GERMAN EDITORIAL
German Editorial
: Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2006 10:29:59 +0000 This is a thought-provoking editorial published in a German newspaper, DIE WELT..
If any of you still think that this war on terror is a mistake, here is an opinion from an unexpected source. It's fascinating that this should come out of Europe. Mathias Daphner, chief executive of the huge German publisher, Axiel Springer AG, has written a blistering attack in DIE WELT, Germany's largest daily paper, against the timid reaction of Europe in the face of the Islamic threat.
This is a must-read by all Americans. History may well certify its correctness.
EUROPE - THY NAME IS COWARDICE! (Commentary by Mathias Daphner 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 by toothless agreements.
Appeasement legitimized and stabilized Communism in the Soviet Union, then East Germany, then all the rest of Eastern Germany, where for decades, inhumane suppressive 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 actions 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 Hiter and declaring "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 most likely will 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 to 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 characteristic self-confidence in the multi-cultural 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 work week 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 peaces of jewelry when she notices a robber breaking into the neighbor's house.
Appeasement? Europe, thy name is COWARDICE! ---God Bless America---
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