Calling Out Europe: Where Is the Diplomacy of Truth?

Calling Out Europe: Where Is the Diplomacy of Truth?
Gatestone's Person of the Week: Fiamma Nirenstein, Counter-Terrorism Expert

by Ruthie Blum  •  January 9, 2018 at 4:00 am

• The "Lawrence of Arabia" syndrome goes back to Old Europe. It is the snobbery of people who become enamored with exotic cultures. There is a romanticism surrounding the Middle East, associated with magic carpets and Aladdin lamps. But with that romanticism comes fear, as well – fear of... invading Islamists who slit people's throats.
• This fear has led European states to try and do business with terrorist groups. In the early 1980s, for example, Italian officials forged a secret deal with Palestinian terrorists, which culminated not in cooperation, but in a series of deadly attacks...
• Too many lies have been the basis of international relations. These include "dialogue" between religions to counter Islamist terrorism; the false notion of the "peaceful aspirations" of the Palestinians; the view that Turkey is a "bridge" to the Muslim world; the ridiculous view of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani as a "moderate"; the belief in a "united Europe" as the future of the old continent; and faith in the U.N. as a legal arbiter for international affairs. Policies based on these lies are not only fruitless; they are dangerous.

Fiamma Nirenstein. (Photo by Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images)

As an expert in global terrorism, anti-Semitism, Middle East wars and European policy, Fiamma Nirenstein has been following the popular uprising in Iran with particular interest. Nirenstein – award-winning journalist, best-selling author, former MP of the Italian Parliament and a fellow at the JCPA and says that just as former U.S. President Ronald Reagan's election and foreign policy were instrumental in the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, President Donald Trump is probably responsible for the street demonstrations across Iran that could lead to the downfall of the ayatollah-led Islamic Republic.

Nirenstein says that Europe, which has been silent on the uprisings in Iran, can no more take credit for this welcome turn of events than it could for the defeat of the U.S.S.R. -- or even of Hitler's Third Reich. It is America, she asserts, that has always been at the forefront of the struggle for freedom from the bondage of dictators; it is America that always saves Europe.

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