{"id":1066,"date":"2025-10-02T04:02:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T04:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/frans-bieckmann\/"},"modified":"2025-10-02T04:02:00","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T04:02:00","slug":"frans-bieckmann","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/blogs\/frans-bieckmann\/","title":{"rendered":"Frans Bieckmann"},"content":{"rendered":"<section class=\"content column wide left blog content view\" id=\"content\">\n<div id=\"banner-fade\" class=\"block\">\n<ul class=\"bjqs noside\">\n<li>\n\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Frans Bieckmann\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/files\/var\/broker\/storage\/images\/blogs\/frans-bieckmann\/15272-7-eng-gb\/frans-bieckmann_carousel.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<div class=\"text intro_highlight\">\n<h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t<strong><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<i><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFrans Bieckmann<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/strong><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">Editor in Chief Frans Bieckmann will update an editor&#8217;s blog reflecting on the thought processes behind production of The Broker and highlighting interesting, useful and unusual information that he comes across day to day<\/p>\n<div class=\"pubDate\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<!-- \n\n<p class=\"right\"> | May 05, 2025<\/p>\n\n-->\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<a href=\"#blog-description\" class=\"popup readmore\" rel=\"prettyPhoto\" title=\"Frans Bieckmann\"><strong>&#x25b6;<\/strong><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div id=\"blog-description\" class=\"hide\">\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">Editor in Chief Frans Bieckmann will update an editor&#8217;s blog reflecting on the thought processes behind production of The Broker and highlighting interesting, useful and unusual information that he comes across day to day<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article\">\n<div class=\"body contents\">\n<div class=\"share\">\n\t\t<script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n    var addthis_config = {\n        ui_language = 'en'\n    }\n<\/script><\/p>\n<div class=\"addthis sharing\">\n\t<!-- AddThis Button BEGIN --><\/p>\n<div class=\"addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style addthis_32x32_style\" addthis:title=\"Frans Bieckmann\">\n\t<a class=\"addthis_button_twitter\" tw:via=\"thebrokeronline\"><\/a><br \/>\n\t<a class=\"addthis_button_facebook\"><\/a><br \/>\n\t<a class=\"addthis_button_pinterest_share\"><\/a><br \/>\n\t<a class=\"addthis_button_preferred_4\"><\/a><br \/>\n\t<a class=\"addthis_button_compact\"><\/a><br \/>\n\t<a class=\"addthis_counter addthis_bubble_style\"><\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n<p>\t<script type=\"text\/javascript\">var addthis_config = data_track_addressbar;<\/script><br \/>\n\t<script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/files\/js\/300\/addthis_widget.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n\t<!-- AddThis Button END -->\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"addthis article_options\">\n\t\t<!-- \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/mandrill\/subscription\/add\/75009\/2989\">Subscribe<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t -->\n    \t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n<section class=\"subitem content column wide left blog\">\n<div class=\"children blue\">\n<div class=\"rounded-corner\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"article fader\">\n<section class=\"children related\">\n<div class=\"article\">\n<div class=\"wleft\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/blogs\/frans-bieckmann\/false-neutrality\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/files\/extension\/broker\/design\/broker\/images\/no-image.png\" alt=\"False neutrality \"><\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"wright\">\n<header>\n<h3 class=\"blog_post\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/blogs\/frans-bieckmann\/false-neutrality\/\">False neutrality <\/a><\/h3>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/experts-and-authors\/bieckmann-frans\/\">Frans Bieckmann<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t|<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t06 March 2025<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/header>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">\n\t\t\tThe uprising in North Africa and the Middle East calls for a thorough rethinking of the European Union&#8217;s and its member states&#8217; policies towards the region. Europe\u2019s reaction to the recent events in its backyard has been slow, ambivalent and witho&#8230;\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<a class=\"more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/blogs\/frans-bieckmann\/false-neutrality\/\">&#x25b6;<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"children related\">\n<div class=\"article\">\n<div class=\"wleft\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/files\/extension\/broker\/design\/broker\/images\/no-image.png\" alt=\"West is least cosmopolitan\"><\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"wright\">\n<header>\n<h3 class=\"blog_post\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\">West is least cosmopolitan<\/a><\/h3>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/experts-and-authors\/bieckmann-frans\/\">Frans Bieckmann<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t|<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t17 February 2025<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/header>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">\n\t\t\tIn one of his last blog posts, Duncan Green pointed to Martin Jacques&#8217; fascinating TED talk : Understanding the rise of China, which offers some confrontational and thought-provoking glimpses of China and its future role in the world.China will be&#8230;\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<a class=\"more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\">&#x25b6;<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"children related\">\n<div class=\"article\">\n<div class=\"wleft\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/blogs\/frans-bieckmann\/uk-government-does-not-cut-development-budget\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/files\/extension\/broker\/design\/broker\/images\/no-image.png\" alt=\"UK government does not cut development budget\"><\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"wright\">\n<header>\n<h3 class=\"blog_post\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/blogs\/frans-bieckmann\/uk-government-does-not-cut-development-budget\/\">UK government does not cut development budget<\/a><\/h3>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t20 October 2025<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/header>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">\n\t\t\tOwen Barder writes in his latest blog post about the spending plans for the coming four years the Conservative government in the UK presented yesterday. \u2018Overall, this spending review is a seismic political event\u2019, Barder writes, with spending cut&#8230;\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<a class=\"more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/blogs\/frans-bieckmann\/uk-government-does-not-cut-development-budget\/\">&#x25b6;<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"children related\">\n<div class=\"article\">\n<div class=\"wleft\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/files\/extension\/broker\/design\/broker\/images\/no-image.png\" alt=\"Debating Dutch foreign policies\"><\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"wright\">\n<header>\n<h3 class=\"blog_post\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\">Debating Dutch foreign policies<\/a><\/h3>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/experts-and-authors\/bieckmann-frans\/\">Frans Bieckmann<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t|<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t13 October 2025<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/header>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">\n\t\t\tThe Netherlands has a new government: Rutte-Verhagen. A two-party government (the \u2018liberal\u2019 VVD led by Mark Rutte, and Christian Democrat CDA led by Maxime Verhagen) that legitimizes right-wing populist, anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders, by ope&#8230;\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<a class=\"more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\">&#x25b6;<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"children related\">\n<div class=\"article\">\n<div class=\"wleft\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/files\/extension\/broker\/design\/broker\/images\/no-image.png\" alt=\"Obama: \u2018End hollow promises that are not kept\u2019\"><\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"wright\">\n<header>\n<h3 class=\"blog_post\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\">Obama: \u2018End hollow promises that are not kept\u2019<\/a><\/h3>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t22 September 2025<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/header>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">\n\t\t\tWhatever we think about the US or about the MDGs, a speech by an American president is always worth analyzing. Development, in the end, is about power and power relations. And the US is still the greatest power in the world. On Wednesday, the fina&#8230;\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<a class=\"more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\">&#x25b6;<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"children related\">\n<div class=\"article\">\n<div class=\"wleft\">\n<div class=\"img\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/files\/var\/broker\/storage\/images\/blogs\/frans-bieckmann\/an-occasional-sunday-around-central-park\/54802-1-eng-gb\/an-occasional-sunday-around-central-park_column.jpg\" alt=\"An occasional Sunday around Central Park\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"wright\">\n<header>\n<h3 class=\"blog_post\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\">An occasional Sunday around Central Park<\/a><\/h3>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/experts-and-authors\/bieckmann-frans\/\">Frans Bieckmann<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t|<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t21 September 2025<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/header>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">\n\t\t\tLast Sunday, my activities centred around Central Park. It was such a perfect day, sunny and warm. An Indian Summer. I started from the stiff and stuffy Upper East Side, where the only people you see during the week are cute little \u2018Caucasian\u2019 whi&#8230;\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<a class=\"more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\">&#x25b6;<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"children related\">\n<div class=\"article\">\n<div class=\"wleft\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/files\/extension\/broker\/design\/broker\/images\/no-image.png\" alt=\"Three interesting trends in the traditional aid discussion\"><\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"wright\">\n<header>\n<h3 class=\"blog_post\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\">Three interesting trends in the traditional aid discussion<\/a><\/h3>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t20 September 2025<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/header>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">\n\t\t\tSome countries stage high-level side events to show their commitment to the MDGs or otherwise underline their own priorities. Today I went to one, organized by the German government and presided by German chancellor Angela Merkel herself. She mode&#8230;\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<a class=\"more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\">&#x25b6;<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"children related\">\n<div class=\"article\">\n<div class=\"wleft\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/files\/extension\/broker\/design\/broker\/images\/no-image.png\" alt=\"Innovative financing\"><\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"wright\">\n<header>\n<h3 class=\"blog_post\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\">Innovative financing<\/a><\/h3>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t20 September 2025<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/header>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">\n\t\t\tI am now in a hilarious meeting. It is called the High Level Side-Event about \u2018Innovative Financing for the MDGs\u2019. It started by refusing entry to a group of forty people \u2013 journalists, NGOs, delegations \u2013 for half an hour. Nobody knew why. When w&#8230;\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<a class=\"more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\">&#x25b6;<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"children related\">\n<div class=\"article\">\n<div class=\"wleft\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/files\/extension\/broker\/design\/broker\/images\/no-image.png\" alt=\"Towards a global development strategy\"><\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"wright\">\n<header>\n<h3 class=\"blog_post\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\">Towards a global development strategy<\/a><\/h3>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/experts-and-authors\/bieckmann-frans\/\">Frans Bieckmann<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t|<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t19 September 2025<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/header>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">\n\t\t\tI am in New York for the UN Summit on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). On Monday morning, the delegates from the UN member states will officially finalize the talks about how the targets set for 2015 can be met, despite the lack of progres&#8230;\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<a class=\"more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\">&#x25b6;<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"children related\">\n<div class=\"article\">\n<div class=\"wleft\">\n<div class=\"img\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/files\/var\/broker\/storage\/images\/regulars\/blogs\/frans-bieckmann\/45-minutes\/28711-4-eng-gb\/45-minutes_column.jpg\" alt=\"45 minutes\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"wright\">\n<header>\n<h3 class=\"blog_post\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\">45 minutes<\/a><\/h3>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t12 January 2025<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/header>\n<p class=\"yunu3cvqabft7vifv\">\n\t\t\tYesterday, the Davids Commission \u2013 a high-level group of independent experts appointed by the government \u2013 presented its report into the Dutch decision-making process regarding the invasion of Iraq in 2003. This came after a year of research, incl&#8230;\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<a class=\"more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\">&#x25b6;<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<div class=\"navigator\">\n<div class=\"pagenavigator\">\n\t<a class=\"active\">1<\/a><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"dynamicBrowse\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\" rel=\"\/(offset)\/10\">2<\/a><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"dynamicBrowse\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\" rel=\"\/(offset)\/20\">3<\/a><br \/>\n\t\t\t<!-- End page numbers --><br \/>\n<!-- Next -->\t\t<a class=\"dynamicBrowse\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\" rel=\"\/(offset)\/10\"><em>Next<\/em> &gt;&gt;<\/a><!-- End next -->\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false,"raw":""},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Frans Bieckmann Editor in Chief Frans Bieckmann will update [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template_2.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1066","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Frans Bieckmann \/ Blogs - The Broker<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Editor in Chief Frans Bieckmann will update an editor&#039;s blog reflecting on the thought processes behind production of The Broker and highlighting interesting, useful and unusual information that he comes across day to day\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/blogs\/frans-bieckmann\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Frans Bieckmann \/ Blogs - The Broker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Editor in Chief Frans Bieckmann will update an editor&#039;s blog reflecting on the thought processes behind production of The Broker and highlighting interesting, useful and unusual information that he comes across day to day\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/blogs\/frans-bieckmann\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Homepage - Broker Online\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Frans Bieckmann \/ Blogs - The Broker","description":"Editor in Chief Frans Bieckmann will update an editor's blog reflecting on the thought processes behind production of The Broker and highlighting interesting, useful and unusual information that he comes across day to day","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/blogs\/frans-bieckmann\/","og_type":"article","og_title":"Frans Bieckmann \/ Blogs - The Broker","og_description":"Editor in Chief Frans Bieckmann will update an editor's blog reflecting on the thought processes behind production of The Broker and highlighting interesting, useful and unusual information that he comes across day to day","og_url":"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/blogs\/frans-bieckmann\/","og_site_name":"Homepage - Broker Online","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1066"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1066\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebrokeronline.eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}