Why an American senator just threatened to invade the Netherlands
The wake-up call we needed happened in 2002
Okay, Tom, you got me. I will think about it!
If you’d never heard of an American law called The Hague Invasion Act until you read that tweet, you’re not alone. Neither had I. It’s shocking, considering that the US and the Netherlands are both members of the NATO military alliance, whose operating principle is “attack on one is attack on all.”
The American Service-Members’ Protection Act, informally known as The Hague Invasion Act (cute nickname!), was tucked into a larger post-9/11 American anti-terror law in 2002. This heyday of repressive legislation also gave us the USA PATRIOT Act—that’s how it’s spelled, all caps, so the freedom of it all really screams in your face—which American authorities routinely use to violate the civil rights of non-terrorists to this day.
The Hague Invasion Act gives the US president power to use:
all means necessary and appropriate to bring about the release of any U.S. or allied personnel being detained or imprisoned by, on behalf of, or at the request of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
“Allied personnel” being the operative term for our purposes here.
What this means, in so many words, is that if the ICC detains any American citizen or ally, the US is authorized to break them out of prison. A prison which happens to be located in the Netherlands, in The Hague, a city that has historically been the geographical epicenter of international law and justice. The ICC in particular was established there in 2002 in response to war crimes in the conflicts in Yugoslavia and Rwanda.
It’s not just one wacky senator from Arkansas tweeting about this. AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, is pushing for it. And in 2002, Hillary Clinton voted for it! So did Chuck Schumer, currently the head of the Senate! Considering the huge amount of war crimes the US went on to commit in Iraq and Afghanistan in the subsequent years, I guess it made sense that these hawks wanted to keep prosecutions confined to the US military justice system, which is not a “justice system” so much as an acquittal apparatus, as the recent In the Dark podcast for The New Yorker illustrates.
Senator Tom Cotton brought this Act up now for a reason. Last week, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a former Israeli defense minister, and a Hamas leader, for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Twelve US senators wrote in a letter to ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan:
If you issue a warrant for the arrest of the Israeli leadership, we will interpret this not only as a threat to Israel’s sovereignty but to the sovereignty of the United States. Our country demonstrated in the American Service-Members’ Protection Act the lengths to which we will go to protect that sovereignty.
Let’s speculate for a moment. Let’s say, somehow Netanyahu is detained at the ICC and the US invades the Netherlands to break him out of prison.
What would the Dutch military do? Nothing, I think? What could they do? Shoot down American planes? What would France do? France would not be happy! Would France shoot down American planes? Seems unlikely!
Indeed, it seems that the Dutch forces would have no choice but to surrender to an American invasion. And what is there to say about that except—that is weird?
It’s also weird timing to learn about this. Trump has been open about his disdain for NATO, and comments he made earlier this year put an effective end to the alliance as we knew it. Now that Trump is definitely returning to office, even though former Dutch Prime Minister and current head of NATO Mark Rutte is doing as much damage control as possible, it’s clear that the European military alliance must be reshaped without financial or military dependence on America.
Perhaps the “wakeup call” Europe needed was not Trump’s comments, but the fact that for twenty-two years the Americans have had a law on the books authorizing an invasion of the Netherlands?
And if this all sounds a little familiar, it’s because a couple of months ago, former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that in 2021 he briefly considered an “aquatic raid” on the Netherlands to seize Covid vaccines from a Dutch warehouse.
Last week, the Dutch Defense Ministry announced that private military contractors will be deployed to strengthen security of gas pipes, windmills, and data centers around the North Sea, which could be the “target of Russian sabotage activities.” Which, yeah, sure, they could be. Everyone’s always flipping out about Russia, but it could also be that the call is coming from inside the house.
🔥 Hot Linkjes
Society
There’s been a sharp decline in the number of international applications to Dutch universities as isolationist policies begin to take hold. ETIAS.com
France24 has a good overview of the current situation with asylum crisis. “It’s more a management crisis that an asylum crisis,” as one of the interviewees says.
The Department of War
A coalition of pro-Palestinian organizations took the Dutch government to court, accusing them of failing to prevent genocide in Gaza. Al Jazeera.
On Thursday, Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp told parliament that the Netherlands would support the ICC and issue an arrest warrant if Netanyahu stepped foot on Dutch soil. The same day, he postponed a trip to Israel.
Business
The Netherlands is a haven for corporate tax dodgers. The effective corporate tax rate here is under ten percent. NL Times.
Tech & Health
Here’s a list of fifty Dutch tech companies which will be showcased at the NL Tech Pavilion at the Consumer Electronics Show 2025. PR Web.
Sport
Rafael Nadal ended his 23-year tennis career after Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp defeated him in the Davis Cup quarterfinals. CNN.
Crime
Dutch and Belgian police divers searched a river for evidence in the case of four Peaky Blinders-dressed art thieves who stole tens of millions of euros worth of jewels from a Maastricht art fair in 2022. Guardian
🥳 Leuke Dingetjes
Dutch Oscar-winning cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema, who worked on Interstellar and Oppenheimer, directed a commercial for Volvo that’s gone viral.
A newly restored 17th-century map of the stars and planets from the Dutch golden age of cartography mapmaker Andreas Cellarius Harmonia Macrocosmica, is on display at a library in England.
“This large folio was meant to be displayed and celebrated for its size and opulence,” says Blickling librarian Rebecca Feakes in a statement. “Owning it told the world about your status and intelligence.”
If only pretty maps were still a flex.
📺 Kijk/Lees/Luister List
What I enjoyed watching, reading, and listening to this week.
TV / Movies
I’m working on a post about the different ways movies are financed in the Netherlands vs. the US, and how that determines what we see on the screen.
For research I watched the 1988 film The Vanishing (Spoorloos in Dutch), about a woman who disappears from a rest stop gas station and her husband’s obsessive search to find her. It’s excellent. Stanley Kubrick called it the most terrifying movie he’d ever seen. Watch it and you’ll be ready whenever all this insane news stops happening and I finally get that post up.
I’m a couple of episodes into The Staircase, a 2022 ripped-from-the-headlines miniseries on HBO Max about a man who may or may not have killed his wife. It’s so well directed, shot, acted, and edited that it rises above its true crime-iness.
Music / Podcasts
A reader tipped me about NTS Radio, a great source for non-algorithmic, human curated, radio shows.
Articles / Books
“Cormac McCarthy’s Secret Muse Breaks Her Silence After Half a Century: “I Loved Him. He Was My Safety” by Vincenzo Barney in Vanity Fair.
Whatever you think about this controversial article, you might as well enjoy it, because I’m pretty sure this is the last literary scandal of our lifetimes. Is there another author of fiction whose personal life anyone gives a shit about anymore? I can’t think of one. Instead we have dumb boxing matches on Netflix…
“Tyson/Paul Was A Boxing Match That Felt Like Netflix” by David Roth in Defector.
*all typos in this post are on purpose
Excellent post, thanks. I also had no idea about The Hague Invasion Act. Is there going to be any end to the horrors unleashed upon the planet by American stupidity, venality and hubris? I fear not.
And that Volvo ad? Oh my.
This rotting American empire is going out with a bang. Imagine self-imploding over Israel.