[Mb-civic] Another view from Europe....Oneita
NPDLP at aol.com
NPDLP at aol.com
Wed Jan 18 12:51:50 PST 2006
Recent editorial from Germany, by the Chief Executive of the huge German
publisher Axel Springer AG, in DIE WELT, Germany's largest daily paper.
EUROPE - THY NAME IS COWARDICE
By Matthias Dapfner
A few days ago Henry Broder wrote in Welt am Sonntag, "Europe – your family
name is appeasement." It's a phrase you can't get out of your head because
it's so terribly true. Appeasement cost millions of Jews and non-Jews their
lives as England and France, allies at the time, negotiated and hesitated
too long before they noticed that Hitler had to be fought, not bound to
toothless agreements. Appeasement legitimized and stabilized Communism in
the Soviet Union, then East Germany, then all the rest of Eastern Europe
where for decades, inhuman suppressive, murderous governments were glorified
as the ideologically correct alternative to all other possibilities.
Appeasement crippled Europe when genocide ran rampant in Kosovo, and even
though we had absolute proof of ongoing mass-murder, we Europeans debated
and debated and debated, and were still debating when finally the Americans
had to come from halfway around the world, into Europe yet again, and do our
work for us.
Rather than protecting democracy in the Middle East, European appeasement,
camouflaged behind the fuzzy word "equidistance, "now countenances suicide
bombings in Israel by fundamentalist Palestinians. Appeasement generates a
mentality that allows Europe to ignore nearly 500,000 victims of Saddam's
torture and murder machinery and, motivated by the self-righteousness of the
peace-movement, has the gall to issue bad grades to George Bush. Even as it
is uncovered that the loudest critics of the American action in Iraq made
illicit billions, no, TENS of billions, in the corrupt U.N. Oil-for-Food
program.
And now we are faced with a particularly grotesque form of appeasement. How
is Germany reacting to the escalating violence by Islamic fundamentalists in
Holland and elsewhere? By suggesting that we really should have a "Muslim
Holiday" in Germany? I wish I were joking, but I am not. A substantial
fraction of our (German) Government, and if the polls are to be believed,
the German people, actually believe that creating an Official State "Muslim
Holiday" will somehow spare us from the wrath of the fanatical Islamists.
One cannot help but recall Britain's Neville Chamberlain waving the
laughable treaty signed by Adolph Hitler, and declaring European "Peace in
our time". What else has to happen before the European public and its
political leadership get it?
There is a sort of crusade underway, an especially perfidious crusade
consisting of systematic attacks by fanatic Muslims, focused on civilians,
directed against our free, open Western societies, and intent up on Western
Civilization's utter destruction. It is a conflict that will most likely
last longer than any of the great military conflicts of the last century - a
conflict conducted by an enemy that cannot be tamed by "tolerance" and
accommodation" but is actually spurred on by such gestures, which have
proven to be, and will always be taken by the Islamists for signs of
weakness.
Only two recent American Presidents had the courage needed for
anti-appeasement: Reagan and Bush. His American critics may quibble over the
details, but we Europeans know the truth. We saw it first hand: Ronald
Reagan ended the Cold War, freeing half of the German people from nearly 50
years of terror and virtual slavery. And Bush, supported only
by the Social Democrat Blair, acting on moral conviction, recognized the
danger in the Islamic War against democracy. His place in history will have
to be evaluated after a number of years have passed. In the meantime, Europe
sits back with charismatic self-confidence in the multicultural corner,
instead of defending liberal society's values and
being an attractive center of power on the same playing field as the true
great powers, America and China. On the contrary - we Europeans present
ourselves, in contrast to those "arrogant Americans", as the World !
Champions of "tolerance", which even (Germany's Interior Minister) Otto
Schily justifiably criticizes. Why? Because we're so moral? I fear it's
more because we're so materialistic, so devoid of a moral compass.
For his policies, Bush risks the fall of the dollar, huge amounts of
additional national debt, and a massive and persistent burden on the
American economy - because unlike almost all of Europe, Bush realizes what
is at stake - literally everything. While we criticize the "capitalistic
robber barons" of America because they seem too sure of
their priorities, we timidly defend our Social Welfare systems. Stay out of
it! It could get expensive! We'd rather discuss reducing our 35-hour
workweek or our dental coverage, or our 4 weeks of paid vacation.
Europe, they name is Cowardice!
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.islandlists.com/pipermail/mb-civic/attachments/20060118/f3668a9e/attachment.htm
More information about the Mb-civic
mailing list