Vi må ikke komme bag ud med Sappho – det går da virkelig ikke:
Islam tvang ham ind i politik
18. juni 2012 – Interview af Sapphos udsendte
Selvom England er et af de europæiske lande, der er mest præget af masseindvandring, har landet først for nylig fået et islamkritisk parti. Sappho har mødt lederen af det nystiftede British Freedom Party, Paul Weston.
Bury Park er islams land, siger EDL-leder Tommy Robinson. Han tager Sapphos udsendte med på en køretur i en engelsk by præget af moskeer, burkaer og mænd i kjortler.
Tiderne er skiftet: Når den røde regering følger samme udvisningspolitik som den borgerlige, kan “de gode” pludselig ikke bruge de stakkels asylansøgere til noget.
Efter at den langelandske sognepræst Helle Frimann Hansen i Sappho offentliggjorde sit åbne brev om muslimers behandling af kristne konvertitter på et lokalt asylcenter, forsøger kommunen at få hende til at klappe i. [...]
Professor Bent Jensens med spænding ventede værk om Danmark under Den Kolde Krig er på trapperne, men forfatteren har fået forbud mod at bringe mange af de mest interessante oplysninger, bl.a. om Danmarks måske farligste Sovjet-spion.
Efter at Gud er erklæret død, er vi ikke blevet irreligiøse. Vi er bare begyndt at tro på andre religioner båret af dogmer, der er langt mere tyranniske end Bibelens Gud, skriver Melanie Phillips.
Mere HER i Sappho. Hele artiklen kan læses i Standpoint Magazine:
Apologists for Islamic persecution of Christians regularly argue that the animosity is not driven by religion, but rather a “sectarian” divide, by any number of “indigenous” factors—poverty, intertribal conflicts, political machinations, etc.
Mere HER i Sappho. Kan også læses her hos Middle East Forum.
Muslimer nedslagter konvertitter til kristendommen i Tunesien
04. juni 2012 – Internationalt af Raymond Ibrahim
Liberal talk show host Tawfiq Okasha recently appeared on “Egypt Today” airing a video of Muslims slicing a young man’s head off for the crime of apostasy, in this case, the crime of converting to Christianity and refusing to renounce it. The video—be warned, it is immensely graphic—is below (the actual execution appears from minute 1:13-4:00). For those who prefer not to view it, a summary follows:
Ostensibly dealing with a building, a recent report demonstrates how Turkey’s populace—once deemed the most secular and liberal in the Muslim world—is reverting to its Islamic heritage, complete with animosity for the infidel West and dreams of Islam’s glory days of jihad and conquest.
Mere HER i Sappho. Middle East Forum her. Følg med i de løbende opdateringer i:
Et lidt ældre interview – om det arabiske forår. Der findes åbenbart kun dette uddrag:
Dan Diker interviews Prof. Bernard Lewis on the Arab uprising in the Middle East, 30 March 2011
Interessant artikel:
The Revered and Reviled Bernard Lewis
A Retrospective Of The Scholar Who Provided The Intellectual Ammunition For The Iraq War
Daphna Berman – September/October 2011
Bernard Lewis has just moved to a small apartment in the manicured suburbs on Philadelphia’s Main Line. At 95, it was time for the man the Encyclopedia of Historians and Historical Writing calls the “most influential postwar historian of Islam and the Middle East” to leave Princeton—his home for more than 35 years—for a senior living facility known for attracting retired academics.
“I’m getting old, I’m no longer sure about dates,” he tells me in his polished British accent, though this moment of self-deprecation is hardly convincing: Our conversation reflects his uncanny ability to recollect dates, time lines and facts—both from his lifetime and several centuries before. As we talk, Lewis recalls the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699 as easily as the Turkish elections of 1950. He also regales me with stories, though it is impossible to predict which millennium they will date to. One minute, it’s the Marx Brothers skits he shared with the Shah of Iran in the days before the revolution, the next, an eighth century Arabian joke about a sinful woman praying to Allah for mercy before she dies. And he speaks with eloquence, his ideas organized into complete paragraphs.
Mere HER i Moment Magazine. Man kan læse et uddrag af Lewis’ nye bog hos NPR:
Der var pludselig adgang til denne artikel fra februar. Den har ellers været låst inde. Opdatering – nu er der ikke adgang længere. Øv:
It is time to banish wishful thinking about Islamism
By Ayaan Hirsi Ali – February 8, 2012
A year ago many western commentators were celebrating an Arab spring. The internet generation personified by Wael Ghonim, the Google marketing executive, would take over power from military dictators and absolute monarchs in democratic elections. Those of us who warned that political Islam would be the principal beneficiary of elections in north Africa and the Middle East were dismissed as scaremongers.
Ever since 9/11, opinions in the west have been sharply divided on the popularity and legitimacy of political Islam. A minority – and I am one of them – argued that Islamism as a political doctrine was held by the mainstream in most of the House of Islam and particularly among Arabs; that violence was inherent in Islamist theory; and that if Islamists won state power they would not deliver prosperity.
Barnabas Fund udsender løbende bulletiner om forfølgelse af kristne i Syrien, mange tusind er flygtet. Der meldes konstant om dræbte, – mindst 10.000 mennesker er omkommet siden marts 2011, siger FN ifølge BBC. Bilbomber, mortergranater, raketter og anden saliggørende islamisk fred. Våben til regimet strømmer ind bla. fra Iran og Rusland, skriver The New York Times. USA hjælper derimod oprørerne med materiel, kan man læse i Time Magazine. Og Syrien har i forvejen verdens største arsenal af kemiske våben, fortæller The Washington Times. The National Review Online beretter, at det ikke var Assad-regimet, der stod bag den grusomme massakre i Houla og Homs. Der var derimod sunnimuslimske oprørere, der gjorde det. Ofrene var shiamuslimer, alawier og kristne. Borgerkrig i fuld skala, mener højtstående kilder i FNs fredsbevarende styrker - Herve Ladsous, the U.N.’s peacekeeping chief - i et interview i New Zealand’s Rhema Radio. Hizbollah, Al Qaeda, Det Muslimske Broderskab med flere, – de er der allesammen. Der kan blive brug for mange hvide rosiner til de fromme jihadister fra Syrien, men det siger Fogh Rasmussen ikke noget om. Alex Thomson fra Channel 4 har derimod interessante oplysninger:
Syrian Rebels tried to get Alex Thomson Channel 4 Reporter killed to boost anti-Assad Propaganda
From New Zealand’s Rhema Radio: The United Nations says Syria is now involved in all-out civil war, after their own UN Monitors were shot at by rebel forces. As we’ve heard, there are terrible tales of children being used as human shields, tortured and killed and increasingly, calls for other nations to take some sort of action. Now Russia’s giving the Syrian regime attack helicopters — and it’s clear the rebel forces are also being armed from somewhere.
Daniel Pipes is president of the Middle East Forum and a fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University, and he shares on the issue.
NATO: Anders Fogh Rasmussen & Annette Young – Syria similar to Bosnia – June 13, 2012
France 24: A growing number of people are starting to compare Syria to the situation the world faced with Bosnia during the mid 1990s. Among them is NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who talks to Annette Young about the lessons that should have been learnt from the Balkans.
Opdatering – Mange af Pipes’ artikler oversættes til dansk. Et par af de nyeste:
SCO. Det er ikke kun en cykel fra Smidt & Co, – det er også en asiatisk interesseorganisation. Kaplan følger med i, hvad det er for en fisk og hvad de laver. Det gør jeg også engang imellem – fra 8. juni 2012:
Robert D. Kaplan on the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (Agenda)
Stratfor Chief Geopolitical Analyst Robert D. Kaplan looks at the significance of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which is seeking to spread its influence as far as Turkey.
En ret nørdet diskussion om krigsstrategi & taktik - faktisk ikke overdrevent interessant. Fra 8 juni 2012:
A Conversation on Counterinsurgency as a Strategy with George Friedman and Robert D. Kaplan
Stratfor CEO George Friedman and Chief Geopolitical Analyst Robert Kaplan debate the viability of counterinsurgency as a military strategy.
Det er længe siden, vi har set noget til Michael Rubin her på bloggen. Det retter vi lige op på:
Michael Rubin: Developments in Turkey — Implications for the US
Michael Rubin is Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute; Senior Lecturer, Naval Postgraduate School.
He spoke to the Center for Security Policy’s National Security Group Lunch on Capitol Hill regarding the latest geopolitical developments in Turkey and the implications for United States policy.
Og et interview:
The Future of terror: Michael Rubin interview with Intersec Magazine
April 25, 2012 – Robert de la Poer
As al-Qaeda’s influence grows, Dr. Michael Rubin tells Robert de la Poer that the Western countries must co-operate and continue to take the lead in the fight against Jihadist terrorists.
RP: Do you think there has been enough international co-ordination of law enforcement and intelligence efforts to attack the logistics and financing arms of Jihadist terrorist networks since 9/11? Who should be taking the lead in this fight?
MR: If there is one success story since 9/11, it has been the efforts to combat terror finance. If military action is sometimes akin to conducting surgery with an axe, efforts to dry up sources of funding are like wielding a scalpel.
Mere HER hos AEI. Intersec her. Ytringsfrihed i Tyrkiet? Nej da:
Turkish pianist charged with insulting Muslim values
June 01, 2012
An internationally acclaimed Turkish classical pianist is to stand trial on charges of insulting Muslim religious values in comments posted on Twitter, an Istanbul court ruled on Friday.
Fazil Say has performed with the New York Philharmonic, Berliner Symphoniker, Israel Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France and Tokyo Symphony Orchetra and has served as a cultural ambassador to the European Union.
Opdatering 12. juni 2012: Michael Rubin fortæller i Commentary Magazine, at Tyrkerne har arresteret en borgmester og 2 embedsmænd, fordi de havde klikket “Like” på Facebook. Og det skal man ikke gøre med artikler, regimet ikke kan lide:
Vi skal også lige høre, hvad Barry Rubin siger om præsident Obama:
What to Say When You’re Handed the Obama-Is-Good-for-Israel Talking Points
June 1, 2012 – by Barry Rubin
Many Americans, and particularly Jews, are starting to receive mailings encouraging them to vote for President Barack Obama or donate to his reelection campaign of by arguing that he is pro-Israel. Several readers have asked me to provide them with responses. Here is a brief answer.
These emails and mailings, though designed to look as if they were written by concerned individuals, clearly draw their texts from talking points posted on the Obama reelection site. The arguments are very thin and selective but are presented as if they represent the totality of Obama policy.
Guest: Geert Wilders, author of, “Marked for Death: Islam’s War Against the West and Me.”
Sandheden om hvad der udløste det hollandske valg den 15. september 2012, er omsider kommet frem. Statsminister, Mark Rutte, angreb Geert Wilders på det groveste - midt under budgetforhandlingerne - og sagde, at han ville ødelægge Frihedspartiet, som Wilders er formand for. Derfor udvandrede Wilders fra forhandlingerne og opsagde aftalerne om at fungere som støtteparti. Wilders’ modstand imod alt for drastiske besparelser på statens budgetter har ellers hidtil fået hele skylden. Nis News skrev den 15. maj 2012:
Premier Mark Rutte’s reputation as the good-humoured gentleman has been dented now that it has emerged that he made a fierce attack behind the scenes on Party for Freedom (PVV) leader Geert Wilders.
Rutte was confronted on TV programme Pauw&Witteman last Friday evening with a rumour that he threatened to “decimate” the PVV if Wilders did not sign up to an accord for 14 billion euros in budget cutbacks for 2013. Rutte confirmed that he “may have said something like this”.
Wilders said Saturday evening on TV programme EenVandaag that Rutte’s words had been even stronger. According to the PVV leader, the premier told him “I will break that little party of yours down to the last seat.”
“I cannot explain to anyone that these parties signed a blank cheque of 40 billion euros for Greece and perhaps for Spain, Italy and other countries while we demand 12 billion euros from the Dutch citizens,” Wilders told TV station RTL 7.
Og der er mere uenighed:
Hvis Holland skal tilslutte sig EUs stabilitetspagt, European Stability Mechanism, ESM, skal vælgerne spørges først. Det siger Geert Wilders, der nu anlægger sag ved de hollandske domstole. Den afgående regering har ikke handlet lovligt ved at underskrive aftalen, som i følge Wilders er suverænitetsafgivelse. Det skriver flere kilder, blandt andre Expatica.
Opdatering 5. juni 2012: Wilders tabte retssagen, skriver flere kilder blandt andre The Irish Times og Expatica. Wilders overvejer at anke sagen, skriver Reuters.
Jeg har lavet et lille overblik over noget af Wilders rolle i hollandsk politik det sidste halve år:
Bill Gates, Desmond Tutu og Bob Geldof følte sig kaldet til at blande sig i den politiske debat i april. De synes ikke om Wilders Frihedspartis (PVV) forslag om at skære i bistandshjælpen til udviklingslande. Det er som bekendt EU, der har krævet voldsomme stramninger i det offentliges udgifter. Tutu og Geldof har haft læserbreve i hollandske aviser og Bill Gates har ringet til en tv-kanal, skriver Radio Netherlands Worldwide. Avisen Volkskrant modtog også en opringning, fortæller DutchNews. Gates har desuden inviteret Wilders på besøg i Afrika for at se på udviklingsprojekter, fortæller The Irish Times.
I april 2012 viste en Klout-undersøgelse, at Geert Wilders ligger på top 10 over de mest indflydelsesrige hollændere på Twitter.
Wilders protesterede over den tyrkiske islamist og præsident Abdullah Güls tre dage lange besøg i Holland. Af en eller anden urimelig grund har hollænderne valgt at markere 400 året for diplomatiske forbindelser mellem de to lande. Fra Expatica den 18. april 2012:
“The Turkish president described Mr Wilders as an Islamophobe in an interview with popular daily De Telegraaf. He said the Freedom Party leader expressed extremist views that fostered radicalism.”
Og Wilders svarede via Twitter – fra armenske Panorama:
“Islamist Gul, who persecutes the Christians, attacks the Kurds and is in friendly relations with Hamas, complaint of intolerance. Typical Turkish humor.”
“Turkey has a number of shortcomings – imprisonment of journalists covering criticism, denial of Armenian Genocide, pressure against national minorities. However, due to Kemal Ataturk’s advanced visions Turkey managed to become a strategic ally of the West and shared military and diplomatic cooperation with Israel for so long.”
Holland bør droppe euroen og reintroducere hollandske gylden, synes Wilders, der i marts måned plæderede for en folkeafstemning, fremgår det af Bloomberg. En analyse lavet af det britiske Lombard Street Research viser, at den hollandske økonomi er alvorligt hæmmet af euro-medlemsskabet, fortæller The Independent.
Wilders Frihedsparti har oprettet en hjemmeside og en hotline, hvor hollændere kan indrapportere de problemer, de oplever med østarbejdere, skriver Deutsche Welle. Hjemmesiden hedder “Meldpunt Midden en Oost Europeanen“. EU, Polen, Bulgarien, Rumænien, Ungarn, Tjekkiet, Slovakiet, Slovenien, Estland, Letland, Lithauen, - har klaget over denne “hadetale”. Tilsidst blev den hollandske regering presset til også at lægge afstand til initiativet. Som man kan regne ud, handler det først og fremmest om østeuropæernes ofte meget kriminelle adfærd. Wilders vil heller ikke have Bulgarien og Rumænien med i Schengen. Midt i februar havde PVVs site mere end 40.000 kommentarer. Da havde det kun været åbent i en uge. Wilders har da også svaret kritikerne med et “Mind your own business”, skriver The Global Post. EU-Kommissionens danske cheftalskvinde, Pia Ahrenkilde-Hansen, udtalte i følge NYDailyNews, at hjemmesiden muligvis kunne være et brud på EUs hade-tale-love. Jojo.
I januar foreslog Wilders, at den hollandske regering undskylde deportationen af landets jøder under anden verdenskrig. Mere end 100.000 jøder blev deporteret til dødslejre i Tyskland og Polen. Den hollandske stat solgte de ejendomme, de myrdede jøder var tvunget til at forlade, skriver World of Judaica. I dag bor der kun 30.000 jøder i Holland. Mark Ruttes regering har svaret, at de vil overveje forslaget. Der er til dato ikke kommet noget svar på Wilders anmodning.
Den hollandske regering bør arbejde på at få Tyrkiet ud af Nato, mener Wilders’ Frihedsparti i følge The Jerusalem Post, som skrev om det allerede i december 2011.
Den egyptiske regering protesterede allerede i november 2011 over Geert Wilders nye bog, skriver Wilders på sin blog. Egypterne anklagede Wilders for at bagvaske islam og den hollandske ambassadør i Egypten blev kaldt i samråd i det Egyptiske udenrigsministerium. Ingen kan imidlertid have læst sig til den antagelse, – bogen er som bekendt først udkommet for få uger siden.
Der ligger et ret godt interview med Geert Wilders hos The Daily Caller. Jeg har linket til det en gang før og nu gør jeg det igen:
Apparently Christopher Dickey, who for many years had a photograph of Yasir Arafat hanging on his Newsweek office wall in Paris, thinks that “someone could get hurt” if Geert Wilders continues to say what, for the well-informed, is obvious: that what is in Qur’an, Hadith, and Sira, if taken to heart, makes every Believer a menace, in posse and, whenever the spirit moves him, in esse, to all non-Muslims. Apparently Christopher Dickey has not noticed the 2.5 million black African Christians killed in the southern Sudan by northern Muslims, never noticed what happened to the Igbo and other Christians before, during, and after the Biafra War, has not noticed what has been happening to Christians in Iraq and in Pakistan and in Indonesia [...]
Mere HER i The New English Review. Fitzgerald kommenterer på denne ignorante artikel i The Daily Beast:
Lewis er ikke helt nem at interviewe, men audioen er nu ganske interessant alligevel:
At 96, Historian Lewis Reflects On ‘A Century’
May 15, 2012
Over his long academic career, Bernard Lewis has arguably become the world’s greatest historian of the Middle East. Now, at 96, Lewis turns his attention inward in a memoir that looks back on his life, work and legacy.
The linguist and scholar’s career began before World War II, and in a new memoir he covers more than a few sensitive areas, from race and slavery in Islam, to the clash of civilizations and his long argument with scholar Edward Said, to his role as an adviser to former Vice President Dick Cheney.
NPR’s Neal Conan talks with Lewis about his new book, Notes on a Century.
Startes HER - åbner Windows Media Player. Kan desuden høres hos NPR her, hvor man også finder en udskrift. Boise State Public Radio her. Varighed ½ time.
Dametur - Frank Gaffney indleder. Fra 10. maj 2012:
End the Shariah War on Women
Og den meget lange følgetekst – Clare Lopez dukkede aldrig op:
This Thursday, May 10th, at 10:00 a.m. in the Bloomberg Room of the National Press Club, the Center for Security Policy launches a national public education campaign to ask America’s leaders to end the real ‘war on women’ — the Shariah War On Women. (http://www.theshariahwaronwomen.org)
Shariah law oppresses women’s liberties and human rights, denying them their unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness:
* Life: Shariah destroys women’s lives through honor killings, physical abuse, female genital mutilation, and rape. This occurs not only to Muslim women but also to Christian and secular women through acts of kidnapping, imprisonment and murder.
* Liberty: Shariah crushes women’s liberty through censoring free speech, freedom of religion and freedom of association.
* Pursuit of Happiness: Shariah punishes women’s pursuit of happiness by denying equal rights and freedom in marriage, divorce, child custody, education and employment
A panel discussion, moderated by Center President Frank J. Gaffney, Jr. and featuring several prominent civil liberties and human rights activists, will launch the national campaign to end the Shariah War On Women. Panelists will include:
Nonie Darwish: Ms. Darwish is an American human rights activist, writer, public speaker as well as founder and Director of Former Muslims United and founder of Arabs For Israel. She is the author of a new book titled The Devil We Don’t Know: The Dark Side of Revolutions in the Middle East. She is also the author of Now they Call Me Infidel; Why I Renounced Jihad for America, Israel and the War on Terror and Cruel And Usual Punishment: The Terrifying Global Implications of Islamic Law. She speaks frequently at college campuses, religious institutions and civic association meetings. She is currently a Senior Fellow with the Center for Security Policy.
Cynthia Farahat: Ms. Farahat is an Egyptian political activist, writer and researcher. In December 2011, Ms. Farahat testified before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission in the US House of Representatives on the roots of the persecution of the Coptic Christian minority in her native Egypt. In 2008-2009, she was program coordinator and program officer at the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty in Cairo, a multi-national free market think tank. She co-founded the Liberal Egyptian Party (2006-2008) and served as a member of its political committee. She is a fellow at the Middle East Forum and the Center for Security Policy and works with the Coptic Solidarity organization.
Clare Lopez: Ms. Lopez is a strategic policy and intelligence expert with a focus on Middle East, homeland security, national defense, and counterterrorism issues. Lopez began her career as an operations officer with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), serving domestically and abroad for 20 years in a variety of assignments, acquiring extensive expertise in counterintelligence, counternarcotics, and counterproliferation issues with a career regional focus on the former Soviet Union, Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans. Ms. Lopez is a regular contributor to print and broadcast media on subjects related to Iran and the Middle East and the co-author of two published books on Iran. She is the author of an acclaimed paper for the Center for Security Policy, The Rise of the Iran Lobby, where she serves as a Senior Fellow.
Karen Lugo: Karen Lugo is the founder of The Libertas-West Project and in this capacity she responded to a request from French jurists to submit a brief to the Conseil d’Etat on the legal grounds for banning the burqa. Karen is also Co-Director of the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence. In this role, she directs the Center’s litigation in support of constitutional issues. She has submitted amicus briefs to the US Supreme Court on such issues as Healthcare Reform, Arizona’s Border Security, Gay Marriage, The Ten Commandments, Christian Clubs on University Campuses, and Material Support to Terrorists. She is a visiting professor at Chapman Law School and co-teaches the advanced Constitutional Law Clinic. Karen is president of the Orange County Federalist Society lawyer chapter and sits on the Federalist Society International Law Executive Committee. She is also on the board of advisors for Trinity Law School in Orange County, CA and an advisor to UK Baroness Caroline Cox’s HART US. Karen is a regular guest on the Orange County PBS local issues debate program, Inside OC, and she is a frequent contributor to RedCounty.com, FlashReport, and contributing editor to Family Security Matters. She has been interviewed by dozens of radio hosts on the matter of sharia law. Ms. Lugo is an appointee to the California Advisory Committee to the US Commission on Civil Rights.
Opdatering – vi skal lige have denne med. Ikke mindre end 100.000 piger og kvinder i England har fået skåret kønsorganerne af. Åbenbart fra 9. maj 2012:
Fred Grandy on horrors of the Shariah War on Women
Center Executive Vice President Fred Grandy joined the Jeff Katz radio show for his weekly appearance. This week Cong. Grandy and “Mrs. Fred” covered the disturbing trend of female genital mutilation in the Western world and the Shariah War on Women.
Bernard Lewis – årgang 1916 – har skrevet en ny bog. Lewis ser tilbage på det århundrede, der gik. Spengler anmelder:
Bernard Lewis’ Stubborn Hope
In Notes on a Century, the historian is still optimistic about a ‘great civilization’ in the Muslim world
By David P. Goldman | May 9, 2012
Bernard Lewis beckons to us as if from the mists of legend. A poet-scholar, linguist, observer and sometime participant in the great events of the Middle East for seven decades, the London-born scholar belongs more to the world of T.E. Lawrence than to ours. At 95, his prose is translucent and his recollection luminous.
But Notes on a Century—his personal and professional memoir—makes for sad reading, for two reasons. The first is that we will not find another like Bernard Lewis; it is a valedictory essay not just for a remarkable man but for an epoch. No university today could train a poet capable of extracting the red thread of history from the obscure orthography of official archives, or a historian-diplomat who knows the songs of a dozen peoples in their own dialects. Part of the reason is ideological. The post-colonial-studies movement typified by the late Edward Said has ruined a field that once was called “Orientalism”—meaning simply a specialty in Near Eastern philology rather than Greek and Roman. Saudi and other Gulf State funding of Middle East studies programs, meanwhile, has made a critical stance toward Muslim culture an academic career-killer. Even without the ideological divide, though, our culture has grown too brittle to nurture another mind of Lewis’ depth.
Prof. Bernard Lewis has just published a memoir which is as much a valedictory statement of his views as a reminiscence about a remarkable life; I review it today at the Jewish webzine The Tablet. Lewis has of course been denounced from the left (by the sulfurous Edward Said) as an “orientalist,” which used to mean scholar of Semitic languages but now means “neo-colonialist.” That is an absurd charge by an incompetent and mendacious scholar, but it ruined Middle Eastern studies in the politically correct (and Arab-funded) world of academia. From the right, he has been denounced as an “Arab apologist” by Pamela Geller and as a “Pied Piper of Islamic Confusion” by Andrew Bostom.
One should be cautious about attacking Prof. Lewis, whose analysis of Muslim rage did more to galvanize Western support for the idea of a war on terror than any other single source, and who drew more opprobrium from the academic left than any other personality. His optimism about Islamic democracy ultimately was misplaced, in my view, but should be understood in context. As I wrote in Tablet:
Bernard Lewis left Princeton University in 1986, forced out at the then-mandatory retirement age of 70. At his farewell party, Charles Issawi, who was also retiring from the department of Near Eastern studies, delivered some remarks. “There are five ages of professors,” he said, “tireless, tiring, tiresome, tired, and retired; but for people like Bernard and me, retirement means a new set of tires and full speed ahead.”
Issawi was right: Lewis isn’t the retiring type. He has spent the years since then producing 16 books and countless articles, carried on his decades-long spat with Edward Said over the direction of scholarship on the Middle East, helped found a learned society to challenge “intellectual conformism” in the Middle East Studies Association, coined the idea of a “clash of civilizations,” became an informal adviser to the George W. Bush administration, and according to some observers, provided the intellectual firepower for the war in Iraq. Oh, and not least: At the age of 80, Lewis fell in love again.
Mere HER i The Chronicle of Higher Education. Det næste interview er i pdf-form:
Interview with Bernard Lewis
Winter 2012
In this exclusive interview with TPQ, Bernard Lewis attributes Turkey’s historical progress to the practice of self-critique and to the choice of women’s empowerment. These are also the qualities, if maintained and developed, that will ensure a bright future for Turkey, he states. Indicating that in Turkey “at the moment, the movement seems to be backwards rather than forward,” Lewis points out that Turks currently face a choice. About Turkey’s role in the Middle East, Lewis reflects skepticism but also hope, relaying the message that Turkey can indeed play a leading role in the Middle East but whether this will strengthen Turkey in the global arena or not depends on how Turkey uses this influence, to what end, and in what direction. Decisions made today, in areas such as to enable frank and critical discussion, to innovate, and to provide women with the full range of freedom will determine how the future of Turkey and of the region at large is shaped.
Her handler det om Israel, islam og muslimsk jødehad. Undervejs udvandrer en flok – især muslimske - studerende. Fra 12. marts 2012:
David Horowitz @ UNC-Chapel Hill March 2012
David Horowitz’s speech “Why Israel is the Victim and Why There is No Peace in the Middle East,” presented by the David Horowitz Freedom Center, Christians United for Israel, and Committee for a Better Carolina.
Campus Paper Won‘t Print Horowitz Response to ’Anti-Muslim Bigot’ Charge
March 15, 2012 by Mytheos Holt
When David Horowitz, famed pro-Israel and anti-radical Islam activist, spoke at the University of North Carolina, he received a famously chilly reception from the students, including one whose father has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. But UNC wasn’t done with Horowitz – he was also hammered by no less than three people in the campus paper, the Daily Tar Heel for alleged anti-Muslim feelings.
Horowitz isn’t taking it lying down. In a letter originally sent to (and apparently rejected by) the Daily Tar Heel, obtained exclusively by the Blaze, Horowitz throws down the gauntlet for his critics and challenges them on the idea that speaking out against radical Islam necessarily makes one a bigot:
Se brevet HER i The Blaze. Se eventuelt også denne i The Blaze:
Co-præsidenten her aner ikke, hvad han snakker om:
UNC Hillel won’t stand for vilification of Muslim students
By Josh Orol | March 4, 2012
As co-president of UNC Hillel, I was surprised to receive an invitation from the Committee for a Better Carolina to publicize David Horowitz’s upcoming speech. I would have hoped that our opinions were already publicly known: UNC Hillel does not support Horowitz’s repeated vilification of Muslims.
Over the past few years, Horowitz has periodically published ads in The Daily Tar Heel promoting his view of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which are, to say the least, inflammatory.
Tyrkiet vil med i kalifatet – Gary Lane rapporterer:
Country of Concern: Turkey Suppressing Christian Worship
Five years have passed since one of Turkey’s most brutal murders of Christians. Today, there’s concern the country may once again be turning to a more Islamic society… The Christian Broadcasting Network CBN.
Der følger en artikel med:
Country of Concern: Turkey Suppressing Christian Worship
By Gary Lane
On April 18, 2007, three Christians were bound to their chairs, tortured, and stabbed repeatedly at a Bible print shop in Malatya — their throats slit.
Five years have now passed since the Malatya murders, an incident that was perhaps the most tragic and brutal murder of Christians in modern-day Turkey.
Startes HER - åbner Windows Media Player. Varighed 29 minutter.
Der følger en artikel med:
Preventing a Nuclear Iran
by Alex Berman - March 19, 2012
A briefing by Michael Rubin
Michael Rubin, a former editor of the Middle East Quarterly, is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and a senior lecturer at the Naval Postgraduate School. He formerly served as a political adviser to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq and has written extensively about Iranian history and politics. He is the author of Into the Shadows: Radical Vigilantes in Khatami’s Iran (2001) and the co-author of Eternal Iran (2005). On March 19, Rubin addressed the Middle East Forum in Philadelphia about the efficacy of sanctions on Iran as well as the prospect and logistics of an Israeli strike.
Can sanctions against the Iranian regime be effective? Michael Rubin addressed this question by citing Tehran’s former nuclear negotiator, who revealed that previous suspensions of Iranian nuclear enrichment had merely been temporary ploys aimed at ameliorating international pressure and preventing a UN consensus on sanctions. Rubin argued that Iran’s bleak current economic outlook is due not to sanctions but to the regime’s mismanagement of the economy.
Fukuyama har en særegen opfattelse af Danmark, – vi får en ny udlægning hver gang. Islam er lidt af et tabu for Fukuyama, – der skal et spørgsmål til, før det emne kommer op.
Noget af denne forelæsning er hørt før, andet er nyt. Fra AEI den 2. april 2012 – lyden glipper et par sekunder, men bliver straks ordnet:
Fra Christian Solidarity International i Bern i Svejts 7. marts 2012. Etnisk udrensning af Mellemøstens kristne, jøder og andre mindretal:
Daniel Pipes – Religious Minorities in an Increasingly Intolerant Middle East
Daniel Pipes, a historian and president of Middle East Forum, speaks at a CSI seminar on the future of religious minorities in the Middle East. Pipes warns that persecution of Christians in the Middle East is “acquiring genocidal characteristics.”
PR Newswire har en artikel om foredraget i ovenstående video:
Og fra en høring i Israel om det arabiske “forår”:
Daniel Pipes – Middle Eastern Upheavals and Immigration to Israel – March 14, 2012
Hearing in Israel – Danny Danon – Knesset Committee for Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs. Article in The Jerusalem Post
Q&A:
Fra 6. marts 2012:
Michael Coren & Daniel Pipes: Israel vs Iran
Pipes om en march, der løb ud i sandet:
Israel’s Enemies Unite for March to Jerusalem
Der følger en artikel med, som man kan læse her:
Israeli Security Halts Skirmishes on ‘March to Jerusalem’,
By Chris Mitchell – April 01, 2012
Israeli security forces battled Palestinian protesters in Jerusalem Friday, with reports of one Palestinian killed and dozens wounded.
The clashes came during demonstrations marking Land Day and the Global March on Jerusalem. Palestinians and Israeli Arabs hold the annual event to protest Israel’s land policies.
Daniel Pipes & Zuhdi Jasser diskuterer – artikler fra begge på Daniel Pipes’ hjemmeside:
Syria: Arguing for U.S. Inaction
by Daniel Pipes – February 25, 2012
Some thoughts on U.S. policy toward Syria on the occasion of the just-ended “Friends of Syria” meeting in Tunisia:
Since the end of the cold war, many Americans have a sense of being so strong, they don’t need to think about their own security but can afford to focus on the immediate humanitarian concerns of others. This leads to a sentimental U.S. foreign policy of “war as social work” in which the welfare of peoples with an admittedly wretched record as American allies (Afghans, Iraqis, Libyans, Syrians) can trump national interests. In fact, American interests often diverge from those of Middle Easterners. For example, as I put it six years ago, “when Sunni terrorists target Shiites and vice-versa, non-Muslims are less likely to be hurt.”
Mere HER hos Daniel Pipes. Zuhdi Jasser er lige blevet udpeget til The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). The Investigative Project on Terrorism har en artikel om det:
Fighting Islamophobia has become a cause célèbre among both the Jewish establishment and the Jewish farther-left. In the meantime, Jews are being murdered, tortured, attacked, plotted against and vilified in the name of Islam.
In the course of his killing spree in the French city of Toulouse last week, Mohammed Merah caught an 8-year-old Jewish girl by the hair, looked into her eyes, and put a bullet in her brain. Merah videotaped the atrocity for the amusement of other jihadists. He also murdered a rabbi and his two young sons.
Mere HER hos GrassTopsUSA. Kan også læses her hos Sharia Awareness Action Network. Og et angreb på venstrefløjen:
Hush Rush Part Of Left’s Plot To Duplicate Conformity Of College Campuses Nationwide
By Don Feder – March 19 2012
As you reflect on the Lynch Limbaugh Campaign, now in its third week, remember: 40 years ago, Rush gave aid and comfort to the enemy, during a conflict that claimed the lives of more than 58,000 Americans.
Two decades later, his inflammatory rhetoric fueled a race riot that led to the murder of a rabbinical student and brought two days of terror on a religious community.
No, wait a minute, that wasn’t America’s most popular talk-show host but two of his more vociferous critics. But, I’m getting ahead of myself.
Et klart mønster tegner sig. Konservative medier får etiketten ‘højreorienteret’, hvorimod venstreorienterede får ‘uafhængig’, ‘velanset’ eller ‘troværdig’.
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