Will the Dutch rabbits really threaten the Russian rhino?

I worked in Holland for a few years and enjoyed working with the Dutch. But the Dutch are, and always will be, abject cowards.

In the run-up to the Second World War, criticism of Nazi Germany in the Dutch media was censored in order to preserve Holland’s trading relationship with the Nazis. And in 1940,�the 280,000-strong Dutch military ‘fought’ from May 10 till their surrender on May 14, thus�caving in�to the Germans faster than almost any other European country. And when the Germans started rounding up the Jews, the Dutch were almost as enthusiastic as the French in�helping so they could steal their Jewish neighbours’ homes and possessions.

Then in July 1995 we had the appalling example of the Dutch laughably-named ‘peacekeepers’ in Srebenica eagerly handing over about 8,000 innocent Bosnian men and boys, who had sought refuge in a UN supposed�’safe haven’ protected by 400 Dutch troops backed up by NATO air power, to be murdered by the Serbs. Another, 25,000 to 30,000 Bosnian women, children and elderly were expelled by the Serbs as the Dutch ‘soldiers’ looked on. The 400 Dutch ‘peacekeepers’ didn’t put up any resistance, they didn’t call in air strikes, they didn’t ask for reinforcements, they didn’t fire a single shot. They just made sure they all got out of the situation with their cowardly skins intact. That’s not exactly what soldiers are meant to do.

And in the EU, the Dutch always do what their German masters command. Most recently we saw this with the choice of Jean-Claude Juncker as President of the European Commission. At first, following Angela Merkel’s cue, Dutch leaders were bravely saying that choosing Juncker was not a done deal and that they might oppose his nomination. But then Merkel did a surprisingly�acrobatic�volte face to preserve her coalition and decided to support Juncker. Suddenly the Dutch started�frantically back-pedalling on their many bicycles and supported Juncker too.

And now the downing of flight MH17 has put the Dutch in yet another tough situation. About 190 Dutch nationals have been murdered and so Dutch leaders will be expected to show a bit of backbone. But�Germany, Holland’s boss,�is dependent on Russian gas. It gets 39% of its gas from Russia. Moreover, after Fukushima� Merkel closed Germany’s nuclear power stations to appease her country’s greenies, possibly forgetting that there aren’t that many tsunamis in Germany. So,�cutting off�Russian gas could be disastrous for German industry. Plus Germany has about 6,000 companies operating in Russia.

Of course, as other countries call for the Dutch to impose sanctions on Russia, Dutch politicians will posture and pose in front of the cameras. But in the end the cowardly Dutch will do what they’ve always done – obey Germany. And in this case, obeying Germany means doing precisely FA.