Bush in Europe
Top of the news headlines today is George Bush's fence-mending visit to
Europe. Here is one noted commentator's reasoning on why the visit will fail.
Beyond the three main reasons of Iraq, Iran and China (interesting one,
that), Niall Ferguson also draws attention to the factor of Muslim
influence in the New Europe:
Perhaps more importantly,
large Muslim populations (especially in France and Germany) have subtly
shifted European attitudes towards the Middle East, the world's
geopolitical hub. Traditional Arabophile tendencies on the part of
European diplomatic elites have been reinforced by politicians fearful
of alienating Muslim constituents if they adhere too closely to the US.
In some quarters, European hostility to Israel has become more
strident, sometimes (at least to American ears) even anti-semitic.
Far more forceful than these gently-voiced asssertions are contained in this post on the Power Line blog and its onward links, which appears to suggest that European governments are totally in thrall to Muslim interests ("...the
European elites have conspired with the Arabs in order secure oil and,
more importantly, to form a counterweight to the U.S...").
Scary stuff. Probably the truth rests somewhere between these two
expressions, but further reading is indicated. I think I have
linked to something similar earlier. Yes, I have, last July; same author, same thesis.
Another writer, William Pfaff in The Observer, concurs that the mission will fail, for other reasons, while Mark Steyn, a day later, argues that the whole exercise is meaningless.
12:52:11 PM 
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