« Nanoparticles Pass Muster as Vectors for Gene Therapy | Main | The Perfect Answer To IslamoFascism »

August 1, 2005

Is Europe Being Run By Cowards And Appeasers?

Topics: Understanding Islam

Mathias Doepfner, chief executive of German media group Axel Springer, doesn't hold back with his words in a unrelenting stinking indictment of European leadership for what he considers a history of cowardice and appeasement in the face of conflict and danger. And he writes that only two recent US presidents have had the courage needed to shun appeasement - Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, and that the US's critics may quibble over the details, but in there hearts the Europeans know the truth, because they saw it first hand. But as for European leadership - his take is that they are appeasers all, with the possible exception of Tony Blair.

In The Australian, among his key points:

(...) Appeasement cost millions of Jews and non-Jews their lives as allies Britain and France negotiated and hesitated too long before they realised that Adolf Hitler needed to be fought and defeated, because he could not be bound by toothless agreements.

(...) Reagan ended the Cold War, freeing half of Europe from almost 50 years of terror and slavery. And Bush, acting out of moral conviction and supported only by the social democrat Tony Blair, recognised the danger in today's Islamist war against democracy.

(...) Appeasement similarly crippled Europe when genocide ran rampant in Bosnia and Kosovo. Indeed, even though we had absolute proof of continuing mass murder there, we Europeans debated and debated, and then debated still more. We were still debating when finally the Americans had to come from halfway around the world, into Europe yet again, to do our work for us.

(...) Instead of defending liberal values and acting as an attractive centre of power on the same playing field as the true great powers, the US and China, it does nothing. On the contrary, we Europeans present ourselves, in contrast to the supposedly arrogant Americans, as world champions of tolerance, which even Germany Interior Minister Otto Schily justifiably criticises.

(...) Where does this self-satisfied reaction come from? Does it arise because we are so moral? I fear that it stems from the fact that we Europeans are so materialistic, so devoid of a moral compass.

(...) Today we are faced with a particularly grotesque form of appeasement. How is Germany reacting to the escalating violence by Islamic fundamentalists in The Netherlands, Britain and elsewhere in Europe? By suggesting - wait for it - that the proper response to such barbarism is to initiate a Muslim holiday in Germany.

(...) instead of acting to defend our civilisation, we prefer to discuss reducing our 35-hour work week or improving our dental coverage, or extending our four weeks of annual paid holiday. Or perhaps we listen to television pastors preach about the need to reach out to terrorists, to understand and forgive.

You really really need to read the rest! Trust me, you'll love it.

Posted by Hyscience at August 1, 2005 11:19 PM

Articles Related to Understanding Islam:

• Is Europe Being Run By Cowards And Appeasers? - Aug 01, 2005