[Newsbot]

Filibuster Cartoons
Title: Let's visit Belgium! (click to view)
Date: October 6, 2010
Better late than never!

Last week, Germany finally made the last of its World War I-era reparations payments to Belgium, thus culminating an over 90-year odyssey that began with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. In retrospect, we probably misjudged by a... half-century or so how long it would take Belgium to recover from the Kaiser's invasion.

Or did we! The ironic thing is that despite decades of peace, Belgium is probably facing its most serious existential crisis in history. Their parliament has remained stagnant for several years now, and no matter how many elections they hold, it seems impossible for them to cobble together a national government capable of keeping the country together.

Not unlike Canada, Belgium is a federal country with a loud and demanding French-speaking minority, concentrated in a single geographic region. Unlike Canada, however, in the Belgian case it is actually the majority demographic — in this case the Dutch-Flemish — who are the most aggressive separatists. Flemish separatists are now the single largest faction of the Belgian parliament, in fact, but their obese leader, Bart de Wever, has refused to assume office as prime minister, so disenfranchised with the Belgian state is he.

In second place are the French socialists, but it very much goes against Belgian political tradition to have a Frenchman as prime minister (again, unlike Canada). Regardless, any French party would need to have the backing of a Flemish one to form a workable coalition, but the remaining Dutch parties are all either too small, or too conservative to be useful governing partners.

Various pompous statesmen, including Prime Minister Harper, used to proudly point to Belgium as an inspiring example of a federal state that was able to survive despite deep-seeded ethnic differences. "They somehow made it work," they would say. "So can we!" But if Belgian can't work, sweet, peaceful, orderly, efficient, boring, unemotional Belgium, then what hope is there for the rest of us?

[PublicAnimalNo9]

Let's visit Belgium!

Let's not and say we did

[martin14]

Let's visit Belgium !

Wouldnt see anything besides fog and rain, so no point.

[omicron]

good comic on Belgium

We are a pretty weird country... And De wever just blew up the talks so we can start all over... It's going to be a very heated time

[BartSimpson]

Another sh*t disturber named Bart. I love it.

[bootlegga]

martin14 wrote:

Let's visit Belgium !

Wouldnt see anything besides fog and rain, so no point.

I thought Antwerp was a lovely city, and I think Brussels would be similar.

[Brenda]

Don't blink when you drive through it!

[bootlegga]

The same could be said about the Netherlands...

[Brenda]

bootlegga wrote:

The same could be said about the Netherlands...

I always do
But Belgium is even smaller, and we have a LOT of Belgian jokes

[CKASlacker]

martin14 wrote:

Let's visit Belgium !

Wouldnt see anything besides fog and rain, so no point.

And the beer - don't forget about that. I can say (as self-professed beer geek) that they hands-down have the best beer in the world. Population of ~10 million with over 100 breweries, hundreds of styles, thousands of regular/seasonal brews...

You could spend the better part of a lifetime sampling Belgian beer, and not have them all.

[raydan]

I agree for the beer, and they do know how to eat and have a good time.


Come to think of it, sounds a lot like where I live.