RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.steynonline.com/8785/danes-davos-and-denial

A quarter-century ago this summer, Samuel Huntington published the first version of what would become his book The Clash of Civilizations. I’ve quoted it many times over the years, not least its passages on what Huntington called “Islam’s bloody borders”. The man himself has been dead a decade now, and so on the twenty-fifth anniversary of his famous thesis it falls to Francis Fukuyama, Huntington’s former pupil and author of The End of History, to do the honors:

Since Samuel Huntington’s Clash of Civilizations has been contrasted with my own End of History in countless introductory International Relations classes over the past two decades, I might as well begin by tackling at the outset the issue of how we’re doing vis-à-vis one another. At the moment, it looks like Huntington is winning.

That’s big of him, all things considered. Fukuyama has attempted to modify his thesis over the years but it doesn’t get any sounder: He argued a book or two back that democratic societies were all trying to “get to Denmark”, but, if you’ve actually set foot in Denmark recently, you might be inclined to think that the challenge for Danes is to figure out a way to get back to Denmark. Elsewhere in Scandinavia, it’s easier to imagine Sweden getting to Sudan than Sudan getting to Sweden. Huntington discerned a lot of this, as Fukuyama concedes:

Huntington was very prescient in his depiction of “Davos Man,” the cosmopolitan creature unmoored from strong attachments to any particular place, loyal primarily to his own self-interest. Davos Man has now become the target of populist rage, as the elites who constructed our globalized world are pilloried for being out of touch with the concerns of the working class. Huntington also foresaw the rise of immigration as one of the chief issues driving populism and the fears that mass migration has stoked about cultural change. Indeed, Carlos Lozada of the Washington Post has labeled Huntington as a prophet of the Trump era.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/271134/europes-mullah-appeasement-joseph-puder

Germany’s foreign minister, Heiko Maas, is seeking a way to undercut the Trump administration sanctions against trade with Iran. At a cabinet meeting in Berlin earlier this month he stated that “Europe needs to set up payment systems independent of the United States if it wants to save the nuclear deal between Iran and major powers that were abandoned by President Donald Trump…That is why it is indispensable that we strengthen European autonomy by creating payment channels that are independent of the U.S., a European monetary Fund and an independent Swift system.” He added, “Every day the deal is alive is better than the highly explosive crisis that would otherwise threaten the Middle East.”

Politico reported (August 12, 2018) “EU leaders including U.K. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, France’s Jean-Yves LeDrian, Germany’s Heiko Maas, and EU top diplomat Federica Mogherini issued a statement making clear they are actively working to thwart renewed U.S. sanctions against Iran.” They added, “We deeply regret the re-imposition of sanctions by the U.S., due to the latter’s withdrawal from JCPOA, the EU is taking legislative action – activating a so-called blocking statute – in a bid to protect EU businesses operating in Iran from U.S. economic sanctions.”

According to his official website, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has “threatened” Europe while meeting with British ambassador to Iran, Rob Macaire. He stated, “After the U.S. illegal withdrawal from the nuclear deal, the ball is in Europe’s court now.” Rouhani and Iranian senior military commanders have recently threatened to disrupt oil shipments from the Gulf countries through the Strait of Hormuz if Washington tries to strangle Iran’s oil exports. Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei has threatened the Europeans with the resumption of Iran’s nuclear activities. He said, “If the Europeans linger over our demands, Iran has the right to resume its nuclear activities. When we see that the JCPOA is useless, one way forward is to restart those halted activities.” In his May 23, 2018 address to Iranian government officials, he conditioned Iran’s remaining in the nuclear deal on European compliance with such demands as: a resolution against the U.S. violation of the UN Security Council resolution 2231, which endorsed the JCPOA; a promise to stop objecting to missile testing and (Iran’s) actions in the Middle East; that the Europeans stand against U.S. sanctions; and European protection for Iran’s oil sales and financial transactions.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-visit-to-islamic-england-1535581583

“Other tourists might remember London for Buckingham Palace, Piccadilly Circus and Big Ben. I’ll remember it for its failed multiculturalism. Or perhaps this is what successful multiculturalism looks like.”

Other tourists may remember London for its spectacular sights and history, but I remember it for Islam. When I was visiting the U.K. as a teenager in 2006, I got lost in an East London market. There I saw a group of women wearing head-to-toe black cloaks. I froze, confused and intimidated by the faceless figures. It was my first encounter with the niqab, which covers everything but a woman’s eyes.

This summer, I found myself heading back to the U.K. as it was plunging into a debate over Islamic dress. Boris Johnson, the country’s former foreign secretary and London’s ex-mayor, wrote a column opposing attempts to ban face-covering veils. Nonetheless, he added, “it is absolutely ridiculous that people should choose to go around looking like letter boxes.” The responses could hardly have been more heated.

I wanted to cut past the polemics and experience London’s Muslim communities for myself. My first visit was to Tower Hamlets, an East London borough that is about 38% Muslim, among the highest in the U.K. As I walked down Whitechapel Road, the adhan, or call to prayer, echoed through the neighborhood. Muslims walked in one direction for jumu’ah, Friday prayer, while non-Muslims went the opposite way. Each group kept its distance and avoided eye contact with the other. A sign was posted on a pole: “Alcohol restricted zone.”

Women and girls were dressed in hijabs, niqabs and abayas (robes). Some of the males wore skullcaps and thawbs, Arabic tunics, with their trousers tailored just above the ankles as per Muhammad’s example. The scene could have been lifted out of Riyadh, a testament to the Arabization of Britain’s South Asian Muslims. At the barbershop, women waited outside under the hot sun while their sons and husbands were groomed.

Inside the East London Mosque, visitors were expected to dress “modestly.” Headscarves were provided at reception for any woman who showed up without one. A kind man on staff showed me around the men’s quarters. He gave me a bag filled with booklets about Islam. In one, Muslims are encouraged to “re-establish the Shari’ah,” or Islamic law. Those who ignore this mandate are “of little worth to any society.”

That night, I visited the Houses of Parliament. Rifle-carrying police officers greeted me when I stepped out of the Tube. The extra security was mobilized in response to last year’s car and stabbing attack in Westminster by Khalid Masood, who killed five people. Outside the station, there are roadblocks along Westminster Bridge and a new security fence in front of the palace yard. I asked an officer about Masood’s attack. “I’d rather not talk about it,” he replied. “I was there that day.”

Forty-eight hours later, I woke up to the news that a car had rammed a Westminster security barrier. Police arrested Salih Khater, a 29-year-old Sudanese refugee who had been given asylum and British citizenship. Three people were injured in the attack. London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, expressed support for banning vehicles from parts of Parliament Square. CONTINUE AT SITE

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12936/italy-interior-minister-kidnapping

“The investigation notice sent to [Interior Minister Matteo] Salvini could in fact be seen as a direct attempt to prevent a minister from carrying out his political activity in accordance with the vote expressed by the majority of Italians on the basis of precise electoral commitments.” — Gianni Alemanno, former Mayor of Rome, denouncing the investigation into Salvini as unconstitutional.

“I am amazed at the astonishment of a political left that now exists only to challenge others and believes that Milan should not host the president of a European power, as if the left has the authority to decide who has the right to speak and who does not — and then they wonder why no one votes for them anymore.” — Matteo Salvini, Italian Interior Minister.

Opinion polls show that Salvini’s anti-immigration stance has boosted his League party’s approval rating.

Italy’s Interior Minister Matteo Salvini is under formal investigation for “kidnapping” after he refused to allow illegal migrants to disembark from a ship at a Sicilian port. The investigation, a political move aimed at blunting the government’s hardline stance on illegal immigration, has threatened to plunge Italy into a constitutional crisis over the separation of powers.

Sicilian Prosecutor Luigi Patronaggio said that the investigation into Salvini, the head of the anti-immigration League party, would focus on “kidnapping, illegal arrest and the abuse of power.”

Salvini responded:

“If he wants to interrogate me or even arrest me because I defend the borders and security of my country, I am proud and I look forward to it with open arms. Being investigated for defending the rights of Italians is a disgrace.”

Salvini added that we could not be “cowed” and that he would not reserve his right to immunity from prosecution: “I only did my job as minister and I am ready to do it again.”

https://www.algemeiner.com/2018/08/29/antisemitism-in-france-has-moved-from-streets-into-homes-says-head-of-french-jewish-community/

Antisemitism in France has moved “from the streets directly into the homes of Jewish people,” the head of the country’s 465,000-strong Jewish community told The Algemeiner on Wednesday.

“The Jews in France feel threatened in their own homes,” Francis Kalifat — president of CRIF, the French Jewish communal body — said during a discussion of the antisemitism that has resulted in several deaths and injuries among French Jews over the past decade.

Kalifat underlined that “what used to be attacks on buildings, or insults thrown in the street, has evolved into the most violent acts.”

In the last eighteen months, two elderly Jewish widows in Paris — Sarah Halimi in April 2017 and Mireille Knoll in March 2018 — have been murdered in brutal antisemitic assaults, while several incidents of violent raids on Jewish homes involving gangs of mainly Muslim youths have also been reported.

Sadly, as Kalifat acknowledged, the problem is not new — though the pattern of Jewish response is changing.

Following what Kalifat called “the paroxysm” of antisemitic violence in 2012-13 — a year that witnessed the murders of a rabbi and three young children during a terrorist attack at a Jewish school in Toulouse — French aliyah to Israel climbed precipitously, with 8,000 Jews emigrating to Israel in 2015 alone. That trend has now slowed, Kalifat said, overshadowed by what some call an “internal aliyah.”