manu1959
Left Coast Isolationist
EUROPE -- THY NAME IS COWARDICE
by Mathias Döpfner
A few days ago Henryk M. 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 agreements. Appeasement stabilized
communism in the Soviet Union and East Germany in that part
of Europe where inhuman, suppressive governments were
glorified as the ideologically correct alternative to all
other possibilities. Appeasement crippled Europe when
genocide ran rampant in Kosovo and we Europeans debated and
debated until the Americans came in and did 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 300,000 victims of
Saddam's torture and murder machinery and, motivated by the
self-righteousness of the peace-movement, to issue bad
grades to George Bush. A particularly grotesque form of
appeasement is reacting to the escalating violence by
Islamic fundamentalists in Holland and elsewhere by
suggesting that we should really have a Muslim holiday in
Germany.
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
and directed against our free, open Western societies. It
is a conflict that will most likely last longer than the
great military conflicts of the last century -- a conflict
conducted by an enemy that cannot be tamed by tolerance and
accommodation but only spurred on by such gestures, which
will be mistaken for signs of weakness.
Two recent American presidents had the courage needed for
anti-appeasement: Reagan and Bush. Reagan ended the Cold War
and Bush, supported only by the social democrat Blair acting
on moral conviction, recognized the danger in the Islamic
fight 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 the intolerant, as world
champions in 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.
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 everything
is at stake.
While the alleged capitalistic robber barons in American
know their priorities, we timidly defend our social welfare
systems. Stay out of it! It could get expensive. We'd
rather discuss the 35-hour workweek or our dental health
plan coverage. Or listen to TV pastors preach about
"reaching out to murderers." These days, Europe reminds me
of an elderly aunt who hides her last pieces of jewelry with
shaking hands when she notices a robber has broken into a
neighbor's house. Europe, thy name is cowardice.
"All that is necessary for the forces of evil to win in the
world is for enough good men to do nothing." -- Edmund Burke
----
Matthias Döpfner is Chief Executive of German publisher Axel
Springer AG.
by Mathias Döpfner
A few days ago Henryk M. 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 agreements. Appeasement stabilized
communism in the Soviet Union and East Germany in that part
of Europe where inhuman, suppressive governments were
glorified as the ideologically correct alternative to all
other possibilities. Appeasement crippled Europe when
genocide ran rampant in Kosovo and we Europeans debated and
debated until the Americans came in and did 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 300,000 victims of
Saddam's torture and murder machinery and, motivated by the
self-righteousness of the peace-movement, to issue bad
grades to George Bush. A particularly grotesque form of
appeasement is reacting to the escalating violence by
Islamic fundamentalists in Holland and elsewhere by
suggesting that we should really have a Muslim holiday in
Germany.
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
and directed against our free, open Western societies. It
is a conflict that will most likely last longer than the
great military conflicts of the last century -- a conflict
conducted by an enemy that cannot be tamed by tolerance and
accommodation but only spurred on by such gestures, which
will be mistaken for signs of weakness.
Two recent American presidents had the courage needed for
anti-appeasement: Reagan and Bush. Reagan ended the Cold War
and Bush, supported only by the social democrat Blair acting
on moral conviction, recognized the danger in the Islamic
fight 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 the intolerant, as world
champions in 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.
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 everything
is at stake.
While the alleged capitalistic robber barons in American
know their priorities, we timidly defend our social welfare
systems. Stay out of it! It could get expensive. We'd
rather discuss the 35-hour workweek or our dental health
plan coverage. Or listen to TV pastors preach about
"reaching out to murderers." These days, Europe reminds me
of an elderly aunt who hides her last pieces of jewelry with
shaking hands when she notices a robber has broken into a
neighbor's house. Europe, thy name is cowardice.
"All that is necessary for the forces of evil to win in the
world is for enough good men to do nothing." -- Edmund Burke
----
Matthias Döpfner is Chief Executive of German publisher Axel
Springer AG.
agreed!
woman, Lady great site indeed. 
