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David Warren . Common enemies
David Warren, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Wednesday, May 14, 2008Will Israel last another 60 years? Will Canada? Will the West? I believe the questions are closely related, and will begin by giving two quick answers.
The first is, "I don't know." Attempts to predict the future from the historical past have a track record around zero, and while it is true that history is constantly repeating itself, it is able to repeat itself in many different ways. On the present leadership performance of Israel's complacent, incompetent, and probably corrupt prime minister - and in view of the assembling forces dedicated to the country's annihilation - one might reasonably say that Israel will be lucky to reach three score and ten. But as I've myself frequently argued, all trends are reversible.
The second is: "It depends what you mean by survive." If the world is still here - and let's not take anything for granted - there is likely to be a little patch of land corresponding to that upon which Israel now sits. And if there are still Jews, it will still belong in their hearts, as it has done for millennia. It is not inconceivable to me that Israel might be annihilated, or nearly annihilated, and then restored. Such events are compatible with very large, planetary wars. They hardly bear thinking about.
But I insist that Israel's survival is tied to that of the West. She is our front line, an embodiment of unambiguously western values. The enemies we have are common enemies - left-fascist ideology (formerly expressed as Communism), and Islamofascist ideology (now called "Islamism," to distinguish political from religious Islam, on the assumption that this can be done).
These are the two great contemporary Sirens, and each calls upon constituencies lodged deep in the West itself. The appeal of simplistic ideological movements spreads in the spiritual vacuum left by the recession of Christianity.
But whatever dark forces answer to the command of these two great Sirens, there is agreement between the left and the Islamists that Israel is the front line of the West, and that she is sufficiently isolated to be worth destroying first. There is moreover agreement between them that the ultimate target is "Amerika" and the whole "bourgeois, Judeo-Christian" order that has sustained our freedom and prosperity.
What happens if our enemies succeed? I would guess it is then Green versus Green, and the Islamist monster eats the Environmentalist monster, for the former is more wilful and ruthless.
I risk being misunderstood at this point, for I am not exactly equating Osama bin Laden with Al Gore. Environmentalism, and the current "global warming" hysteria, is only a flag of convenience, just as the "class war" served the left in a previous generation, and there are many alternative flags. Its root cause is a Gnostic, religious atheism: it forms and disperses and reforms like the mist. Whereas, Islamism is a unified and cogent force, with an instinctive recourse to violence.
To understand what I mean, the reader must consider almost any contemporary university campus, in which the radical political causes are quite various, but there is general agreement among radicals on each other's agendas. That one must attack Zionist Israel, and conversely champion oppressed Palestinians, is something every little half-educated campus ideologue knows he can take for granted.
COMMENTS ON THIS STORY
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Fmaack
Wed, May 14, 08 at 09:04 AM
What a load of simplistic garbage. Yes, America is a bastion of freedom and posperity. They've only destroyed countless countries, invading several countries per decade.
[removed gratuitous inslut - moderator]
Mark Razak
Wed, May 14, 08 at 09:30 AM
Mr. Warren,
The comment by "FMAACK" only reinforces your analysis. Oh yes, evil AmeriKKKa, destroyer of nations, plunderer of continents, if only she had never existed how much better the world would be! My future prediction is that Israel WILL be destroyed, completely and utterly, within 4-6 years (sooner if BHO is elected POTUS). It will be interesting to see how our campus radicals, so concerned about human rights, washes its hands over the murder of another 6 million Jews.
Nik
Wed, May 14, 08 at 09:38 AM
The left, environmentalists, atheists, universities, and Islam -- all of Warren''s enemies, neatly lined up in a row in a single column. Now all he needs to do is work flying saucers and the New World Order into the equation. That will complete his tableau.
Given Warren's previous columns on evolution, Catholicism, godless atheists, etcetera, I have to wonder if it's fair to throw Warren in the camp of Christians who believe we must support Israel because it will help bring about the second coming of Jesus Christ. He made no mention of it in his column, mind you. Perhaps that's because, as a semi-rational man, he recognizes how such things sound when spoken out loud.
Titus
Wed, May 14, 08 at 09:58 AM
Lets be fair. America is a christian country and every evil we do here in the US reflects that religious, mostly Calvinistic materialist spirit.
Atheists don't get elected here, and gnostics? They got wiped out by the loving orthodox ages ago.
Laura
Wed, May 14, 08 at 10:01 AM
Great article - a simple point, but a very cogent one that is well worth making. Could use a little Steynian humour to make it less depressing, though.
steveR
Wed, May 14, 08 at 10:21 AM
Don't worry about it, FMAACK. You're reading an article by a man who doesn't have enough wit or humanity to distinguish between Islam and Islamism and happily writes off hundreds of millions of people as terrorists. It's not just simplistic garbage - his type of rhetoric (and I use the term advisedly considering the convoluted nonsense he regularly cranks out) is simply meant to promote divisions and hatred. BTW, I'd love to know what your "gratuitous inslut" was but I'll just think up a few of my own.
FH
Wed, May 14, 08 at 10:24 AM
What nonsense. The Israeli government is one of the biggest terrorist organizations in the area. They regularily massacre Palestinian citizens, women and children when Palestine dares defend itself from bombing attacks, annexation, starvation and all of the other things Isreal has done. The majority of Israeli citizens do not back their governments blatent human rights abuses.
The main cause of Israel's eventual demise will be, ironically, their own leaders.
blackpine
Wed, May 14, 08 at 11:20 AM
Several per decade? I love exact numbers. Count through the nineties. Destroyed countless countries? Name three. He's simplistic, while you just made a blanket condemnation in a vacuum of political circumstance? Wow.
Ray Ingles
Wed, May 14, 08 at 11:21 AM
Of course, the reason we care about Israel - the reason it's strategic - is because we're hooked on the oil that flows from that region. Find alternatives to oil, like nuclear power or coal liquefaction, and defending Israel is no longer a strategic concern.
Too bad "Terrritorialism" lost to "Zionism". A Jewish state in, say, South America - which was seriously proposed before 1948 - would be much more secure than a location where it's "outnumbered 60-to-1 in population, and by a much greater ratio in land area or elbow room (with accompanying natural resources)."
mike
Wed, May 14, 08 at 11:28 AM
I find it somewhat amusing that the left - and I certainly include the NDP - claims to support human rights and freedoms, yet is in an obvious alliance with Islamo-fascism. Was there ever any real difference between leftists and fascists?
Barbara Hell
Wed, May 14, 08 at 11:34 AM
If a leftist form of Islam appears in the west, sincere or not,
then all hope is lost.
People attracted to leftiist ideas will jump at anything collectivist,
totalitarian and utopian. If such a system is opposed to individual
rights, including women's and gay rights, it will not trouble leftists.
whatthe?
Wed, May 14, 08 at 11:41 AM
What a pointless and meandering piece of trash. This is just another example of Warren's difficulty as a writer -- stick to the point!
sroth
Wed, May 14, 08 at 11:42 AM
Ah yes. West-Zionist-capitalist-white-hat good guys on this side. East-Muslim-communist-black-hat bad guys on the other side. You almost - almost - have to feel sorry for Warren and his misguided ranting. I guess in his version of Catholic theology, it's OK to demonize "the other".
Too bad Warren doesn't do irony - or at least realize he's doing it.
Hope none of these comments are judged to be a "gratuitous inslut".
Marty
Wed, May 14, 08 at 12:23 PM
What an insightful and subtle critique, FMAACK. I'll bet the gratuitous insult with which you concluded your comment really tied your argument together well.
[again, insult removed. Keep it clean, folks - moderator]
Revnant Dream
Wed, May 14, 08 at 12:47 PM
A very good analysis of the political quagmire now set before us. Bang on about academia & its neo-Marxist Israeli hating clique of "progressive" teachers. With their sycophantic student activists, blinded by Utopian stupidity.
As you say its hard to see which way people are going to jump historically. If this was a world run by mankind I would agree. Fortunately I do believe in a G-d with a plan. Particularly for Israel. As well, you never know how human nature will react to events or war.
In my Bible the Jews with G-d's help win victory. In fact there is a second Prophecy of a bigger return following another after the second temple was destroyed. This will be a religious awakening & exodus from many lands. You find this in both the NT & the OT. Which coming from a non churched atheist background pretty much convinced me Christianity in its basic form, is a sect of Judaism. In the book of Revelations it ain't the Gentiles who get center stage lol.
Just from a secular viewpoint a Jewish state must survive if only a refuge. Lets face it the world has tried to kill off the Jewish people 5 times by my count. The Egyptians, the Greeks by outlawing circumcision with a death penalty attached. The Babylonians under Haman. The Philistines. The Romans in two Jewish wars. 70 AD & 120 Respectfully. Lastly Muslims killing off huge populations in North Africa, Arabia, & where ever Islam conquered. Christians as well I might add unless they could pay. We are all familiar with expulsions pogroms & ghettoes in Europe. Than the holocaust in Europe by the other brand of totalitarianism fascism.
As Simon Wiesenthal said. He was liberated 7 times by the Soviets or Nazis. The only difference he observed was the Nazis would kill off the intelligentsias first, than the businessmen. The Communists just reversed the process of murder.
If I where Jewish, I wouldn't trust most Gentiles unless I had a gun . Israel Will survive but it won't be because of "friends" except the usual groups. I am remorseful to say. Anti-Semitism or its 21st century code word anti- Zionism is precipitating like some evil pandemic virus. It will be the Israelis themselves with some help from principled individuals, that will fortify this last democracy in the cradle of war.
Israel is the beach head of our democratic fortress. If it falls the long night begins for us all.
Joe Q. Public
Wed, May 14, 08 at 01:04 PM
I wish to thank the Citizen for continuing to run Warren's pseudo-religious ramblings. Although, I rarely agree with anything he ever writes, it's informative to see his factual inaccuracies and the "connections" he makes between them. I'm glad the Citizen keeps him employed despite these glaring deficiencies in his writing. There are lots of people in the world who "think" like him and by providing Warren with a pulpit, you remind the rest of us, just how much work must be done, if the world is going to survive/thrive.
Stan
Wed, May 14, 08 at 01:32 PM
Right on the money David. The comment above is very indicative of how the ill informed and willfully blind are prepared to abandon the principles that make Western society the envy of the rest of the world.
Patrick
Wed, May 14, 08 at 02:01 PM
I concur. What tripe. Just terrible analysis.
Many on the left care deeply about the survival of the state of Israel, they just accept that Palestinian, too, have a right to exist and prosper.
The great irony of this piece is that the author exhibits a blind ideological bias in favor of Israel - not Israel per se, but rather the Likud Party's vision of it - which exactly mirrors that of the theocratic and leftist demagogues he decries.
The entire debate on the Middle East needs less extremism, not more, David Warren included. I somehow suspect Israel's chances are better without the likes of David Warren attempting vainly and counterproductively to defend it.
Peter
Wed, May 14, 08 at 02:27 PM
Simplistic garbage? I don't think so. Most things in this world are very simple. It takes a "progressive" to really make things complicated. Next time you see images of aid to stricken areas in the world, please note that the bags say USA and not IRAN. Islamofacism is probably the most dangerous thing facing civilized nations around the globe and just may win if we continually close our eyes to it or try to explain it as our (USA) fault. All it takes for us to be on our knees to Islam is useful idiots, of which there seems to be a great many.
Ray Crawford (Toronto)
Wed, May 14, 08 at 04:26 PM
The greatest thrreat to Western civiiliization is the political Left. These people would rather sit around dreaming up wacko projects like a carbon tax rather than going out and getting gainful employment.
Here we have Stephane Dion who named his mutt "Kyoto" after some wacko treaty. I put to everybody that this guy needs to seek psychriatric helo as soon as possilbe,
Darrell Smith
Wed, May 14, 08 at 04:57 PM
I actually agree with many of the things that Warren has digested.
What is very apparent is some of the posters have neither lived in, studied or even read middle east history and that of europe. Just proves his point.
Joe M
Wed, May 14, 08 at 04:58 PM
If nobody read Dave's pieces would the time saved be better applied elsewhere?
Mickey
Wed, May 14, 08 at 09:35 PM
I wonder if behind this opinion article is a belief that Christians must support a war to destroy the Dome of the Rock and rebuild the Jewish Temple in it's place, so that Jesus can return, lift all the pious Christians into heaven, and leave the atheists, agnostics, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, and all the other apostates and infidels to fight the ultimate battle between good and evil.
Christian groups spend millions of dollars trying to help the Jews fight the Palestinians, not because they have any real interest in helping the Jews, they are simply trying to bring on Armageddon.
I can't be sure that David Warren is trying to accomplish this but as long as he is throwing about some wild conjecture about the hidden agenda of my beliefs, then I can cast back a few stones of my own.
andrew
Thu, May 15, 08 at 12:15 AM
Amazing how the same people who go on and on about the toothpick size sins in the American eye (destroying countries? How about lifting up both Europe and Japan from the rubble their own aggression caused and rebuilding the hundred year basket case that is Afghanistan?) completely ignore and wish others also not to notice the giant redwoods in the eye of their totalitarian pets, Russia, China and Islamofascism.
There's only one religion which is also a totalitarian ideology that is rampaging around the world, attacking every other religion, modernity itself and committing racial genocide with impunity as in the Sudan, with government Muslim Arab militia (janjaweed) slaughtering 300 000 black Africans and counting and displacing millions by burning their homes. Until the anti-Americans here complain about China's protection at the UN of Sudan's government to which it sells arms for oil they are merely leftist plants or as Stalin used to call them, "useful idiots" and lack all credibility and moral standing.
Titus
Thu, May 15, 08 at 10:03 AM
Democracy and liberty are largely regarded as gnostic heresies. In truth, most modern christians are dominionist feudalists like their muslim brothers. Gotsta love them abrahamics.
Red Dino
Thu, May 15, 08 at 12:32 PM
I have been accused of being both a communist and a dinosaur, so I don't think I am overly biased. What I see in this column and the numerous blogs are a lot of ad hominem and made-up straw men (trying to bring on Armageddon? trying to bring on the second coming of Jesus Christ?) from the left, but plain well-known facts from David and the more rational readers (e.g., behaviour at our universities). David is a bit strident, I'll grant you, but when you are the only one trying to discuss important things in an avalanche of trivia and nonsense, I guess it often comes to that. He's only human, after all.
Marlon
Thu, May 15, 08 at 04:41 PM
Congratulations Mr.Warren!
I admire you for your deep insight, this sharp and very serious problematic and especially for your bravery. As you see, I wouldn't dare to even put my full name in this comment. You must know that I criticized you another time, meaning I am not a blind fan of yours. Nevertheless, this article is an eye-opener, it includes in a compact way the very fundamental definitions and axiomatic of the West, what is at stake and who is fighting it.
Dave Smyth
Thu, May 15, 08 at 06:27 PM
Nice to read a columnist that's in touch with reality and very amusing to read all the posters that are not.
