But Mr. Haider is not just a blast from the past. He is also a product of the present. He's Pat Buchanan and Steve Forbes. A new awareness is being imposed on them from the outside, but it will only have meaning if it emerges from the inside. Indeed, it's hard to believe Austria will ever be a true member of the European Union, or Syria in the club of Middle East peace, without a more honest reckoning with their past and their present.
History has a weight, and lifting it always has a price.
Nobody gets to enter the 21st century for free.