The Dutch Connection

by Peter Saint-Andre

2004-12-12

I've been emailing a bit with Pieter Dorsman, a Dutch expat who it seems has lived most of his adult life in the Anglosphere and closely allied places such as Hong Kong. In taking note of my brief review of Russell Shorto's book on the New Netherland colony, Dorsman observes that the Dutch are the most Anglo-Saxon of Europeans (perhaps no surprise, since the closest language to Old English was Old Frisian). Dorsman's many observations on Dutch politics are quite interesting.

Although in modern history the Dutch have not maintained as much independence from statist trends in Europe as have the nations of the Anglosphere (perhaps because the English Channel provided a stronger natural barrier than did the Dutch lowlands), the Netherlands might still be a good connecting point between the Anglosphere and Continental Europe.


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