Article published in The Algemeiner, 18 August 2015.

Europe is a “very weak continent lacking the willpower to stand up and confront the evil that Iran represents,” declared the former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, Col. Richard Kemp on Monday.

Speaking to The Algemeiner, Kemp called the nuclear deal struck by world powers including the UK, France and Germany, and Iran, “appeasement,” comparing the situation to 1930s and 1940s Europe, where a series of treaties between world powers ultimately led to the outbreak of World War II.

He said there is a “deafening silence” in Europe and a lack of leadership to stand up to Iran — which he predicted would undoubtedly move to acquire nuclear weapons — and noted an overwhelming “fear of hawkishness” throughout Europe, especially among politicians and military leaders, which Kemp said includes individuals “who should know and understand the realities of the Middle East.”

But European military officials “are in a deluded world,” he continued. “Many of them don’t understand Iran.”

Stating that in Europe “we hear virtually no dissent” to the deal, Kemp claimed there has certainly been political pressure on military officials who are opposed to the July 14 agreement announced in Vienna to remain mum: “The last thing [politicians ] want is influential military leaders speaking out against the deal.”

He said he had spoken “to some generals and senior retired officials, and they’d rather just pretend the problem [posed by Iran] does not exist.”

Kemp even warned that Russia and China, two other world powers who were engaged in the nuclear talks, as well as Iran, “have far greater will power and backbone than any Western country is showing at present.”

“I fear that this kind of appeasement of Iran is going to lead to instability in Asia and the world,” he said.

Kemp also called on European military powers “to recognize the Iranian threat to Israel … We should recognize that Israel is our main ally in the Middle East.”