Those damned gullible Belgians

From News.com.au

BELGIANS reacted with shock and disbelief when a state television channel announced that the Flemish part of the country had declared independence and that Belgium was no more.

Fair enough, I guess... but

In fact, the whole exercise was a spoof, intended only as a thought-provoking introduction to a television debate on the question which has long divided the two halves of Belgium, French-speaking Walloon and Dutch-speaking Flanders.

Oh... but wait, it gets better ...

The channel invited viewers to text message to say whether they had been fooled, and according to early results, 89 per cent said they had believed the programme in the beginning - and six percent continued to believe it even after the message saying it was a hoax.

You would think that those 6% were the biggest idiots, but it gets better still...

Even some ambassadors in Brussels admitted to being taken in and sending back messages to their respective capitals, according to the president of the Belgian Senate.

Crazy! Then again, European intelligence these days is becoming more and more an oxymoron...