PRINCE ALWALEED
BIN TALAL—THE 21st CENTURY’S LESS NOTORIOUS, MORE REFINED DR. JOSEPH
GOEBBELS
Giuliani showing bin Talal where to go.
When Herr Goebbels ranted and raved and threatened, Churchill thundered back. When columns of panzers and flights of Stukas and Dorniers followed the words of the master propagandist, spitting death and destruction, Churchill and Montgomery and legions of loyal Brits fought back and England survived. Today, when the new master propagandist arrives with suitcases full of petrodollars the Brits cave in. ‘Long live the King’ is rendered ‘Allahu akbar.’ The 21st Century reincarnation of Herr Goebbels, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Abdulaziz al-Saud is slicker than Hitler’s spin-meister, less notorious in his habits, more soft-spoken, un-girded by Nazis heraldry and regalia and wealthier—much wealthier, one of the secrets of his success. Bin Talal could buy the services of dozens of propagandists like Goebbels and have enough money left in the petty cash drawer to purchase the allegiance of second-raters like John Esposito and Red Ken Livingstone.
Whenever bin Talal arrives in the dar al-harb, Europe’s educational elite takes notice. (The Prince never forgets gifts for the good little boys and girls at Cambridge and Oxford and the lesser institutions of learning) How does $32 million sound? It has a ring to it. It may not be incense and myrrh and it stinks of oil but $32 million is a lot of pounds. It won’t actually be from the Prince, of course, it will be from the Kingdom Foundation. Bin Talal is merely its chairman. The $32 million that will be shared by Cambridge and Edinburgh could go a long way toward alleviating suffering around the world—the purpose of the foundation. So it is said.
But man does not live by charity alone—especially a Saudi—and the $32 million is to be used to develop a “constructive and critical awareness of the role of Islam in the wider society.”
Yeah…sure…but couldn’t they have sent a few bucks to Myanmar? Western Union is open all night. The Saudis were not among the most generous nations in the world when the Tsunami hit Sumatra in 2004. Sure, the Islamic countries pledged a lot of money but most of it went to build mosques. When it comes to charity, the Saudis rank with Ebenezer Scrooge; they have caused more suffering in their own country than they have alleviated elsewhere.
But why toss more money at Cambridge and Edinburgh? If John Bull isn’t aware of the role of Islam in England and wider society by now, it’s because he’s dead from the neck up or he has had his spine removed. Yet the fog in the Twilight Zone continues unabated. The Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for the Study of Islam in the Modern World at Edinburgh will concentrate on promoting understanding of the history of Islamic civilization and of Muslims of Britain.
If only Goebbels and Hitler had thought of that! A few million Reichsmarcks in the right place and Lord Haw Haw would have been Chancellor of Oxford. One does not want to fault Goebbels as a propagandist, but when compared to bin Talal he comes off more like George Costanza selling used cars in a back alley than Rush Limbaugh. Maybe if the Nazis had substituted religion for race. Heinrich Himmler wished that Islam had been Germany’s religion because he feared Christians might not have the stomach for the hard work ahead. He was wrong in 1940—he would not have been wrong in 2008. Modern Europe has little stomach for anything including saving its own skin.
Most disturbing of all is the incredible gullibility displayed by England’s intellectual community and educational aristocracy. Jed Clampett would have seen through bin Talal’s billingsgate from the start—only he would have called it ‘bull.’ Even the aforementioned Costanza would have blinked and Cliff Claven would have started wearing flag pins on both lapels.
What has happened to England? The truth? Churchill and Montgomery are dead and Chamberlain lives. Unfortunately, the Chamberlains have been more fruitful and have multiplied; the Churchills and Montgomerys have apparently died without issue.
Instead of “We shall fight them on the beaches,” we have this priceless comment from Professor Yasir Suleman of Cambridge: “We intend to create a world-class cadre of researchers and build partnerships with other centres and members of the European Muslim community to advance tolerance, mutual understanding and cross-cultural dialogue between Islam and the West.” (Hitler, Himmler and Heydrich joining with Seyss-Inquart, Count Ciano and Quisling to advance tolerance and mutual understanding and a final solution to the Jewish question. Hitler’s cross-cultural dialogue was extremely dangerous to the fellow on the opposite side of the table and so is Islam’s.)
The game plan: Qur’an 9:29 “Fight those who do not believe in Allah or the Last Day, who do not forbid that which has been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, or acknowledge the Religion of Truth (Islam), (even if they are) People of the Book (Christians and Jews), until they pay the Jizya tribute tax in submission, feeling themselves subdued and brought low.”
Czechoslovakia got a better deal from Hitler; Johnny got a better deal from Frankie.
As a young man Winston Churchill traveled extensively in Africa and the Middle East. “How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries,” he said. “A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement, the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property, either as a child, a wife, or a concubine, must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men.” Churchill had seen the devil up close, had caught a whiff of the fire and brimstone that is Islam.
The view from England’s Ivory Tower is quite different. Professor Carole Hillenbrand, head of the department of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at Edinburgh, said the program (Did she mean pogrom?) would have “twin emphases on both the past and the present and how they reinforce and illuminate each other.” Illuminate? Opie Taylor shining a flashlight into a rat’s nest would be more illuminating and accurate. The occupants of England’s Ivory Tower, having stumbled about in the dark for 30 years, are bent on a final betrayal. Better Muslim than dead! How illuminating!
Bin Talal said, “It is paramount for both Islam and the West to reach mutual ground for pro-active dialogue, respect, acceptance and tolerance.”
Pay attention now, Ms. Hillenbrand. The West must learn to respect and accept Islam and agree to pay the Jizya, then, and only then, will it be tolerated. It is written in the Muslim book of scripture: Qur’an 9:28.
Nobel Prize winner V. S. Naipaul said, “There has probably been no imperialism like that of Islam and the Arabs…Islam seeks as an article of faith to erase the past; the believers in the end honour Arabia alone; they have nothing to return to. Islam requires the convert to accept that his land is of no religious or historical importance; its relics were of no account; only the sands of Arabia are sacred.”
That is the only pro-active dialogue Islam accepts. Czechoslovakia got a better deal; Johnny got a better deal; Doctor Faustus got a better deal. England gets Prince Charles and unlimited Hell. Thanks for everything, Mr. and Ms Chamberlain. Rudy Giuliani knew in which direction to point bin Talal.