EUROPE - THY NAME IS COWARDICE
(Commentary by Mathias Döpfner)
Matthias Döpfner, Chief Executive of German
publisher Axel Springer AG, has written a blistering attack in the daily
WELT against the cowardice of Europe in the face of the Islamic threat.
Hartmut Lau translated the article for us. 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
America 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.
(Commentary by Mathias Döpfner)
Matthias Döpfner, Chief Executive of German
publisher Axel Springer AG, has written a blistering attack in the daily
WELT against the cowardice of Europe in the face of the Islamic threat.
Hartmut Lau translated the article for us. 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
America 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.
