French chauvinism in a new and flattering light

"Some terrorism scholars argue that British society, especially on the left of the political spectrum, is in denial about its extremism problem," reports The Seattle Times [via Milt's File]. One could say something like that about the left in general, of course, but the UK seems to have a particularly bad case based upon historical attitudes toward immigration:

"Assimilation was never policy, explicitly or otherwise, of the British government," said Michael Radu, who studies terrorism at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia. "They accepted as natural what you may call cultural and religious tribalism, and now it's turning against them.

Up until 7/7, reports the London Sunday Times, the government's counterterrorism strategy -- codenamed Operation Contest -- had been

. . . to win over Muslim "hearts and minds" with policy initiatives including anti-religious discrimination laws.  A meeting of Contest officials this week is expected to consider a radical overhaul of the strategy following the London attacks.

We'd never thought about it one way or the other, but Daniel Pipes has. In an eye-opening essay in The Australian, he argues that "The British may have a special relationship with Washington in Iraq, but the French have one in the war on terror":

President Jacques Chirac instructed French intelligence agencies just days after 9/11 to share terrorism data with their US counterparts "as if they were your own service". This co-operation is working: former acting CIA director John McLaughlin calls this bilateral intelligence tie "one of the best in the world."

Sacré bleu!  We'll have that order of French Fries after all! Pipes offers a provocative explanation, putting French chauvinism in a new and flattering light:

The British have seemingly lost interest in their heritage while the French hold on to theirs; even as the British ban fox hunting, the French ban hijabs.

The former embraced multiculturalism, the latter retain a pride in their historic culture. This contrast in matters of identity makes Great Britain the Western country most vulnerable to the ravages of radical Islam, whereas France, for all its political failings, has retained a sense of self that may yet see it through.

Fortunately, 7/7 seems to have been a big-time wake-up call for most Brits -- no, not you, ladies and gentlemen of the BBC, with your absurd switch from the descriptive word "terrorist" to the politically correct "bomber" in the wake of the worst terrorist attacks in your nation's history. Bloomberg.com reports:

Prime Minister Tony Blair said yesterday lawmakers would consider making it a crime for Islamic clerics to incite violence. He pleaded with religious leaders to root out terrorists among the Muslim community, which numbers 1.56 million, or almost 3 percent of Britain's population.

"Security measures alone are not going to deal with this,'' Tony Blair told Parliament.

`"This is not an isolated act. It is an extreme and evil ideology whose roots lie in a poisonous misinterpretation of the religion of Islam."

The Prime Minister may be slow to catch on, but he certainly has a way with words (unlike the above-mentioned p.c. BBC -- still living in a pre-7/7 fantasyland -- which excised the word terrorist in its report of his statement to the Commons). If only GW & Company could bring themselves to call an evil ideology an evil ideology instead of lamely intoning the patently dishonest "religion of peace" mantra.

"Assimilation was never policy, explicitly or otherwise, of the British government," said Michael Radu, who studies terrorism at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia. "They accepted as natural what you may call cultural and religious tribalism, and now it's turning against them.

Up until 7/7, reports the London Sunday Times, the government's counterterrorism strategy -- codenamed Operation Contest -- had been

. . . to win over Muslim "hearts and minds" with policy initiatives including anti-religious discrimination laws.  A meeting of Contest officials this week is expected to consider a radical overhaul of the strategy following the London attacks.

We'd never thought about it one way or the other, but Daniel Pipes has. In an eye-opening essay in The Australian, he argues that "The British may have a special relationship with Washington in Iraq, but the French have one in the war on terror":

President Jacques Chirac instructed French intelligence agencies just days after 9/11 to share terrorism data with their US counterparts "as if they were your own service". This co-operation is working: former acting CIA director John McLaughlin calls this bilateral intelligence tie "one of the best in the world."

Sacré bleu!  We'll have that order of French Fries after all! Pipes offers a provocative explanation, putting French chauvinism in a new and flattering light:

The British have seemingly lost interest in their heritage while the French hold on to theirs; even as the British ban fox hunting, the French ban hijabs.

The former embraced multiculturalism, the latter retain a pride in their historic culture. This contrast in matters of identity makes Great Britain the Western country most vulnerable to the ravages of radical Islam, whereas France, for all its political failings, has retained a sense of self that may yet see it through.

Fortunately, 7/7 seems to have been a big-time wake-up call for most Brits -- no, not you, ladies and gentlemen of the BBC, with your absurd switch from the descriptive word "terrorist" to the politically correct "bomber" in the wake of the worst terrorist attacks in your nation's history. Bloomberg.com reports:

Prime Minister Tony Blair said yesterday lawmakers would consider making it a crime for Islamic clerics to incite violence. He pleaded with religious leaders to root out terrorists among the Muslim community, which numbers 1.56 million, or almost 3 percent of Britain's population.

"Security measures alone are not going to deal with this,'' Tony Blair told Parliament.

`"This is not an isolated act. It is an extreme and evil ideology whose roots lie in a poisonous misinterpretation of the religion of Islam."

The Prime Minister may be slow to catch on, but he certainly has a way with words (unlike the above-mentioned p.c. BBC -- still living in a pre-7/7 fantasyland -- which excised the word terrorist in its report of his statement to the Commons). If only GW & Company could bring themselves to call an evil ideology an evil ideology instead of lamely intoning the patently dishonest "religion of peace" mantra.

Comments

[goomp]

We have received the wake up call loud and clear. Now we must blow the bugle and wake up the IM liberals.

[Pierre]

French fries don't originate from France however. (Belgium. The french shouldn't be capitalized since it's coming from the verb 'to french', to slice potatoes)