David Pryce-Jones, the insightful and often brilliant writer about the Middle East, Arabs, and Islam, has a typically trenchant article in Commentary magazine titled “The Islamization of Europe?” An excerpt:
Does this crisis amount to a “clash of civilizations”? Many people reject that notion as too sweeping or downright misleading. Yet whether or not it applies to, say, the situation in Iraq, or to the war on terror, the phrase has much to recommend it as a description of what is going on inside Europe today. As Yves Charles Zarka, a French philosopher and analyst, has written: “there is taking place in France a central phase of the more general and mutually conflicting encounter between the West and Islam, which only someone completely blind or of radical bad faith, or possibly of disconcerting naiveté, could fail to recognize.” In the opinion of Bassam Tibi, an academic of Syrian origins who lives in Germany, Europeans are facing a stark alternative: “Either Islam gets Europeanized, or Europe gets Islamized.” Going still farther, the eminent historian Bernard Lewis has speculated that the clash may well be over by the end of this century, at which time, if present demographic trends continue, Europe itself will be Muslim.
Take a look at the quotation I highlighted — kinda sounds like a president who shall remain nameless, with his lack of “nuance” and stark view of the world. Lewis — the unassailable dean of Middle Eastern scholars — underscores two things Belloc predicted in the last century, that Islam would rise again, and that if Europe ceased to be Catholic, it would cease to be at all. (Belloc said this after he stole the idol from Indiana Jones, by the way.)
During my trip to London this Summer, I was blown away by the number of Muslims/Arabs there (yes, I know not all Arabs are Muslims), especially the abundance of young males.
Pryce-Jones puts the overall European Muslim figure at 20 million, but I’ve read estimates that are higher.
Eric,
Wrong spelling. Belloq was the guy in Raiders of the Lost Ark, not Belloc (at least according to IMDB).
I simply refuse to believe that they are not one and the same man!
The one has the first name Rene, the other Hilaire. Besides, Hillaire was in his sixties when Hitler came to power. The Belloq in the movie was not that old.
I’m sticking by my sources.
That’s very irrational. Especially considering Rene Belloq was French and Hilaire Belloc was an Englishman with a French father. Beyond that Belloq was evil and Hilaire Belloc was not. Not to mention Belloc was a writer and Belloq was an archeologist/treasure hunter/thief/Nazi stooge.
As further evidence Hilaire died in 1952 (or thereabouts) but Rene was killed when he opened the Ark of the Covenant. Finally, and this should defeat your contention once and for all, Hilaire Belloc was a real person and Rene Belloq was a fictional character. My case is irrefutable.
I should clarify: Belloq died in the 1930s when he opened the Ark.
Do I have to break out the tags, Coward?
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(Belloc said this after he stole the idol from Indiana Jones, by the way.)
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