BACKLASH - AT 10:27 A.M. ET:  So much for European tolerance and liberalism, as AP reports:

GENEVA (AP) -- Swiss voters approved a move to ban the construction of minarets in a Sunday vote on a right-wing initiative that labeled the mosque towers as symbols of militant Islam, projections by a widely respected polling institute showed.

The projections based on partial returns say Swiss swung from only 37 percent supporting the proposal a week ago to 59 percent in the actual voting.

Claude Longchamp, leader of the widely respected gfs.bern polling institute, said the projection contracted by state-owned DRS television forecasts approval of the initiative by more than half the country's 26 cantons, meaning it will become a constitutional amendment.

And...

The move by the People's Party, the country's largest party in terms of popular support and membership in parliament, is part of a broader European backlash against a growing Muslim population. It has stirred fears of violent reactions in Muslim countries and an economically disastrous boycott by wealthy Muslims who bank, shop and vacation in Switzerland.

Get your watches while you can.

There is indeed a backlash building in Europe.  While it is understandable, given the behavior of some Muslim groups, in the context of European history it could get very ugly.  Despite all the yapping of the chattering classes, Europe down deep is not very welcoming.  The Europeans may love to chide the Americans, but we do multiculturalism far better than they ever did. 

Now that Switzerland has voted, look for similar measures to be proposed in other countries.  With the possibility of a Europe/Muslim clash on the horizon, at least a clash between traditional Europeans and Muslim immigrants, a nuclear-armed Iran, with missiles capable of hitting Paris, takes on an entirely new and chilling meaning.

November 29, 2009