. Two cases, two verdicts, one conclusion: selective justice determines who may speak with impunity in Belgium, and who may not. Freedom of speech, it turns out, is not equal for everyone in practice.
Redactie / Editors
May 283 min read
When the Platform Outgrows the Knowledge - Expertise overreach media responsibility
Marc van Ranst is an expert on viruses. Anuna de Wever has certain knowledge about the climate. Greta Thunberg has CO₂ graphs memorised. That is important knowledge, each of them in their own fields, they deserve attention, recognition, sometimes even admiration. But somewhere between the platform and the microphone, something has gone wrong. Because today those same figures, with that same confidence, are offering their opinions on the Middle East, one of the most complex ge
Redactie / Editors
May 273 min read
Nationality, Citizenship, Democracy, and Integration - Belgium Should No Longer Grant Belgian Nationality to Migrants So Readily
Nationality, citizenship, democracy, and integration require a careful distinction between residence and full membership of the political community. Nationality is more than an administrative document. In a democracy, citizenship means access to political rights, public office, and lasting participation in the community. That is why integration must be central to every policy concerning nationality.
Redactie / Editors
May 234 min read
Keyvan Shahbazi Wins the Pim Fortuyn Prize 2026 - The Iranian Cause in the Dutch Media
With Keyvan Shahbazi winning the Pim Fortuyn Prize 2026, a powerful voice for the Iranian cause in the Dutch media receives the recognition it deserves. For years, Shahbazi has spoken out with clarity, courage and conviction about Iran, freedom of speech, political Islam and the struggle for a free Iran. He is not a distant commentator observing events from the sidelines. He speaks from personal experience, history and belief. His voice was shaped by Iran, but his message has
Redactie / Editors
May 224 min read
First Tehran, then Moscow, and soon Brussels
In July 2025, the Online Safety Act came into force in the United Kingdom, a law designed to keep children away from pornography and other "harmful content." Websites were required to verify "robustly" whether a visitor was of legal age. One of the permitted methods seemed both clever and privacy-friendly: instead of uploading your passport, you simply held your face up to the webcam, after which an AI estimated your age from your facial features. No documents, no hassle. Jus
Thijs Jansen
May 219 min read
Open Letter: Public Broadcaster or Ideological Activism?
Criticism of the VRT is growing. And rightly so. More and more Flemings are asking themselves how it is possible that a public broadcaster, funded by the tax contributions of all citizens, increasingly behaves like an ideological platform promoting a single worldview rather than a neutral news organisation. When neutrality fades, trust follows. The recent intervention by Maarten Boudry on De Afspraak was particularly illuminating in that regard. With concrete examples, he exp
Ralph Pais
May 203 min read
BeNews Podcast: U.S. Ambassador to Belgium Bill White
BeNews Podcast: U.S. Ambassador to Belgium Bill White
Sigal Rabinovitz
May 181 min read
Subsidyland Belgium: mutuality’s, transparency and taxpayer money
Subsidyland, mutuality’s, transparency and tax money are four words that go to the heart of Belgium’s subsidy problem. Belgium has become a subsidyland in which mutuality’s (healthcare insurance organisations), NGOs and countless civil-society organisations no longer stand at the edge of government, but have become almost financially fused with it. The problem is not that solidarity costs money. The problem is that tax money flows through a forest of structures, while transpa
Redactie / Editors
May 185 min read
Budget, spending cuts, the state apparatus and subsidies: Flanders must now dare to press ahead
The Flemish government has reached an agreement on the budget. That is good news in itself, because governing begins with counting. But anyone who counts honestly also knows that one round of spending cuts will not be enough. Flanders cannot continue pretending that the state apparatus will slim down by itself, or that subsidies are sacred cows that must never be led to the slaughterhouse. A sound budget agreement is not the end point. At most, it is the beginning of a mature
Redactie / Editors
May 165 min read
“The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities.”
— Ayn Rand
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