Pirates, Neo-colonialism and the Netherlands

A couple of interesting news snippets concerning the Netherlands.

First of all, the trial of five Somali pirates captured by the Danes in the Gulf of Aden in February will begin today in Rotterdam. They are being tried by the Dutch because they attacked a Dutch-flagged ship which originated in the Netherlands Antilles.

I have written previously on the lack of wisdom inherent in soft, human-rights-legislation-addled Western nations inviting violent Islamists from a primitive and brutal culture into their midst - and it seems what I predicted has come to pass.

The pirates' lawyer, Willem-Jan Ausma, has said his clients are 'delighted' to be in the Netherlands. Ausma said:

Alleged pirate Yusuf (24) 'intends to send for his wife and children as soon as he is released from prison. He knows he cannot easily be sent back to Somalia. He loves it here in the Netherlands,' the NRC quoted Ausma as saying.

From De Telegraaf via Islam in Europe (where credit must go for the translation):

Arrested Somali pirates who are now in the Netherlands on trial for their deeds say they would like to stay in the Netherlands. "It's a good life here."

Suspected pirate Sayid will stand trial on Monday with four of his countrymen in the first Dutch pirate trial. "I want an education during my imprisonment, and I appeal to the government not to send me back to Somalia. The people who live here respect human rights. I want to live here," he told Volkskrant.

Fellow suspect Farah also thinks the Netherlands is good. "My client feels safe here. He eat well, can play football and watch television. He thinks the toilet in his cell is so fantastic," according to his lawyer Willem-Jan Ausma.

According to De Volkskrant Ausma explained to his client that he could realistically get four years in prison and that he has a chance for a residence permit. "He's naturally delighted. He hopes to do computer training and to have his family come over."

So let's be realistic about this. If you get captured violently attacking ships or taking innocent hostages by a Western power, you face a few years in a prison which is a luxury hotel compared to anything in Somalia.

You then get to bring the wives, kids and extended family over to live on the taxpayer. Of course, you, an upstanding ex-pirate, a man who was happy to kill innocents or leave wounded comrades to die, are going to adapt perfectly to your new society and cause no problems at all.

You'll be delighted to earn minimum wage sweeping the streets or flipping burgers rather than live like a prince on welfare or the fruits of crime - as your religion tells you you may among the infidels.

If you are Dutch, I would encourage you to write to your MP about this unadulterated madness. Does the Netherlands not have enough problems wrought by insane immigration policies and a softly-softly approach to crime?

Treating the captives so well and taking them to Europe may also encourage attacks on Dutch ships and interests once word spreads.

The second story which caught my eye was this from Radio Netherlands:

Almost 119,000 voters on Curaçao, a former Dutch colony in the Caribbean, will get a say in the future of their island this Friday. A referendum offers a choice between 'sí' or 'nò' to a deal brokered between the local Curaçao government and the Netherlands. If the population agrees, the Dutch state will take responsibility for 1.7 billion euros of the Dutch Antilles debt - most of which was built up by Curaçao. But in exchange the Dutch want supervision over state spending and the maintenance of law and order.

The Dutch say the deal is a final offer. But the opposition parties in Curaçao are offended by the agreement made between the governments; they accuse the Netherlands of neo-colonialism.

So the Dutch get to pay off a nice €1.7 billion debt which was accrued by someone else, then pay to regulate the island's government and make sure it doesn't happen again.

Meanwhile, as a reciprocal gesture, Curaçao will continue to send violent colonists to the Netherlands proper, where they will feature heavily and splendidly in the crime statistics, whilst telling the Dutch how bad, evil and racist they are.

Europeans just can't win. You offer to pay off a country's debt and then pay to enforce its law and regulate its spending for it (because it clearly can't do so itself) - that's neo-colonialism.

Of course, it isn't neo-colonialism if they ask you - then it is good and right and just and anyone who disagrees is a monster.