Dan,

As far as I'm concerned there is no need for an apology because having a heated discussion never hurt a friendship of mine. If at any time I would have felt insulted or mistreated I would have contacted you in private by e-mail or even telephone. And I would expect you to do the same. I would never risk hurting a friendship on public fora. So if I have been too provocative towards you, I also apologize. Reason I haven’t responded here or e-mailed you back yet is because I was out for the weekend. So, as far as I’m concerned there are no hard feelings whatsoever, and I don’t feel our friendship has been threatened. I just see 2 friends having an argument trying to give each other wake-up calls to their own vision.

Having said that, what again does irritate the hell out of me is even in your apology you refer to my “close friendship” with Soumia and her team as a basis for my approach and stand towards this mess. I don’t know how to emphasize more that it is totally irrelevant to me who was in that ring that night. Further more it was me doing translations from Dutch to English when asked.I hardly think that has helped Soumia and her team. From day 1 I tried to keep a neutral position. Helped my English friends the same as my Dutch friends. So putting me in Soumia's corner is a bit too easy and just not fair.
Too me this topic is about how a SB handles their screw-ups. Nothing more nothing less. Something I tried to make you see in mirroring the situation for you from WPKL to WIKBA. Obviously I failed miserably.

As far as I can see a huge difference between you and me is how we look up on the position of a Chairman. You keep revering to him as “some official” and his remarks “slip of the tongue” , where I consider this as a statement by the WPKL chairman. And I do think my understanding from the Dutch language is sufficient enough to notice the difference. (As you know I was standing 5 ft from where the conversation took place.) But maybe my profession has me taken jobs and responsibilities of CEO’s, Chairman’s, Founders too seriously. Maybe with SB’s a chairman is a function without responsibilities and should his words not been taken seriously.

Second. I don’t think it’s reasonable to hold the person filing a protest accountable for creating this mess. Besides that imo there was all reason to file one, the WPKL could have easily chosen to dismiss the protest. They didn’t. They even had a special board meeting about it taking votes whether to dismiss or validate the protest. They validated it and for me, this is the crucial point where the whole mess starts.

Bottom-line is I hold the WPKL responsible for the mess and ONLY them. The way you approach this mess, too me, looks like what I think you in the USA would call a “McCarthy Witch-hunt” killing the messenger and everyone looking suspicious in the process. I will send you a private e-mail soon in which I will explain where and why I find you “convenient flexible” with the facts/truth you present in this discussion.

So, thanks for offering your apologies. As far as I’m concerned it was not necessary to do so since I don’t feel our friendship has been in any danger. But maybe instead of provoking you, I should have been wiser and taken our conversation private off board sooner. So, I feel I carry as much responsibility for the escalation as you do.

Take care & we talk soon,
Grt,
Eric