…for Prince Charles.

He is, officially, no longer the European royal with the silliest views. Princess Irene of the Netherlands is sounding off with a few opinions of her own (summary translated by Pieter of Peaktalk) that make old Charles seem, well, sane.

“Western leaders of government have to take some steps. Talking to al-Qaeda and demonstrating that by doing that you can put an end to the classic enemy-view with real and open discussions”, according to Irene. She clearly distances herself from the hard language from President Bush this week when he addressed fighting terrorism. “Western governments have to leave their prejudices at home during peace talks”, says Irene. Otherwise they won’t hear anything during such a conversation. Because of that a mediator is required. “that person would be qualified to break down each side’s tunnel visions” The root causes of Islamist violence can, according to Irene, be found in poverty, trade barriers, and wrong relations. “The differences between the haves and have-nots is totally out of balance”

Oh yes, that’s what’s helping al-Qaeda, “trade barriers”. Leaving aside the obvious intellectual absurdity of that argument, lets just look at the facts. The principal export from the Islamic world (or at least those parts of it that have proved most responsive to the arguments of al-Qaeda) is, um, oil.

If the princess could show me an example of the way in which Western countries try to block the flow of oil, I’ll be very, very impressed.

Goodnight, Irene.