[Mb-civic] Another view from Europe....Oneita

[NPDLP at aol.com]

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