The Dutch government isn’t giving in an inch. Their meeting held August 5 with representatives of the farmer’s protests in Utrecht went down in flames. They vow to slash nitrogen emissions, even if it kills everyone on the planet. The way things are going, it might.
Dutch officials cooking up a dirty deal
Don’t fall for the back room horse trade deal, one supporter of the Dutch farmers tweets. “Sjaak van der Tak will sell out your soul and salvation to his friend Mark Rutte for his own interests. Those cons all know each other far too well.”
The farmers were suspicious to begin with. “It already took a lot of effort to get the warring parties to the negotiations table.”
Once they got things going, it was clear that Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte made sure his loyal mediator did all the talking. Former Deputy Prime Minister Johan Remkes is just as liberal as his comrade. There are a bunch of loosely connected farmer protest groups but the most “militant” is the Farmers Defense Force.
Trap er niet in #Boeren!
Sjaak van der Tak verkoopt jullie ziel en zaligheid aan vriendje Mark Rutte voor eigenbelang. Die bedriegers kennen elkaar allemaal veel te goed.#boerenprotesten #burgeropstand pic.twitter.com/qyEcsjwMEr— Lenn@rt (@Lennarttree) July 29, 2022
They backed away as soon as they heard which traitor was appointed arbitrator. Remkes has a “reputation as a ruthless crusher of Coronavirus Disease 2019 mandate protests in his former capacity as Mayor of The Hague.” He’s roughly Muriel Bowser’s equivalent in the Netherlands.
Talks broke down completely when the chairman of the “largest agricultural umbrella organization,” LTO, announced he would “sit in with Rutte and Remkes after the Dutch Prime Minister personally called him.” Sjaak van der Tak, everyone is convinced, is only there to sell the farmers out.
The devil’s deal is made with nothing left to negotiate except a price, it seems. Whatever the negotiated settlement, the price will be paid by the farmers. Then, by all the rest of the world as they turn to Bill Gates for synthetic meat or insect protein to eat, before they starve.
Discussions ‘constructive’ government claims
According to Remkes, the atmosphere in the negotiating room was “constructive.” That means he’s confidant that van der Tak will come up with a plan to throw those pesky farmers under the bus.
Even so, “there was, and there still is a crisis of confidence, which ran deeper than the nitrogen discussion,” Remkes admits. He’s also finally ready to admit that Dutch farmers happen to be some of the most efficient in the world when it comes right down to it.
Remkes is willing to acknowledge the “accumulation of regulations, the misguided policy on nitrogen, and the failure to recognize that farmers have already done a lot to reduce emissions.”
While he’s willing to concede that maybe Dutch farmers won’t single-handedly roast the planet, he isn’t willing to ease up on any of those regulations. They just want to help farmers come to grips with new careers building homes for migrants on the land they used to farm.
“There is movement, but for our gardeners and ranchers, it is too little at the moment,” van der Tak told the press. “The ball is really in the cabinet’s court, and we expect that the cabinet will pick up that ball and do everything they can to come to a solution.”
That’s a load of manure, the farmers say, and the Dutch farmers are experts on manure. They know “that van der Tak is also part of the old-boys network with Rutte.” Dutch MP Thierry Baudet sums up the situation. Those plans, he points out, “are a mere shameless land grabbing scheme to disown farmers and destroy the country’s agricultural industry in favor of creating huge housing barracks for refugees.”
