The European Union took a number of interesting stances and steps this past week concerning interests and recognitions for entities, states and organizations in the Middle East. Once again the European Union voted on whether or not to recognize Hezballah for being a terrorist group thus joining with Israel, the United States, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Oman and other nations. Predictably the European Union was unable to fully agree and continues to refuse to call Hezballah out for what they are. The European Union also voted this week on how to address Israel and those Jews who live or work in what the Europeans have recognized as the lands set aside solely for the formation of a Palestinian State. Their decision was that Israel has no rights or claims whatsoever to any lands beyond the 1949 Armistice Lines and that any product manufactured by an Israeli company in these contested areas must be labeled as being made by settlement industries and thus be considered unlawful produced goods. Once again the Europeans have found some manner to show approval for Hezballah while finding ways to disassociate from Israel.
In once again rejecting a motion to recognize Hezballah for what they are, one of the world’s leading terrorist groups with a record of murderous attacks including two massive bombings of Jewish buildings including the AMIA (Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina) headquarters and the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina as well as the attack on a tour bus in the airport of Burgas, Bulgaria. The reason given by those member states of the European Union refusing to call terrorists as terrorists was that Hezballah is heavily represented in the democratically elected government of Lebanon. Using an election where a terrorist group threatened voters, committed fraudulent practices, assassinated opposition candidates and literally bullied and stole an election as becoming the rightful government of a nation, then I guess the European Union should reassess their positions on North Korea, Iran and other nations whose elections are little more than a sham where the results could be made available days, if not weeks or months, before the actual voting takes place. The truth behind the European Union cowardice is they are aware exactly what Hezballah consists of and understands that they are simply placating the alligator in the hope it eats them last. Perhaps somebody should tell them the importance to the mindset of many throughout the Middle East that chooses the weakest to attack first, kind of taking the low hanging fruit from the tree first, and that all the European Union is doing by not condemning Hezballah is weakness and asking for them to kick Europe first.
The European Union deciding to boycott as much as possible any Israeli products coming from lands beyond the Green Line which demarks the 1949 Armistice Line is not the simple choice they have made it out to be. They do not care that they are hurting the very Palestinians they seek to support as many of them are employed by these very companies and factories which the European Union has now blacklisted. They ignore that those very Palestinians make anywhere from two to five times the salaries than their neighbors who work for either Palestinian companies or the Palestinian Authority. The Palestinians hired by these Jewish companies in places like Ariel and Beit-El even make more than do the security and terrorist prisoners who receive special premium monetary compensation directly from the Palestinian Authority who provide these prisoners with salaries higher than all but the top echelon leadership of the Palestinian authority. It is further proof that the second highest paying positions a Palestinian can pursue is to be a terrorist attempting to murder Jews while those working in the Jewish industries and other businesses still earn higher salaries. The European Union has decided to designate the Green Line as the recognized and official boundary between Israel and Palestine despite their not having yet recognized the actual existence of Palestine.
What is interesting about their view of Israeli borders contradicts treaties, conventions, and declarations which were signed by most of the European governments which make up the European Union as well as directives from the United Nations. But duplicity is in the running for the highest and most preeminent of practices defining the European Union and the majority of the member states while honoring traditions and previous promises we find the European Union taking far more flexibility as we need to understand their nuanced views that things are fluid, changeable, you know, finding expedience is far preferable than taking principled stances. Europe has long past its being an eminent and consequential force on the world’s stage and now resembles the remnants of the Ottoman Empire after 1492 and the Reconquista in Spain until its demise in World War I which lingered on well past its demise as the powerful force of empire simply because nothing had come along and finished off the injured beast that once set terror in the hearts of those who would challenge them. Will Europe ever reassert itself and take back some of the shine of her glorious history? Perhaps, but first they will need to reverse themselves from the disease of decrepitude whose most debilitating symptom is declining societal birth rate. Until Europe can reproduce at levels to, at the very least, replacement rates, they will suffer from loss of identity with their past as they import an alien culture which will eventually supplant their former culture. Once the new culture gains sufficient percentages that their active culture supersedes the old culture, turning back becomes impossible. Decisions like the two taken this week by the European Union are signs that they have already begun to adopt a new culture and are turning their backs on their former culture. If there is still a spark of hope for a European recovery, it will be found in the pews of the great Cathedrals of Europe. Unfortunately, those pews are empty and slowly, one by one currently, those very same Cathedrals are being sold and converted to Mosques, the new culture supplanting the old in as grand a spectacle as possible.
Beyond the Cusp
Beyond the Cusp 