War Is Boring

The Colombian tall ship Arc Gloria is on its annual world cruise, aimed at training the on-board naval officers. The sailing ship has visited 180 ports in 70 different countries as a goodwill ambassador of Colombia over the last 42 years.

Update: Mladic arrives! Video by Andrew Balcombe.

Media have been waiting outside the gate at Scheveningen prison in The Netherlands, in the hope of filming the arrival of accused Serbian war criminal, Ratko Mladic.

A tribute to Dutch veterans is being made out of sand in The Hague at the Plaats. One side shows soldiers in action with tanks and planes, the other side portrays their return to The Netherlands.

by NICK OTTENS The Dutch Government is reportedly contemplating huge cuts in defense spending. As part of a total €18 billion worth of austerity measures, the liberal-conservative coalition has planned some €1 billion in budget cuts to the defense department which could force the resignation of up to ten thousand service personnel. While the government [...]

by ANDREW BALCOMBE Last weekend, Dutch navy forces conducting anti-piracy operations off the coast of Somalia intercepted a hijacked Iranian fishing vessel. Fire was exchanged and some of the pirates were killed and wounded. RNW has more: Two Somali pirates were killed in an operation by the Dutch frigate HNLMS Tromp on Saturday morning. The [...]

by ANDREW BALCOMBE In this exercise, Dutch commandos had to silently approach an enemy camp, kill or capture any enemies encountered and secure the safety of a hostage. But a couple of obstacles stood in their way. First, the hostage was wounded and had to be carried out. The second was the enemy reinforcements arriving [...]

by ANDREW BALCOMBE Last year I was unexpectedly allowed along on a riverine assault exercise by a combat unit of the Dutch Korps Commando Troepen special forces. They had spent a week running through different scenarios they might be called in for at any time. I captured a couple of the scenarios on film and photo. [...]

by ANDREW BALCOMBE NOS cameraman Eric Feijten and reporter Peter ter Velde have made a documentary about Dutch combat troops in Uruzgan. The documentary Fokking Hell contains exclusive footage taken by the combat troops themselves while in heavy firefights with the Taliban. The filming by the troops during operations was strictly forbidden by the Dutch [...]

Three Dutch soldiers have been captured by pro-Gadhafi forces in Libya following a failed evacuation operation. A helicopter flew from the Dutch frigate HNLMS Tromp to the Libyan city of Sirte to pick up two evacuees, but when it landed the three-man crew was seized by an armed group loyal to the Libyan government.

Last summer I was treated to joining The Netherlands’ most inaccessible military unit, the Unit Interventie Mariniers. For such a tiny unit, the UIM is responsible for some pretty spectacular acts. They first achieved widespread recognition when they said no to the British SAS’s offer to help resolve a Dutch train hijacking in the 1970s.

For years, the Dutch have been suffering surges of concern and confusion regarding Tanja Nijmeijer, a Dutch woman who joined the Colombian militant group FARC many years ago, much to the horror of her family.