It's no wonder the idealistic dreamers in the European Union are calling for a Middle East free of nuclear weapons.
After what appeared to be the first public admission by Israel that it possesses nuclear weapons, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said: "The position of the European Union is very clear. In the long term, we don't want to have the Middle East with weapons of mass destruction."
What that statement suggests is that nuclear weapons are as dangerous in the hands of free, law-abiding, moral nations seeking only to defend their citizens and territory from aggression as they are in the hands of tyrannies who openly threaten the very existence of their neighbors.
This is the same mindset that believes firearms, even in the hands of moral, law-abiding citizens, are inherently evil.
It's an example of what can only be described as a mental illness spreading through the world – international moral relativism.
It's bad enough when politicians within a country, like the U.S., decide the only way to protect its citizens from each other is to disarm them. It is even more dangerous when politicians see the fate of the world dependent on disarming free countries whose very survival hinges on their ability to deter aggression.
The moral relativist looks at this position and says: "But you're making value judgments between Iran and Israel – and that's not right."
To which I would respond: "Israel has possessed a nuclear arsenal and the ability to destroy its enemies for many years. It has never used them. Clearly, it would only use them if it faced annihilation, as some of its leaders feared in 1973 during the Yom Kippur War. Iran, on the other hand, even while trying to convince the world that it is not really building a nuclear arsenal, cannot contain its glee in its near-term ability to destroy the Jewish state – with the president even suggesting he wouldn't mind losing half of his own population to accomplish the goal."
As I have pointed out more than once, Israel has proven it would only use nuclear weapons in a last-resort defense of its population. Yet, Israel's enemies, personified by the suicide bombers who attack it relentlessly, would likely not even hesitate to use nuclear weapons if they ever had the chance.
But in our politically correct, multicultural world today, it is wrong to recognize differences between people – even when they are openly espousing diametrically opposite views and acting in completely different ways.
I don't expect a single moral relativist reading this column to agree with me about this. It's almost a litmus test. If you can't tell the difference between Israel and Iran, you are a moral relativist. If you can't see that Israel, with all its faults, represents a basic sort of decency and civility in the world, while Iran represents the opposite, then congratulations, you're a moral relativist. Or, maybe you're just plain evil – like the leaders of Iran.
Most of the world – or at least its leaders – fall into one of these two categories: moral relativist or evil. That's what makes our world so dangerous. And, increasingly, more Americans are falling into one of these two categories.
These people think they are making the world a safer, more secure place by advocating their foolhardy, tried-and-failed positions and attempting to impose their nebulous and evolving ideas. In fact, they are throwing gasoline on fires all over the globe.
These people also think – or say they think – that talking about our disagreements can almost always lead to resolution. Unfortunately, if you comprehend this simple message today, you need to know that these people may as well live in a parallel universe.
They cannot hear you. They do not have the ability to discern truth from lies. They no longer can discern right from wrong. They can't tell the difference between black and white, up and down, right from left. They cannot distinguish between reality and fantasy.
That is the essence of our times. That is the definition of international moral relativism. That is the world in which we live.
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