Despite Kohl and Merkel, Cultures Do not "Go Quietly" -- in Both Europe and America, They Resist

THE REAL NEWS IS THAT EUROPE IS NOT A HAPPY PLACE RIGHT NOW. • • • HELMUT KOHL AND TODAY'S EUROPE. Helmut Kohl died last Friday afternoon. The former German chancellor was hailed as a pivotal figure in the last decades of the 20th century. Kohl, as leader of the Christian Democrat Union; was asked to form a government in 1982, and with the support of the Free Democrats became chancellor on October 1, 1982. Over the next sixteen years, Kohl united East and West Germany, and as the partner of French President François Mitterrand, created today's Europe. Current German Chancellor Angela Merkel was a protégé and admirer of Kohl, as was Merkel's Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaueble, who was Kohl's top aide when he was chancellor. • • • DISCORD IN THE EUROPE KOHL AND MITTERRAND CREATED. Handelsblatt, Germany's leading business newspaper, reported last week that Brussels has threatened three central Europe EU member states with possible sanctions for their refusal to accept asylum seekers under a resettlement program. The European Commission has increased the pressure on Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic in a long-running dispute over the resettlement of refugees in Europe. The Eropean Commission is the EU executive. Last Tuesday it took legal action against the three central European member states, accusing them of violating EU law by refusing to participate in the resettlement program. They could face financial sanctions if Europe’s top court sides with Brussels. Handelsblatt noted that "at the height of the refugee crisis in 2015, a majority of EU member states agreed to resettle 160,000 asylum seekers in an effort to relieve pressure on Italy and Greece, the main entry points into Europe. The plan calls for each member state to accept a quota of refugees. EU migration chief Dimitris Avramopoulos said this was a legal obligation for member states, not a choice." But, Avramopoulos told Reuters and other media in a press conference in Strasbourg : “I regret to see that despite our repeated calls to pledge to relocate, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland have not yet taken the necessary action.” • Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia voted against the 2015 resettlement plan. Poland voted for it, but parliamentary elections subsequently brought a nationalist government to power, which has refused to accept asylum seekers under the quota system. Slovakia, which has accepted a small number of asylum seekers, was not targeted by the EU legal action, according to Hansdelsblatt. Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka told Reuters : "The Czech Republic does not agree with the system of relocation. With regard to the worsened security situation in Europe and dysfunctionality of the quota system, it will not participate in it." • • • MERKEL IS AT THE CENTER OF THE DISCORD. Germany was the main supporters of the contested resettlement program and has repeatedly pushed back at its central European neighbors, particularly Hungary, over refugee policy. But Herbert Reul, a leading German member of the European Parliament, said the EU had gone too far by taking legal action : “It is unfair and unacceptable when some member states take no refugees.” But, Reul, who chairs the center-right Christian Democratic group at the European level, told a German broadcaster : “At the same time, an infringement procedure is too harsh a weapon. Because emotions are in play here, you will get the exact opposite of what you really want to achieve.” • In 2015, Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed to take in thousands of asylum seekers already in Hungary, amid concerns about the conditions they faced there. Overall, Germany took in nearly 1 million asylum seekers, many from North Africa and the Middle East, during the height of the crisis. Thren, after a lot of German voter disquiet and EU member state rebellion, Merkel subsequently tightened Germany's asylum rules and sent some asylum seekers back to the EU member states where they originally registered. But in April, Germany stopped sending asylum seekers back to Hungary because of concerns that Hungary was not treating them in accordance with EU law. EU member states are currently in negotiations to reform the bloc’s asylum system. Under current law, known as the Dublin system, asylum seekers should register and undergo processing in the first EU member state they enter. But, the system failed during the refugee crisis when hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers were allowed to move north toward Austria and Germany. Reform proposals for the Dublin system include resettling asylum seekers across Europe under the quota system that Poland and Hungary have both rejected, offering instead to provide personnel to strengthen the European Union’s external borders. Germany’s interior minister, Thomas de Maiziere, has proposed that EU member states table the resettlement issue and focus on the few areas of EU consensus. • Chancellor Merkel faces re-election to a fourth term in September and her rhetoric has softened, although she still insists that Germany and the EU have an obligation and the financial means to take in many more refugees. For some analysts, the real issue is the falling birth rate of native Europeans all over Europe and its need to replace its aging populatoins with Middle Easterners and North Africans. • • • THE EU, GREAT BRITAIN AND IMMIGRANT TERRORISM. Europe is under siege, say many observers, as the number of terrorist attacks on the continent is large and growing. There are also ongoing riots and violent demonstrations in Europe by refugees and immigrants. Europe is in a potential death spiral caused by its own migration policies championed by Chancellor Merkel. The Federalist published a list of the major attacks, "a list that just keeps growing" : June 6, 2017-- man attacked police officers near the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France. The attacker reportedly yelled out “this is for Syria” as a prelude to the attack. June 4, 2017-- three men plowed through a group of innocent people in a van at London Bridge, jumped out and began stabbing people. Four were killed and 48 were injured. May 22, 2017 -- a suicide bombing occurred at Manchester Arena in England, following a concert by American singer Ariana Grande, and 23 adults and children were killed, including the attacker, and 119 were injured, 23 critically. April 7, 2017 -- a man driving a hijacked beer truck struck pedestrians at a Stockholm department store, killing 4 people. March 22, 2017 -- a man drove his rented SUV into pedestrians at London’s Westminster Bridge, killing four people. The attacker then stabbed a police officer to death. Feb. 22, 2017 -- riots broke out in a predominantly immigrant neighborhood of Stockholm, as residents clashed with police officers and set vehicles on fire. January 3, 2017 -- riot police fought running battles with a mob of more than a thousand migrants who tried to storm Europe’s borders and force their way into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta on the North African coast. December 19, 2016 -- a hijacked truck plowed through a Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12. November 23, 2016 -- 1,500 migrants clashed with police in Bulgaria’s largest refugee center, two days after the facility was sealed off following reports of an alleged infection outbreak. July 14, 2016 -- a truck driver targets Bastille Day revelers in Nice, France, killing 86. March 22, 2016 -- suicide attacks on the Brussels airport and subway killed 32 and injured hundreds. The perpetrators were closely linked to the group that carried out earlier attacks in Paris. November 13, 2015 -- ISIS-linked extremists attack the Bataclan concert hall and other sites across Paris, killing 130 people. A key suspect in the attack, 26-year-old Salah Abdeslam, was arrested in Brussels on March 18, 2016. February 14, 2015 -- a gunman killed Danish filmmaker Finn Noergaard and wounded three police officers in Copenhagen. A day later the gunman, Omar El-Hussein, attacked a synagogue, killing a Jewish guard and wounding two police officers before being shot dead. January 7-9, 2015 -- a gun assault on the Paris offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and an attack on a kosher grocery store killed 17 people. Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was in revenge for Charlie Hebdo’s depictions of the Prophet Muhammad. October 21, 2014 -- riot police fired tear gas to end repeated clashes among hundreds of migrants in Calais who launched their second attempt in two days to storm lorries bound for Britain. May 24, 2014 -- four people were killed at the Jewish Museum in Brussels by an intruder with a Kalashnikov. The accused is a former French fighter linked to ISIS in Syria. • There are more attacks, going back to July 7, 2005, when 52 commuters were killed in London when four al Qaida-inspired suicide bombers blew themselves up on three subway trains and a bus. • To the list we can add the Monday, June 19, attack on French police by a man who rammed a car full of explosives into a police van on the Champs-Elysees. The man, 31, who lived in a Paris suburb, was already flagged as a potential terrorist, according to reports; he has an “S” file -- which means French securtiy police believe he had possible ties to extremism. The man died in the collision, police said. • • • THE LATEST LONDON ATTACK. It was an attack on Moslems by a man who is being held for mowing down a crowd exiting Ramadan prayers at a London mosque early Monday. He has been identified as 47-year-old Darren Osborne of Cardiff, Wales. At least one person was killed and 10 others were injured in the assault, which authorities are treating as a terrorist attack and have charged Osborne with four terrorist criminal counts. Osborne, arrested on suspicion of terror offenses in the collision with pedestrians outside the Moslem Welfare House, was confronted by Moslems who shouted at him : "Why did you do that? Why?" Ben Wallace, Britain's minister for security, told Sky News : "This man was not known to authorities in the space of extremism or far-right extremism." • The incident occurred outside the Finsbury Park Mosque shortly after midnight after Ramadan prayers. Police said all of the injured were members of the Moslem community. Moslem leaders decried the collision as a hate crime and asked the public to stay calm. Police said eight of the injured were taken to three hospitals and two suffered minor injuries and were treated at the scene. Witnesses reported seeing at least one person receiving chest compressions. Police said that person was the lone death in the incident, but it was unclear if it was the van that caused the death. • Prime Minister Theresa May described the attack as a "sickening" attempt to destroy liberties that unite Britain, such as freedom of worship. She added that the man acted alone. May said earlier she would chair an emergency security Cabinet session later Monday and that her thoughts were with the injured, their loved ones and emergency officials who responded to the incident. • The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has responded to the attack and said the Secretary of Homeland Security, John Kelly, has been briefed. DHS said : “DHS stands with our European allies in fighting back against all forms of terrorism, and we will continue to work together to keep our communities safe against violent extremists who target any of our people. Our thoughts and prayers are with all affected by these violent and reprehensible attacks.” • • • FINALLY, MOSLEMS SPEAK OUT. A leader of the Moslem Council of Britain called for extra security at mosques in light of the apparent attack. The group's general secretary, Harun Khan, described the incident as a hate crime against Moslems : "During the night, ordinary British citizens were set upon while they were going about their lives, completing their night worship. It appears from eyewitness accounts that the perpetrator was motivated by Islamophobia." • London Mayor Sadiq Khan, the first Moslem to serve in that position, said extra police would be deployed. He called the incident a "horrific terrorist attack." Mayor Khan also called on Britain's government to supply more funding and resources to the city's police force : "My message to the Government is - we need to get the right of level of funding for a capital city." • Video filmed in the immediate aftermath showed a Caucasian man being detained by police. • Imam Mohammed Mahmoud, who reportedly stopped the suspect from being harmed by a group of angry people, said he and others did their best to calm tensions. Mahmoud told the media : "We extinguished flames of anger or mob rule that would have taken charge." The chairman of the Finsbury Park Mosque, Mohammed Kozbar, said the van crash that hit worshippers was a "cowardly attack" and urged Moslems going to mosques to be vigilant. He said the Moslem community is "in shock." He complained that the "mainstream media" was unwilling to call the attack a terrorist incident for many hours. • Mohammed Shafiq of the Ramadhan Foundation, a Moslem organization, said that based on eyewitness reports, it seems to be a "deliberate attack against innocent Moslems." • Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said in a tweet he was shocked by the incident. • • • ANOTHER ATTACK IN BRUSSELS ON TUESDAY. Brussels Central station was evacuated Tuesday amid reports of an explosion and at least one man shot, according to local media reports. The spokesman for the Federal Police, Peter Dewael, told VTM News someone caused an explosion at the train station. Soliders at the train station opened fire on the man, but the situation now is "under control." Brussels police said on Twitter there was an incident 'involving a private person," but the situation was "under control." NMBS, the National Railway Company of Belgium, said on Twitter the station was "indeed evacuated," adding there was "no exact information about what is happening at the moment." A witness to the incident, Rémy Bonnaffé, told Fox News he heard two loud bangs like an explosion at the station, with the first bang taking place while everyone was still at the boarding platform. When the second bang took place, everyone then hid, according to Bonnafee. Bonnaffé told Fox News he then ran across the street to the Hilton and heard two noises that sounded like gun shots. Bonnaffé took a photo which shows an object on fire, which he thought was a suitcase that could have been the thing that exploded. A wide security perimeter has been placed aroufn the Brussles train station as security forces search the area for other devices. • • • THE AMERICAN EQUIVALENT. Last Saturday on Fox News, conservative political commentator Pat Buchanan said that the country is “on the verge” of what he described as an “uncivil conflict.” Buchanan told host Jesse Watters that there is a “clear objective” among political elites and the media to take down President Donald Trump and reverse the 2016 presidential election : “We have real violence going on in many of these demonstrations against Trumpites who are out demonstrating on the weekend. You have battles. You have brawls. You have fistfights. Cops are having trouble breaking them up. We really are on the verge, I think, of an uncivil conflict in this country and here in Washington DC there is a clear objective of corporate elites, or rather the political elites and the media, basically, to bring down the President of the United States and reverse the election of 2016.” Buchanan then added, “Here in [Washington D.C.] itself we have a civil war inside the government of the United States where the Deep State, the permanent regime, is leaking criminally to the media to bring down the President of the United States who was elected by the American people.” • • • DEAR READERS, although there is a difference in kind between a British man attacking Moslems and American media and Democrat activists, deranged or paid, attacking President Trump's supporters, the problem is the same. Rational people will not go quietly into the night of their existence as a culture without putting up a fight. Dylan Thoms said of his father's death : " Do not go gently into that dark night...rage, rage against the fading of the light." It is the most often quoted line Dylan Thomas ever wrote and it has been quoted on many occasions for many reasons. But, it resonates today. Culture is a deeply imbedded force. It provides roots. It promotes cohesion. It explains events. Today, western Christian culture, like American political culture, is under attack by forces that are neither part of, nor accepting of, either the West or America. It would be reasonable to expect more clashes like the London attack on Moslems and the shooting of a Republican Congres member -- both carried out by followers of a culture that they are imbued with but do not fully understand. While blame may be placed all around these religious and political issues, the cultural norms that are being broken will not "go quietly." It is time for both America's Progressive Democrats and Europe's Moslem communities to step up and take responsibility for their followers, explaining that when one lives in a culture one must abide by its norms, that to defend attacks on cultural norms is to provoke reaction by those who live by those norms. Unless and until that happens, we will, sadly, see more of the attacks that damage not only cultures but civilization as a whole.