Gates of Vienna: The Farce Continues

Reprinted with permission.

Geert Wilders took a bit of a vacation earlier this month, visiting Canada and Tennessee. Now everything has returned to normal, and he’s back in the dock in the Netherlands.

The Amsterdam court that is trying Mr. Wilders is engaged in a surgical operation for political purposes under the mandate of the Dutch ruling class. Its task is to excise the PVV leader from the Dutch body politic and restore the multicultural state to its previous dominance.

If there were ever any doubt that this is a kangaroo court, and that the verdict was determined well in advance, the following brief article would lay it to rest. Many thanks to our Dutch correspondent H. Numan for this translation from De Telegraaf:

Court: Wilders trial continues

AMSTERDAM – the court of Amsterdam decided on Monday the trial against PVV leader Geert Wilders will continue. At the beginning of this month, Wilders’ lawyer Bram Moszkowicz stated his client isn’t getting a fair trial and the case must be declared inadmissible by the prosecution.

The unfair trial was caused by amongst others Tom Schalken, councillor of the court, and in that position responsible for issuing the order for the prosecution to continue the trial against Wilders. The politician is on trial for sowing hatred and discrimination and insulting a group.

The order to continue the trial is according to Moszkowicz a conviction. Also, Schalken had tried to influence the expert-witness Hans Jansen, Arabist. Other influential magistrates had influenced the trial, by publicly voicing their own personal opinions.

The court rejected the arguments of the lawyer.

Comments at GoV: Does any nation deserve admiration?

The comments on this article are well worth reading. One in particular, from Sagunto in Amsterdam, caught my attention:

Sagunto said…

John in Cheshire –

wrote:

"I used to think the Dutch were a nation to be admired. Not any more."

Why admire any nation at all, one would think. One might – as an outsider – take a shot at understanding a foreign nation, but anyway..

Considering your judgement of nations is obviously based on the behaviour of its political and cultural elites, is there any nation left in the West today, that is worthy of your admiration?

😉

Kind regs from Amsterdam,

Sag.

My take on American Exceptionalism

I comment fairly often at GoV, and attempted to post a reply to Sagunto’s comment. Unfortunately, Google Blogger seems to be having technical issues with their comment function again, so my comment could not be posted at that time. Here is what I would have liked to say:

As an Orthodox Christian, I believe and understand that we live in a fallen world, and that no country and no government deserves uncritical admiration. A quick glance at any newspaper, newscast, or news website, anywhere in the world, suffices to confirm that. The refusal to accept this as a basic principle is at the root of the errors of modern-day liberals.

It is up to each of us to rein in evil and to mitigate suffering and injustice wherever we can. We can never rely on governments to rein in evil and do justice on our behalf unless we hold their feet to the fire at every turn. Geert Wilders was free to speak his mind in Tennessee, and his audience, both in person and on the Internet, has the freedom to watch and listen. The question is, how long will we preserve our First Amendment rights for freedom of speech, assembly, and the press in an age of “political correctness”?

Whenever I hear the phrase “American exceptionalism,” I remind people that American exceptionalism is all about our Judaeo-Christian heritage and adherence to the US Constitution. Lose those, and it’s all over.