Impression: Robert D. Kalpan receives Dutch Independence Award 2025

27-6-2025

Last Wednesday, American journalist, writer and author Robert D. Kaplan received the Dutch Independence Award 2025. The award was presented by Senate President Jan Anthonie Bruijn in the International Press Centre Nieuwspoort, in the presence of many familiar and new faces. The fact that the NATO summit was taking place elsewhere in The Hague at the same time did not detract from this. In fact, the summit provided the ideal setting for promoting Kaplan's sharp, original and courageous analyses of geopolitics and the way in which he connects these to the theme of independence. The same applied to the review of the NATO summit with Hubert Smeets, Han Bouwmeester, Martijn Kitzen and Rem Korteweg. Below you'll find an initial impression of the atmosphere. A more extensive written report will follow shortly.