Netherlands vote: A gauge for other European elections?

Members of civic organization Avaaz celebrate the victory of center-right VVD party in the general elections, in The Hague on March 15, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

These are some of the headlines we are tracking for you in this episode of On the News Line:

Netherlands vote: A gauge for other European elections?

The Dutch went to the polls on Wednesday at a time that the country’s political landscape has never been so fractured as it is at the current juncture. Many are believed to have already started to abandon the mainstream parties that have governed the country for the past 50 years.  Instead, the voters - as shown in recent opinion polls – have been more attracted to smaller anti-politics parties. A main driving force behind this has been the controversial far-right, anti-Islam rhetoric of politicians like Geert Wilders – the leader of the Dutch Freedom party or the PVV. Regardless of the results of Wednesday’s election in the Netherlands, one thing is very likely to happen in a future not too far away: The spread of anti-Islamic sentiments across Europe that have specifically emerged over the past year with the deterioration of the refugee crisis across the continent. And with this, there will be consequences in which European countries may not be prepared to handle properly.   

Trump's purge of US judicial system

Nearly two months into office, US president Donald Trump is still Haunted by the previous administration. The Trump administration ordered 46 US attorneys to offer their resignation. The goal of such a move is definitely clearing away the remnants of the Obama administration in the US judiciary. Some attorneys were told to vacate their offices by the close of business day. Among them was Preet Bharara, the US attorney for the Southern District of New York. Bharara had made a name for himself by aggressively prosecuting Wall Street misconducts and rooting out corruption within the sphere of his jurisdiction, that is, New York. Bharara is said to have been a close counselor to democratic senator Chuck Schumer who recently clashed with the Trump administration over its alleged links to Russia.

South Korea crisis

South Korea is going through a chaotic time. President Park Geun-hye has been ousted from office. Last week, judges in the Constitutional Court upheld a decision by the country’s parliament to impeach her. She was involved in a corruption scandal linked to her close friend Choi Soon-sil. This is big news in South Korea. The country soon descended into chaos after the court verdict came out. But who’s Park Geun-hye and what is her political background.


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