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I was reading some of the great content on RealClearPolitics today. I noticed a "reader article" submission that I see as an urgent appeal. At the same time, the article was heartening to me in that some Europeans (many, I'm sure) are concerned about Islam and Islam's plans for Europe. Charlemagne at The View From Here is asking us to give the Brussels Journal a read and some blogging support - since the MSM will not do so. Arriving at the Brussels Journal site, I found an article reference to Diana West's article in the Washington Times: Long Division, dated March 17, 2007. Ms. West asks:
"Why don't our leaders face [the likely transformation of Europe into an Islamic continent]? This may be one of those questions our children will ask some day."Ms. West points to the:
"...still-increasing Muslim immigrant population that is resulting not in the Europeanizing of Islam, but rather the Islamizing of Europe."Ms West says this about "Tabloid America:"
"Without attracting much attention, representatives of the Belgian political party Vlaams Belang recently visited Washington, D.C. Frank Vanhecke and Filip Dewinter hoped to meet members of Congress; but Congress was in recess. They hoped to engender some understanding of their program to reverse the Islamization of Belgium; but the media were strip-mining the tinsel life and tawdry times of Anna Nicole Smith. Maybe they should have known that Tabloid America doesn't care about the likely transformation of Europe into an Islamic continent, let alone the fate of a French- and Dutch-speaking country of 10 million people. And while Literary America does write books about the transformation -- "While Europe Slept" by Bruce Bawer, "The War for the West" by Tony Blankley and "America Alone" by Mark Steyn come to mind Political America has yet to acknowledge or even notice this colossal, epoch-defining shift now taking place."I am not well acquainted with Belgium's politics. If Ms. West's information is correct, the largest political party in Belgium, Vlaams Belang, is attempting to notify the world that much of Europe is in deep trouble, and by extension, "...the strategic implications for the United States are, in a word, bleak."
As Vlaams Belang's Mr. Dewinter recently put it, "We are becoming foreigners in our own land."Then this...Ms. West reports that for six straight years, "Mohammad" has been the most popular boys name in Brussels. To the real issue of living freely. Ms. West writes of the way it is in Belgium:
In multiculturally totalitarian Belgium, however, you make such judgments at your own risk. Vlaams Belang, a conservative, free-market party that stands for Flemish secession from the French-speaking part of Belgium and opposes continued immigration, now stands trial in a Belgian court for a comment -- a comment! -- Mr. Dewinter made in 2005 to a New York publication, The Jewish Week. When asked why Belgian Jews should vote for a party that espouses "xenophobia," Mr. Dewinter replied: "Xenophobia is not the word I would use. If [it] absolutely must be a 'phobia,' let it be 'Islamophobia.' Yes, we're afraid of Islam. The Islamization of Europe is a frightening thing."The last paragraph of the Washington Post article makes the need for Charlemagne’s appeal, and that of Ms. West's article, perfectly clear:
As Mr. Vanhecke put it in a recent speech, "They call us 'intolerant' because we oppose intolerance. They call us 'fascists' because we oppose Islamofascism. They call us 'the children of holocaust perpetrators,' because we oppose Islamists who are preparing a new holocaust against the Jews."Back to The Brussels Journal and Ms. West's article there, published under the title: Islamization is not Inevitable, the reader comments are insightful, including the comments about America's "dead Detroit." Al Gore is fighting his fight around the world it seems - and Belgium has been graced with his presence recently. A piece in the BrusselsJournal.com tells of a photo-op where the liberals tried to keep Gore all to themselves - didn't want to share his Global-highness, I guess. A three-hour meeting also did not extend an invitation to the conservatives, however, the conservative Vice President showed-up and was "reprimanded" by the liberal President. (Caveat here: I am applying the words "liberal" and "conservative" - correctly, I hope.) The comments on this article are a good read - hilarious, in fact. Ending with more of the serious stuff: Charlemagne and The View From Here has a thoughtful piece up: Will Europe Go Gently into the Goodnight? Linked blogs may or may not coincide happily with Maggie's Notebook.
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