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Facts and Logic About
the Middle East
P.O. Box 590359
San Francisco, CA 94159
(415) 356-7801 |
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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. |
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you know others who are weary of the anti-Israel, anti-American
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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
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