February 1, 2005
Dear
Friend of FLAME:
If you've been distressed---or angry---over tepid European reaction
to the worldwide Islamist jihad in general and Europe's relentless
castigation of Israel and the United States for their efforts to defeat
radical Islam in the specific, you'll appreciate the article below.
In it, Matthias Döpfner, Chief Executive of the huge German publisher,
Axel Springer AG, delivers a blistering attack (first published in
Die Welt, Germany's largest daily newspaper) against the timorous
response of Europe in the face of the Islamic threat. All the warnings
Döpfner raises with regard to appeasing Islamists should certainly
inform our response to Mahmoud Abbas, who is asking for unprecedented
support from the West and Israel in his alleged efforts to pacify
the bubbling terrorist cauldron in the Palestinian territories. ("Trust,
but verify," said President Reagan, wisely.) Above all, Döpfner
levels his ire at those who criticize the U.S. for its initiatives
in Iraq and elsewhere---he accuses them of self-righteousness born
of materialism and a broken moral compass. I think you'll find it
refreshing to hear such an analysis from inside the very heart of
the realm of political correctness.
Best regards,
Jim Sinkinson
Director, FLAME
Facts & Logic About the Middle East
| P.S.
|
If
you know others who are weary of the anti-Israel, anti-American
drumbeat too prevalent in many circles here and abroad, please
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like you and me---the truth will prevail. |
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By Mattias Döpfner, CEO, Axel Springer
Die Welt, January, 2005
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 Adolf 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 upon 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 four weeks of paid vacation... Or listen to TV pastors preach
about the need to "reach out to terrorists. To understand and
forgive".
These days, Europe reminds me of an old woman who, with shaking hands,
frantically hides her last pieces of jewelry when she notices a robber
breaking into a neighbor's house.
Appeasement? Europe, thy name is Cowardice
