Amir Taheri:
On Tuesday, when Islamist suicide bombers blew themselves up in Brussels, killing 31 innocent people and injuring 240, the European Union’s foreign policy representative, the Italian Federica Mogherini, happened to be on an official visit to Amman, the Jordanian capital.
Fighting back tears, she cut short a news conference saying: “It’s a very sad day for Europe, as Europe and its capital are suffering the same pain that the Middle East has known and knows every single day, be it in Syria, be it elsewhere.”
She then mused about the role that Islam may have played in the tragedy, dismissing “the idea of a clash between Islam and the West.”
“Islam,” she said, “holds a place in our Western societies. Islam belongs to Europe…I am not afraid to say that political Islam should be part of the picture.”
Mogherini’s statement offers an insight into the mentality that has helped produce the situation in Western European societies, where fear is woven into the fabric of daily life. It is a world of illusions and false identities.
In Mogherini’s world, the sufferings of Syrians, caused by a savage regime, is on the same par as the sufferings of inhabitants of European capital cities such as Madrid, London, Paris and now Brussels that have come under attack from jihadists who kill at random.
In that world, political Islam, far from being an adversary dedicated to your destruction, becomes part of the family.
The envoy fails to see the logical conclusion of her analysis: If Islam is no longer a religion but a political ideology, why shouldn’t it be subjected to the same treatment, including criticism, as any other political ideology, and, if it poses a present and clear danger, face outright suppression?
What happened in Brussels was a co-production by adepts of two sick ideologies.
The first one is Islamism in its many versions, including Khomeinism in Iran, Talibanism in Afghanistan, Salafism in Arab countries, Boko Haram in Nigeria, and ISIS and its offshoots across the globe. It will remain firmly in place until it implodes under the weight of its savage contradictions, as did the old Soviet Union, or is defeated in a war as was the case with Nazi Germany and imperialist Japan.
The other co-producer, the mushy and politically correct “liberal” ideology that has seduced segments of opinion in Western democracies, can and must be combated by all those who wish to protect the democratic system in an increasingly dangerous world.
In Brussels, it started in the 1960s when the postwar economic boom created a shortage of workers.
Like other Western European countries, notably Germany and France, Belgium had to import workers on a massive scale.
The winners and losers of this clash are plainly seen by headlines such as this one for today:
Organizers cancel Sunday’s Brussels attacks ‘March Against Fear’ – AFP
Yes, they were AFRAID to go forward with their March Against Fear.
Perfect.
Years ago, when ”Red” Ken Livingstone was mayor of London he inadvertently exposed the same winner/loser in this.
There was a March against involvement in Iraq.
The Gays of London had a permit and marched.
But so did many Muslim groups, who beat up the gays at the end of the march.
The next year, Red Ken was preparing for the repeat march when the gays confronted him with an ultimatum: either give us a permit OR give Muslims a permit, but not both because the Muslims are threatening to kill us this year.
Red Ken thought about it for a week.
Then he gave permits to the Muslims and prevented gays from marching against the Iraq war.
It was downhill from there very quickly.
That was when the UK’s 1st “No-Go Zones” began.
The Muslims set up their own police, MORALITY Police (called Muttawa in Arabic).
Regular UK police stayed out.
British girls were raped in the thousands!