Montag, 29. Oktober 2007

Lobbygruppen, Geheimdienste, Polit-Logen, Militärische Under-Cover-Einrichtungen, Apokalyptische Sekten, Geopolitische Netzwerke - Interview mit Wolfgang Eggert

Lobbygruppen, Geheimdienste, Polit-Logen, Militärische Under-Cover-Einrichtungen, Apokalyptische Sekten, Geopolitische Netzwerke - Interview mit Wolfgang Eggert

Muslim-Markt interviewt
Wolfgang Eggert, Autor des Buches "Erst Manhatten, dann Berlin"
25.10.2007

Wolfgang Eggert, Jahrgang 1962, aufgewachsen im Ruhrgebiet, studierte nach Absolvierung des Wehrdienstes an den Universitäten von Berlin (FU) und München (LMU) Geschichte, Politologie und Journalistik. Nach redaktioneller Ausbildung bei SAT1 und einer für VOX arbeitenden Produktionsgesellschaft beschäftigt er sich nun seit über 17 Jahren intensiv mit politischen Übergriffen von Geheimdiensten und Messianischen Sekten.

Wolfgang Eggert
Seine letzte Veröffentlichung "Erst Manhattan, dann Berlin" ist sein achtes Buch zum Thema. "Wer wissen will, wie sich extremer Fundamentalismus mit der laufenden US-Politik überschneidet, sollte dieses Buch lesen", schreibt Emmypreisträger Saul Landau, Professor an der California State Polytechnic University.
Eggert lebt vom Erlös seiner Bücher ledig in München und London.

MM: Sehr geehrter Herr Eggert, schaut man sich die Liste Ihrer Veröffentlichungen an, so könnte man auf die Idee kommen, dass Sie ein so genannter Verschwörungstheoretiker sind. Wie antworten Sie auf diesen Vorwurf?

Eggert: Mein Hauptforschungsgebiet ist das Wirken des Organisierten Verbrechens, von Lobbygruppen, Geheimdiensten, Polit-Logen, Militärischen Under Cover Einrichtungen, Apokalyptischen Sekten, Geopolitischen Netzwerken. Alle diese häufig untereinander verwobenen Gruppen arbeiten vorsätzlich verdeckt und konspirativ. Ob Betrug oder Mord, Kauf oder Kompromittierung von Journalisten und Politikern, Organisierung von Putschen, Pogromen, Terroranschlägen und Kriegen: Verschwörung ist Teil ihres Tagesgeschäfts. Investigative Rechercheure müssen auf diesem Themengebiet Verschwörungstheoretiker sein, sonst sind sie lediglich Hofberichterstatter.

MM: Die weitaus überwiegende Mehrheit der Medien vertritt andere Ansichten.

Eggert: Dazu muss man den Einfluss kennen, den gerade die Geheimdienste auf die so genannte Freie Presse ausüben. Ende der 40er Jahre startete die CIA ein regelrechtes Programm zur Infiltration und Steuerung der Medienlandschaft: "Operation Mockingbird". Die Sonderbudgets zur Lenkung der Öffentlich Meinung betragen seitdem bei der Agency Milliarden Dollar-Summen – jährlich.

Investiert wird am Markt über Rundfunk- bzw. Beteiligungsgesellschaften, seltener über Einzelspieler. Als solcher nahm Silvio Berlusconi seinen kometenhaften Aufstieg zum Global Player des Mediengeschäfts direkt aus der CIA-Loge P2 heraus. Der israelische Milliardär Haim Saban übernahm 2003 mit einem Schlag die Fernsehsender Pro7, Sat1, Kabel 1, N24 und die Nachrichtenagentur ddp. Sabans Entourage rühmte sich gern ihrer Verbindungen zum israelischen Geheimdienst Mossad. Robert Maxwell, der europäische Pressezar, war ebenfalls bis kurz vor seinem Tod ein Mann des Mossad. Maxwell spielte eine einflussreiche Rolle in der Gründungsperiode des deutschen Springer Konzerns. Die Firma Springer ist bekannt dafür, dass jeder Arbeitnehmer fünf Unternehmensgrundsätze unterzeichnen muss, deren zweiter "die Unterstützung der Lebensrechte des israelischen Volkes" fordert und deren dritter "die Unterstützung des transatlantischen Bündnisses und die Solidarität in der freiheitlichen Wertegemeinschaft mit den Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika" verlangt. Diese Worte könnten auch als Sinnspruch über dem Schreibtisch von Rupert Murdoch stehen. Der neokonservative Australier führte eine kleine Zeitung, als er sich mit dem CIA-Repräsentanten in Australien, Ted Shackley, befreundete. Von da an ging´s im Handumdrehen steil bergauf. Zum Murdoch-Konzern gehören heute weltweit Hunderte von Zeitungen, sowie TV- und Radiostationen. ... Beresowski... Gussinski.... Die Liste ließe sich endlos fortsetzen.

Soweit zur obersten Chefetage. Natürlich schüttet das immer prallgefüllte Geheimdienstfüllhorn auch ein wenig nach unten aus. Es gehen Gelder an Chefredakteure und Rundfunkräte, Geheimdienstgesteuerte Stiftungen vergeben Stipendien, Think-Tanks verteilen Einladungen und Reisegutscheine. Es gibt jede Menge Zuckerbrot.

MM: ... nur Zuckerbrot?

Eggert: ... und natürlich auch die Peitsche! Haben Sie sich nicht schon einmal gewundert, warum so viele altlinke Presse-Erzeugnisse heute in Amerikanismus machen? Dafür gibt es eine simple Erklärung: Als die CIA Bundeskanzler Kohl Anfang der 90er Jahre die brisanten Rosenholz-Dateien unter der Nase wegschnappte, hatte sie eine komplette Übersicht über die Stasi-Seilschaften in der BRD eingesackt. Darunter die zahlreichen MfS-Mitarbeiter in der westdeutschen Medienlandschaft. Um nicht ihren Ruf und ihre Rentenbezüge zu verlieren, arbeiten die seitdem kostenlos für die CIA. Wer das nicht will, wird öffentlich gemacht. Dafür gibt es Beispiele.

"Die CIA besitzt jeden von irgendeiner Bedeutung in den Massenmedien." So sprach der ehemalige CIA-Chef William Colby zur Zeit des Mauerfalls. Als er einmal gefragt wurde, ob die CIA ihren Presse-V-Leuten jemals gesagt habe, was diese schreiben sollten, antwortete er: "Aber sicher, das wird ständig gemacht." Kontrolle des Fußvolks ist Teil des politischen Spiels, gerade in Spannungszeiten wie diesen. Auch Kriegsfanfaren brauchen Mundstücke. Als solches dient die Medienlandschaft.

MM: Warum beschäftigen Sie sich schwerpunktmäßig mit Geheimdiensten?

Eggert: Als studierter Historiker hatte ich es schon immer mit den großen Eckpunkten unserer Geschichte zu tun. Die auffallendsten und physisch nachhaltigsten Umwälzungen sind zweifellos die Kriege. Wenn Sie sich intensiv genug mit dem Entstehen von Kriegen beschäftigen, werden Sie automatisch darauf kommen, dass diese nicht zufällig, quasi als Betriebsunfall "passieren" oder als Gottesstrafe vom Himmel gelassen werden. Wenn Sie ihre Forschung ernst nehmen, werden Sie feststellen, dass es immer eine kriegsführende Seite gibt, welche aus der gewaltsamen Auseinandersetzung Profit schlägt. Und die ist es dann auch meist, welche in entsprechenden Strategiezirkeln den Kampf lange im voraus geplant hat. Bis hin zu einem kriegsauslösenden Ereignis, welches das eigene Vorgehen legitimieren und den Gegner in eine schlechte Anfangsposition bringen soll. Für diesen wichtigen Job sind die Geheimdienste zuständig. Sie legen und aktivieren die Zündschnur in den Krieg. Das war immer und überall so: Der Thronfolgermord von Sarajewo als Auftaktakt des Ersten Weltkriegs; der Überfall auf den Sender Gleiwitz, der Hitlers Angriff auf Polen rechtfertigen sollte; die Lavon Affäre, als israelische Agenten unter falscher Flagge amerikanische Einrichtungen in Ägypten bombardierten, um die USA im Vorfeld des Suezkanalkrieges auf die "richtige Seite" zu ziehen; der erlogene Tonkin-Zwischenfall, der Amerika das scheinbare Recht gab, in den Vietnamkrieg einzutreten; die Provokationen Kuwaits gegen den Irak und das grüne Licht des Pentagon an Saddam Hussein, mit dem Nachbarstaat militärisch abzurechnen, um Bush Seniors ersten Öl-Wüstensturm als "Befreiungsunternehmen" zu tarnen; die auf tschetschenische Extremisten geschobenen Hochhausbombardierungen in Russland, die Putin 1999 die Begründung für den Kaukasuseinsatz der Armee lieferten; die Entführung zweier Israelis zur Legitimierung des letzten Libanonkrieges. Jeder einzelne Vorfall ein geheimdienstgesteuerter Schachzug. Man muss die Geheimdienste und ihre Machinationen betrachten um geschichtliche Dynamik in ihrem Kern zu begreifen.

MM: In einer Veröffentlichung von 2003 beschuldigen Sie die militärische Genforschung am Ausbruch von Seuchen wie AIDS Mitschuld zu sein. Was sollte die Motivation dafür sein, denn schließlich leiden alle in der Welt an jenen Seuchen?

Eggert: Jahrzehnte unter Verschluss gehaltene Protokolle des amerikanischen Kongresses belegen, dass am 9. Juni 1969 Dr. McArthur, der stellvertretende Leiter der Forschungsabteilung beim US-Verteidigungsministerium, den Antrag auf die Bewilligung von 10 Millionen $ stellte. Mit diesem Geld sollte laut seiner Aussage ein neuartiges Virus entwickelt werden, das den Immunapparat des Infizierten zerstört und gegen therapeutische Abwehrmaßnahmen unempfindlich ist. Das Geld wurde bewilligt und die Forschungsarbeit in streng geheimen Hochsicherheitslaboratorien aufgenommen. Die fähigsten Wissenschaftler ihrer Zeit, darunter der spätere "Entdecker" des Aids-Virus Robert Gallo, arbeiteten dem Projekt zu, das laut Planung innerhalb von 10 Jahren zum Abschluss kommen sollte. Nach exakt dieser Zeitspanne tauchten die ersten HIV-Fälle in den USA auf. Die Beweiskette erscheint in mehrfacher Hinsicht bruchlos, auch was die genetischen Rekombination des Virus anbelangt. Das Ergebnis war die erste Genwaffe der Geschichte. Wenn auch eine unfertige, da sie anders als ihre heutigen Nachfolger nicht gebiets- oder rassenselektiv töten kann und sich wahllos verbreitet.

Deshalb würde ich für die Freisetzung des Virus keine US-Regierungsstelle verantwortlich machen, auch nicht den geheimdienstlich-militärischen Komplex. Da sind vielmehr über- oder nebenstaatliche Gruppen im Spiel, die zum Teil malthusianischen, zum Teil religiösen Antrieben folgen. Jüdische und Christliche Messianisten vom Zuschnitt eines Shoko Asahara, der die japanischen U-Bahnen mit Giftgas flutete, weil er meinte, damit die Welt dem prophezeiten Ende näher zu bringen. Es gibt da nur einen Unterschied: Asahara war ein weitgehend isolierter Sektenguru. Seine biblischen Gesinnungsgenossen stehen dagegen an den Pforten der Macht. In Amerika, in England, in Israel.

MM: Einen Monat vor dem 11. September 2001 veröffentlichten Sie ein Buch mit dem Titel "Im Namen Gottes - Israels Geheimvatikan als Vollstrecker biblischer Prophetie". Wurde Ihr Buch schon einen Monat nach der Veröffentlichung "überholt"?

Eggert: Nein, da hatte ich den 11. September natürlich noch nicht im Blickfeld. Es geht in dem Buch um das Wesen überstaatlicher Gruppen und deren Einflüsse auf die Geschichte im allgemeinen. Auf Revolutionen, Kriege, den Kommunismus, den Faschismus, den Holocaust. Von der französischen Revolution angefangen bis zum Ende der Regierungszeit Clintons. "Israels Geheimvatikan" ist mehr ein Grundlagenwerk.

Was ich voraussah war die Tatsache, dass die endzeitlichen Gruppen in den Religionen durch ihre politischen Netzwerke an der Vorbereitung des 3. Weltkriegs arbeiteten. Und wie in jedem Krieg bedurfte es auch hierfür wieder eines konkreten Anlasses, und das war der 11. September 2001. Eigentlich passt 9/11 nahtlos in die Liste der Kriegsauslösekampagnen, die ich bereits genannt habe. Es ist daher nicht verwunderlich, dass man in der Vorbereitungszeit dieses Terrorcoups wieder allerorten auf die Spuren der Geheimdienste stößt.

MM: Ein Jahr später folgte Ihr Buch "Angriff der Falken". Warum glauben Sie steht die deutsche Politik derzeit so extrem stark an der Seite jener Falken?

Eggert: Ich habe mich das zum ersten Mal gefragt, als der regierungsnahe US-Nachrichtenkanal Fox-News am 12. September 2007 meldete, die Deutschen sanktionierten Amerikas Irankriegspläne. Thema der Sendung war ein Iranspezifisch zusammengesetztes Sicherheitsrattreffen in Berlin. Dort hätte die Bundesregierung erklärt, die antiiranische Sanktionsfront aus national-wirtschaftlichen Gründen zu verlassen – wobei sie gleichzeitig die Amerikaner zu einem Bombardierungsfeldzug gegen Irans nukleare Einrichtungen ermuntert haben sollen. Fox beruft sich dabei auf Diplomaten aus verschiedenen Ländern.

Wenn das keine vorsätzliche Lüge aus dem Hause Murdoch ist, sondern eine auf Tatsachen gründende Indiskretion, dann sehen wir hier in seiner krassesten Form den Schwenk unserer – nach wie vor sozialdemokratisch bestimmten – Außenpolitik. Für mich erklärt sich dieses Verhalten mit dem Druck der Vereinigten Staaten, die Deutschland nur dann als ständiges Mitglied in den Weltsicherheitsrat aufnehmen werden, wenn es sich gegenüber seiner aktuellen Politik wohlgefällig zeigt.

MM: Wird das zum erwünschten Ziel für Deutschland führen?

Eggert: Ich bezweifele, ob die Rechnung aufgehen wird, durch Unterstützung des Imperialismus mit blutenden Händen in den Sicherheitsrat einzuziehen, um von dort dann – im Herzen rein geblieben – zur moralischen Erneuerung der Welt zu schreiten. Gerade kurzfristig ist dieses Spiel mit dem Feuer gefährlich: Berlin würde sich als antreibende Kraft für ein NATO-Terrorbombardement bildhaft gesprochen in George W. Bushs Kanonenboot setzen. Klassischer ist ein Motiv für einen islamistischen Provokationsanschlag gegen die Bundeshauptstadt kaum aufzubauen. Es ist meines Erachtens auch zu früh darauf zu bauen, dass die neokonservative US-Regierung das Wahljahr 2008 nicht übersteht und Deutschland es dann schon mit einem neuen Partner im Sicherheitsrat zu tun haben wird.

MM: Ihr jüngstes Buch "Erst Manhattan, dann Berlin" geht von der Gefahr eines erfolgreichen Terroranschlages in Deutschland aus. Wie kommen Sie darauf?

Eggert: Als Antreiber der menschlichen Geschichte nehme ich unter anderem wie bereits erwähnt messianische Netzwerke wahr. Es gibt ganz zentrale Ereignisse, die ausschließlich von diesen radikalen Sekten gesteuert waren, darunter die Ermordung des israelischen Staatschefs Rabin. Gerade auf die explosive Lage im Mittleren Osten, die sie zum prophezeiten Armageddon vorantreiben wollen, gelingt es ihnen stärksten Einfluss auszuüben. Einerseits über die Schiene Israel, wo führende Politiker wie Benjamin Netanjahu vor schwerwiegenden Entscheidungen den Rat okkulter Rabbiner einholen. Auf der anderen Seite haben in Amerika im Gefolge von George W. Bush bekennende christliche Fundamentalisten das Weiße Haus erobert. Wöchentlich werden endzeitliche Schriftgelehrte hierher und ins Pentagon geladen, um in bizarren Bibelsitzungen Politiker und Militärs für das Tagesgeschäft zu instruieren. Wesentlich länger ist diese gefährliche Vision von der Auserwähltheit vor Gott in einflussreichen Kreisen des britischen Establishments verbreitet. Viele Freimaurerlogen, die bekanntlich das öffentliche Leben des Vereinigten Königreichs stark prägen, sind von der Idee des Britischen Israelismus befangen. Diese besagt, dass die Mission des Judentums, die Welt ihrem geoffenbarten Ende entgegenzuführen, mit der Kreuzigung Jesu beendet und auf die Briten übertragen worden sei.

MM: ... Sie nennen oft christliche und jüdische Gruppen in einem Atemzug ...?

Eggert: Den christlichen und jüdischen Gruppen gemein ist die Tatsache, dass sie sich auf die Bibel berufen, dass sie auf Prophetien referieren, deren Inhalt sie sich als politischen Auftrag zu eigen machen, dass sie mittels Entschlüsselungscodes geheime Doppelbedeutungen aus der Heiligen Schrift herausarbeiten. Hier wie dort wird 9/11 anhand von Bibeltextstellen als erfüllte Prophetie betrachtet. Hier wie dort wird über das Kommen eines Parallelereignisses, nennen wir es 11/9 getuschelt. Immer wieder genannt wird ein atomarer Anschlag; und Berlin. Als mein Buch im November 2005 auf den Markt kam, schien dieses Schreckensbild noch in weiter Ferne zu liegen. Heute ist das anders, die Warnungen von neokonservativen Politikern und staatstragenden Medien erreichen uns nun auch wöchentlich in deutscher Sprache. Stil und Inhalt gleichen der Propaganda in den USA: Wenn es zu dem großen Knall kommt, so lautet das ´briefing´ für den gutgläubigen Michel, werden die Täter Muslime sein. Das mag dann vielleicht wirklich stimmen, aber wer im Terror-Hintergrund die alles in Gang haltenden Strippen zieht, davon erfahren wir aus guten Gründen herzlich wenig.

MM: Unter anderem behaupten Sie, dass die Interessen von extremen Fanatikern, die im missbrauchten Namen des Islam agieren sich erstaunlich oft mit den Interessen der Falken überschneiden. Wie erklären Sie das?

Eggert: Sie meinen die Symbiose zwischen radikalen Muslimen und Geheimdienstlern? Nehmen wir das bekannteste Beispiel: Osama bin Laden und Al Kaida. Beide sind Geschöpfe der amerikanischen Geopolitik. Als das Weiße Haus beschloss, noch in der Amtszeit Ronald Reagans den Kalten Krieg zu gewinnen, war ein zentraler Eckpfeiler dieses Unternehmens der Plan, den Russen in Afghanistan ein neues Vietnam zu bereiten. Zu diesem Zweck stampfte das Pentagon mit Milliardenbeträgen eine islamistische Bürgerkriegsarmee aus dem Boden, deren Aufgabe darin bestand, der Moskautreuen Regierung in Kabul die Hölle heiß zu machen. Das gelang auch, und als die Russen "zu Hilfe" kamen, waren sie in die Falle getappt. Der verlustreiche Afghanistankrieg war ein dicker Nagel zum Sarg der Sowjetunion. Und die Totengräber dort, das waren die Mudschaheddin. Die Sammel- und Durchgangsstelle der muslimischen Afghanistankämpfer nannte man Al Kaida. Ihr Organisator war Osama bin Laden, der unter dem Namen Tim Osman auf den Gehaltslisten des CIA stand. Er und seine Leute wurden in Amerika ausgebildet, bezahlt, bewaffnet.

Nach dem Zusammenbruch der Sowjetunion soll diese Zusammenarbeit durch eine Attentatsserie von Al Kaida gegen amerikanische Einrichtungen beendet worden sein. Mir scheint das ein vorgeschobenes Alibi zu sein, hinter dem die Zusammenarbeit fortdauerte. Fakt ist, dass Washington das kommunistische Riesenreich nicht deshalb niederrang, um die Menschen dort zu befreien, sondern dass es darum ging, sich die dortigen Märkte und Ressourcen zu erschließen. Und die Hauptressource, auf die man es ganz besonders abgesehen hatte, war das Erdöl, das in den südlichen Teilrepubliken der alten UdSSR gefördert wird. Diese muslimisch geprägten Regionen suchte man nun durch Putsche, Bürgerkriege und bezahlte Aufstände vom russischen Einflusssystem wegzulösen. Wer taucht nun wieder als zentraler Aktivposten in diesen Kämpfen auf, die fast ausschließlich den geopolitischen Erfordernissen der Amerikaner entgegenkamen? Richtig, die bärtigen Gotteskrieger bin Ladens. Die tummelten sich übrigens bald auch auf dem Balkan, als die USA dort seit Mitte der 90er Jahre geostrategische Interessen ausmachten. In diesem Zusammenhang – das belegen Untersuchungsberichte des US-Kongresses – arbeiteten die Amerikaner als echte Verbündete mit Al Kaida; Hand in Hand.

Obwohl die Regierung Clinton nach außen hin Osama bin Laden als "Most wanted Terrorist" zur Fahndung ausgeschrieben hatte. Und dafür astronomische Ergreifungssummen ausschrieb. Was hinter all diesem Tamtam steckte, durften verschiedene islamisch regierte Staaten erfahren, als sie in Washington mit der Nachricht vorstellig wurden. "Der Gesuchte befindet sich gerade in unserem Land. Wollen Sie ihn tot oder lebend?" In jedem dieser Fälle wurde die Auslieferung seitens der amerikanischen Regierung hintertrieben. Der besonders hartnäckig auf eine Auslieferung drängende Sudan erhielt als Denkzettel sogar ein Luftbombardement; mit der herausfordernden Begründung, das Land unterstütze den Terrorismus.

Währenddessen unterhielt Osama alias Tim unter den Augen der amerikanischen und englischen Agentenwelt offizielle Büro- und Wohnadressen in London. 1996 war er Gast des Britischen Auslandsgeheimdienstes MI6, der den umtriebigen Hansdampf als Subunternehmer für ein Attentat der Al Kaida Zelle "Libyan Islamic Fighting Group" auf Muammar Gaddafi anstellte. Der libysche Staatschef hatte gerade seinerseits eine stattliche Summe auf die Ergreifung bin Ladens ausgesetzt. Ich könnte die Koalitionsgeschichte zwischen Al Kaida und dem geheimdienstlich-militärischen Komplex des Westens noch lange fortführen. Sie reicht bis in die Zeit des 11. September. So enthüllten in Frankreich die regierungskontrollierte Radiostation „Radio France International“ und die Tagszeitung „Le Figaro“, dass sich Osama bin Laden noch im Juli 2001 im Amerikanischen Krankenhaus von Dubai einer Nierenbehandlung unterzog – wobei er vom örtlichen CIA-Kontaktmann am Krankenbett besucht wurde. Nachschlag gefällig? Anfang Juli 2002, also nach den Terrorflügen von New York und Washington, meldete das amerikanische Time-Magazin mit Bezug auf hochrangige europäische Geheimdienstkreise, dass der spirituelle Kopf des Al Kaida Netzwerkes, Abu Qatada, mit seiner Frau und seinen Kindern im Norden Englands lebt. In einem abgesicherten Haus, das ihm – zusammen mit einer ansehnlichen Bezahlung – der britische Geheimdienst zu Verfügung stellt.

Bin Laden, Al Kaida, die Mudschaheddin sind allesamt Kinder der USA. Die Taliban sind eine direkte Folge. Und wenn man es genau nimmt, haben diese Gruppen vom Anfang bis zum Ende im Interesse der USA gearbeitet. Sie tun es heute noch, wenn man der Pentagon-Story Glauben schenkt, dass bin Laden-Leute hinter dem 11. September stecken. Warum? Nun, das neokonservative Machtzentrum in Washington hatte die Eroberungsfeldzüge gegen Afghanistan und den Irak fest auf ihrem Plan, als Bush die Macht ergriff. Sie wussten aber, dass so ein offenkundig imperiales Unternehmen nur dann international durchsetzbar war, wenn es vorher – so schreiben es die Neokonservativen im Jahr 2000 – wenn es zu einem neuen Pearl Harbor käme. Begreifen Sie? Die Truppen standen bereit und 9/11 war der Türöffner in den Krieg. Nun will man den Iran aufrollen. Der amerikanische Geheimdienstapparat ist finanziell reich aber schwerfällig und geistig arm - die wiederholen sich gern. Die Welt darf sich also schon mal auf den nächsten Türöffner vorbereiten.

MM: Warum gab es nicht schon eine Terrorprovokation vor Beginn des Irakkriegs?

Eggert: Weil der Irakeinsatz gefühlsmäßig noch dem 11. September zugeschlagen wurde. Die Erinnerung an die Gewalt des 11. September war damals noch sehr präsent. Sie hatte dem Weißen Haus ein übervolles Emotionskonto beschert, von dem Bush nach wie vor abbuchen konnte. So zog das Schreckensbild, dass "der Massenmörder amerikanischer Zivilisten, Osama bin Laden, tatsächlich oder zumindest sinnbildlich in der Nähe von Bagdad lauern würde". Der Wortlaut stammt übrigens von dem amerikanischen Exsenator Gary Hart, der heute selbst vor einem durch die CIA provozierten oder gar fabrizierten Terroranschlag warnt. Der zweite Teil der zum Krieg hinleitenden Propagandalügen war den Massenvernichtungsmitteln gewidmet, mit denen Saddam angeblich das westliche Bündnis – und Israel - bedrohte.

Das wiederholt sich jetzt. Die Massenvernichtungskampagne läuft bereits auf vollen Touren. Die Al Kaida Kampagne bezeichnenderweise nicht. Sie hätte es auch schwer. Die "Wir-fangen-Bin" Eroberungsfeldzüge beginnen nach Afghanistan und Irak langsam durchsichtig werden. Hierzulande wirkt außerdem die Kampagne der rot-grünen Schröderregierung gegen den Irakkrieg nach, die auch Zweifel an der Authentizität des 11. September gesät hat. Trotz allem Engagement gelten wir in den Vereinigten Staaten nach wie vor als unsicherer Kantonist. Das ist es, was mir Sorge bereitet. Eine Anschlagsserie mit schmutzigen Atombomben in Amerika und Deutschland, deren Spuren man in den Iran legte, würde den Falken im Weißen Haus augenblicklich sehr zupass kommen: Erstens würde die deutsche Öffentlichkeit, die Regierung, ja selbst die Opposition langfristig an die US-Politik gebunden werden. Zweitens liefert ein Angriff mit ABC-Waffen Cheney & Co. genau jene rauchenden Colts, nach denen sie im Irak vergebens suchten; und noch dazu den Kriegsgrund, um ihre Kriegspläne gegen Teheran in die Tat umzusetzen. Drittens bietet eine solche Tat an, die US-Verfassung außer Kraft zu setzen – wodurch die Neokonservativen 2008 ihrer sicheren Abwahl entgingen...

MM: Sie schreiben ja nicht nur über die Gegenwart sondern auch über die Vergangenheit und behaupten, dass es bestimmte Interessen gab, die Hitler vereinfacht ausgedrückt, am Leben hielten. Gibt es Ihrer Meinung nach einen Roten Faden durch jene Geschichte bis heute?

Eggert: Es gibt einen roten Faden - ganz konkret was das politische Schicksal bestimmter Führer anbelangt. Nehmen wir wie vorgeschlagen Hitler. In den 20er Jahren hatten die späteren Siegermächte und mit ihnen ein ganzer Sack voll Eliten Interesse am Aufstieg einer Person, die das nationalsozialistische Programm ausfüllte. Sie müssen sich in die damalige Zeit zurückversetzen: Im Kreml war Lenin zur Macht gekommen. Sein Verstaatlichungsregime stellte für die Kapitalisten dieser Welt das Schreckgespenst schlechthin dar. Führende Unternehmen wie der Mineralölkonzern Shell hatten in Russland Unsummen investiert, die nun mit einem Schlag verloren waren. Wie der amerikanische Automobilkönig Ford gab auch der Chef der Shell große Summen an Hitler, in der Hoffnung, dass dieser an die Macht kommen und die Sowjets in einem Krieg niederringen würde. Auf die gleiche Karte setzten einflussreiche Teile der britischen Konservativen, denen die Wirksamkeit von Lenins antikolonialistischer Kampagne ein Dorn im Auge war. Indien, Ägypten, Irland, das halbe Empire befand sich in Aufruhr, weil die Roten die Schätze des Zaren zur Finanzierung der Weltrevolution einsetzten. So fand, wie gesagt, Hitler auch Unterstützung von englischer Seite. Und schließlich gab es noch die Karte, die "stechen" sollte. Den unausgesprochenen Common Sense zwischen Roosevelt und Stalin, dass ein im Herzen Europas entzündeter Krieg letzten Endes nur jenen Mächten helfen würde, die über das größte Hinterland verfügten: Amerika und Russland. Wenn sie zusammenhielten, das war klar, würden sie einen neuen Weltkrieg gewinnen und sich in der Mitte eines abgekämpften und ruinierten Europa die Hände reichen. Genau das passierte auch. Die Mittel, mit denen Roosevelt das zusammenbrechende Sowjetregime nach 1941 am Leben erhielt sind atemberaubend. Aber sie haben sich verzinst, denn die USA haben ihre Stützpunkte in alle Welt getragen und England als Weltmacht abgelöst. Das ist der Grund, warum Hitler so grundlegend wichtig für dieses Spiel war. Sein Autarkieprogramm, welches auf die Eroberung der Sowjet-Ukraine setzte, garantierte den Krieg, während die politische Physiognomie des Nationalsozialismus dessen Drahtziehern ein entwickeltes Feindbild bot, eine sich ständig neu aufbauende Argumentationsplattform zum Krieg führen "müssen". Und so lange Hitler lebte, blieb der Krieg in Gang. Nach Pearl Harbor brachte jeder neue Tag in Hitlers Amtszeit die Amerikaner und Russen einen Kilometer weiter in das Herz Europas.

MM: ... und heute ...?

Eggert: Amerika verfolgt in seiner imperialen Strategie heute gegenüber dem Iran die gleiche Politik wie damals gegenüber Deutschland. Wie soll das Weiße Haus einen Krieg gegen einen saturierten, sich dem Westen zuwendenden Staat begründen? So was geht nicht, und das war die Situation in Deutschland in den 20er Jahren, so wie es auf die iranische Entwicklung vor der Präsidentschaft Ahmadinedschad zutraf. Von dessen Aufstieg versprachen sich die US-Geopolitiker das, was ihnen schon das Emporkommen des "Führers" frei Haus geliefert hatte: Ein funktionelles Feindbild. Aufrüstung ... Antisemitismus ... Antimodernismus ... Eroberungsgelüste. Ob stimmig oder nicht, die Parolen muten vertraut an. Auch manches Ziel: Shell finanzierte die NSDAP, weil man durch Hitler an die Ölquellen Russlands kommen wollte. Und heute? Nach dem "World Factbook" der CIA besitzt Iran mit 133 Gigabarrels weltweit die zweitgrößten Reserven an konventionellem Rohöl. Es gibt genügend Strategiepapiere der Neokonservativen, die zeigen, dass man es genau auf diese Ressource abgesehen hat. George W. Bush ist selbst im Ölgeschäft, so wie ein Gutteil seiner Administration über Öllobbyverbände erst in die Politik gefunden hat; sie alle können den Wert dieser bereits seit Jahren mit amerikanischen Fahnen abgesteckten Claims sehr gut ermessen.

Das ist der Grund, warum das Weiße Haus die Präsidentschaftswahl Ahmadinedschads so behände unterstützte. Im Vorfeld dieser schicksalhaften Abstimmung lancierte man über Wochen die Meldung, das Pentagon schicke von Irak und Afghanistan aus amerikanische Kampfflugzeuge in den iranischen Luftraum, um für einen künftigen Krieg die Standorte von Radarabwehrsystemen auszutesten. Es liegt auf der Hand, dass der Entrüstungssturm im Iran die anstehende Abstimmung zuungunsten der aufstrebenden prowestlichen Reformer beeinflusste. Ebenso wie die Tatsache, dass die Perser in einer merkwürdigen Koalition, die vom Weißen Haus bis in linke europäische Kreise reichte, massiv zum Wahlboykott aufgerufen wurden. Viele Linke und Liberale hielten sich daran. Die Traditionalisten auf der anderen Seite hatten wenig Grund, diesen Aufrufen Folge zu leisten. Heraus kam der Sieg der Rechten. Was mir als Zweck der Übung erscheint.

Ist der iranische Staatschef damit ein Agent des amerikanischen Imperialismus? Nein, er ist es genauso wenig, wie Hitler. Aber ohne es zu wollen spielt er ihr Spiel. Vielleicht, das wäre in der Tat fatal, aus einer Perspektive des "Gott mit uns". Während Hitler und sein Umfeld weitgehend frei von religiösem Empfinden waren, ist Ahmadinedschad wie Olmert in Israel oder Bush in den USA der Führer einer Nation, die sich als integraler Bestandteil göttlicher Vorhersehung versteht. Und so wie die Evangelikalen in der amerikanischen Regierung fest von der zweiten Wiederkunft Christi überzeugt sind, so wie das konservative politische Establishment Israels vom Kommen des Messias träumt, so erwarten die schiitischen Ayatollahs den himmlischen Herabstieg ihres eigenen Verkünders, des Mahdi. Das Problem liegt im Kleingedruckten: Die irdische Geburt jeder dieser Heilsgestalten ist auf einer Welle von Blut verkündet. Erst die globale Vernichtung verheißt die Erlösung. Erst das Ende bringt den Anfang.

MM: So ganz schlüssig ist das aber nicht, denn nach jener Logik müsste der Iran den Atomwaffensperrvertrag kündigen, die Juden aus dem eigenen Land vertreiben und auch sonst alles tun, was den Krieg beschleunigt.

Eggert: Dass Teheran sich im Vergleich zu Washington eher passiv verhält, steht außer Frage. Das widerspricht nicht einer angenommenen Mahdi-Observanz, da die muslimische Überlieferung ihrer Anhängerschaft einem breiten Verständnis nach das kriegerische Vorpreschen verbietet. Nichtsdestoweniger wird sein Kommen erwartet und mit Freude aufgenommen. Das lässt gefühlsmäßig wenig Raum, der sich abzeichnenden Katastrophe, die mit seinem Erscheinen ja verbunden ist, mit aller Macht entgegenzuarbeiten.

MM: Kann es nicht sein, dass die USA - wie jede Großmacht in der Geschichte der Großmächte - mit dem Iran erstmalig auf einen Gegner gestoßen ist, den zu besiegen zumindest ideologisch nicht so einfach ist, denn die Sympathien für Ahmadinedschad sind selbst in Deutschland - natürlich nur hinter vorgehaltener Hand - nicht gering, und das trotz Bild-Zeitung?

Eggert: Die Entscheidung fällt leider auf den Schlachtfeldern und nicht wie im alten Indien an den Pforten der Universitäten. So wird Amerika für den Fall, dass Armageddon noch aufgehalten werden kann, allenfalls irgendwann an China scheitern. Aber das ist Zukunftsmusik.

Im militärischen Sinne hat der Iran für sich alleine genommen nicht den Hauch einer Chance gegen die USA. Vielleicht würden sie es in offener Feldschlacht, in einem Kampf Mann gegen Mann schaffen, wer weiß. Aber so einem Kampf stellen sich die Amerikaner seit Dutzenden von Jahren nicht mehr. Warum auch? Wenn es sein muss, bombardieren sie ihren Gegner aus 10 oder 20 Kilometern unerreichbarer Höhe so lange, bis sich das Land unter ihnen in ein einziges Dresden oder Hiroshima verwandelt hat. Dann erst erscheinen die mutigen "Befreiungstruppen" auf der Bildfläche. Die einzige Chance des Iran ist die Einschaltung Russlands. Aber selbst dieser Eventualfall wird den Krieg nicht gewinnen helfen, denn ein Kräftemessen Washington-Moskau führt mittelfristig zum biblischen Endzeitszenario Gog gegen Magog. Das Ergebnis ist dann ein globaler nuklearen Holocaust. Ohne Sieger.

MM: Und einen Rettungsanker sehen Sie nicht?

Eggert: Es gehört zu den Widersprüchlichkeiten der Demokratien, dass hier die Medien den Staat (also das Gemeinwohl) lenken, und nicht umgekehrt. So kann ein einzelner wohlhabender Investor Wahlen beeinflussen, Entscheidungen steuern, Abstimmungen entscheiden, politische Karrieren zu Fall bringen, und braucht dafür noch nicht einmal Bürger dieses Landes zu sein. Die neokonservative Kabale aus England, Amerika und Israel nutzt diese strategische Nische intensiv. Die muslimische Welt, die zum Teil sehr reich ist, sollte sie vielleicht nicht ihren entschiedendsten Gegnern überlassen.

MM: Sehr geehrter Herr Eggert, wir danken für das Interview.
http://tinyurl.com/ys6c9h

The Leftist - Islamic Alliance

Electing a New People: The Leftist - Islamic Alliance
May 30, 2006
A new essay by the European writer Fjordman:

Bertolt Brecht wrote a satirical poem after the 1953 East German risings:

"The solution
After the uprising of 17 June
The Secretary of the Writers' Union
Had leaflets distributed in the Stalinallee
Stating that the People
Had forfeited the confidence of the government
And could win it back only
By redoubled efforts. Would it not be easier
In that case for the government
To dissolve the people
And elect another?"

At the beginning of the 21st century, electing a new people seems to be exactly what Socialist parties in Europe are doing. Perhaps the greatest idea of the Leftist parties after the Cold War was to re-invent themselves as Multicultural immigration parties and start importing voters from abroad. In addition to this, they have managed to denounce the opposition as racists, bigots and extremists. A new alliance of convenience between Leftists and Muslim immigrants is taking shape in Europe. I think the deal is that the Leftist parties get a number of new clients, I mean voters, in return for giving Muslims privileges and subsidies, as well as keeping the borders more or less open for new Muslims to enter. As one Muslim put it: "I vote for the Socialists because they give me more money." The Leftists are, in essence, electing a new people, replacing the one already there with one more supportive of their agenda.

There is, of course, nothing new in buying votes and "clients" by promising them access to other people's money. This was the essence of Leftism in the first place. However, although this is probably a flaw in the democratic system, democracy has still functioned within the borders of stable nation states. This flaw gets a lot more dangerous when combined with massive immigration, where certain political parties simply import people from other nations, even vocal enemies of their country, to shore up their own short-term support in elections. This will in the longer term breed resentment among the native population, who will in this way be forced to fund their own colonization. In the context of Europe, Muslim immigration could turn democracy into a self-defeating system that will eventually break down because native Europeans no longer feel that it serves their interests.

Leftists and Muslims have a mutual short-term interest in keeping the Leftist parties in power, and a mutual long-term interest in weakening the traditional, Judeo-Christian culture of Europe, which Socialists at best view with indifference, at worst as an evil obstacle blocking the road to the Socialist Utopia. Besides, Socialists traditionally place little ideological importance on such trivial matters as national borders. I believe Lenin said that borders between Soviet Republics were unimportant, as Socialism would transcend all national and religious boundaries and render them a thing of the past, anyway.

Many Marxists still haven't given up that ideal, after a century of failures. Hanne Andersen, a Danish Social Democrat, thinks that people from, say, Yemen or Pakistan should have as much right to live in Denmark as native Danes:

"I have for many years been of the opinion that it is incomprehensible that some people (especially from
the Danish People's Party) think they have a greater right than other people to live in a specific part of the earth. All people, all over the world, who have respect for others, their religion, culture, history and values have, as far as I'm concerned, an equal right to live wherever they want to."

Omer Taspinar describes how "Europe's Muslim Street," the 15 million or more Muslims of the European Union, is becoming a more powerful political force than the fabled Arab street: "This political ascendance threatens to exacerbate existing strains within the trans-Atlantic relationship. The presence of nearly 10 million Muslims versus only 700,000 Jews in France and Germany alone helps explain why continental Europe might look at the Middle East from a different angle than does the United States. Indeed, French and German concerns about a unilateral U.S. attack on Iraq or Washington's blind support for Israel are at least partly related to nervousness about the Muslim street at home." "In Germany and elsewhere in Europe, a Muslim swing vote is already having a critical impact."

Iranian-in-exile Amir Taheri, too, has noticed this "red-black" cooperation. According to him, Europe's hard Left "sees Muslims as the new under-class" in the continent: "The European Marxist-Islamist coalition does not offer a coherent political platform. Its ideology is built around three themes: hatred of the United States, the dream of wiping Israel off the map, and the hoped-for collapse of the global economic system."

This cooperation has received support from Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, the Venezuelan terrorist known as Carlos the Jackal. Carlos has said that
Islam is the only force capable of persuading large numbers of people to become "volunteers" for suicide attacks against the US. "Only a coalition of Marxists and Islamists can destroy the US," he said. As Christopher Hitchens put it, "once you decide that American-led "globalisation" is the main enemy, then any revolt against it is better than none at all. In some way yet to be determined, Al-Qaeda might be able to help to stave off global warming."

Christopher Caldwell, writing about this Islamic-leftist alliance, tells of how the second annual European Social Forum in 2003 was held in three Communist-controlled suburbs around Paris. "Muslims were hugely overrepresented among the Social Forum's delegates." The yearnings of radical Muslims are now at the core of the Social Forum's universe. "They have jostled aside the left-wing economics and focus on global markets that once dominated." The key sign of this shift was the Forum's anointing of Tariq Ramadan as the event's co-star. Ramadan, a professor of Islamic studies in Geneva, Switzerland, is the grandson of Hassan al-Banna, founder of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, and a hero to Muslims in Europe.

The Muslims are quite happy with this collaboration, at least for now: "We say to anyone who hates the Americans and wants to throw the Jews out of Palestine: ahlan wa sahlan (welcome)," quipped Abu-Hamza al-Masri, the British Islamist firebrand who is awaiting extradition to the US on various criminal charges. "The Prophet teaches that we could ally ourselves even with the atheists if it helps us destroy [the] enemy."

The American William S. Lind calls this "the Marx-Mohammed Pact:" "What made possible the recent bombings in London (July 2005), and the many more that almost assuredly will follow in Europe and the United States, is the Marx-Mohammed Pact. Once again, two sworn enemies, Marxism - - specifically, the cultural Marxism commonly known as Political Correctness - - and Islam, have made a Devil's bargain whereby each assists the other against a common enemy, the remnants of the Christian West." "London was only a foretaste of what those policies will bring to Europe and America. If we dare rip down the camouflage nets cultural Marxism has erected to blind us we see Europe has two real choices: an infinity of Londons or second expulsion of the Moors."

Of course, the same collaboration happened in Iran, where popular "reformers" such as Ali Shariati in the years before the 1979 revolution infused Islam with aspects of Western thought and made the Marxists believe that they could coexist with Islam. So they cooperated in overthrowing the Shah - and then all the godless Socialists were the first ones to hang from lamp posts around the country when Khomeini and his Islamic cronies seized power. The secular Leftists in Europe know fully well that they do not agree with religious Muslims on some issues, but they believe they are the senior partners in the alliance and that they can "ride the tiger." That may be true now, but for how long will the situation remain like that?

In Denmark, writers Helle Merete Brix, Torben Hansen and Lars Hedegaard think the Muslim immigration and the clashes we are witnessing now is part of a third Islamic Jihad, a third attempt to conquer and subdue the West. The fist one came with the Arabs more than a thousand years ago, the second with the Turks in the early modern era. Will three times be the charm for the Muslims? Will they succeed this time?

During the first Jihad, Charles Martel, "The Hammer," brilliant general and founder of the Carolingian Empire, the first Western power after the fall of Rome, defeated the Arabs in the Battle of Tours (or Poitiers) in 732, thus saving Western civilization, and by extension much of the world, from Islam. The Muslims underestimated the strength of the Franks, who they considered barbarians, and allowed them to pick both the time and place of the battle. The Muslims were also burdened with booty. During the battle, members of the Frankish army began freeing prisoners, and fearing loss of their riches, a significant part of the Muslim army abandoned the battle to protect their plunder. Although they managed to conquer Spain, Muslims thus lost the first shot at subduing the European heartland because they were too arrogant and underestimated the strength of their Western opponents, and were too weighed down by and concerned with their riches to fight effectively. Is the same thing happening now, only in reverse, with the arrogant West underestimating their Muslim opponents until it's too late?

During the second Jihad, Jan Sobieski, king of Poland, routed the Ottoman armies that had laid siege to Vienna in 1683. Leading a combined force of Polish, Austrian and German troops, Sobieski attacked a numerically superior Turkish army until their lines were broken and the Turks fled in confusion. This was the last time Muslims came close to threatening the West in traditional warfare. They now prefer demographic warfare through migration, combined with terrorism.

The third Jihad started with the oil embargo, the influx of Saudi petrodollars and the beginnings of Eurabia and Muslim immigration to the West in the 1960s and early 70s. During the third Jihad, Leftists all over Europe seem to be opening the gates of Europe from within. "You want to conquer Europe? That's ok. Just vote for us and help us get rid of capitalism and eradicate the Christian heritage of Europe, and we'll let you in. In the meantime, you can enjoy some welfare goodies, and we will ban opposition to this undertaking as racism and hate speech."

The basic trends are remarkably similar throughout Western Europe. I will start with describing the situation in the Scandinavian countries, as I'm Norwegian myself and thus have the most detailed knowledge of this region.

You know you have entered a strange, Eurabian world when leading politicians from Norway, a country straddling the Arctic Circle and with no colonial history, begin their election campaigns in the Pakistani countryside. Before Norway's national elections in 2005, the leader of the Socialist Left party, Kristin Halvorsen, praised all the "blood, sweat and tears Pakistanis in Norway have spent on building the country." While the deputy leader of the Socialist Left party has stated that he wants to abolish private property, its leader Kristin Halvorsen is in 2006 Norway's Minister of Finance. 83 percent of Muslims in Norway voted for Leftist parties in 2005. The Labor Party got a majority of these votes, whereas the Socialist Left Party got 30, 5 %, more than three times the percentage it got among the general populace. Psephologist Anders Todal Jenssen pointed out that parties such as the Socialist Left party had the most liberal immigration policies, and that this probably contributed to this tilt towards Leftist parties among immigrants. Likewise, the Labor Party is seen as the primary guarantor of the generous welfare state. The Leftist parties won a very slim majority (in fact, a minority of the votes) in parliament in 2005, and formed a coalition government that has been notoriously anti-Israeli and critical of the USA, as well as appeasing towards Palestinian Hamas terrorists.

Before Norway's Constitution Day, May 17th, in 2006, the Multicultural lobby in the country wanted to celebrate the day by singing the
Norwegian national anthem - in Urdu. The idea was that an Urdu version of the anthem would allow many immigrants from Pakistan, for example, to more easily express their love for Norway. The title of Norway's national anthem is "Ja vi elsker," which in English translates to "Yes we love (this country)." It may sound ridiculous to sing Urdu in Norway, but the capital city of Oslo in particular has a significant and fast-growing Pakistani community. In fact, it is expected that native Norwegians will be a minority in their own capital city within a generation. American writer Bruce Bawer, who lives in Norway, has pointed out in his book While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam is Destroying the West from Within, that there are now more direct flights from Norway to Pakistan than from Norway to the USA.

Samira Munir, Norwegian politician of Pakistani origins, received many death threats against herself and her family because of her work as a champion of the rights of Muslim immigrant women. She was found dead under strange circumstances in November 2005 at Kolbotn station, one of the suburban lines outside Oslo. Earlier in 2005, Munir had claimed that there was widespread cooperation between the Socialist parties and Muslim communities during that year's elections in Norway. "The heads of families and the mosques would decide how entire groups of immigrants would vote. They made deals such as "How much money will we get if we get our people to vote for you?", and the deals were always made with the Socialist parties" said Munir. It should be noted that her own, Conservative party was not innocent of this, either. Akhtar Chaudhry, politician for the Socialist Left party, stated that Norway with its welfare state was pretty close to the Muslim idea of Paradise, and that the welfare state was similar to Islamic concepts of social justice. Of course, he failed to mention that according to "Islamic justice," non-Muslims should pay Muslims tribute as a sign of submission, and that undoubtedly many Muslim immigrants view the infidel welfare state in this way. He also failed to explain why Muslims cannot create such a "paradise" in their own countries, or whether the Scandinavian "Paradise" can survive a massive influx of Muslim immigrants.

In Denmark in 2005, less than five percent of immigrant voters supported the centre-right government, which had taken some steps in recent years to limit Muslim immigration. The country's Leftist parties had the near unanimous support of Denmark's immigrants. According to the Copenhagen Post, "over 95 percent of non-ethnic Danes with the right to vote say they support left-leaning opposition parties." The most popular party with immigrants was the Social Democrats. The second largest party in parliament drew the support of 47.6 percent of immigrants. Second most popular was the Social Liberal Party, polling at 21.4 percent. This trend has not gone unnoticed by those wanting to limit Muslim immigration, such as the Danish People's Party and its leader Pia Kjærsgaard: "Let's be honest. The Radicals are not just café latte-sipping people from the creative class. To a large degree, it is also largely composed of immigrants, and one could fear the result of the upcoming local elections in large cities, where there are large concentrations of immigrants that the Social Liberals pander to,' Kjærsgaard said. In the Scandinavian and Nordic countries, non-citizen immigrants gain voter rights in local (but not national) elections after living in the country for three years.

A vitriolic row erupted into the heart of Denmark's general election campaign early in 2005 when Islamic leaders urged the country's Muslims to vote against the ruling centre-right coalition. Kasem Said Ahmad, a prominent Muslim community spokesman, said he "advised all Muslims to oppose the government." Mr Ahmad organized a gathering of imams in an anti-government message during that week's Friday prayers. Danish Prime Minister Fogh Rasmussen, who was eventually re-elected, responded angrily and immediately to the proposed intervention of Denmark's imams: "They should keep their fingers out of politics," Mr Fogh Rasmussen said. "In Denmark we keep politics and religion separate. Imagine if Danish priests were to use church pulpits to urge people to vote for particular parties," he said. Morten Messerschmidt, a member of Denmark's Parliament for the Danish People's Party, says that "everybody should have expected that the leftwing would be the first to cry out against the Muslim intolerance. But for some reason only a few have done so. It has to do with a screwed up idea of cultural relativism." "Secondly I believe it has to do with power – it is well known that the Muslim minorities in Denmark are voting for leftwing parties. And some politicians – in Denmark as well as in many other European countries – are deliberately campaigning for these votes. Of course you wouldn't like to disturb the people handing you your paycheque."

In the spring of 2006, Sweden's largest Muslim organisation demanded in a letter, signed by its leader Mahmoud Aldebe, that Sweden should introduce separate laws for Muslims. The letter was a list running over several pages with aggressive demands for just about everything; separate family laws for Muslims, regulating marriage and divorce, that public schools should employ imams to teach homogeneous classes of Muslims children in their religion and the language of their original homeland. Sweden's Equality Minister Jens Orback called the proposals "completely unacceptable."

However, it looks increasingly as if the election in September will be a very close race, and the Leftist parties will be dependent upon the support of immigrants to remain in power. As Nima Sanandaji points out in FrontPage Magazine, "Swedish public television exposed that the leading Social Democratic party had started fishing for votes with the help of radical Muslim clergies." For several years the Christian wing of the Social Democratic party, called The Brotherhood, has been working with the influential Muslim leader Mahmoud Aldebe, president of Sweden's Muslim Association. Already in 1999, Aldebe proposed that sharia, Islamic law, should be introduced in Sweden. After the last election in 2002, Sweden's Muslim Association sent a congratulation letter to the re-elected Social Democratic Prime minister Göran Persson, congratulating him on his victory and hoping that Persson would work for implementing some of the demands of the Association in the future. The Muslim Brotherhood has earlier stated that for them, "Sweden is in many ways an ideal country, [and it] shares the ideals of the [Swedish] Social Democrats in their view of the welfare society. Leading figures in Muslim congregations are also active within the Social Democratic [Party], and have very good relations with Sweden's Christian Social Democrats. "The Social Democrats have, in turn, and perhaps as thanks for the support they receive from the mosque leadership, shown a tendency to shy away from the fact that there is extremism in some of our mosques. This has given the Muslim Brotherhood the freedom to force its ideology upon [the mosque's worshippers]." Israeli authorities in 2006 called Sweden "the most anti-Israeli country in Europe." The number of rape charges in the country has quadrupled parallel with Muslim immigration in recent years.

During the elections in the United Kingdom in 2005, the Labour Party tried hard to win back the traditional support from Muslims in Britain, many of whom threatened to leave the party in favor of anti-war Respect Party candidate George Galloway or even the Liberal Democrats because of Tony Blair's support for the war in Iraq. The most visible result of this was the attempts to pass a law banning incitement to "religious hatred." Prominent Muslims have stated their hope that according to this new law, it would be a crime to use terms such as "Islamic terrorism." The bill has been proposed in the British Parliament several times, but stranded on opposition from the House of Lords. As newspaper the Daily Telegraph stated, "it is a bone tossed to those who claim to speak on behalf of a Muslim community that overwhelmingly resides in Labour inner city heartlands." "If such a law had existed in the 1980s, Salman Rushdie might have been prosecuted for writing Satanic Verses rather than being protected by the British state." A local Labour candidate in London, Oona King, who eventually lost her election to Galloway, was accused of double standards after dropping references to Muslims in leaflets for predominantly white areas. One of the leaflets stated: "Oona voted to protect Muslims from hate crimes." But in the other leaflet it said: "Oona voted to make incitement to religious hatred a crime." One of her colleagues tried to lure British Muslims back into the fold with the following arguments: "Labour and British Muslims: Can we dream the same dream?" "Are you still unconvinced that the Muslims need or should want a Labour Prime Minister in Downing Street? Tony Blair is the first Prime Minister to have ever read the Qur'an, to quote from it and to talk about it." "The Muslim Council of Britain has been at the forefront of lobbying the Government on issues to help Muslims. Recently Iqbal Sacranie, the General Secretary of the Council, asked Tony Blair to declare that the Government would introduce a new law banning religious discrimination. Two weeks later, Tony Blair promised that the next Labour Government would ban religious discrimination. It was a major victory for the Muslim community in Britain."

Gordon Brown, Blair's PM-successor-in-waiting, paid tribute to British Muslims as "modern heroes" who brought hope and idealism to the country. He said they had "contributed to Britain spiritually and economically because Islam was a religion that encouraged fair play, social justice and equality." Labour PM Tony Blair himself called Islam "progressive" and praised the Koran for being "practical and way ahead of its time in attitudes to marriage, women and governance." This was after the Jihadist terror bombings in London in July 2005, and while several Muslim clerics in the UK were openly calling for overthrowing the West and British democracy. Maybe Blair, Brown and their ilk didn't read writer Spengler of the Asia Times Online, who, while reviewing Melanie Phillips' book "Londonistan," noted that "revulsion and contempt color Muslim attitudes toward the British leftists who most desire to appease them." In all fairness, it should be mentioned that even Conservative Party leader Michael Howard in 2005 spoke of the "immense" contribution Muslims have made to British life. Mr Howard said the "economically vibrant, culturally creative, socially aware" British Muslim community enriched modern Britain." This attempt of flirting with Muslims voters met with little success, however. The Tories complained in 2005 that it was difficult for them "to win the cities." As elsewhere in Europe, Muslim immigrants in Britain tend to be concentrated in major cities, thus consolidating the grip Leftist parties had on these areas. In the Netherlands, the municipal elections in March 2006 were won by the Labour Party, the Partij van de Arbeid (PvdA). The balance was tipped by the Muslim vote. Eighty percent of the growing immigrant electorate voted for the PvdA, while the remaining Muslims voted for smaller parties of the extreme left. This phenomenon prompted De Telegraaf, the largest paper in the country, to write that the immigrants have become a "power block." A case in point was the Amsterdam borough of Geuzenveld-Slotermeer. Here the PvdA won 54% of the votes. Of their 13 seats, however, 5 were won by Turkish and 2 by Moroccan candidates. This means that more than half the seats of the largest party were won by Muslims. The situation resembled that in the regional parliament of Brussels, Belgium, the so-called "capital of Europe," where the Parti Socialiste was the largest party. Over half its 26 seats were held by Muslim immigrants. As the online Brussels Journal noted, "the electoral strength of the Left in Western Europe is increasingly based on the immigrant vote, as the Left caters for voters who favour extensive redistribution of taxpayers' money to so-called "underprivileged" groups such as immigrants." "In many West European countries the parties of the Left are actively catering for the growing Muslim vote. The Left realizes that the Third World immigrants guarantee its power base because these immigrants moved to Western Europe attracted by the generous welfare benefits that the parties of the Left promote."

The PvdA leader Bos was worried about the poor competence of many of these newly elected immigrants. He said that "our new immigrant councillors" are bound to cause trouble because their "political culture" is often incompatible with Dutch politics: "They conduct politics according to the culture of their home countries, where clientelism is the norm." Bos's words were widely reported by the Dutch media and caused anger among the newly elected PvdA councillors, some of whom hinted that Bos had made a racist remark. According to the Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies of the University of Amsterdam 80% of the non-indigenous electorate voted for Labour. This explains why cities such as Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Breda and Arnhem succumbed to the Left.

In Germany in the general election in 2002, numbers have indicated that about up to 90 percent of the Muslim voters backed Schröder's left-wing coalition. "Some 200,000 German Muslims voted for Schroeder in the elections which he won by only 9,000." Poll data from 2005, when the Social Democratic SPD narrowly lost the election to the conservatives and joined in a coalition with Angela Merkel as Chancellor, indicate that 77 percent of Turkish voters planned to vote for the Social Democrats, followed by 9.2 percent for the Greens and 7.8 percent for the Left Alliance. Pundits said that the Muslim vote was likely to reward Schröder's Social Democrats (SPD) for its anti-Iraq war position and pro-Muslim policies. A meager 4.8 percent said they would cast votes for the conservative CDU. Cem Özedmir, a member of the European Parliament for Germany's Green Party, said the Christian Democrats had made a strategic decision in not trying to attract Turkish voters. "It is too high a cost," he explained. "For every Turkish voter the party might win, it would lose two or three German voters because of the party's conservative attitudes toward immigration and its social base." Guelay Yasin, manager of the Turkish-German Chamber of Commerce, made it clear for which party most of her members would vote. "We will vote for the party which supports Turkey's membership to the EU," Yasin said. The Social Democrats would profit from this since Schröder had personally supported Turkey's becoming a member of the EU.

In fact, the major challenge to the Social Democrats in vying for the Muslim vote in Germany, especially the country's 2.6 million Turks, 840,000 of them with German passports, comes from other Leftist parties. Some warned that the SPD could lose a number of Turkish voters to the newly formed and immigrant-friendly Left Party, a group born out of the marriage of former East German communists and Oskar Lafontaine, the ex-chief of the Social Democrats. Hans-Christian Ströbele, a member of parliament for the Green Party, in 2006 triggered a debate by calling for an official Turkish translation of the German national anthem. Conservatives worried it would send the wrong signal about integration. A Turkish version, Ströbele said, could demonstrate how multicultural German society has become. "I would see it as a sign of integration if citizens of Turkish descent could sing the third verse in Turkish."

Early in 2006, the secretary general of Italy's largest Muslim organisation, the Union of Islamic communities in Italy, called on Italian Muslims to vote for the Party of Italian Communists at the general election. The leader of UCOII said that their party's willingness to accommodate the needs of the Muslim community was a good reason to vote for them - even placing at the end of his email the logos of the Party of Italian Communists and its allies at the Senate, the Greens, both members of the center-left coalition. Just weeks after Italian Muslims recommended voting for the Communist Party, a Communist minister in the newly elected Leftist coalition of Romano Prodi, super-Eurocrat and former President of the European Commission, which won a very slim majority and ousted right-winger Berlusconi, decided to make it easier for immigrants from North Africa to enter the country. Italy's new Social Solidarity Minister, Paolo Ferrero, touched off an immigration controversy by announcing that under Prodi's new center-left government, "any foreigner with a job should be allowed to stay in the country." "The declarations of Minister for Social Solidarity Paolo Ferrero on the delicate issue of immigration were met enthusiastically by the people who are waiting to set sail from other shores of the Mediterranean" said deputy Senate speaker Roberto Calderoli, who belonged to Italy's anti-immigrant Northern League. "Announcing the closure of temporary shelter camps and the abolition of the Bossi-Fini law will unleash an invasion." Italy is facing a growing number of illegal workers from North Africa. There has been an increase in arrivals to Italy by sea, as "Moroccans who used to cross into Spain to get into the rest of Europe are changing tactics and now going by boat from Libya to Italy." Libya has become the bottleneck of much of the immigration from Africa and of a large part of the Middle East.

Leading Sunni Sheikh Yousef Al-Qaradhawi and others have hailed the coming Islamic conquest of Rome, just like Constantinople was conquered in 1453. "Islam will return to Europe as a conqueror and victor, after being expelled from it twice. Islam entered Europe twice and left it… Perhaps we will conquer these lands without armies." The Saudi Sheikh Muhammad bin Abd Al-Rahman Al-'Arifi, imam of the mosque of King Fahd Defense Academy, concurred: "We will control the land of the Vatican; we will control Rome and introduce Islam in it. Yes, the Christians (…) will yet pay us the Jiziya [poll tax paid by non-Muslims under Muslim rule], in humiliation, or they will convert to Islam…"

Given the actions of European Leftists, Qaradhawi could end up being right in his predictions.
http://tinyurl.com/kep3g

The Christian Axis of Evil

The Christian Axis of Evil
July 24, 2006
by Laurence M. Vance

"North Korea is a regime arming with missiles and weapons of mass destruction, while starving its citizens. Iran aggressively pursues these weapons and exports terror, while an unelected few repress the Iranian people’s hope for freedom. Iraq continues to flaunt its hostility toward America and to support terror. . . . States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world." ~ President George W. Bush, State of the Union Address, January 29, 2002.

"Beyond the axis of evil, there are other rogue states intent on acquiring weapons of mass destruction – particularly biological weapons. . . . In addition to Libya and Syria, there is a threat coming from another BWC signatory, and one that lies just 90 miles from the U.S. mainland – namely, Cuba." ~ U.S. Ambassador to the UN John R. Bolton, Remarks to the Heritage Foundation, May 6, 2002.

Bush and Bolton chose their words carefully. The term "axis of evil" was deliberately designed to invoke images of the Axis Powers in World War II, which, of course, included Nazi Germany. Saddam Hussein was then said to be another Hitler, and the U.S. invaded Iraq. Now it is the president of Iran who is being compared to Hitler, by the Bush administration and others.

And who will be among the first to support the president’s next military adventure? Why, the same ones that will support his current endeavor until the bitter end: Christians who try to serve two masters – Christ and the state (as long as it is controlled by "conservatives" or the Republican Party).

It is a disgrace – no, it is a moral outrage – that many Christians continue to support Bush and his war. Christian "leaders" are leading their followers astray. The blind are leading the blind. It is Christian "leaders" who moonlight as apologists for Bush and his war that make up the true axis of evil. To match the six members of Bush and Bolton’s axis of evil, here are six members of the Christian axis of evil.

The first member of the Christian axis of evil is the Baptist pastor Jerry "God is pro-war" Falwell. It was bad enough when Falwell made a ridiculous, feeble attempt to justify, with Scripture, Bush’s invasion of Iraq in a horrendous 2004 WorldNetDaily article entitled "God is Pro-war." (I have critiqued this article here). On FOX News’ Hannity & Colmes show on February 11, 2005, Rev. Falwell appeared opposite Rev. Wallis of Sojourners and tried to deny that many evangelical Christians were opposed to the Iraq war. Falwell’s claim that the anti-war Christian movement could fit into a phone booth shows just how out of touch with reality he is. Falwell’s Liberty University (supposedly a Baptist institution) then gave Hannity (a Roman Catholic) an honorary doctorate, and had him deliver the university’s commencement address on May 14, 2005. Senator John McCain, said by Liberty to be "a practicing Christian," delivered the commencement address this year.

The second member of the Christian axis of evil is Pat "take out Chavez" Robertson. He is another Christian apologist for the Republican Party who has supported this war from the beginning. Robertson, who actually believes the war is being fought on Christian principles, considers criticism of the war to be treason. It should be noted that Robertson’s "faith-based initiative," Operation Blessing, receives millions of dollars in federal grants every year.

The third member of the Christian axis of evil is the psychologist and author James "just war" Dobson of Focus on the Family. Back on March 31, 2003, soon after the invasion of Iraq, Dobson expressed his support for the war on his national daily radio broadcast. America entered Iraq "as a liberator – not as a conqueror." After equating Saddam Hussein with Stalin and Hitler, Dobson labeled Hussein another brutal tyrant who "must be stopped" because the United States has a "moral obligation" to stop evil and tyranny. Invoking the Neville Chamberlain argument, Dobson insisted that "appeasement of tyrants is never successful!" Just before this broadcast, in the March 27, 2003, issue of Boundless (a webzine published by Focus on the Family), a two-part column by Jay Budziszewski (Professor Theophilus) was interrupted in the "Office Hours" section to reprint one of his "classic" columns from the April 29, 1999, issue entitled "Can War Be Justified?" His answer was, of course, yes, even if the war is not for self-defense.

That was three years ago. Perhaps Dobson has changed his mind?

Since phone calls and e-mails to his organization yield no response to this important question, we will have to rely on Focus on the Family publications, including its website. In the March 2006 issue of Citizen magazine, there is a pro-war article entitled "Worth the Sacrifice." The author, Karl Zinsmeister, believes the war is justified because of how we are helping the children of Iraq. He believes that the United States has been "fighting a war of principle, for self-determination, to make a grim part of the world more humane and thereby less threatening, so that our children and Iraq’s can grow up to enjoy God’s dignity and freedom." In the same issue of Citizen, there is an interview conducted by associate editor Stephen Adam with Daniel Ayalon, the Israeli ambassador to the United States. The interview is headlined "Israel, Iran and the Global War on Terror." In reply to the question: "Do you agree with President Bush’s approach to the global war on terror?" the Israeli ambassador said:

Absolutely. Absolutely. We have to realize it’s a war – and it’s a total war-and once you realize it, that you’re in a war, you cannot fight with one hand tied behind your back. The terrorists do not do that. They would use any vulnerability and everything in their power to destroy us. So, we have to be prepared for that. We have to take the war into their camp. If you play defensive, you know, things like 9/11 can happen again. You have to go after them to frustrate their organization, to go after their leaders, after everybody who gives them shelter as well.

A broadcast CD is available for sale from the Focus Resource Center entitled "Supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom." It is described on the website with these words: "Dr. and Mrs. Dobson, along with co-host John Fuller, express their support for America’s military, discuss the atrocities taking place under Iraq’s evil regime, and emphasize the need for our nation to unite in prayer." There is no date given for when the broadcast was aired, but that is irrelevant since it is still for sale on the website. On April 19th and 20th of this year, Dobson interviewed on his radio program Admiral Timothy Keating, the current Commander of NORAD and NORTHCOM at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado. Obviously, this was not to criticize the war.

The fourth member of the Christian axis of evil is the prophecy guru Hal "I’m on my fourth wife" Lindsey, who recently claimed in a column for WorldNetDaily, contrary to the Bush administration, that "it is now evident to all but the blindest partisans that the intelligence was correct and that Saddam not only had weapons of mass destruction, but that he worked directly with al-Qaida." Incredibly, after saying in his article that "Lenin is reputed to have referred to blind defenders and apologists for the Soviet Union in the Western democracies as ‘useful idiots,’" Lindsey, one of the blindest apologists for this war that Bush could ever hope for, labels opponents of Bush’s war as the "useful idiots."

The fifth member of the Christian axis of evil is Cal "I have a long list of favorite patriotic movies" Thomas. Back before the Iraq war formally started in March of 2003, Thomas, invoking Scripture, wrote in a column dated February 19, 2003, that "if ever there was a ‘time for war’ (Ecclesiastes 3:8), surely this is it." This was just after he wrote in a column dated February 6, 2003, about Colin Powell speaking to the U.N. Security Council and making "so strong a case that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein is in material breach of U.N. resolutions that only the duped, the dumb and the desperate could ignore it." This is the speech that Lawrence Wilkerson, a former colonel in the U.S. Army, a decorated Vietnam vet, and a life-long Republican who served as chief of staff to former Secretary of State Colin Powell, has recently stated was "a hoax on the American people, the international community, and the United Nations Security Council." This is the speech that Powell himself said, in a February 2005 interview with Barbara Walters on the ABC News 20/20 program, was a "blot" on his record. Did Thomas learn from his mistake? His most recent statement about the war is his most radical one yet: "This war should be stepped up and fought like World War II." And this man is "the most widely published op-ed writer in the world"?

The sixth member of the Christian axis of evil is Pat "I wanna get in the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame" Boone. Although he has been in the news of late for rebuking the Dixie Chicks because they refuse to respect a president who lied the country into war, Boone was a full-fledged Christian warmonger and Bush apologist long before then. But that hasn’t stopped him from being an embarrassment to the president:

Boone: "More 9-11s are gonna happen unless we try to take the battle to them on their turf instead of letting ’em bring it to us on ours."

Bush: "We have no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved with September the 11th."

Boone: "Pre-war intelligence about Saddam’s WMDs was correct all along."

Bush: "It is true that most of the intelligence turned out to be wrong."

Boone is part of a desperate group of diehard Republican armchair warriors who maintain that Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction were smuggled across the border into Syria. But being the champion warmonger that he is, Boone further maintains that "they may still be there, waiting to be used against us." First it was said to be an unnamed number of trucks that transferred the weapons to Syria in February and March of 2003. Now it is said to be converted 747 passenger jets that transported the weapons into Syria in 2002. The latter claim (examined here) is based on the word of former Iraqi general Georges Sada (examined here), who claims that the two pilots (unnamed) of the two airliners that moved the weapons on fifty-six flights told him about it (he was not an eyewitness). Syria? According to Stephen Zunes (Middle East editor for Foreign Policy In Focus, and author of Tinderbox: U.S. Middle East Policy and the Roots of Terrorism (Common Courage Press, 2002):

Syria, despite being ruled by the Baath Party, has historically been a major rival of Iraq’s Baath regime. Syria was the only Arab country to back Iran during the Iran-Iraq War. It was one of the only non-monarchical Arab states to have backed the United States against Iraq during the first Gulf War. Iraq and Syria backed rival factions in Lebanon’s civil war. As a member of the United Nations Security Council, Syria voted this past November in favor of the U.S.-backed resolution 1441 that demanded full cooperation by the Baghdad government with United Nations inspectors, with the threat of severe consequences if it failed to do so.

But as I have previously showed in my article, "Weapons of Mass Distraction," it doesn’t matter whether Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. There is still absolutely no reason why the United States would be justified in attacking and invading a sovereign country – no matter what we thought of that country’s ruler, system of government, economic policies, religious intolerance, or human rights record.

Poor Pat Boone doesn’t know if he wants to be a consecrated Christian or a rock star; he hasn’t decided whether he should be a singer or a political commentator.

I suppose that since the publisher of WorldNetDaily, Joseph "I believe I am the only serious daily news columnist on the Internet" Farah, published the articles I referenced by Falwell, Lindsey, and Boone, and, judging by the things he himself has written, believes what those gentlemen have written, that he will have to be added to the Christian axis of evil as well. But that would make seven members, and since I have limited the group in this article to six, I won’t include him – this time.

Anyone who is familiar with my writings knows that I do not write these criticisms as an outsider. I am willing to match my Christian, Protestant, conservative, evangelical, fundamentalist, Baptist credentials up against anyone. And yes, I know all about the doctrines of Islam and the dangers of "Islamofascism." But I also know all about the insidious nature of a U.S. foreign policy that sows discord, stirs up strife, intensifies hatred, and creates terrorists.

There is no telling how many thousands of Christian Americans that Bush administration lapdogs Falwell, Robertson, Dobson, Lindsey, Thomas, and Boone have influenced. I am sure there are many other Christian leaders and wannabe leaders who, because they likewise serve as cheerleaders for the president, the war, and the military, are candidates for membership in the Christian axis of evil. Identify them, mark them, avoid them – and speak out against them if you can. It is only when Christians learn to look behind the façade of religious piousness that cloaks these Christian warmongers that the influence of the Christian axis of evil will be destroyed.
http://tinyurl.com/k6qej

The Year Of Perpetual Muslim Outrage

2006: The Year Of Perpetual Muslim Outrage
December 19, 2006
By Michelle Malkin

It began with the Danish cartoons. It ended with the flying imams. Two thousand six was a banner year for the Religion of Perpetual Outrage. Twelve turbulent months of fist-waving, embassy-burning, fatwa-issuing mayhem, intimidation, and murder resounded with the ululations of the aggrieved.

All this in the name of defending Islam from "insult." Let's review.

In late January, masked Palestinian gunmen took over a European Union office in Gaza City to protest the publication of a dozen cartoons about Islam, Mohammed, and self-censorship in the Danish newspaper the Jyllands-Posten. They stormed the building, burned Danish flags, and spearheaded an international boycott of Denmark's products across the Muslim world.

The rage was manufactured pretext. The cartoons had been published four months earlier with little fanfare. It wasn't until a delegation of instigating Danish imams toured Egypt with the cartoons—plus a few inflammatory fake ones, including an old image of a French hog-calling contest participant deceptively portrayed as "anti-Muslim"—that the fire started burning.

Think the mainstream media will remember that? Not likely. They fell for the ruse and were slow to acknowledge it after American bloggers and Danish television exposed the scheme.

What was really behind Cartoon Rage? Muslim bullies were attempting to pressure Denmark over the International Atomic Energy Agency's decision to report Iran to the U.N. Security Council for continuing with its nuclear research program. The chairmanship of the council was passing to Denmark at the time.

Alas, Western journalists, analysts, and apologists were too clouded by their cowardice and conciliation to see through the smoke. More than 800 were injured in the ensuing riots, and 130 people paid with their lives.

The innocents included Italian Catholic priest Andrea Santoro, who was shot to death in Turkey on Feb. 5, by a teenage boy enraged by the illustrations. The Muslim gunman shouted, "Allahu Akbar!" as he murdered Father Santoro while the priest knelt praying in his church.

Several brave moderate Muslim editors who stood up to the madness were jailed, fined, and convicted of crimes related to insulting Islam. The Danish cartoonists remain in hiding.

The world soon tired of Cartoon Rage, but the "peaceful" Muslim ragers were just warming up. They found excuses large and small to riot and threaten Western infidels. In India, they protested the magazine publication of a picture of a playing card showing an image of Mecca and also burned Valentine's Day cards. An insult to Islam, they screamed. In Spain, they protested a Madrid store for selling a postcard with a mosque on it with the words "We slept here." An insult to Islam, they protested. In Pakistan, they burned down a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant, a Pizza Hut, and toppled Ronald McDonald. In Jakarta, they smashed the offices of Playboy magazine. You know why.

In June, the trial against lioness journalist Oriana Fallaci for insulting Islam commenced in Bergamo, Italy. She had been charged by professional Muslim rager Adel Smith of the Muslim Union of Italy of "vilipendio"—vilifying Islam—in her post-9/11 books slamming jihad. A judge had refused to throw out the case. She faced a pile of death threats and accusations of "Islamophobia" for speaking truth to Islamo-power.

Fallaci's death from cancer during the fifth anniversary week of the September 11 terrorist attacks preempted the trial in Italy, but her passing did nothing to preempt the eternal rage of the perpetually outraged. The day she died, the grievance-mongers were shaking their fists and calling for the head of Pope Benedict XVI for his speech that made reference to a 14th-Century conversation touching on holy war and jihad.

For engaging in open, honest intellectual and spiritual debate, he was condemned, lit afire in effigy, and targeted anew. The ragers bombed Christian churches in Gaza City and Nablus. They murdered Italian Sister Leonella Sgorbati, an elderly Catholic nun shot in the back by a Somalian jihadist stoked by Pope Rage. "Whoever offends our Prophet Mohammed should be killed on the spot by the nearest Muslim," a Somalian cleric had declared. The Vatican made nice with Muslim leaders.

New outrages are always in bloom. In late September, it was a Berlin production of Mozart's Idomeneo that featured the decapitated head of Mohammed. A week later, it was a banyan tree attacked by Indonesian Muslims who wanted to disprove its mystical powers. A few days after that, it was former British foreign secretary Jack Straw, who had the audacity to make the very obvious observation that full Muslim veils impede communications between women and Westerners.

Offensive! Disturbing! An insult to Islam!

Not to be outdone, a delegation of extortionist imams boarded a U.S. Airways flight in Minneapolis in November and tried to manufacture an international human-rights incident. They clamored for a boycott and threatened to sue.

The good news: The fire did not catch here this time.

The bad news: As Oriana Fallaci warned before her death: "The hate for the West swells like a fire fed by the wind…The clash between us and them is not a military one. It is a cultural one, a religious one, and the worst is still to come."
http://tinyurl.com/29rkwf

The Trotskyist Hour - The New Face of National Review

The New Face of National Review
Posted by Paul Gottfried
on April 18, 2007

In one of the more grotesque episodes in the ongoing slide of “conservative” opinion into nonsense and ideology, Stephen Schwartz, in a commentary for National Review Online, offered a flattering depiction of onetime Soviet Communist leader Leon Trotsky (1879-1940). The loser in a power struggle with Stalin after the death of Lenin in 1924, Trotsky in exile, first in Norway and later in Mexico, had warned against the rise and spread of “fascism.” According to Schwartz, who has made a career denouncing the danger of “Islamofascism,” the democracies should have heeded the admonitions of the “antifascist” Communist revolutionary Trotsky. Our own society, contends Schwartz, has had trouble mobilizing against Muslim fascists, because we have been weakened by “neofascists” at home. So-called anti-democrats typified by Pat Buchanan, consider every war against “fascism” the work of Trotsky’s disciples. Hateful rightists are supposedly still blaming Trotsky for a Soviet dictatorship, to which, according to Schwartz, he had contributed only minimally. Were Trotsky still alive, we are told, he would be lending his considerable talents to fighting Islamicists and other rightwing extremists. Schwartz ends his commentary by declaiming:

To my last breath, I will defend Trotsky who alone and pursued from country to country and finally laid low in his own blood in a hideously hot house in Mexico City, said no to Soviet coddling to Hitlerism, to the Moscow purges, and to the betrayal of the Spanish Republic, and who had the capacity to admit that he had been wrong about the imposition of a single-party state as well as about the fate of the Jewish people. To my last breath, and without apology. Let the neofascists and Stalinists in their second childhood make of it what they will.

There are several observations occasioned by this fevered peroration. The least important of them, from the standpoint of my comments, is that Schwartz grossly understates Trotsky’s complicity in the mass murders carried out by his associate, the Communist dictator, Lenin. In the gulags which Lenin and Trotsky, who then headed the Red Army, set up and in the prisons run by the Soviet secret police, alleged enemies of the Communist regime were routinely butchered; and this killing went on even before Stalin had bested Trotsky as Lenin’s successor in the late twenties. Noticing Trotsky’s “anti-fascism” is a bit like praising Hitler for defending Western Christian civilization against Bolshevism or for criticizing the unjust Treaty of Versailles. In both cases relevant parts of the story are left out. As for Trotsky as an opponent of anti-Semitism, his sympathetic Jewish biographer, Isaac Deutscher, admits that he advocated the jailing of Russian Zionists as counterrevolutionaries both before and after his exile from Russia in 1929. Nor is it clear that Ramon Mercader—the Belgian radical and longtime confidant of Trotsky, who murdered him in Mexico City in August 1940—was acting upon orders from Stalin. Even less certain is that his assassin was punishing his host for not supporting the alliance concluded in the summer of 1939 between Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany.

But far more noteworthy than Schwartz’s laundered history of Lenin’s accomplice is the fact that National Review published his ode to Trotsky and to the fallen Communist’s antifascist militancy. It is for me hard to believe that such a piece dropped by accident from the sky or that the editors were not looking very carefully at what they posted on June 3, 2003. For decades now, almost all paleoconservative and paleolibertarian authors have been kept from publishing in NR; nor have they been allowed to appear on its online extension, as far as I can determine. The only time that one encounters such reprobates there is when NR’s gatekeepers pull out the names of evil people in campaigns against putative anti-Semites and Arab appeasers. Even a quick survey of NR and the rest of the neoconservative press will reveal that T.S. Eliot, H.L. Mencken, and other heroes of the Old Right have been assigned to eternal perdition, as anti-Semites, Teutonophiles, and /or racists. One might therefore conclude that Trotsky is less offensive than other, more conservative personalities to the editorial boards of National Review, The Weekly Standard, and The New Criterion, despite the fact that neither Eliot nor Mencken was involved in murdering counterrevolutionaries.

One reason for these judgments is the closer correspondence in beliefs between Trotsky and the neoconservatives than between them and Mencken, T.S. Eliot or anyone else revered on the Old Right. What is being suggested is not a total agreement but an overlap between the way the neoconservatives understand politics and history and certain recurrent themes in Trotsky’s view of the human condition. A leftist critic of the neoconservatives, Michael Massing, observed in 1987 in the New Republic how “Trotsky’s orphans” had moved into the camp of Ronald Reagan as the sworn enemies of Soviet “Stalinism.” What had driven them toward the anti-Soviet Republicans was not an imaginary conversion to the Right, but rather hatred for the Soviet government, a regime that had betrayed their vision of revolution. Internationalism, the call for a world upheaval that would transform pre-modern, anti-egalitarian societies, and the continuing struggle against “fascism,” linked to anti-Semitic, anti-modern regimes, were the ideals that “Trotsky’s orphans” had hoped that Russian socialist revolutionaries would pursue. Since they did not, the incipient neoconservatives became anti-Communists of the Left; and in due course they took over a moribund and highly corruptible “conservative movement.” (My forthcoming book on this movement goes into exactly how this happened.) The fact that Trotsky and the neoconservatives were Eastern European Jews, who had been touched by socialist thinking and who identified traditional nationalism with anti-Semitism, rendered this affinity even more probable.

Among the neoconservative first generation the attraction to Trotskyism had taken concrete form: Irving Kristol had begun his journalistic activities as a Trotskyist; while CUNY professor of philosophy Sidney Hook had spent years trying to vindicate Trotsky’s reputation as a “democratic revolutionary.” Many of the older generation of neoconservatives were members of or very close to the Fourth International that Trotsky had set up as an exile in Mexico. Basic to this rallying of non-Stalinist Communists were the rejection of Stalin’s notion of “socialism in one country” and the insistence that revolutionary socialism must be international and should not identified with any one nation and its interests.

One of the prices that neoconservatives have sometimes had to pay as directors of the “movement” has been to tone down their revolutionary language. But these efforts have not been very successful, and abundant evidence exists that many neoconservatives have never stopped sounding like Marxist revolutionaries. My friend Claes Ryn and I have laced our recent books with quotations from Michael Ledeen, Joshua Muravchik, Alan Bloom, William Kristol, and Robert Kagan. All of the passages in question read as if they came from Trotsky’s Soviet Comintern, the institution that he founded to foment international Marxist revolution. Although I would not deny the presence of other components in what one eulogist calls “the neoconservative vision,” the Trotskyist aspect has never been abandoned completely. The zeal for revolutionary upheaval, summed up by the boast of Michael Ledeen while speaking to the American Enterprise Institute, that “Destruction is our [America’s] middle name” goes well beyond the parameters of the vision proclaimed by Woodrow Wilson and his followers for a “world made safe for democracy.” Because of his declaration of war against the hated Germans and his extension of the welfare state at the federal level, neocons are happy to identify with Wilson. But their vision includes more than Wilson’s Anglophile policies and his hopes for Anglo-American hegemony. Neocons yearn for a world democratic revolution, a term that one does not find in Wilson or even in FDR. American “national greatness” is measured by Kagan, Kristol, and other neoconservative policy-makers as the willingness to deploy American armies and to lavish revenues on a continuing crusade to remake the world.

Such journalists are also no more nationalist than was Trotsky, who saw Russian soldiers simply as a means toward a modernizing revolution that had to be exported to other countries. The talk by the neocons and their dependents that the U.S. was founded as a “propositional nation” is a Trotskyist ploy, to deny the country in which they find themselves and which they have come close to taking over propagandistically a true national character. Like Soviet Russia, the U.S. is a means toward a universalist end, which can only be advanced through revolutionary violence. It is a measure of the utter worthlessness of the American establishment Right that it mistakes such radical left lunacy for a conservative teaching consistent with our national traditions.

Two final observations seem in order. One, it is possible to have adapted Trotsky’s thought without having taken away what neoconservatives now believe. One Catholic of English descent, James Burnham, had been Trotsky’s leading disciple in the US in the 1930s. Although Burnham had drifted away from Marxist-Leninism, even before Trotsky’s assassination, he continued to write on the Trotskyist theme of how the Soviet experiment had been “derailed bureaucratically.” From Burnham’s Trotskyist phase came his continuing interest, which he eventually carried over to the Right, in the managerial transformations of democracy and socialism. Both of these themes informed Burnham’s classic The Managerial Revolution, a work that decisively shaped the thinking of his later right-leaning disciple Sam Francis. But the Trotskyist imprint on the neoconservatives is of another kind. It reflects their passion for universal revolution and an instinctive repugnance for things as they are, unless neoconservative revolutionaries are causing things to happen. This vision is also distrustful of national identities, unless they are founded on revolutionary slogans—with the obvious exception of a Jewish state in the Middle East.

Two, the designation of neoconservative thought and politics as Trotskyist does not exclude the possibility that they resemble other revolutionary ideologies. Ryn, for example, has stressed the parallels between neoconservative rhetoric and that of the radical wing of the French Revolution, the Jacobins, who planned the invasions of neighboring countries to spread the blessings of revolutionary France. The proposed fit is not hard to make, and not insignificantly, two years ago on a visit to France, our Secretary of State, who often sounds like a neoconservative, praised the French government for having been established on a “universal revolutionary tradition” similar to ours. Like the Trotskyists, the admirers of the Jacobins try hard not to notice the butchery carried out in the name of the causes that they imagine are good for us. (The Jacobins executed over 100,000 in their own country alone, including mothers and babies, as enemies of their “universal” values.)

Yet it seems to me that the Jacobins, like Woodrow Wilson, may have been a derivative influence for neoconservative thinking. More primal was their hero Trotsky, who incidentally saw the Jacobins as a model for Bolshevizing Russia and the rest of the world. The fact that neocons deviated from his plan for public ownership of productive forces does not mean that they gave up on the bigger picture. If “democratic capitalism,” which means in effect the enforcement of cooperation between public administration and large corporations, can be used to penetrate and break down traditional societies, then it would serve the same modernizing end as the one that Marxists attached to full-blown socialism. English historian John Laughland has aptly summed up this neocon adaptation of Marxism as “using modified capitalism to attain revolutionary ends.” An Australian scholar Philip Ayres begins a description of the neoconservative worldview for the Spring 2006 issue of the (Australian) National Observer with this perception: “In fact they were not really conservative at all. They included a number of former Trotskists (such as Irving Kristol and Christopher Hitchens) whose real loyalty in some cases was, and remained, to a strange form of utopianism that transformed their old Trotskyist notion of the ‘permanent revolution’ into an ongoing ‘spreading of democracy and freedom’ a the solution to the world’s woes.” Ayres merits praise for noting the obvious, a practice that the captive American Right has still not picked up.
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