| They inhabit self-imposed ghettoes, subject to | | | | has a Muslim Council.Both Vladimir Putin, Russia's |
| derision and worse, the perennial targets of | | | | president and Yuri Luzhkov, Moscow's mayor, |
| far-right thugs and populist politicians of all | | | | now take the trouble to greet the capital's one |
| persuasions. They are mostly confined to menial | | | | million Muslims on the occasion of their Feast of |
| jobs. They are accused of spreading crime, | | | | Sacrifice. They also actively solicit the votes of |
| terrorism and disease, of being backward and | | | | the nationalist and elitist Muslims of the |
| violent, of refusing to fit in.Their religion, atavistic | | | | industrialized Volga - mainly the Tatars, Bashkirs |
| and rigid, insists on ritual slaughter and male | | | | and Chuvash. Even the impoverished, |
| circumcision. They rarely mingle socially or | | | | much-detested and powerless Muslims of the |
| inter-marry. Most of them - though born in | | | | northern Caucasus - Chechens, Circassians and |
| European countries - are not allowed to vote. | | | | Dagestanis - have benefited from this newfound |
| Brown-skinned and with a marked foreign accent, | | | | awareness of their electoral power.Though divided |
| they are subject to police profiling and | | | | by their common creed - Shiites vs. Sunnites vs. |
| harassment and all manner of racial | | | | Wahabbites and so on - the Muslims of Europe |
| discrimination.They are the new Jews of Europe - | | | | are united in supporting the Palestinian cause and |
| its Muslim minorities.Muslims - especially Arab | | | | in opposing the Iraq war. This - and post-colonial |
| youths from North Africa - are, indeed, | | | | guilt feelings, especially manifest in France and |
| disproportionately represented in crime, including | | | | Britain - go a long way toward explaining |
| hate crime, mainly against the Jews. Exclusively | | | | Germany's re-discovered pacifistic spine and |
| Muslim al-Qaida cells have been discovered in | | | | France's anti-Israeli (not to say anti-Semitic) |
| many West European countries. But this can be | | | | tilt.Moreover, the Muslims have been playing an |
| safely attributed to ubiquitous and trenchant | | | | important economic role in the continent since the |
| long-term unemployment and to stunted upward | | | | early 1960s. Europe's postwar miracle was |
| mobility, both social and economic due largely to | | | | founded on these cheap, plentiful and |
| latent or expressed racism.Moreover, the | | | | oft-replenished Gastarbeiter - "guest workers". |
| stereotype is wrong. The incidence of higher | | | | Objective studies have consistently shown that |
| education and skills is greater among Muslim | | | | immigrants contribute more to their host |
| immigrants than in the general population - a | | | | economies - as consumers, investors and |
| phenomenon known as "brain drain". Europe | | | | workers - than they ever claw back in social |
| attracts the best and the brightest - students, | | | | services and public goods. This is especially true in |
| scholars, scientists, engineers and intellectuals - | | | | Europe, where an ageing population of early |
| away from their destitute, politically dysfunctional | | | | retirees has been relying on the uninterrupted |
| and backward homelands.The Economist surveys | | | | flow of pension contributions by younger laborers, |
| the landscape of friction and | | | | many of them immigrants.Business has been |
| withdrawal:"Indifference to Islam has turned first | | | | paying attention to this emerging market. British |
| to disdain, then to suspicion and more recently to | | | | financial intermediaries - such as the West |
| hostility ... (due to images of) petro-powered | | | | Bromwich Building Society - have recently |
| sheikhs, Palestinian terrorists, Iranian ayatollahs, | | | | introduced "Islamic" (interest-free) mortgages. |
| mass immigration and then the attacks of | | | | According to market research firm, Datamonitor, |
| September 11th, executed if not planned by | | | | gross advances in the UK alone could reach $7 |
| western-based Muslims and succored by an odious | | | | billion in 2006 - up from $60 million today. The |
| regime in Afghanistan ... Muslims tend to come | | | | Bank of England is in the throes of preparing |
| from poor, rural areas; most are ill-educated, | | | | regulations to accommodate the pent-up |
| many are brown. They often encounter | | | | demand.Yet, their very integration, however |
| xenophobia and discrimination, sometimes made | | | | hesitant and gradual, renders the Muslims in |
| worse by racist politicians. They speak the | | | | Europe vulnerable to the kind of treatment the |
| language of the wider society either poorly or not | | | | old continent meted out to its Jews before the |
| at all, so they find it hard to get jobs. Their | | | | holocaust. Growing Muslim presence in stagnating |
| children struggle at school. They huddle in poor | | | | job markets within recessionary economies |
| districts, often in state-supplied housing ... They | | | | inevitably generated a backlash, often cloaked in |
| tend to withdraw into their own world, (forming a) | | | | terms of Samuel Huntington's 1993 essay in |
| self-sufficient, self-contained community."This | | | | Foreign Affairs, "Clash of Civilizations".Even tolerant |
| self-imposed segregation has multiple dimensions. | | | | Italy was affected. Last year, the Bologna |
| Clannish behavior persists for decades. Marriages | | | | archbishop, Cardinal Giacomo Biffi, cast Islam as |
| are still arranged - reluctant brides and grooms | | | | incompatible with Italian culture. The country's |
| are imported from the motherland to wed | | | | prime minister suggested, in a visit to Berlin two |
| immigrants from the same region or village. The | | | | years ago, that Islam is an inherently inferior |
| "parallel society", in the words of a British | | | | civilization.Oriana Fallaci, a prominent journalist, |
| government report following the Oldham riots two | | | | published last year an inane and foul-mouthed |
| years ago, extends to cultural habits, religious | | | | diatribe titled "The Rage and the Pride" in which |
| practices and social norms.Assimilation and | | | | she accused Muslims of "breeding like rats", |
| integration has many enemies.Remittances from | | | | "shitting and pissing" (sic!) everywhere and |
| abroad are an important part of the gross national | | | | supporting Osama bin-Laden indiscriminately.Young |
| product and budgetary revenues of countries | | | | Muslims reacted - by further radicalizing and by |
| such as Bangladesh and Pakistan. Hence their | | | | refusing to assimilate - to both escalating |
| frantic efforts to maintain the cohesive national | | | | anti-Islamic rhetoric in Europe and the "triumphs" |
| and cultural identity of the expats. DITIB is an | | | | of Islam elsewhere, such as the revolution in Iran |
| arm of the Turkish government's office for | | | | in 1979. Tutored by preachers trained in the most |
| religious affairs. It discourages the assimilation or | | | | militant Islamist climates in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, |
| social integration of Turks in Germany. Turkish | | | | Somalia, Pakistan and Iran, praying in mosques |
| businesses - newspapers, satellite TV, foods, | | | | financed by shady Islamic charities - these |
| clothing, travel agents, publishers - thrive on | | | | youngsters are amenable to recruiters from |
| ghettoization.There is a tacit confluence of | | | | every fanatical grouping.The United Kingdom |
| interests between national governments, | | | | suffered some of the worst race riots in half a |
| exporters and Islamic organizations. All three want | | | | century in the past two years. France is |
| Turks in Germany to remain as Turkish as | | | | terrorized by an unprecedented crime wave |
| possible. The more nostalgic and homebound the | | | | emanating from the banlieux - the decrepit, |
| expatriate - the larger and more frequent his | | | | predominantly Muslim, housing estates in suburbia. |
| remittances, the higher his consumption of Turkish | | | | September 11 only accelerated the inevitable |
| goods and services and the more prone he is to | | | | conflict between an alienated minority and hostile |
| resort to religion as a determinant of his besieged | | | | authorities throughout the continent. Recent |
| and fracturing identity.Muslim numbers are not | | | | changes in European - notably British - legislation |
| negligible. Two European countries have Muslim | | | | openly profile and target Muslims.This is a |
| majorities - Bosnia-Herzegovina and Albania. | | | | remarkable turnaround. Europe supported the |
| Others - in both Old Europe and its | | | | Muslim Bosnian cause against the Serbs, Islamic |
| post-communist east - harbor sizable and growing | | | | Chechnya against Russia, the Palestinians against |
| Islamic minorities. Waves of immigration and birth | | | | the Israelis and Muslim Albanian insurgents against |
| rates three times as high as the indigenous | | | | both Serbs and Macedonians. Nor was this |
| population increase their share of the population in | | | | consistent pro-Islamic orientation a novelty.Britain's |
| virtually every European polity - from Russia to | | | | Commission for Racial Equality which caters mainly |
| Macedonia and from Bulgaria to Britain. One in | | | | to the needs of Muslims, was formed 37 years |
| seven Russians is Muslim - over 20 million | | | | ago. Its Foreign Office has never wavered from |
| people.According to the March-April issue of | | | | its pro-Arab bias. Germany established a Central |
| Foreign Policy, the non-Muslim part of Europe will | | | | Council for Muslims. Both anti-Americanism and the |
| shrink by 3.5 percent by 2015 while the Muslim | | | | more veteran anti-Israeli streak helped sustain |
| populace will likely double. There are 3 million Turks | | | | Europe's empathy with Muslim refugees and |
| in Germany and another 12 million Muslims - | | | | "freedom fighters" throughout the 1960s, 70s and |
| Algerians, Moroccans, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, | | | | 80s.September 11 put paid to this amity. The |
| Egyptians, Senegalese, Malis, or Tunisians - in the | | | | danger is that the brand of "Euro-Islam" that has |
| rest of the European Union.This is two and one | | | | begun to emerge lately may be decimated by this |
| half times the number of Muslims in the United | | | | pervasive and sudden mistrust. Time Magazine |
| States. Even assuming - wrongly - that all of | | | | described this blend as "the traditional Koran-based |
| them occupy the lowest decile of income, their | | | | religion with its prohibitions against alcohol and |
| combined annual purchasing power would amount | | | | interest-bearing loans now indelibly marked by the |
| to a whopping $150 billion. Furthermore, recent | | | | 'Western' values of tolerance, democracy and civil |
| retroactive changes to German law have | | | | liberties."Such "enlightened" Muslims can serve as |
| naturalized over a million immigrants and | | | | an invaluable bridge between Europe and Russia, |
| automatically granted its much-coveted citizenship | | | | the Middle East, Asia, including China and other |
| to the 160,000 Muslims born in Germany every | | | | places with massive Muslim majorities or |
| year.Between 2-3 million Muslims in France - half | | | | minorities. As most world conflicts today involve |
| their number - are eligible to vote. Another million - | | | | Islamist militants, global peace and a functioning |
| one out of two - cast ballots in Britain. These | | | | "new order" critically depend on the goodwill and |
| numbers count at the polls and are not offset by | | | | communication skills of Muslims.Such a benign |
| the concerted efforts of a potent Jewish lobby - | | | | amalgam is the only realistic hope for reconciliation. |
| there are barely a million Jews in Western | | | | Europe is ageing and stagnating and can be |
| Europe.Muslims are becoming a well-courted swing | | | | reinvigorated only by embracing youthful, |
| vote. They may have decided the last election in | | | | dynamic, driven immigrants, most of whom are |
| Germany, for instance. Recognizing their growing | | | | bound to be Muslim. Co-existence is possible and |
| centrality, France established - though not without | | | | the clash of civilization not an inevitability unless |
| vote-rigging - a French Council of the Islamic Faith, | | | | Huntington's dystopic vision becomes the basic |
| the equivalent of Napoleon's Jewish Consistory. | | | | policy document of the West. |
| Two French cabinet members are Muslims. Britain | | | | |