First comes an article in
Welt am
Sonntag, by one Matthias Dapfner, CEO of
Axel Springer, AG, and provided by correspondent Mark
H.
And I hope you don't mind, Mark,
but I had to run this one down to primary sources before I'd put it out there.
But it played out:
EUROPE
- THY NAME IS COWARDICE
(Commentary by Mathias Dapfner CEO, Axel Springer,
AG)
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 4 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!
-----------
Strong
stuff. Which I think we'd all have to agree is admirably direct and to the
point.
All by
itself.
But then, by strange
fortuitousness, I chanced across this link today.
From Vaclav Havel. The former
playwright, and president of the Czech Republic - and a figure of immense moral
authority.
Havel asks some hard
questions of Europe, and makes some hard observations, especially with respect
to Cuba - observations
like:
Try to imagine
what will happen: At each European embassy, someone will be appointed to screen
the list, name by name, and assess whether and to what extent the persons in
question behave freely or speak out freely in public, to what extent they
criticize the regime, or even whether they are former political prisoners. Lists
will be shortened and deletions made, and this will frequently entail
eliminating even good personal friends of the diplomats in charge of the
screening, people whom they have given various forms of intellectual, political
or material assistance. It will be even worse if the EU countries try to mask
their screening activities by inviting only diplomats to embassy celebrations in
Cuba.
I can hardly think of
a better way for the EU to dishonor the noble ideals of freedom, equality and
human rights that the Union espouses -- indeed, principles that it reiterates in
its constitutional agreement. To protect European corporations' profits from
their Havana hotels, the Union will cease inviting open-minded people to EU
embassies, and we will deduce who they are from the expression on the face of
the dictator and his associates. It is hard to imagine a more shameful
deal.
Cuba's dissidents
will, of course, happily do without Western cocktail parties and polite
conversation at receptions. This persecution will admittedly aggravate their
difficult struggle, but they will naturally survive it. The question is whether
the EU will survive
it.
Today, the EU is
dancing to Fidel Castro's tune. That means that tomorrow it could bid for
contracts to build missile bases on the coast of the People's Republic of China.
The following day it could allow its decisions on Chechnya to be dictated by
Russian President Vladimir Putin's advisors. Then, for some unknown reason, it
could make its assistance to Africa conditional on fraternal ties with the worst
African dictators.
Where
will it end? The release of Milosevic? Denying a visa to Russian human-rights
activist Sergey Kovalyov? An apology to Saddam Hussein? The opening of peace
talks with al Qaeda?
Remind me again:
Why do we care what Europe thinks?
Posted @
08:39 PM
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Posted in
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Sendit
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Credo
"Sign on, young man, and sail with me. The stature of our homeland is no more than the measure of ourselves. Our job is to keep her free. Our will is to keep the torch of freedom burning for all. To this solemn purpose we call on the young, the brave, the strong, and the free. Heed my call, Come to the sea. Come Sail with me." - John Paul Jones
"Pardon him, Theodotus; he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature" --George Bernard Shaw, "Ceasar and Cleopatra"
"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music."--Friederich Nietzsche
