America Must Save Civilization

Submitted by Prof. Paul Eidelberg (Israel), Nov 14, 2006 at 23:46

In America Alone, Mark Steyn exposes not Islamic imperialism, but also the moral confusion andr cowardice of western elites who cuddle up to Islam or obscure its bellicose and hateful nature. America Alone is an urgently needed wake up call. Steyn warns America about what is happening to its NATO allies:

(1) An aging and declining European population has necessitated the importation of foreign workers, primarily Muslim Arabs from North Africa.

(2) Since these Muslims refuse to integrate, they constitute a hostile and prolific population that threatens to inundate the Continent.

(3) Europe is committing cultural self-destruction not only because of its permissive immigration policies, but also because of the multiculturalism and moral relativism that permeate the mentality of Europe's ruling elites—its post-Christian policy-makers and judges on the one hand, and post-modern academics and journalists on the other.

What makes America even more alone is that its allies disdain the country that saved them twice from tyranny.

America needs to understand, however, that its economic and political survival depends very much on Europe, and Europe, Steyn warns, is approaching the abyss as a result of its moral decline and low birthrate. Unless this trend is reversed—and this will require heroic efforts—Europe will be semi-Islamic within a generation.

Steyn has made an extensive survey of European demography. For a nation to maintain a stable population—no growth and no decline—it needs a fertility rate of 2.1 live births per woman. Whereas America has a 2.1fertility rate, Europe, as whole, has a rate of only 1.38. Spain, with a 1.1 fertility rate, is halving every generation.

In the major urban centers of France, of those aged 20 and under, about 45 percent are Muslim. France is self-destructing. So is Russia, the world's largest country. With a 1.14 fertility rate, there may be only 50 million Russians at the end of the century. Large chunks of Russia will slide into the Islamic orbit. As Steyn puts it, Europe is "going out of business."

Steyn also emphasizes that Europe's social democracies, with their cradle-to-grave welfare programs, are going bankrupt. The welfare state, by assuming all the responsibilities of adulthood—health care, child care, care of the elderly—has effectively severed its citizens from humanity's primal instincts, including self-preservation. As Europe gets older and more childless, it has to import more foreign workers. This can only end in Europe's economic collapse.

Europe's Muslim population is not very productive, since a large percentage of Muslims prefers to proliferate and live of welfare rather than work. To make matters worse, Muslims predominate in European prisons despite permissive judicial systems.

Meanwhile, mosques and madrassas, thanks largely to Saudi money, are flourishing. The cultural identity of European nations is evaporating.

Although Muslims in general reject the customs and laws of their host country, their votes are eagerly sought by European politicians. Moreover, government officials, whether obtuse or afflicted with multiculturalism, magnify Muslim power by failing to enforce monogamy laws. Since Muslims can have four wives, their birthrate is seven times that of Europeans. Some demographers say Europe will be dominated by Muslims in 20 years. Steyn does not exaggerate when he says Europe is committing cultural suicide.

Imagine French literature and culture, gone; German literature and culture, gone; Russian literature and culture, gone. In the home of humanism, humanism is dying.

Steyn offers a shocking example of this decadence. In 2006, Spain's ruling Socialist Party introduced a bill in parliament legislating that apes be included in "the category of persons, and that they be given the moral and legal protection that currently are only enjoyed by human beings." The party's argument was that humans in Spain share about 98 percent of their genes with chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans. No wonder Spain has a fertility rate of only 1.1.

But how did Spanish socialists gain power? Well, on March 11, 2004, three days before the Spanish elections, a series of terrorist train bombings in Madrid killed more than 250 people. On election day, the voters tossed out the government that had been supporting the U.S. in Iraq and handed it over to the Socialists. It was this new leftwing government that introduced the bill to endow apes with the moral and legal rights of human beings (perhaps the result of the left's unqualified struggle for human rights detached from obligations.)

Notice, however, that it was Muslim terrorists that brought this leftwing government to power.

To illustrate the fact that Europe's burgeoning Muslim population does not integrate, Steyn points out that the most popular baby boy's name in much of Europe is Muhammad. (The Saudis are willing to pay any man $1,000 to change his name to Muhammad.) Steyn boldly adds that if you are Islamist, "you can lie, cheat, steal, rape, and kill women and children, as long as you are doing it for Allah and his victory over infidels." Islam thus provides would-be criminals with a license to steal and kill. (The present writer wonders: how many felons become Muslims to cover their evil motives and thereby minimize if not avoid punishment?)

What about England? Alas, the teaching of moral relativism during the past few decades has enfeebled and corrupted English society. In fact, relativism has metamorphosed into moral reversal, as witness the anti-Israel reportage of the BBC and The Guardian, where the Jewish victims of Arab terror appear as the villains.

England's judicial system has also been tainted. The courts mollycoddle Arab criminals and terrorists as "victims" of so-called "oppressive" majorities. London has become a breeding ground for global jihad, thanks to the permissiveness of the courts.

And so America's NATO allies are fading away. In the UN General Assembly in 2003, the members of the European Union voted against the U.S. position 54.5 percent of the time. Finland's prime minister said in 2002 that "the European Union must not take up arms at any occasion in order to defend its own interests." America is indeed alone.

Perhaps this is why Steyn repeatedly refers to 9/11 as if it were exclusively an American concern. Few people grasp the full significance of that fateful day. 9/11 was the greatest morale-booster of Islam in 1,000 years. 9/11 restored the confidence of the Muslim world—a world burning with envious hatred of the West. 9/11 showed ambitious Muslims that the "Great Satan," despite its military superiority, is vulnerable and can be conquered. By restoring the pride of Muslims everywhere, 9/11 heightened Islam's ambition to conquer the world. It has already emasculated Europe.

To stop Islam's forward march, Steyn's offers various proposals, including the following:

(1) "Roll back Wahhabi, Iranian, and other ideological exports that have radicalized Muslims on every continent." (I wonder, however, whether sectarian differences in the Islamic world have any strategic significance.)

(2) Cut off the Saudi funding of mosques, madrassas, think tanks, and other Islamic organizations in America. (Islamic influence on American society may also be exerted via retired, high-level American officials on the Saudi payroll. Legislation may be required to terminate this pernicious state of affairs.)

(3) Marginalize the UN and ensure that Islamic states that persecute non-Muslims are denied international legitimacy. (To this end, the U.S. should demand the expulsion from the UN of any state that violates the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.)

(4) Terminate the Iranian regime. (Needed is a "shock-and-awe" attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.)

Something is missing in America Alone: Israel. Yet Israel may contain the key to humbling Islam.

Scholars have noted the overweening arrogance of Muslim Arabs. Washington should therefore:

(1) Call upon Israel to devastate the entire Arab terrorist network west of the Jordan River, including the Fatah- and Hamas-led Palestinian Authority—now a proxy of Iran.

(2) Declare that any attack on Israel will be deemed an attack on the United States.

(3) Move the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and urge Israel to exercise its rightful authority over the Temple Mount. This is the ideological key to terminating Islamic imperialism.

Of course, the U.S. may lack the will or leadership to roll back Islamic imperialism. Steyn is not optimistic. All the more reason to urge Americans, especially their decision-makers, to read America Alone and heed its proposals, lest America succumb to the fate hovering over Europe.

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