Daniel Greenfield

Europe in Twilight

It is not too incredible to imagine that within a century, German, the language of Goethe, Schiller and Mann, may become a dead language. That is already the almost certain fate of the Swedish and Norwegian languages. French, Spanish and English will survive as the pidgin languages of distant colonies, but in their own capital cities, these languages are swiftly becoming transformed into dialects, crossbred with Middle Eastern and African intonations and jargon to become increasingly alien to their own origins.

Islam and the Left - Two Sides of the Same Coin

On the surface of it they seem to have very little in common. The left claims to be progressive, embraces gay bars, abortions, feminism, worker's rights civil rights, multiculturalism and obscene slogans. The Islamists throw acid in women's faces, hang gays on every streetcorner and repress minorities and freedom of expression. This seeming contrast baffles many who demand to know how for example the left can champion Islamic regimes which mandate the death penalty for homosexuality. The answer is very simple. The people asking the question have mistaken the facade for the reality.

The Tree of Zionism

Helen Thomas suggested that Jews should go back to Poland and Germany. The Turkish flotilla headed to Gaza was more specific, radioing, "Go back to Auschwitz." But both are only bubbles on the surface of the larger narrative in the Muslim world that is widely redistributed by the left and the far right, that Jews are foreign strangers to the land. On the surface this would seem to be plainly absurd. Israel is not some sort of obscure footnote in history or some forgotten fragment of the past that has to be looked up in an encyclopedia.

A Socialist Government is One that Distrusts its Citizens

The definition of a socialist government is one that distrusts its citizens. It may distrust them in a "benevolent way", that is its leaders believe that the people are insufficiently competent to look after themselves, or it may distrust them in a "paranoid way", in that its leaders believe that the people are dangerous and must be rigidly controlled for the state and society to function along their guidelines. The practical difference between these two lies primarily in their viewpoints and attitudes, in how ruthless and undemocratic the advocates of socialism are willing to be when they don't get their way.

Cracking the Code of Civilization

Civilization is a code, and while we easily fall into the habit of assuming that civilized norms are universal, they are limited to the civilized. Kindness, humility and reaching out to the enemy are valid behaviors only when they are likely to be reciprocated. Practicing that code toward nations and cultures which markedly refuse to be civilized, is the same thing as painting a target on your own back.

Open Borders, Open Pit

New York City's Mayor Bloomberg seems to have a new exit strategy. After trying to spread rumors that suggested he might run for President, in the hopes that one party or the other would give him the V.P. spot, failing and struggling through a third mayoral election that he promised would never happen against a candidate who never bothered to show up and still almost beat him, Bloomberg needs a way out.

Loose Lips Lead to Pink Slips

This was the week of the big McChrystal story, in which the Obama Administration's answer to McArthur proved to have some of the same problems. The irony is that McChrystal had barred access to Michael Yon, and banned FOX News from playing. He namedropped voting for Obama.

Turkey’s State of Terror

This week Turkish forces invaded Iraq and its warplanes bombed 7 Kurdish villages killing a teenage girl and wounding her mother and 3 year old sister. A week ago Iran had done the same things, killing a 14 year old girl and a 45 year old woman. There are no shouts of protest. No worldwide demonstrations. The Obama administration and the media did not deliver any lectures on disproportionate force. Not even when Erdogan vowed to drown the Kurdish rebels "in their own blood".

Obama’s Collapsing Base

In a single year Obama lost the support of independent voters and liberal Republicans by passing the left's agenda. And this year, he is well on the way to losing the support of the left for not passing enough of their agenda. Being too left wing for mainstream America, and too mainstream for the left is not a new problem for the Democratic party. It's a problem they've faced since what had been the counterculture became the party establishment. But it's a special problem for the man who rose to power as the poster child of the left. Barack Hussein Obama.

The Mosques and Bank Robbers of Paris

What does this horde of slaves, Of traitors and conjured kings want? For whom are these ignoble trammels, these long-prepared irons? La Marseillaise

While Jews are fleeing Paris due to Muslim violence and harassment, Robert Haroush, an Israeli businessman, decided to fund the reconstruction of a mosque in order to build a "bridge of peace". The shortage of mosques in Paris, is of course almost as grave as the surplus of intact cars that need burning. And the City of Lights needs more dark mosques, the way Baghdad needs more IED's.

Socialism’s Gilded Cage

The one great truth found at the convergence of economics and politics is that government costs money. The more government you have, the more money it costs. This has both its good and its bad sides. The bad side is obvious. We need only look at the national deficit to see that. The good side is that just as the number of sheep helps limit the number of wolves, so too the amount of available money helps limit the size of government.

Party of Children

Now that Obama managed to interrupt his golf game long enough to deliver an emotional high profile speech in the Oval Office with a stealth push for Carbon Credits, a crisis is once again on the way to being co-opted as an opportunity. Not that it's much of an opportunity for Obama who is polling worse than ever. The left is growing to resent him almost as much as the right, for not being the liberal messiah they expected him to be.

The Noose Around Israel’s Neck

Israel is being hanged on a public gallows erected on the grounds of the United Nations with yards of rope gleefully supplied by the Muslim world. But the hangmen are mostly Westerners who still think that the Muslim lynch mob at their doorstep can be pacified with the death of a single victim. There are three things you can do when you are about to be hanged. You can walk proudly, recite a glorious line or two to embed your martyrdom in historical memory, and then allow yourself to be hanged. Jews have an extensive body of experience with that brand of martyrdom.

The Nature of the Bureaucratic Beast

There are two types of revolutionary movements, those that discharge their accumulated energy on returning power to the people and those that invest that energy into building up systems. Both are approaches to remedying injustice. The former gives the people the responsibility to guard their freedoms, the latter presumes that injustice can only be remedied by systems, not by people. The former is democratic, the latter is autocratic. The modern day liberal is autocratic. His beliefs are the product of an aristocracy which rejected rule by a hereditary aristocracy, in favor of rule by an ideological aristocracy.

How European Tolerance Islamized Turkey

There was a time when Turkey was a modern example to the rest of the Muslim world. And there was one fundamental reason for that. It was because Turkey realized that it could either be a backward Muslim colony of Europe, or it could put Islam in its place, and reform in order to try to keep up with Europe. And there is also a fundamental reason why that brand of reform has not come to the rest of the Muslim world. It is because they never had to learn that same lesson.

A Russian Made Disaster in Kyrgyzstan

The violence unleashed in Kyrgyzstan is being spun as ethnic rioting. The reality is a good deal more complex, and the blame can be laid directly at Russia's door. Russia's coup against the Bakiyev government which took power in the Tulip Revolution leveraged Uzbek separatists in the Osh Province to suppress Kyrgiz nationalist supporters of Bakiyev.

How the Road to Socialism is Paved

One of the more insidious aspects of the government takeover is how such takeovers are pitched as reforms. Of course reform traditionally applies to institutions reforming themselves or being reformed by their constituents or shareholders. The idea of government reforming the private sector smacks of unlimited authority, which is exactly what it is. And so a government that cannot reform itself, that cannot stop its out of control spending, its constant legislative corruption, its culture of pork and kickbacks, its compulsive need to appropriate power, sets out to instead take over every aspect of life within the country in the name of reform.

He Knows, He Just Doesn’t Care

The most damning thing about Obama's response to the Gulf Crisis (the other Gulf Crisis) is not what it reveals about his lack of competence, but what it reveals about his lack of interest. And it has forced many liberals to recognize, what so many conservatives knew all along. That Obama just doesn't care. Politicians who don't care what happens to the little people are nothing new. But Bill Clinton was a master at pretending to care. His performance in that infamous funeral clip testifies to a man who could turn on the facade of emotions in the blink of an eye. Obama isn't very good at that. Where Clinton was a natural actor, Obama is an unnatural one. Unlike most politicians, he lacks that instinct, because he lacks any degree of empathy. And so Obama needs extensive prep time to get his show on the road. Without prep time and a teleprompter, the mask begins to slip and the man underneath is cold and distant delivering a mechanical performance.

How Not to Get Shot by a Soldier

The following is intended to serve as a useful guide to various activists, protesters, migrants and other completely non-violent folk who happen to be packing knives, guns, rocks and crowbars. You will encounter soldiers, border patrol officers and various law enforcement and military personnel-- this is how not to get shot by them.

Defending Yourself Only Makes Us Hate You More

The underlying narrative of just about every liberal attack on Israel has been this. Defending yourself only makes us hate you more. This cynical sleight of hand is of course an old trick used by bigots to inhibit their targets from daring to fight back. And liberals have made it their weapon of choice when going after Jews and Israel. The tactic works by criminalizing any attempt at a defense by the target, and making the defense itself part of the indictment. The goal is to impose a Catch 22 framework on Jews with the only way out being to agree and participate in the indictment of Israel. The defense itself is then incorporated into the bigot's narrative. A 100 years ago, Jews would be charged with being "Pushy" and any defense against pushiness would itself be construed as pushy.