Old dreams, down but not out
Reader comment on item: [Appeasement and] Why Europe Balks

Submitted by Neil Abramson (United States), Jan 28, 2003 at 15:14

The appeasers have a built in card in their argument against war -- no one in their right mind would want one. That however does not deal with the problem at hand. As Gerlentner points out, the Euro-West has had a long and futile attraction to the Muslim world. The Germans under the aegis of Wilhem1 dreamed of a Berlin-to-Baghdad rail road. More than likely in geo-political terms it was to destabilize Britain`s virtual hegemony of the Persian Gulf. Much of Germany`s strategy seems to have been to challenge to the British dominance.

To day, the current anti-americanism, at least in the Euro-West, is to replace the old failed dreams of empire with catchy noble- sounding no war sloganeering which appeals to unrecontructed Marxists, their modern counter parts. They have selective memories in that Saddam was and is an eco terrorist, not seen since Genghis Khan.

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