Arend Jan Boekestijn has been criticized for the second time in a row in Today Inside for his sensationalist talk about the Iran conflict. “Really becoming more and more rebellious.”
Arend Jan Boekestijn is a prominent Dutch voice in the field of geopolitics and international relations, yet he recently made a serious blunder by more or less suggesting that the United States would drop an atomic bomb on Iran. That soon turned out to be nonsense and he got a lot of heat for it in VI.
Ow, ow, ow
When he was called to task, Arend Jan had no attitude, TV critic Victor Vlam said earlier. “You come up with an incredibly big statement and you don’t get any further than: ‘Yes, there is someone on X who said it.’ Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow. And then you are supposedly one of the greatest experts on the subject. This was an extremely painful moment.”
It is very good that VI points this out, because they previously failed to do so when Ron Keller blundered with his prediction that Trump was about to invade Greenland, he says. “I think it is good that VI has done this and that they have positioned themselves against Arend Jan in this way. And because it is also contrary to Ron Keller’s situation.”
Second time
Arend Jan was in again yesterday Today Inside and he was teased again by Wilfred Genee. “I hardly dare to ask, but has an atomic bomb been dropped somewhere in the past week?”
The geopolitics expert replied: “Nowhere. And the chances are not great in that area either.”
Wilfred: “No, people may not understand it, but you recently came here with the story that an atomic bomb had been threatened.”
Johan Derksen: “The whole of the Netherlands didn’t sleep a wink.”
Toning down
Arend Jan defends himself. “No, no, no. I was just saying that some people were so scared by the idea of civilization being destroyed that they thought about an atomic bomb.”
Wilfred: “Oh, now you’re weakening it a bit. I had a completely different impression last time! You were seriously talking like crazy! You really made it a bit more emphatic last week.”
Johan: “He also told it a bit conspiratorially.”
Arend Jan: “Yes, but I always do that!”
Johan: “For the excitement?”
Arend Jan: “Yes.”
What does Victor think?
Victor thinks it is good that the men of VI are once again mocking Arend Jan’s credibility. “For the second time in a row, Arend Jan gets a big blow from the entire table. Rutger (with new glasses!) also goes on the attack,” he writes. X.
He concludes: “Today Inside seems to want to give a more rebellious sound. I’m curious how happy Arend Jan is with this.”