Echoing the rhetoric of many pro-Israel hardliners in the United States, Réalité EU
is a London-based outfit that promotes aggressive European policies toward Iran and other extremist "threats" in
the Middle East. According to the organization: "Réalité EU is a website and e-newsletter
for journalists, leaders, and key analysts that focus on developments in and around the Middle East
which pose a threat to Europe and beyond. Réalité EU is a non-profit organization not
connected to any government. Réalité EU is supported by individuals concerned with the
growing threat of Iran and extremism in Europe and the Middle East." Its website is available
in four languages—German, French, Spanish, and English—and is affiliated with the group International
Media Intelligence Analysis.
Réalité EU gained widespread attention in mid-2007 when it published a "backgrounder" entitled "Ahmadinejad
in His Own Words," a compilation of inflammatory and outrageous statements made by the Iranian
president. Reposted on a number of rightist websites like TownHall.com (which features articles from
conservatives such as William Bennett and Dennis
Prager), the backgrounder cited quotes from Ahmadinejad including: "We don't shy away from
declaring that Islam is ready to rule the world"; "Our revolution's main mission is to pave
the way for the reappearance of the Twelfth Imam, the Mahdi"; "Soon Islam will become the
dominating force in the world, occupying first place in the number of followers amongst all other religions";
and "Is there a craft more beautiful, more sublime, more divine, than the craft of giving yourself
to martyrdom and becoming holy? Do not doubt, Allah will prevail, and Islam will conquer mountain tops
of the entire world."
According to the backgrounder, Réalité EU compiled the quotations to pressure the European
Parliament: "In light of the conference on Iran taking place in the European Parliament on Wednesday
July 4 2007 the following quotes by The Islamic Republic of Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may
be of interest. For further information about Iran's well documented human rights abuses, its role
as a major state sponsor of terrorism, and its defiant stance on the international community's insistence
that the nation suspends its uranium enrichment program, go to www.realite-eu.org."
As of October 2007, the organization listed six "expert sources": Frédéric
Encel, a teacher of international relations at the Institute of Political Studies in Rennes, France;
Claude Moniquet, director of the European Strategic and Intelligence Center and author of a number
of books on Islamic extremism, including Jihad: Secret History and European Networks (2004)
and Jihad and Islamism in Belgium (2005); Matthias Küntzel, a German political scientist;
Khattar Abou Diab, a scholar of Islam at Paris III University and coauthor of The Worldwide Dictionary
of Radical Islam; Arnon Groiss, the deputy director of the Voice of Israel-Arabic Service; and
Simon Barrett, a head of the Réalité EU sister organization International Media Intelligence
Analysis, which according to Barrett's brief biography on the Réalité EU website "provides
journalists with specialised information on Israel, Middle East, and terrorism related issues."
The group's publications during much of 2007 were largely dominated by issues related to Iran, including "Russian-Iranian
Relations" by Barrett, "The Geopolitical Stakes of a Nuclear Iran" by Encel, and "One
Smart European Policy Toward Iran" by Paolo Casaca, a Portuguese Socialist member of the European
Parliament. Réalité EU's backgrounders as of late 2007 had a similar editorial focus,
including "The Chavez-Iran Alliance," "France's Economic Ties with Iran," "Germany's
Economic Ties to Iran," "China and Iran," and "Indo-Iranian Relations."
On May 9, 2007, Réalité EU organized a conference in Vienna called "Who's Fueling
Who?" in response to a planned Austria-Iran natural gas deal. Matthias Küntzel presented
a paper entitled "Has Austria Accepted the Mullah's Bomb?" in which he expressed outrage
over the deal and concern over the consequences. " Austria seems to have fallen prey to the illusion
that a nuclear Iran would have no impact on Europe. But there could be no bigger mistake. An Iran with
nuclear weapons would be a nightmare not only for Israel, but also for Europe itself," Küntzel
writes. "If Iran were to develop nuclear weapons, the whole of the Middle East would go nuclear
too. ..."
"The specific danger presented by the Iranian bomb, however, stems from the unique ideological
atmosphere in which it would come into being: a mixture of death-wish and weapons-grade uranium, of
Holocaust denial and High-Tech, of fantasies of world domination and missile research, of Shiite messianism
and plutonium. There are other dictatorships in the world. But in Iran the fantasy-worlds of anti-Semitism
and a sense of religious mission are combined with technological megalomania and the physics of mass
destruction. Today, we again face a danger that first appeared on the horizon 70 years ago: the danger
of a kind of 'Adolf Hitler' with nuclear weapons" (Küntzel, May 9, 2007).
Also in May 2007, Claude Moniquet presented an analysis to a meeting at the London House of Commons
entitled "Iranian Sponsored Terrorism in Europe." In it, he asked, is there " any real
threat of a wave of terrorist attacks sponsored by Iran, in Europe or in the United States, if a military
operation is decided to solve the problem of the Iranian nuclear program?" The answer, he concluded,
is yes (see Claude Moniquet, "Iranian Sponsored Terrorism in Europe," May 22, 2007) . According
to the Associated Press, Moniquet also said: "'We have serious signals that something is under
preparation in Europe,' Moniquet said, though he did not present any evidence to the meeting. 'Iranian
intelligence is working extremely hard to prepare its people and to prepare actions.' ... Iran appeared
to be preparing to target 'British citizens on the streets of London, just as they kill British soldiers
in the south of Iraq,' Moniquet said" (Associated Press, May 22, 2007).
In October 2007, Réalité EU published a feature analysis from Peter Zimmerman, a professor
of science and security studies at King's College London who previously served as the chief scientist
of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. Titled "Change Tack on Iran," the piece
highlighted the many ways by which Tehran had stifled investigation into its nuclear fuels program,
though it cautioned against abandoning the diplomatic track. Zimmerman concluded: "American hawks
and neocons are reputedly putting pressure on the Bush administration to talk tougher and to plan military
strikes. While the military option must remain on the horizon, it would be an error to make the threat
explicit right now. The advances in Iran's nuclear programme mean that vigorous diplomacy backed by
credible sanctions must aim at removing the completed centrifuges. This will buy some time, and sometimes
delay is equivalent to denial, especially if it allows time for the Islamic Republic to abandon its
nuclear programme and its hostility to its neighbours."
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Contact Information
Réalité EU
PO BOX 55927
London W11 1YS
United Kingdom
Phone: +44 20 7193 5575
E-mail: info@realite-eu.org
Website: http://www.realite-eu.org/
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