WEBVTT

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As the highest military commander
of the Netherlands,

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with troops stationed around the world,

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I'm really honored to be here today.

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When I look around
this TEDxAmsterdam venue,

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I see a very special audience.

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You are the reason why I said yes

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to the invitation to come here today.

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When I look around, I see people
who want to make a contribution.

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I see people who want
to make a better world,

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by doing groundbreaking scientific work,

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by creating impressive works of art,

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by writing critical articles
or inspiring books,

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by starting up sustainable businesses.

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And you all have chosen
your own instruments

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to fulfill this mission
of creating a better world.

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Some chose the microscope
as their instrument.

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Others chose dancing or painting,

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or making music like we just heard.

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Some chose the pen.

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Others work through
the instrument of money.

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Ladies and gentlemen,
I made a different choice.

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Thanks.

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Ladies and gentlemen ...

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(Laughter)

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(Applause)

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I share your goals.

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I share the goals
of the speakers you heard before.

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I did not choose to take up the pen,

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the brush,

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the camera.

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I chose this instrument.

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I chose the gun.

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For you, and you heard already,

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being so close to this gun
may make you feel uneasy.

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It may even feel scary.

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A real gun at a few feet's distance.

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Let us stop for a moment
and feel this uneasiness.

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You could even hear it.

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Let us cherish the fact

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that probably most of you
have never been close to a gun.

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It means the Netherlands
is a peaceful country.

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The Netherlands is not at war.

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It means soldiers are not needed
to patrol our streets.

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Guns are not a part of our lives.

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In many countries,
it is a different story.

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In many countries,
people are confronted with guns.

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They are oppressed.

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They are intimidated --

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by warlords,

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by terrorists,

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by criminals.

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Weapons can do a lot of harm.

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They are the cause of much distress.

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Why then am I standing before you
with this weapon?

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Why did I choose the gun as my instrument?

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Today I want to tell you why.

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Today I want to tell you

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why I chose the gun
to create a better world.

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And I want to tell you
how this gun can help.

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My story starts in the city of Nijmegen

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in the east of the Netherlands,

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the city where I was born.

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My father was a hardworking baker,

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but when he had finished
work in the bakery,

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he often told me and my brother stories.

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And most of the time,

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he told me this story
I'm going to share with you now.

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The story of what happened

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when he was a conscripted soldier
in the Dutch armed forces

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at the beginning of the Second World War.

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The Nazis invaded the Netherlands.

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Their grim plans were evident.

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They meant to rule by means of repression.

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Diplomacy had failed to stop the Germans.

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Only brute force remained.

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It was our last resort.

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My father was there to provide it.

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As the son of a farmer
who knew how to hunt,

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my father was an excellent marksman.

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When he aimed, he never missed.

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At this decisive moment in Dutch history

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my father was positioned
on the bank of the river Waal

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near the city of Nijmegen.

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He had a clear shot at the German soldiers
who came to occupy a free country,

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his country,

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our country.

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He fired. Nothing happened.

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He fired again.

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No German soldier fell to the ground.

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My father had been given an old gun

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that could not even reach
the opposite riverbank.

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Hitler's troops marched on,

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and there was nothing
my father could do about it.

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Until the day my father died,

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he was frustrated
about missing these shots.

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He could have done something.

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But with an old gun,

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not even the best marksman
in the armed forces

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could have hit the mark.

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So this story stayed with me.

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Then in high school,

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I was gripped by the stories
of the Allied soldiers --

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soldiers who left the safety
of their own homes and risked their lives

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to liberate a country

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and a people that they didn't know.

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They liberated my birth town.

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It was then that I decided
I would take up the gun --

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out of respect and gratitude
for those men and women

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who came to liberate us.

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From the awareness
that sometimes only the gun

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can stand between good and evil.

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And that is why I took up the gun --

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not to shoot,

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not to kill,

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not to destroy,

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but to stop those who would do evil,

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to protect the vulnerable,

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to defend democratic values,

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to stand up for the freedom we have
to talk here today in Amsterdam

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about how we can
make the world a better place.

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Ladies and gentlemen,

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I do not stand here today
to tell you about the glory of weapons.

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I do not like guns.

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And once you have been
under fire yourself,

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it brings home even more clearly

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that a gun is not
some macho instrument to brag about.

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I stand here today

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to tell you about the use of the gun
as an instrument of peace and stability.

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The gun may be one of the most important
instruments of peace and stability

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that we have in this world.

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Now this may sound contradictory to you.

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But not only have I seen with my own eyes

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during my deployments in Lebanon, Sarajevo

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and as the Netherlands' Chief of Defence,

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this is also supported
by cold, hard statistics.

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Violence has declined dramatically
over the last 500 years.

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Despite the pictures
we are shown daily in the news,

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wars between developed countries
are no longer commonplace.

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The murder rate in Europe

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has dropped by a factor of 30
since the Middle Ages.

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And occurrences
of civil war and repression

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have declined since the end
of the Cold War.

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Statistics show that we are living
in a relatively peaceful era.

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Why?

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Why has violence decreased?

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Has the human mind changed?

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Well, we were talking
about the human mind this morning.

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Did we simply lose
our beastly impulses for revenge,

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for violent rituals,

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for pure rage?

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Or is there something else?

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In his latest book,
Harvard professor Steven Pinker --

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and many other thinkers before him --

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concludes that one of the main drivers

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behind less violent societies

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is the spread of the constitutional state

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and the introduction, on a large scale,

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of the state monopoly
on the legitimized use of violence --

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legitimized by a democratically
elected government,

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legitimized by checks and balances
and an independent judicial system.

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In other words, a state monopoly

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that has the use of violence
well under control.

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Such a state monopoly on violence,
first of all, serves as a reassurance.

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It removes the incentive for an arms race

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between potentially hostile groups
in our societies.

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Secondly, the presence of penalties

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that outweigh the benefits
of using violence

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tips the balance even further.

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Abstaining from violence

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becomes more profitable
than starting a war.

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Now nonviolence starts to work
like a flywheel.

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It enhances peace even further.

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Where there is no conflict,
trade flourishes.

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And trade is another important
incentive against violence.

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With trade, there's mutual interdependency
and mutual gain between parties.

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And when there is mutual gain,
both sides stand to lose more

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than they would gain
if they started a war.

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War is simply no longer the best option,

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and that is why violence has decreased.

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This, ladies and gentlemen,

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is the rationale behind the existence
of my armed forces.

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The armed forces implement
the state monopoly on violence.

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We do this in a legitimized way

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only after our democracy
has asked us to do so.

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It is this legitimate,
controlled use of the gun

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that has contributed greatly

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to reducing the statistics of war,
conflict and violence around the globe.

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It is this participation
in peacekeeping missions

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that has led to the resolution
of many civil wars.

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My soldiers use the gun
as an instrument of peace.

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And this is exactly
why failed states are so dangerous.

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Failed states have no legitimized,
democratically controlled use of force.

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Failed states do not know of the gun
as an instrument of peace and stability.

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That is why failed states can drag down
a whole region into chaos and conflict.

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That is why spreading the concept
of the constitutional state

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is such an important aspect
of our foreign missions.

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That is why we are trying
to build a judicial system

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right now in Afghanistan.

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That is why we train
police officers, we train judges,

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we train public prosecutors
around the world.

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And that is why --

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and in the Netherlands,
we are very unique in that --

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that is why the Dutch constitution states

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that one of the main tasks
of the armed forces

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is to uphold and promote
the international rule of law.

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Ladies and gentlemen,

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looking at this gun, we are confronted
with the ugly side of the human mind.

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Every day I hope that politicians,
diplomats, development workers

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can turn conflict into peace

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and threat

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into hope.

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And I hope that one day
armies can be disbanded

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and humans will find a way
of living together

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without violence and oppression.

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But until that day comes,

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we will have to make ideals
and human failure

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meet somewhere in the middle.

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Until that day comes,
I stand for my father

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who tried to shoot the Nazis
with an old gun.

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I stand for my men and women
who are prepared to risk their lives

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for a less violent world for all of us.

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I stand for this soldier
who suffered partial hearing loss

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and sustained permanent
injuries to her leg,

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when she was hit by a rocket
on a mission in Afghanistan.

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Ladies and gentlemen,

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until the day comes
when we can do away with the gun,

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I hope we all agree

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that peace and stability
do not come free of charge.

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It takes hard work,
often behind the scenes.

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It takes good equipment
and well-trained, dedicated soldiers.

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I hope you will support
the efforts of our armed forces

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to train soldiers like this young captain

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and provide her with a good gun,

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instead of the bad gun
my father was given.

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I hope you will support our soldiers
when they are out there,

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when they come home

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and when they are injured
and need our care.

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They put their lives on the line,
for us, for you,

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and we cannot let them down.

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I hope you will respect my soldiers,

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this soldier with this gun.

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Because she wants a better world.

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Because she makes an active
contribution to a better world,

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just like all of us here today.

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Thank you very much.

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(Applause)