I must admit, I wasn’t particularly impressed by Daniel Pipes’ compilation of examples of European governments standing up to the irrational demands of Islamists under the heading of The West Stands Up for Its Customs. Although supposedly evidence that “there is still fight left in the old continent,” too many of the incidents centered around national tradition and … yes … serving alcohol.

This quote from an editor of a Dutch newspaper seems to pretty much capture the state of play: “It’s funny. We now want to teach immigrants more about our identity, and we discover that we’re not sure what’s left of it!”

If Europeans are limited to defending the accidental features of its culture rather than any universal values, then Europe is doomed to be overrun by the barbarians in short order. In that case, don’t expect substantial opposition to Islamism, except in the form of xenophobic fascism. And Europe would probably self-destruct in face of that kind of horror again.

Also, in case you haven’t heard of it, the ongoing brouhaha in Denmark over twelve depictions of Mohammed published this fall in a Danish newspaper is quite stunning. In face of great opposition, the Danish government has remained firm: it has “repeatedly rejected calls to intervene in the matter, saying the government has no say over media.” Meanwhile, Islamic countries like Saudi Arabia are boycotting Danish products, withdrawing their ambassadors to Denmark, protesting en masse, and so on. In contrast, the government of Norway capitulated after its media reprinted the drawings. Their embassies received a letter from the Foreign Ministry instructing them to say that the drawing caused “distrust and unnecessary conflicts” between Muslims and Norway. And their Foreign Minister said “I am sorry that the publications of the Prophet Muhammad in the Magazinet has caused unrest in the Muslim community.” How about if the crazed zealot Muslims causing the unrest apologized for their total lack of respect reason, reality, and rights instead?!?