[antimedia] antimedia: Even in Europe....

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Posted by antimedia:
Even in Europe....
http://www.antimedia.us/posts/1171419474.shtml


   ....there are a [1]few sane people left.

     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.

   Too few people today will even understand what this man is saying,
   much less agree with him. Far too many have become weak and fearful
   and think appeasement is the only answer.
   The world has been here before and yet somehow, we seem to want to
   repeat the mistakes of the past.

References

   1. http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Printable.asp?ID=16565