Belgium?
Really? Of all the places in the world you would not expect to be a cesspool of nearly open corruption, Belgium pretty much tops the list.
But there it is.
Belgium is basically a narco-state, a top Antwerp judge has warned.https://t.co/zH0fSm2mfR
— POLITICOEurope (@POLITICOEurope) October 27, 2025
Like so many things that sound insane when you say them, the claim that Belgium is now more akin to Mexico than a land of peace and chocolates is easy to dismiss as the fever dream of a cranky conspiracy theorist than a reflection of reality. But, according to an Antwerp judge, who published a warning on the official website of the Belgian court system.
Drug-trafficking is turning Belgium into a narco-state and the rule of law is under threat, an Antwerp judge wrote in an anonymous letter published Monday asking the federal government for urgent help.
"What is happening today in our district and beyond is no longer a classic crime issue. We are facing an organized threat that undermines our institutions," the investigating judge wrote in the missive published on the official website of the Belgian court system.
"Extensive mafia-like structures have taken root, becoming a parallel power that challenges not only the police but also the judiciary. The consequences are serious: are we evolving into a narco-state? No way, you think? Exaggerated? According to our drug commissioner, this evolution is already underway. My colleagues and I share that concern," the judge added.
Americans tend to think of Europe in rather gauzy and nostalgic terms, which is, in a way, weird. After all, European dysfunction has dragged us into two world wars, cost us trillions in an effort to prop up a continent that seems too tired to defend itself against outside threats, and is a huge pain in the patootie when it comes to interfering in our own politics and policies.
The majority of Americans are descendants of people who fled the continent for many good reasons. Yet we look to the European Union as some sort of moral guide, despite the fact that the elite is corrupt and apparently unwilling to save their own societies.
DIVERSITY UPDATE: Once safe and charming Sweden is now more dangerous than Baghdad...
— Shadow Banned (@ttstrac) February 19, 2025
Explosions in Stockholm have become so frequent the city’s estate agents are listing ‘no bombings’ in their ‘pro’ columns when advertising properties for neighbourhoods buyers might be… pic.twitter.com/g3cVxuR2mf
Who would have expected Sweden, of all places, to become the bombing capital of Europe? Or Germany, the UK, and the Nordic countries to become havens for rapists? If you had asked me 15 years ago, I would have scoffed; today, I just sadly nod. At least the Swedes and Norwegians are waking up and trying to fight back. Other EU countries, though, are unhappy with them for doing so.
In the anonymous letter, the judge goes on to note that a narco-state is characterized by an illegal economy, corruption and violence — conditions that Belgium fulfills, in the judge's opinion. The judge notes that money-laundering networks drive up real-estate costs, the corruption penetrates state institutions and kidnappings can be ordered on Snapchat.
"This bribery seeps into our institutions. The cases I have led in recent years — and I am just one of 17 investigative judges in Antwerp — have resulted in arrests of employees in key port positions, customs officers, police officers, municipal clerks, and, regrettably, even justice system staff, both inside prisons and right here in this building," the judge's letter reads.
"A home attack with a bomb or weapons of war, a home invasion, or a kidnapping are all easily ordered online. You don't even need to go to the dark web; a Snapchat account is all it takes," the judge added.
Corruption takes many forms—in the United Kingdom, the most obvious example is the conspiracy of silence over things like migrant rape gangs and the crackdown on people demanding reforms. Germany does pre-dawn raids on people who post the wrong things online, and there is a massive, coordinated effort to ban the AfD to secure power for the establishment.
In Belgium, that most orderly of cities, government officials are now taking bribes to look away as narco-terrorists run the ports and commission hits on Snapchat.
It may not quite be Venezuela, but it is becoming Mexico.
Brussels is the home of the European Union, and the fact that Belgium is becoming a narco state is somehow fitting because of that. You have the veneer of placidity and civilization, hiding a dark underbelly of corruption and societal decline.
If you look at failed societies around the world, you might get a clue why the elite seems less bothered than you would think. The elites always do well in corrupt societies, and often have greater degrees of freedom, assuming they don't cross the bosses, than they would in well-functioning societies.
Sure, outcasts among the elites risk reprisals, but if you stay in your lane, the rewards are immense.
You and I may be horrified to see that societies that fought for centuries to become modern Western democracies are devolving so quickly, but we shouldn't be surprised. Civilization is much harder to maintain than to destroy, and the incentives, given the opportunities, to grab some for yourself are overwhelming if you can get away with it.
Still...Belgium? Yep. Belgium. Rot always spread.
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