Who
Are Europe's Most Important Politicians?
by
Daniel Pipes, 8/2/18, Washington
Times
"Who is the most important European alive today?" I
asked in early 2010. Dutch politician Geert Wilders, came my answer, because
"he is best placed to deal with the Islamic challenge facing the continent."
I even raised the prospect of his emerging "as a world-historical
figure."
In other words, I focused not on run-of-the-mill political leaders
– the UK prime minister, French president, German
chancellor, or even the Roman Catholic pope – but on the disruptive politician
leading Europe's revolt against immigration and Islamization. Conventional
politicians optimistically assume that the continent will muddle through, that
some form of convivencia (Spanish for
"coexistence," a term deriving from medieval Andalusia) will emerge,
that multiculturalism somehow will tame the beast of Islamic supremacism.
But as Europe, population 741 million, heads toward cultural
crisis, as indigenous birthrates plunge, as Islamist aggression increases, and
as the elite made up of the 6Ps (police, politicians, press, priests,
professors and prosecutors) myopically insists there is nothing to worry about,
this happy talk has little basis in reality.
In 2010, Wilders clearly led those individuals and parties who
stand up for traditional Western civilization – what the media inaccurately
smears as the far-right but more accurately called civilizationist. Wilders remains a prominent
spokesman for civilizationism; but he has not wielded power since 2012 and
polls show that a competing Dutch civilizationist, Thierry Baudet, now attracts more voters.
In retrospect, it appears that Wilders dwelt overly on the nature of Islam
rather than on the dangers of migration.
In his place, a number of civilizationist politicians have emerged
who wield actual power, especially in formulating their countries' policies
towards migrants and Islam. The key event in their emergence was Angela
Merkel's great folly of 2015-16 when, at her invitation, over a million
unvetted mostly-Muslim migrants arrived in Germany and elsewhere. Then, to make
matters worse, she insisted on other European Union members take a proportion of
the migrants, sparking widespread resentment.
Here, in my estimation, are the ten outstanding civilizationist
leaders of this moment, in ascending order of importance (to be clear, this is
an assessment, not an endorsement):
10. Siv Jensen- Norway's minister of finance who leads
an immigration-restriction party.
9. Christoph Blocher- Switzerland's former head of the
Federal Department of Justice and Police and still a key figure in the
country's anti-immigration politics.
8. Robert Fico- Slovakia's former prime minister and still a
behind-the-scenes-strongman, who says "Islam has no place" in
Slovakia and has taken steps to prevent mosques from opening.
7. Miloš Zeman- Czechia's president who warns against
immigration of Muslims because their integration into Europe is
"practically impossible."
6. Markus Söder- Bavaria's premier who demands tougher
security along Germany's border with Austria.
5. Heinz-Christian Strache- Austria's vice-chancellor
wants to end the "policy of Islamization" (i.e., welcoming Muslim
migrants) and instead initiate a "minus-immigration policy."
4. Horst Seehofer- Germany's interior minister who is
battling his prime minister (Merkel) to keep illegal migrants out of the
country.
3. Matteo Salvini- Italy's interior minister who has
made stopping uncontrolled emigration his first priority, to be followed by the
far more challenging task of expelling 500,000 illegal immigrants.
2. Jarosław Kaczyński- Poland's former prime minister,
now the country's eminence grise, who formed a government by focusing on the
immigration and Islamization issues.
1. Viktor Orbán- Hungary's visionary and autocratic
prime minister since 2010 who won control of parliament by arguing against
uncontrolled Muslim immigration, then battled Merkel and offered a vision for a
traditional, Christian Europe.
A few observations about this list: Jimmie Åkesson of the Sweden
Democrats might jump on it after Sweden's September elections. Not included are
up-and-coming politicians such as Germany's minister of health, Jens Spahn, or
Denmark's Morten Messerschmidt. Other than Blocher, Zeman, and Kaczyński, these
politicians are relatively young, with potentially long careers ahead of them.
Jensen is the odd one out, being the only politician who is not male and not
from Central Europe.
After many years of getting nowhere, the opposition to lax
immigration controls and multiculturalism has now become a significant force in
nine countries, seven of them members of the European Union. I predict that
this number will substantially increase before long, perhaps making up half of
the European Union's soon-to-be-27 members and changing the direction of Europe
as a whole. And one of the figures named here may yet become a world-historical figure.
Mr. Pipes (DanielPipes.org, @DanielPipes) is president of the Middle East Forum. ©
2018 by Daniel Pipes.
He
doesn’t exactly put it that way. The title of his piece yesterday is simply: Who Are Europe’s Most Important Politicians?
President
of the Middle East Forum, Daniel Pipes is a historian/author
with a primary focus on Islam and migration.
Invasion of Europe news….
First
Pipes tells us that he had put his faith in Geert Wilders a few years ago, and
although he still admires the Dutch politician, he says Wilders perhaps focused
too much on the nature of Islam and not enough on what migration generally was
doing to the Netherlands and Europe.
Here
are a few snips from Pipes’ piece published in the Washington
Times yesterday, here, and at the Middle East
Forum here:
After
expressing admiration and explaining about Wilders, Pipes says….Her foolish
actions helped create powerful leaders like Hungarian PM Viktor Orban
I focused not on run-of-the-mill political leaders – the UK prime
minister, French president, German chancellor, or even the Roman Catholic pope
– but on the disruptive politician leading Europe’s revolt against immigration
and Islamization.
Conventional
politicians optimistically assume that the continent will muddle through, that
some form of convivencia (Spanish for “coexistence,” a term deriving from
medieval Andalusia) will emerge, that multiculturalism somehow will tame the
beast of Islamic supremacism.
But as Europe, population 741 million, heads toward cultural crisis, as
indigenous birthrates plunge, as Islamist aggression increases, and as the
elite made up of the 6Ps (police, politicians, press, priests, professors and
prosecutors) myopically insists there is nothing to worry about, this
happy talk has little basis in reality.
In
his [Wilders—ed] place, a number of civilizationist politicians have emerged who
wield actual power, especially in formulating their countries’ policies towards
migrants and Islam.
The
key event in their emergence was Angela Merkel’s great folly of 2015-16 when,
at her invitation, over a million unvetted mostly-Muslim migrants arrived in
Germany and elsewhere. Then, to make matters worse, she insisted on other
European Union members take a proportion of the migrants, sparking widespread
resentment.
Here,
in my estimation, are the ten outstanding civilizationist leaders of this
moment, in ascending order of importance (to be clear, this is an assessment,
not an endorsement):
I
won’t give them all away, except to tell you that Hungarian PM Viktor Orban is
number one.
So, I would like to know why hasn’t our President invited Orban to the
White House yet?
Go here to see Pipes’ list of names you
should know. Of course, this is his opinion and you might have others who
give you hope that Europe can save itself before it is too late. Click here for my complete ‘Invasion of Europe’ archive
that extends back to at least 2010 and includes dozens and dozens of post.
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody
GA Tea Party Leader
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