The Other McCain

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Sudetenland: Are the Czechs Our Friends?

Posted on | July 7, 2010 | 18 Comments

This is the question history professor Thaddeus Russell would have had Britons ask each other in 1938, when Neville Chamberlain sold out the Czechs to Hitler at Munich.

Does Israel Make Us Safer?
. . . Though many Americans think of Islamic terrorism against the U.S. as part of an inevitable “clash of cultures,” not one American died at the hands of a politically motivated Arab or Muslim until June 5, 1968, when Robert F. Kennedy was shot to death by Sirhan Sirhan.

Russell then goes on to assert that anti-American sentiment in the Islamic world is entirely a consquence of U.S. policy. Change the policy — especially, end U.S. support for Israel — and everybody who hates us now will be our friends. There are two clear errors in this way of thinking:

  • It is never smart to allow your enemies to tell you who your allies should be.
  • Yielding to aggression tends to result in more aggression.

This is what Churchill understood, but Chamberlain did not. Chamberlain believed that Hitler was an ordinary politician who could be dealt with as if dealing with were any responsible leader. Churchill was never deceived about Hitler’s nature, repeatedly describing him as a “gangster” who could only be stopped by force. So when Hitler, having repudiated the Versailles Treaty, remilitarized the Rhineland and annexed Austria,  then demanded that the Czechs surrender the Sudetenland, Churchill clearly saw that Hitler was preparing for further aggression (i.e., the invasion of Poland) while Chamberlain foolishly thought he could bargain for peace.

Israel is analogous to the Sudetenland here because no change in U.S. policy will appease Hamas, Hezbollah and other America-hating extremists in the Islamic world. Yes, the annihilation of Israel is a major goal of the jihadis, but it is not their only goal.

They are gangsters, as Churchill would say and, to borrow another of Sir Winston’s favorite expressions, those who hope t0 appease these gangsters are feeding the crocodile, hoping to be eaten last.

Russell advocates abandonment of Israel as an act of foreign-policy “realism,” but as Elder of Ziyon says, “This is not realism — this is surrender to an enemy that will be emboldened by a show of such weakness.”

(Cross-posted at the Hot Air Green Room.)

Comments

18 Responses to “Sudetenland: Are the Czechs Our Friends?”

  1. Greg Toombs
    July 7th, 2010 @ 8:40 pm

    Professor at Occidental, Obama’s Alma Mater.

    Can’t be a coincidence. Birds of a feather and all that.

  2. Greg Toombs
    July 7th, 2010 @ 4:40 pm

    Professor at Occidental, Obama’s Alma Mater.

    Can’t be a coincidence. Birds of a feather and all that.

  3. Ben (The Tiger)
    July 7th, 2010 @ 9:33 pm

    For a moment, thought this was about current foreign policy re the Czechs.

    To which, my response was going to be, “Of course they are — the real question is, are _we_ the Czechs’ friends?”

  4. Ben (The Tiger)
    July 7th, 2010 @ 5:33 pm

    For a moment, thought this was about current foreign policy re the Czechs.

    To which, my response was going to be, “Of course they are — the real question is, are _we_ the Czechs’ friends?”

  5. Jim Hlavac
    July 8th, 2010 @ 12:51 am

    That we still call it the “Sudentenland” shows how good German propaganda was — for it means “South Germany.” But to Czechs it’s Severo Bohemske — or, North Bohemia, which stretches even a few more miles past the current frontier, at least to Konigstein Fortress. Czechs didn’t call it South Germany, because it wasn’t. And yet, 70 years and more later, there it is.
    Similar with the Jews who can’t call their land Judea and Samaria, or Israel, while their enemies refer to Israel as Palestine. And people believe there’s this “West Bank” — which is really “East Israel.”
    But if you accede the names of your land to the enemy, well, you just might lose.

  6. Jim Hlavac
    July 7th, 2010 @ 8:51 pm

    That we still call it the “Sudentenland” shows how good German propaganda was — for it means “South Germany.” But to Czechs it’s Severo Bohemske — or, North Bohemia, which stretches even a few more miles past the current frontier, at least to Konigstein Fortress. Czechs didn’t call it South Germany, because it wasn’t. And yet, 70 years and more later, there it is.
    Similar with the Jews who can’t call their land Judea and Samaria, or Israel, while their enemies refer to Israel as Palestine. And people believe there’s this “West Bank” — which is really “East Israel.”
    But if you accede the names of your land to the enemy, well, you just might lose.

  7. Ran / Si Vis Pacem
    July 8th, 2010 @ 12:55 am

    Nonsense. Once they’ve eradicated the Little Satan, who’s left? Talk about a silly argument. [points finger and chortles…]

  8. Ran / Si Vis Pacem
    July 7th, 2010 @ 8:55 pm

    Nonsense. Once they’ve eradicated the Little Satan, who’s left? Talk about a silly argument. [points finger and chortles…]

  9. cdor
    July 8th, 2010 @ 2:51 am
  10. cdor
    July 7th, 2010 @ 10:51 pm
  11. Winston Churchill
    July 8th, 2010 @ 5:47 am

    Never give in–never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.

  12. Winston Churchill
    July 8th, 2010 @ 1:47 am

    Never give in–never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.

  13. Winston Churchill
    July 8th, 2010 @ 5:48 am

    I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.

  14. Winston Churchill
    July 8th, 2010 @ 1:48 am

    I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.

  15. Estragon
    July 8th, 2010 @ 6:06 am

    It’s galling the uncalled for respect given to pagan barbarism. This is no “religion” – it is a violent cult of domination.

    Had Westerners not found oil in their regions, and permitted the nearby populations of barbarians ownership rights to it, it would still be just an aberration, if a widespread one, among primitive people.

  16. Estragon
    July 8th, 2010 @ 2:06 am

    It’s galling the uncalled for respect given to pagan barbarism. This is no “religion” – it is a violent cult of domination.

    Had Westerners not found oil in their regions, and permitted the nearby populations of barbarians ownership rights to it, it would still be just an aberration, if a widespread one, among primitive people.

  17. S.L. Toddard
    July 9th, 2010 @ 10:55 am

    Oh my God. Another Chamberlain reference. Ugh.

  18. S.L. Toddard
    July 9th, 2010 @ 6:55 am

    Oh my God. Another Chamberlain reference. Ugh.