Neville Chamberlain ominously looked down at us from his larger-than-life portrait above the mantelpiece at the gorgeous London gentlemen’s club last Saturday. chamberlain. For everyone.
Frankly, I was already out of my comfort zone in the elite district of Buckingham Palace. However, I had agreed to attend a gathering of invited leaders from all continents discussing strategies for disciples of the nation.
Since World War II, the free world has always sought leadership from America.
My discomfort has been exacerbated by recent political developments in both Munich and Washington. The US-led international order based on the international rule of law, respect for sovereign borders, and institutions responsible for responsibility was being demolished by the reckless Washington administration. Since World War II, the free world has always sought leadership from America, but the harsh reality now is that the role has abdicated.
The US stance at the 2025 Munich Security Conference eased Chamberlain’s signing the Munich Agreement in the fall of 1938. There is a plan for European domination. The outcome was a tragic war.
Munich in our time is remembered for the surrender of the US president to a dictator with plans to regain the acquisition of Central and Eastern Europe. Where does this betrayal of Western values lead to?
The atmosphere of joy in Moscow contrasts with the surprising mistrust among Kiev and European leaders.
The atmosphere of joy in Moscow contrasts with the surprising mistrust among Kiev and European leaders. Prokremlin bloggers cannot believe the turn of events in which their war crimes president is being rewarded for his massacre invasion and the calm destruction of over a million Russians and Ukrainian life.
The brave and war-tired Ukrainians have all suffered personally, and many have lost loved ones, but have made the country a point of launching a war that insulted (not inferior) injuries by the US president. A brave leader (incredible) to be a dictator who denounces them, blames them.
Responsible perspective?
Two days later (February 17-19), heartfelt, I left the pupil-making event and headed across London to the next event. A friend of politicians was urging me to attend the Alliance of Responsible Citizenship (ARC) along with Jordan Peterson, countless other speakers and 4,000 international attendees.
Promising a “better story,” Congress was an impressively organized, highly resourced and high-tech event with many ted talk-type presentations, panels, exhibitions and subsidiaries events.
The list of speakers told me that my comfort zone would be invading more. But I wanted to hear about Os Guinness, Ayaan Hirshi Ali, Niall Ferguson and more. It was my first exposure to Peterson, a Canadian psychologist with a global follower who described himself as a classic liberal and traditionalist.
I have rejected self-sacrifice on behalf of others, such as family, community, and nation, as a warm revelation of postmodern liberalism, as a hedonistic pursuit of pleasure and self-realization. Furthermore, his assertion that history has a story, and that Western society was shaped by biblical stories, resonated strongly with me, at the expense of the common good of its mind.
OS Guinness’s “Crystal Clear Comments Panel” sets the tone of many of the meetings facing “civilized moments” that Western society is either renewed, lost or exchanged. In a subsequent lecture, OS challenged the spell-envelope audience to go beyond lip service to a Jewish and Christian legacy of personal commitment to God. Renewal of faith is essential, he argued about meaning, belonging, and purpose in life.
I was not prepared for the onslaught of speakers who praised the conservative American way.
I should have noticed that the content of the programme reflected the UK and US majority of participants. But I am against the onslaught of speakers who praise the conservative American way, the new president, and what is called raw capitalism and “socialism” (communism and clumsy confusion). I wasn’t ready.
Linked in live video, U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson spoke about the “pendulum from left to center” (which redefines the center). of his boss.
Alternative reality
Like Munich last week, America was once again on the central stage. Ukraine was not mentioned. While we met at London’s huge Excel Centre, we were cocoed from the tragic reality unfolding on the world stage. With the notable exception of New York Times writer David Brooks. His warning that the current president’s destruction could cause irreplaceable damage with some toes.
I wanted Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who recently converted to Christianity, to bring a sane perspective to the crisis and unfolding. But my heart sank when she began defending nationalism, in contrast to multinational systems such as the United Nations and the European Union. She argued that nationalism did not start a war and sadly reflected the same claims as far-right politicians.
“Dear Ayaan,” “You can’t see that as nationalism is happening now in Saudi Arabia stories, little men dominate the little men? The US-led initiative is, justice, Have you already forgotten the great lessons of World War II to set an international order based on the values of peace, the rule of law, and solidarity, and prevent such wars? From what happened again, you Don’t you think nationalism ignores common interests?
There are more mature ways than competition, independence, and self-assertion.
There are more mature ways than competition, independence, and self-assertion. And it is a creative vision of collaboration, interdependence and mutuality, that is, European integration.
And yes, there’s a better story. Despite being static, the snippet was able to listen to this week. But it is not the story of white, Anglo-American, conservative, capitalist, or Christian nationalists trying to return the clock to a totalitarian Christian world.
Jesus also stomped the toes of his then nationalist toes when he told that better story, a story about a good Samaritan. Today, he will probably shock us by talking about good Palestinian Muslims. Jesus himself summarises the law of twin commands in order to love God and his neighbor. Palestinians, whether Mexicans, Canadians, Ukrainians, Russians, Israeli.
That’s a better story.
Jeff Fountain and his wife Romkie are initiators of the Schumann European Studies Center. They moved to Amsterdam in December 2017, where they lived in the Dutch countryside for over 40 years before working at the Ywam Heidebeek Training Centre. Romkje was the founder of Ywam in the Netherlands and chaired the national committee until 2013. Jeff was Director of YWAM Europe for 20 years until 2009. Jeff chaired the annual hopes for Europe’s roundtables until 2015, and Romkie until recently served as the female chair of the Leadership Network. Jeff is the author of Living of Hope, deeply rooted titles and other titles, and writes Weekly Word, a weekly column on issues relating to Europe.
Originally published by Word every week. It was reissued with permission.
