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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."

Please note: IPS Right Web neither represents nor endorses any of the individuals or groups profiled on this site.