Gerard Baker on Walter Laqueur's The Last Days of Europe. An excerpt:
The demographic problem is by now so familiar that it hardly bears restating. Mr. Laqueur notes that the average European family had five children in the 19th century; today it has fewer than two, a trend that will shrink the continent's population in the next century on a scale unprecedented in modern history.
The failure of Europeans to reproduce makes it vulnerable to internal schism. Too often Europe has reacted to the growing threat posed by extremists among its minorities with a tolerance and self-criticism that has bordered on capitulation. Meanwhile, social tensions increase, not least because of high emigration to Europe from Muslim countries and high birth rates among Muslim populations. No one has yet found a good way of integrating those populations into mainstream European society.
Even as the challenge from fanatical Islam has intensified, at home and abroad, Europeans have found new ways to abase themselves before it. Two years ago it was the Danish cartoons affair, in which too few politicians and opinion leaders defended the rights of the Danish newspaper that published them; last year it was the collective European cringe in the wake of the pope's mildly assertive remarks about the disconnect between Islam and reason; this year it has been the embarrassing spectacle of humiliated British servicemen fawning in front of their Iranian captors.
1 comment:
Multi-culturalism and diversity would make Europe a much richer place than what it is now. Look at the US. Without its black population, there would have been no Michael Jackson, Muhammad Ali, Oprah, and all the other musicians, artists, sportsmen that have made that country a more culturally richer one. Remember its past history with Islam was very enriching. The Arabs introduced the Hindu/Arabic number system which replaced the Roman system. The Arabs re-introduced into Europe the Greek philosophers, Sciences after it was lost for a thousand years. The west sunk into witchcraft, moral degeneration, etc during the dark ages. Islam brought to the west the ideas of scientific investigation, it was ok to do business, innovation etc. Algebra, alcohol, algorithm, chemistry, sugar, tariff, etc are all arabic words. In fact I predict that Europe will go through a wonderful rejuvenation and revival to rival that of the renaissance as the Muslim population and influence increases in Europe.
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