The Alligator Has Arrived
The story is attributed to Winston Churchill. In describing the effects of appeasement
he said: "it's the idea that if you feed the alligator he will eat you last." The Muslim alligator jumped
the queue this past two weeks and is dining on French cuisine.
The three pillars of French governance - bafflement, duplicity and appeasement - all seemed to crumble at the same
time from the pressure of two weeks of nightly riots in some 300 French cities and a few copycat riots in neighboring
countries. While the car burnings and property damage seemed to be subsiding, the danger would come from a second
wave sometime in the next week. To assess the current situation, perhaps we should look at one pillar at a time.
Bafflement
It is the time-honored tradition of the left, especially the French left, to either be confused or pretend to
be confused when presented with ideas different from their own. Part of this is simple denial. Part of it is tactical
in that if your idea is confusing I don't have to consider it right now. If, in fact, you can't be clearer, I don't
have to consider it at all. Part of it is simple arrogance. If I didn't think of it, it must not be any good.
The case in point? The all-powerful, multi-cultural French intelligentsia, says columnist Phyllis Chesler, hold
that for France to redeem itself from its colonial past it must become as impoverished as those it once colonized.
Therefore, France should welcome profoundly hostile immigrants who do not wish to assimilate and whose own cultural
and religious practices sanction violence, illiteracy, and gender and religious apartheid.
The politically correct, Chesler continues, have censored the notion that while there are many immigrants that
are neither inclined to violence nor averse to assimilation, they are not Muslim. Not all Muslims are rioters but
nearly all rioters are Muslim. The problem is insoluble under France's prevailing moral standards. To let Muslims
in is to destroy France. To reject Muslim immigrants is to destroy them. North African and Arab immigrants turn
to radical Islam because they feel alien both in France and their original homes. Radical Islam offers them an
identity and a way to escape.
The best hope is that the United States succeeds in its effort to transform the Middle East to the point that Muslims
perceive themselves as having a stake in democracy and the global economy, says Powerline. In other words, France
has done everything it can to undermine the one thing it needs.
Today in Paris, the Chirac government confesses to being completely baffled. According to Ralph Peters, France's
leaders are stunned that supporting African and Arab dictators and defying America's efforts to liberate tens of
millions of Muslims didn't buy safety from the five plus million Muslim immigrants when parent and child alike
have no hope of a decent future in France.
Duplicity
Leaving aside the duplicitous history of the U.N. Oil-for-Food scandal, the first few days of no response to
the riots was caused by the administration's senior staff being away on vacation. However, the middle days were
caused by President Chirac and Prime Minister De Villepin sitting on their hands while allowing Interior Minister
Nicolas Sarkozy to take the hit. The price paid by Chirac is that his indecision and inaction encouraged the rioters
and turned what could have been an isolated incident into a serious movement threatening all of Old Europe.
The two national leaders hoped to damage Sarkozy's chances for the Presidential election in 2007. What's a riot
compared to a blow to your rival in the next election? Even without riots, France averages 80 cars a day lost to
arson, sending your rival into a no-win battle first could result in demands for his resignation and an opportunity
to step in and save the day. These things did happen but the radicals also understood that they have the momentum
and the political will and the government does not.
A second act of duplicity was to use the state-owned media to carve out part of the truth so that the French citizens
and the world could not see that arson had spread to 300 cities nor hear that the rioters were Muslim. After all,
if radical Islam comes to be seen as a global attack on Western interests, then the anti-Bush narrative fades.
The most extreme iteration of this false assertion came from the Washington Post. They declared without citing
any evidence that "Islamic ideology and leaders play no role in the disturbances."
Old Europe, through agreements between the European Union and the Arab League, have not only approved but actively
assisted in the formation of non-assimilated Islamic enclaves within Europe. Within these enclaves, the Wahabbi
and Salafist Saudi clerics thrived. Mosques, schools and community centers were paid for with Saudi money. The
French social model paid generously for the immigrants to remain unemployed but offered them no chance to get ahead,
especially through creative entrepreneurship which would create new jobs. In exchange for oil for their industrial
base and markets for their goods, Old Europe pledged itself to support radical Islam in the United Nations and
through the diplomatic world. In multiple agreements, Old Europe pledged to create and maintain enclaves in which
the strict and violent Wahabbi version of Islam could flourish.
Appeasement
Marxist in their economic training and devoured by hatred for the success of free markets, portions of the MSM
are promulgating the French line that the crisis has nothing to do with radical Islam and everything to do with
racism and economic injustice caused solely by the French.
The problem with that tack is that France is not governed by greedy capitalists making profits off the backs of
the poor. France is governed by socialists and faux socialists who have ruined the economy by spending enormous
sums on health and welfare programs designed to make the citizens dependent and therefore reliable votes for those
who control the handouts. The loyalty of the old is purchased by denying future opportunity to the young.
French citizens are beginning to rebel against the lack of a chance to better themselves. Those with an education
are leaving for America, Great Britain, Ireland or Australia. In the Anglosphere, they find not just employment
but the chance at entrepreneurship.
In the segregated Islamic ghettoes of Europe there is no current chance to ever escape. With 40 or more percent
unemployment, the young adult male has no job and therefore no reasonable prospect of marriage. The days are spent
in idle street corner chatter accompanied by hashish or marijuana. The first thing they know about rioting is that
it is fun and they are unlikely to get caught or punished.
When De Villipin finishes, he will have crafted a surrender that looks like this:
- 1. French taxpayers will furnish designated parcels of French soil for autonomous Muslim enclaves where the
police will not enter.
2. French taxpayers will provide the necessary funding for basic living.
3. The areas will be self-governing and Sharia law will govern in many, if not all, court cases.
4. The Saudis will fund mosques and religious education in the enclaves. The imams will be the final word on local
custom and practice.
And from these enclaves, many Muslims will obey the call from their religion to conquer the world and establish
their caliphate.
11/11/05
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