No European country can succeed on its own – but the political determination to deal with the populations’ fears and concerns is still lacking. Europe needs radical internal reform led by committed and courageous political leaders. Such leaders must begin by declaring, repeating and teaching that Europe has changed, that it has a new face. New priorities, even though unpopular on the short run, must be established in order to hope for success in the long term.
Europe needs time, but our politicians are caught on the horns of a dilemma. While they need to think beyond the next generation, they are obsessed with winning the next election. Trapped between short-term imperatives and long-term necessity, it might well be that they cannot find a solution.
Citizens and civil society as a whole have no choice but to break the vicious circle – they cannot allow their future be destroyed by a lack of collective confidence and by narrow individual political ambition. It is time to be vocal and constructively critical.
Must admit i was more than surprised to see anything written by Tariq Ramadan at TitusOneNine.
Ramadan is regarded by many people as one of the truly duplicitous people of this world, highly skilled in sophistry, and most cleverly adept at double-speak.
It has been said, “This boy is slicker than a serpent’s belly”.
If you will remember, Tariq Ramadan – the “son of Said Ramadan and the grandson of the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood” – was one of the featured speakers at the infamous 2008 TEC Trinity Institute Conference – the annual propaganda machine of TEC and cohorts. The other prominent speakers and “friends and advisors of TEC” as they were being touted by Schori and ilk, included James Carroll, the avowed Marxist, former Roman Catholic priest, and writer of the vitriolic “Constantine’s Sword”, along with James Cone, the mentor and peer of Jeremiah Wright.
Swell bedfellows.
It all figures of course when one looks behind the TEC curtain, but more than alarming.
Apparently, Ramadan’s thinly veiled agenda has been “made” by sophisticated folks worldwide. That his hitherto revoked visa into the United States was reinstated by the State Department under Hillary Clinton and Obama is outrageous; but, unfortunately, no surprise.
Before one buys into Tariq Ramadan’s cool and seductive line, many knowledgeable people would likely suggest you check him out on the web and elsewhere.
He keeps very interesting friends and runs in even more interesting circles.
Ramadan was recently dismissed “from his positions as an adviser on integration for the city of Rotterdam and from a Dutch University over his role as a talk show host on Iranian TV”.
For those who are even perfunctorily tempted to buy his line, forewarned is forearmed.
Types like Ramadan can sell ice cubes to Eskimos.
One can always begin a little research at:
http://globalmbreport.org/?p=4760
I would recommend the book “The Flight of the Intellectuals” by Paul Berman for anyone interested in seeing how Tariq Ramadan’s worldview has been shaped by his grandfather’s activism and the Muslim Brotherhood–and how the western media/academia has failed to recognize his implicit support for the eradication of Israel and the subjugation of Muslim women.