Europe and Immigration

For John, BLUF:  Cue the Horst Wessel Song.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Columnist Ross Douthat, writing in the "Week in Review" section of The New York Times gives us "Germany on the Brink".  This is a review of the situation in Germany, and in Europe, given the mass immigration of people, mostly young men, from North Africa and the Middle East.

Mr Douthat shows he has been doing some reading in that he touches on the idea of Eurabia, which brings to mind the writings of the late Ms Oriana Fallaci. who warned of a European culture destroyed by immigration from outside Europe.

He also mentions French Author Michel Houellebecq and his best selling 2015 dystopian novel Submission.  Here is the link to the Kindle edition in English.  I read the book so you don't have to.  In the end the Europeans lose.

And that is Mr Douthat's point.  Europe, if it doesn't develop a plan for the assimilation of immigrants will soon see its culture change, from one of openness to new ideas and equal rights for all to one of a more limited openness and the idea that women have few rights and those only under the protection of their Husband, Father or other Male Relative.

The flip side of this is a Europe that fights back for the way things were and that this sees the rise of, the return of, what we characterize as "the right".  If you didn't like Jean-Marie Le Pen, do you like his less militant daughter, Marine, any better?

To avoid problems further on, Mr Douthat thinks that the German Chancellor, Ms Angela Merkel, must go.  His Bottom Line:

It means that Angela Merkel must go — so that her country, and the continent it bestrides, can avoid paying too high a price for her high-minded folly.

Frankly, we face no such crisis in these United States.  However, it is possible that we can, with our history of assimilation, set a standard for Europe.

Regards  —  Cliff