Having had his fill of liberal backstabbing, America’s UN Ambassador John Bolton is stepping down. Though President Bush had vowed to fight for his position, Bolton decided that he wants no more of it. Who can blame him?

 

Since he was initially nominated, Democrats worked tirelessly to smear his reputation and otherwise characterize him as wholly unfit to hold the post of UN Ambassador. So to them, this constitutes a victory. And in their bizarre world, where causes and effects often remain unconnected in perpetuity no matter how obvious they might be, liberals will likely cling to their smug assessment of the situation even as the nation suffers from it. Among liberal political hacks, it is a good story, so they will stick to it.

 

Not surprisingly, their “PR” spin machines immediately jumped on the occasion of Bolton’s resignation as an opportunity to advance their twisted liberal concepts of international relations. The New York Times claims that his departure will improve America’s international relations. Happiness and approval of Bolton’s departure appears to be nearly universal, at least among America’s foreign enemies and their toadies on the left.

 

Elsewhere, ominous signs continue to appear, just as they did throughout the 1990’s. And just as predictable is the danger they currently represent, not only to America, but also to Europe and all of the civilized world. Remaining intentionally ignorant of them will hardly make them go away, and in fact will only increase their impact when the inevitable confrontation comes.

 

As a result of America’s initially aggressive and resolved response to 9-11, a window of opportunity was opened, by which the forces of Islamic fanaticism could have been driven into remission. But as a result of growing indecisiveness and self-doubt in Western nations, the time of that opportunity is passing. The once-scattered Islamists are regrouping. Something far worse lies ahead.

 

At virtually the same time of Bolton’s resignation, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned the Europeans to leave his nuclear programs alone. The significance of his warning cannot be overstated.

 

He already knows that the European Continent does not possess the collective spine to take any legitimate action to stop him. Certainly, he has no reason to fear Europe’s most strenuous reprisal, which would likely be some deliberately insignificant and wholly symbolic effort at “sanctions.” So to what is he responding? In essence, he is forbidding the mere verbal criticism.

 

In other words, Ahmadinejad not only intends to press forward in his quest to build a bomb, he demands to be allowed to do so free from criticism of any kind. Like the rioting Muslims who called for the death of the Pope after he made reference to their history of violence (no irony there), Ahmadinejad insists not only on the right to build nuclear weapons, but with immunity from any questions of his motives or the threat he might represent, once armed.

 

Islamists can do what they will, in the name of their “peaceful religion,” and the West dare not even verbally protest against them. It may take a few violent demonstrations or car bombings, but ultimately, Europe will ensure that the Islamists get their way.

 

In America, the diligence of the leftists is similarly paying off, albeit at a slower pace. Though the Islamists have, since 9-11, been thwarted in their efforts to conduct another frontal attack, their insidious surrogates have relentlessly conducted a “stealth war,” eventually reaping perhaps even greater success.

 

At a time when Islamic factions are maiming and killing with abominable regularity in Iraq and throughout the world, the Washington D.C. based “Council on American-Islamic Relations” (CAIR) has found something to be really concerned about. It seems that radio talk show host Dennis Prager took umbrage with the possibility that newly elected Minnesota Democrat Keith Ellison, a Muslim, plans to take his oath of office on the Koran.

 

Wanton slaughter of innocents is one thing, but such an atrocious comment by the likes of Prager is clearly too much. CAIR, whose membership could not muster much enthusiasm over the past five years to vigorously condemn rampant violence from the Islamists, now demands that Prager be removed from the board of the U.S. Holocaust Museum. Amazingly, CAIR makes this assertion under the banner of “religious tolerance.”

 

From CAIR’s perspective, individuals such as Prager who would stand in the path of Islam’s continuing encroachment on America must be immediately silenced. The cinch grows ever tighter with the passage of time.

 

Admittedly, “political correctness” and “diversity” have wreaked havoc on the bedrock of the American culture, leaving an enormous moral and spiritual void in its place. So it should not be surprising to see the advocates of an “Islamic America” rushing in to fill that void. But the ferocity and brazenness with which they are doing so, and the near total lack of opposition to them, ought to be unsettling to any who hope for the future of America as the “Land of the Free.”

 

Nations whose citizenry can be easily put to flight over such an issue as this will be hard pressed to muster the necessary fortitude to stave off a madman who seeks to wield the power of a nuclear bomb.

 

This is not a single faceted attack, and cannot be successfully dealt with as such. On numerous fronts, the plans of the Islamists continue to advance while Western Culture ponders nothing less than a full retreat.