Matthias Dapfner, Chief Executive of the huge German
publisher Axel Springer AG, has written a blistering
attack in DIE WELT, Germany's largest daily newspaper,
against the timid reaction of Europe in the face of the
Islamic threat.
EUROPE - THY NAME IS COWARDICE
(Commentary by Mathias Dapfner 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 to toothless agreements.
Appeasement legitimized and stabilized Communism in the
Soviet Union, then East Germany, then all the rest of
Eastern Europe where for decades, inhuman, suppressive,
murderous 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 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 Hitler, and declaring
European "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 will most likely 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
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 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 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 workweek 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 pieces of
jewelry when she notices a robber breaking into a
neighbor's house.
Appeasement? Europe, thy name is 'Cowardice'.
