ZGram - 4/19/2003 - "Ledeen: What if there's method to the
Franco-German madness?"
zgrams at zgrams.zundelsite.org
zgrams at zgrams.zundelsite.org
Sat Apr 19 18:49:41 EDT 2003
ZGram - Where Truth is Destiny: Now more than ever!
April 19, 2003
Good Morning from the Zundelsite:
An absolutely extraordinary article!
Shortly before Ernst Zundel was arrested on February 5, we were
sitting peacefully at breakfast, sipping our German coffee, admiring
not only each other but the splendidly sun-drenched morning outside -
when, all of a sudden and out of the blue, Ernst outlined for me in
clipped words exactly the scenario sketched below.
I was so startled that I said to myself: "Well, since we are
married, am I permitted to think that maybe, just maybe, my husband
is a little off his rocker? Who would think of Europe as a threat?
Who would be so foolish as to put 'Old Europe' in the cross-hairs as
an 'enemy'? Surely not America!"
Talk about clairvoyance!
[START}
A Theory: What if there's method to the Franco-German madness?
Micheal Ledeen
Assume, for a moment, that the French and the Germans aren't
thwarting us out of pique, but by design, long-term design. Then look
at the world again, and see if there's evidence of such a design.
Like everyone else, the French and the Germans saw that the defeat of
the Soviet Empire projected the United States into the rare, almost
unique position of a global hyperpower, a country so strong in every
measurable element that no other nation could possibly resist its
will. The "new Europe" had been designed to carve out a limited
autonomy for the old continent, a balance-point between the Americans
and the Soviets. But once the Soviets were gone, and the Red Army
melted down, the European Union was reduced to a combination theme
park and free-trade zone. Some foolish American professors and
doltish politicians might say - and even believe - that henceforth
"power" would be defined in economic terms, and that military power
would no longer count. But cynical Europeans know better.
They dreaded the establishment of an American empire, and they sought
for a way to bring it down.
If you were the French president or the German chancellor, you might
well have done the same.
How could it be done? No military operation could possibly defeat the
United States, and no direct economic challenge could hope to
succeed. That left politics and culture. And here there was a chance
to turn America's vaunted openness at home and toleration abroad
against the United States. So the French and the Germans struck a
deal with radical Islam and with radical Arabs: You go after the
United States, and we'll do everything we can to protect you, and we
will do everything we can to weaken the Americans.
The Franco-German strategy was based on using Arab and Islamic
extremism and terrorism as the weapon of choice, and the United
Nations as the straitjacket for blocking a decisive response from the
United States.
This required considerable skill, and total cynicism, both of which
were in abundant supply in Paris and Berlin. Chancellor Shroeder
gained reelection by warning of American warmongering, even though,
as usual, America had been attacked first. And both Shroeder and
Chirac went to great lengths to support Islamic institutions in their
countries, even when - as in the French case - it was in open
violation of the national constitution. French law stipulates a total
separation of church and state, yet the French Government openly
funds Islamic "study" centers, mosques, and welfare organizations. A
couple of months ago, Chirac approved the creation of an Islamic
political body, a mini-parliament, that would provide Muslims living
in France with official stature and enhanced political clout. And
both countries have permitted the Saudis to build thousands of
radical Wahhabi mosques and schools, where the hatred of the infidels
is instilled in generation after generation of young Sunnis. It is
perhaps no accident that Chirac went to Algeria last week and
promised a cheering crowd that he would not rest until America's
grand design had been defeated.
Both countries have been totally deaf to suggestions that the West
take stern measures against the tyrannical terrorist sponsors in
Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya, and Saudi Arabia. Instead, they do
everything in their power to undermine American-sponsored trade
embargoes or more limited sanctions, and it is an open secret that
they have been supplying Saddam with military technology through the
corrupt ports of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid's little playground in
Dubai, often through Iranian middlemen.
It sounds fanciful, to be sure. But the smartest people I know have
been thoroughly astonished at recent French and German behavior. This
theory may help understand what's going on. I now believe that I was
wrong to forecast that the French would join the war against Iraq at
the last minute, having gained every possible economic advantage in
the meantime. I think Chirac will oppose us before, during, and after
the war, because he has cast his lot with radical Islam and with the
Arab extremists. He isn't doing it just for the money - although I
have no doubt that France is being richly rewarded for defending
Saddam against the civilized countries of the world - but for higher
stakes. He's fighting to end the feared American domination before it
takes stable shape.
If this is correct, we will have to pursue the war against terror far
beyond the boundaries of the Middle East, into the heart of Western
Europe. And there, as in the Middle East, our greatest weapons are
political: the demonstrated desire for freedom of the peoples of the
countries that oppose us.
Radio Free France, anyone?
=====
- Michael Ledeen, an NRO contributing editor, is most recently the
author of The War Against the Terror Masters. Ledeen, Resident
Scholar in the Freedom Chair at the American Enterprise Institute,
can be reached through Benador Associates
=====
Michael A. Ledeen
Dr. Michael A. Ledeen, who holds the Freedom Chair at the American
Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C., is one of the world's
leading authorities on intelligence, contemporary history and
international affairs. In a few years in government, he carried out
some of the most sensitive and dangerous missions in recent American
history. He has been profiled in the New York Times, and was the
subject of a front-page article and a lead editorial in the Wall
Street Journal. A profile of him concluded that "a portrait emerges
of a man with an intense knowledge of 20th-century history, a deep
commitment to democracy, and a willingness to be adventurous. This is
a man who has helped shape American foreign policy at its highest
levels."
As Ted Koppel puts it, "Michael Ledeen is a Renaissance man...in the
tradition of Machiavelli."
Formerly Rome correspondent for the New Republic, the founding editor
of the Washington Quarterly, and Contributing Editor of National
Review Online, he is a regular contributor to the Wall Street
Journal, The International Economy, the American Spectator, the New
York Sun, and National Review, an adviser to multinational
corporations in Europe, Africa and the United States, and a corporate
director in America and Africa. He also writes about contract bridge
for the Wall Street Journal and the New York Sun.
Dr. Ledeen is a celebrated scholar and lecturer. He holds a Ph.D. in
History and Philosophy from the University of Wisconsin, and has been
the recipient of many awards and research grants. His 15 books
include Grave New World, which predicted the crisis of the Soviet
Empire five years before it occurred, Machiavelli on Modern
Leadership, (1999, St. Martin's Press), Tocqueville on American
Character; Why Tocqueville's Brilliant Exploration of the American
Spirit is as Vital and Important Today as it was nearly Two Hundred
Years Ago (St. Martin's Press, 2000) and, most recently, his highly
successful The War Against the Terror Masters; How it Happened. Where
We Are Now. How We Will Win (St. Martin's Press, 2002). He is
currently writing a book on Naples, Italy.
His essays and books have been reprinted in dozens of languages
around the world. Dr. Ledeen lectures on War & Peace, Terrorism, the
Middle East, and American Foreign Policy.
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