Video: Bernard Lewis – interview

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:

• Excerpt: Notes On A Century

Andre kilder: World Jewish Congress, World Jewish Congress, The Jerusalem Post,

Audio: Bernard Lewis & Neal Conan

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.

David P. Goldman om Bernard Lewis

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.

Mere HER i The Tablet.

Opdatering – Spengler har lidt mere om bogen:

Bernard Lewis’ Valediction

May 9, 2012 – by David P. Goldman

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:

Mere HER hos PJ Media.

To interview med Bernard Lewis

Et par udmærkede ting her:

‘Osama bin Laden Made Me Famous’

Bernard Lewis Looks Back

By Evan R. Goldstein – April 22, 2012

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.

Mere i pdf HER i Turkish Policy Quarterly.

Andre kilder: Mondoweiss, William Yale, Brian Sandberg: Historical Perspectives, Middle East Institute, Turkish Policy Quarterly, National Review Online, Memri, ScrippsNews,

Video: Akbar Ahmed & Bernard Lewis

Fra World Affairs Council primo november 2010:

World Affairs Today

Ambassador Akbar Ahmed & Dr. Bernard Lewis discuss differing viewpoints on “The Role of Islam in International Relations”

Nyt interview med Bernard Lewis

The Tyrannies Are Doomed

The West’s leading scholar of the Middle East, Bernard Lewis, sees cause for optimism in the limited-government traditions of Arab and Muslim culture. But he says the U.S. should not push for quick, Western-style elections.

By Bari Weiss – April 2, 2011

‘What Went Wrong?” That was the explosive title of a December 2001 book by historian Bernard Lewis about the decline of the Muslim world. Already at the printer when 9/11 struck, the book rocketed the professor to widespread public attention, and its central question gripped Americans for a decade.

Now, all of a sudden, there’s a new question on American minds: What Might Go Right?

To find out, I made a pilgrimage to the professor’s bungalow in Princeton, N.J., where he’s lived since 1974 when he joined Princeton’s faculty from London’s School of Oriental and African Studies.

Mere HER i Wall Street Journal.

Tyrkiets vej til kalifatet?

Uhyre indsigtsfuld artikel her:

Turkey and the Restoration of the Caliphate

By Janet Levy – March 10, 2011

Turkey, the supposed bridge between East and West, was, until recently, showcased as a model democratic and secular exception in the Muslim world.  Since the days of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk — founder of the modern Turkish state in the 1920s — the Turkish military and courts were assumed to be effectively moderating against the theocratic and ideological hold of Islam evident in Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. 

However, closer inspection reveals that this has not been the case, especially in the last half century.  Instead, what actually exists is the veneer of a democratic republic overlaying an insidious, percolating revival of the Ottoman Empire by way of dormant Islamic fundamentalism and Turkish nationalism.  Using financial and political clout on a global scale, Turkey and one of its premier Islamic leaders, Fetullah Gulen, have steadily gathered allies, including even in the United States, to pursue their dream of a global caliphate.

Mere HER i The American Thinker eller her hos Free Republic. Family Security Matters her. The Econimist skriver om valget i Tyriet, som finder sted til sommer:

A Muslim democracy in action

Popular uprisings in the Arab world are drawing new attention to the example of Turkey’s democracy

Feb 17th 2011

“VOTE for AK. Write Your Own Constitution.” This is the slogan under which Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development (AK) party will launch its campaign for the general election that is to be held on June 12th. On one level, the outcome seems predictable. Opinion polls have consistently suggested that the mild Islamists who came to power in 2002 will bag a third term of single-party rule, with over 40% of the vote.

Mere HER i The Economist.

Opdatering. Se også Informations artikel fra 7. marts 2011:

Tyrkiet über alles

En ny tyrkisk valglov har gjort Tyskland til Tyrkiets potentielt fjerdestørste valgkreds, og for nylig opfordrede den tyrkiske premierminister, Tayyip Erdogan, tyske tyrkere til at lære deres børn tyrkisk før tysk. Det har skabt debat om forholdet mellem to af den europæiske regions største og tættest forbundne lande

Mere i Information HER.

Opdatering – jeg har fundet denne gamle sag fra 1953. En artikel af Bernard Lewis:

Europe and the Turks: The Civilization of the Ottoman Empire

By Bernard Lewis

This year the Turks have been celebrating the 500th anniversary of their conquest of Constantinople. Turkish rule in Europe began nearly a century earlier, and was firmly established by the time that the occupation of the Imperial city rounded off the Turkish dominions and made Constantinople once again the capital of a great empire. But the anniversary may serve as the occasion for some reflections on the place of the Ottoman Empire in the history of Europe and of the world.

Mere HER i History Today.

Andre kilder: The Trumpet,

Interview med Bernard Lewis

David Horovitz – ikke at forveksle med David Horowitz – har lavet interviewet for The Jerusalem Post:

A mass expression of outrage against injustice

By David Horovitz – February 25, 2011

Historian Bernard Lewis diagnoses the fundamental cause of the region-wide explosion of protest, and dismisses Western notions of a quick fix.

Bernard Lewis, the renowned Islamic scholar, believes that at the root of the protests sweeping across our region is the Arab peoples’ widespread sense of injustice. “The sort of authoritarian, even dictatorial regimes, that rule most of the countries in the modern Islamic Middle East, are a modern creation,” he notes. “The pre-modern regimes were much more open, much more tolerant.”

But Lewis regards a dash toward Western-style elections, far from representing a solution to the region’s difficulties, as constituting “a dangerous aggravation” of the problem, and fears that radical Islamic movements would be best placed to exploit so misguided a move. A much better course, he says, would be to encourage the gradual development of local, self-governing institutions, in accordance with the Islamic tradition of “consultation.”

Mere HER i The Jerusalem Post. Kan også læses her hos ICJS.

Video: Interview med Bernard Lewis

Ganske interessant interview fra 15. – 17. februar 2010, men først uploadet nu. Der er introduktioner de første 3 minutter:

Bernard Lewis speaks at the Jerusalem Conference 2010

I den næste video tales der om Tyrkiets retssystem. Interviewet er lavet før Tyrkiet genemførte en reform i islamistisk retning:

Igen: Pundits om Egypten

En tredjedel af alle arabere bor i Egypten. Bla. derfor er der voldsomt meget fokus på landet. Jeg har samlet nogle udvalgte artikler her, men anbefaler at man vælger sig noget ud. Der er mange om buddet:

Bernard Lewis, Ezra Levant, Andrew C. McCarthy, Adrian Morgan, Ralph Peters, Anne Bayefsky, Alan Dershowitz, Daniel Pipes, Michael Rubin, Barry Rubin, Melanie Phillips, Robert Spencer, Michael Ledeen, Daniel Greenfield, Victor Davis Hanson, Patrick Sookhdeo, Christopher Hitchens, Paul Wolfowitz, Khaled Abu Toameh:

Et lille interview med Bernard Lewis:

A Conversation with Bernard Lewis

February 1, 2011 – By Jay Nordlinger   

Professor Lewis, as you know, is the dean of Middle East historians. Many of us regard an acquaintance with his books, articles, and ideas as indispensable to an understanding of the Middle East. National Review is very fortunate to count him as a friend. He has been a star of our cruises — including last November.

Mere HER i National Review Online.

ElBaradei no saviour

By Ezra Levant – February 1, 2011

The dictatorship in Egypt is despicable. But the “democracy” protest there is fake.

Unconfirmed press reports put the number of protesters in Cairo’s Liberation Square at 50,000. Greater Cairo has a population of 19 million people.

But the press loved it. Google News lists 20,000 news stories about the protests. And those are just the ones written in English.

Al Jazeera, the Arab satellite TV channel known for its sympathy for Islamic terrorism, had non-stop coverage of the rally. That’s a clue.

Mere HER i The Toronto Sun. Den næste artikel kan høres som mp3 her:

Fear the Muslim Brotherhood

Andrew C. McCarthy – January 31, 2011

At the Daily Beast, Bruce Riedel has posted an essay called “Don’t fear Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood,” the classic, conventional-wisdom response to the crisis in Egypt. The Muslim Brotherhood is just fine, he’d have you believe, no need to worry. After all, the Brothers have even renounced violence!

One might wonder how an organization can be thought to have renounced violence when it has inspired more jihadists than any other, and when its Palestinian branch, the Islamic Resistance Movement, is probably more familiar to you by the name Hamas — a terrorist organization committed by charter to the violent destruction of Israel. Indeed, in recent years, the Brotherhood (a.k.a., the Ikhwan) has enthusiastically praised jihad and even applauded — albeit in more muted tones — Osama bin Laden. None of that, though, is an obstacle for Mr. Riedel, a former CIA officer who is now a Brookings scholar and Obama administration national-security adviser. Following the template the progressive (and bipartisan) foreign-policy establishment has been sculpting for years, his “no worries” conclusion is woven from a laughably incomplete history of the Ikhwan.

Mere HER hos National Review. To ret forskellige artikler fra Family Security Matters herunder:

Understanding the Middle East Crisis: Egypt

January 31, 2011 – Adrian Morgan

The Middle East is in crisis. Already Lebanon’s stable government has been overthrown by Hezbollah, who are funded by Iran and Syria. Currently, there have been some protests in Lebanon, but so far the nation has failed to fully bring back the “Cedars Revolution” that united the populace in revulsion after Hezbollah (allegedly) assassinated prime minister Rafiq Hariri on February 14, 2005. The map above can be viewed at a higher resolution here.

Two weeks ago, the Tunisian revolution was sparked by a street vendor setting fire to himself. In Algeria four people set fire to themselves, and Egypt other individuals set themselves on fire, hoping to achieve similar results. One such self-immolation in Cairo, Egypt, was caught on camera. A similar action took place in Saudi Arabia and another took place in Morocco, where a Mauritanian was apparently protesting against the situation in his own country in West Africa.

Mere HER hos Family Security Matters.

Denial On The Nile

We Can’t Dictate Egypt’s Future

Ralph Peters – February 1, 2011

In real life, you don’t always get the pony for Christmas. And we’re not going to get everything we’d like in post-Mubarak Egypt. If we continue behaving stupidly, though, we might get a lump of fundamentalist coal in our stocking some holiday season.

I’m sick of all the hot air I’ve heard in the media insisting that our choice in Egypt is either the dead-in-the-water dictator, Hosni Mubarak, or a Muslim Brotherhood takeover that will turn Egypt into another Iran.

Bull.

Here HER hos Family Security Matters.

Egypt Protests: Will the Real Mohammed ElBaradei Please Stand Up?

By Anne Bayefsky | February 01, 2011| FoxNews.com

In the name of democratic reform, Mohammed ElBaradei is doing his best to appear as the annointed one to succeed Egyptian President Hosni Mubarek, should the government fall. In reality, ElBaradei has more in common with Iranian demagogue Mahmoud Ahmadinejad than anything remotely resembling democracy. He is the former Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), where his primary legacy was running interference for Iran and ensuring that Iran is now on the verge of acquiring nuclear weapons.

Fox News HER. Kan også læses her hos NewsRealBlog.

The Egyptian Revolution May Produce a Lebanon-Type Islamic Regime

by Alan M. Dershowitz – January 31, 2011

No one can confidently predict the outcome, both short and long term, of the events now unfolding on the streets of Cairo and Alexandria. One is reminded of Zhou Enlai’s answer to the question whether the French Revolution succeeded: “It’s too soon to say.”

The short time outcome in Egypt may be the introduction of some structural democracy in the form of fairer elections. But the real test will be whether structural improvements will bring about real functional democracy—freedom of speech, assembly, press, religion and dissent. This will take more time to assess.

Mere HER hos Hudson New York.

OBS: Nu kan nedenstående artikel også læses på dansk på Daniel Pipes hjemmeside her:

Turmoil in Egypt

by Daniel Pipes – February 1, 2011

As Egypt’s much-anticipated moment of crisis arrived and popular rebellions shook governments across the Middle East, Iran stands as never before at the center of the region. Its Islamist rulers are within sight of dominating the region. But revolutions are hard to pull off and I predict that Islamists will not achieve a Middle East-wide breakthrough and Tehran will not emerge as the key powerbroker. Some thoughts behind this conclusion:

An echo of the Iranian revolution: On reaching power in 1979, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini sought to spread Islamist insurrection to other countries but failed almost everywhere. Three decades had to go by, it appears, before the self-immolation of a vendor in an obscure Tunisia town could light the conflagration that Khomeini aspired to and Iranian authorities still seek.

Mere HER hos Daniel Pipes. Kan også læses her i The Washington Post og her i The Jerusalem Post. Michael Rubin kommer ind på både Egypten og Tunesien i den følgende artikel:

The US Should Not Fear Egypt Regime Change

Michael Rubin |  January 28, 2011

On Dec. 17, 2010, Mohamed Bouazizi, a street vendor in the central Tunisian town of Sidi Bouzid, set himself on fire to protest government corruption. Less than a month later, Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, a man who won 89% of the vote in Tunisia’s rubber stamp elections, fled for his life.

American diplomats long considered Tunisia among its closest allies in the Middle East. Ben Ali oversaw a police state, but a secular one. Tunis has long hosted the State Department’s advanced Arabic language school, training generations of diplomats. But across the Middle East, Arabs knew Tunisia differently: In a region replete with dictatorships, it was among the worst. If Tunisians could defeat Ben Ali in less than a month, anything was possible.

Mere HER hos IEA.

Special Report: The Revolt in Egypt and U.S. Policy

By Barry Rubin * January 30, 2011

There is no good policy for the United States regarding the uprising in Egypt but the Obama Administration may be adopting something close to the worst option. This is its first real international crisis. And it seems to be adopting a policy that, while somewhat balanced, is pushing the Egyptian regime out of power. The situation could not be more dangerous and might be the biggest disaster for the region and Western interests since the Iranian revolution three decades ago.

Experts and news media seem to be overwhelmingly optimistic, just as they generally were in Iran’s case. Wishful thinking is to some extent replacing serious analysis. Indeed, the alternative outcome is barely presented: This could lead to an Islamist Egypt, if not now in several years.

Mere HER hos Gloria Center. Og link til Barry Rubins blog her og til bloggen i Pajamas Media her. Melanie Phillips fremæver en blogpost fra Rubins blog i The Spectator her.

Muslim Brotherhood Poised for Power in Egypt

by Robert Spencer January 31, 2011

A group dedicated to “eliminating and destroying Western civilization from within” is poised to take power in Egypt.

After days of riots in Egypt against Hosni Mubarak’s regime, on Sunday the Muslim Brotherhood entered into talks with other opposition groups to form a national unity government after the presumably imminent fall of Mubarak. The Brotherhood was founded in Egypt in 1928 in order to restore, in Egypt and worldwide, the prerogatives of political Islam: a state in which Islamic law (Sharia) is the law of the land and the freedom of speech, the freedom of conscience, and legal equality for women and non-Muslims consequently restricted.

Human Events HER.

Cancer, Carter and Obama

By Michael Ledeen – January 30th, 2011

There are some eery similarities between Egypt 2011 and Iran 1979, and some of them are unfortunately about American leadership.  There are some big differences, too, but for the moment let’s just look at some parallels and try to draw some necessarily tentative conclusions.  After all, everything is up for grabs right now and things will probably change a lot in the next few hours and days.

Mere HER i Pajamas Media.

Revolts which coincided with a new opposition congress almost suggest that they were scheduled for a time when Obama would be at his politically weakest

Obama Loses the Middle East

By Daniel Greenfield – January 31, 2011

It’s no coincidence that major revolutions against Western backed governments have occurred under weak American presidents. The Iranian revolution against the Shah happened on Jimmy Carter’s watch. The current violence in Tunisia and Egypt is taking place under Obama. And the timing is quite interesting. Revolts which coincided with a new opposition congress almost suggest that they were scheduled for a time when Obama would be at his politically weakest.

Canada Free Press HER kan også læses her hos Arutz Sheva. Og endnu en Greenfield:

All that is being accomplished by the calls for Mubarak to democratize and resign is to show how irrelevant America is and how worthless it is as an ally

Muslim Brotherhood as the only force capable of replacing Mubarak

By Daniel Greenfield  – January 28, 2011

After Tunisia, the disturbances have moved on to Egypt, Yemen and Jordan. Despite what is being predicted, I wouldn’t count on any of these countries undergoing the same kind of turnover.

Mere HER i Canada Free Press.

What’s the Matter with Egypt?

January 30, 2011 – by Victor Davis Hanson

In the Stars or in Them?

So what’s the matter with Egypt? The same thing that is the matter with most of the modern Middle East: in the post-industrial world, its hundreds of millions now are vicariously exposed to the affluence and freedom of the West via satellite television, cell phones, the Internet, DVDs, and social networks.

And they become angry that, in contrast to what they see and hear from abroad, their own lives are unusually miserable in the most elemental sense. Of course, there is no introspective Socrates on hand and walking about to remind the Cairo or Amman Street that their corrupt government is in some part a reification of themselves, who in their daily lives see the world in terms of gender apartheid, tribalism, religious intolerance, conspiracies, fundamentalism, and statism that are incompatible with a modern, successful, capitalist democracy.

Mere HER hos Pajamas Media. Det var både forventeligt, at oprøret i Egypten ville gå ud over de kristne og at mediere herhjemme ville ignorere det. Patrick Sookhdeo er opmærksom på situationen:

Christians fall victim to chaos in Egypt: Who will help them?

January 31, 2011 by Michael Ireland

As Egypt descends into deeper unrest with a seventh day of protests (Monday, Jan.31), the country’s Christians are falling victim to the chaos as their shops are looted and essential supplies start to run out.

According to one Christian organization working in the region, Egypt’s beleaguered Christian minority is on red alert today.

Barnabas Aid (www.barnabasfund.org ) the majority of Egyptian Christians already live in extreme poverty, and as the demonstrations paralyze daily life, their struggle to make ends meet has become harder. While many shops are being attacked and looted, Christian shops have been particularly targeted.

Barnabas Aid says Christian gatherings and church meetings have been cancelled, while some church minsters are sleeping in their church buildings to protect them from attack. A Barnabas Aid contact said that believers were staying in their homes, where they are “praying hard” and “trusting God” amid the tumult.

Mere HER i Continental News. Wall Street Journal har også noget om emnet her.

The Shame Factor

When will dictators learn not to treat their people like fools?

By Christopher Hitchens – Jan. 31, 2011

Not long ago, a close comrade of mine was dining with a person who I can’t identify beyond telling you that his father is a long-term absolutist ruler of an Arab Muslim state. “Tell me,” said this scion to my friend, “is it true that there are now free elections in Albania?” My friend was able to confirm the (relative) truth of this, adding that he had once even acted as an international observer at the Albanian polls and could attest to a certain level of transparency and fairness. The effect of his remarks was galvanic. “In that case,” exclaimed the heir-presumptive, thumping the table, “what does that make us? Are we peasants? Children?” The gloom only deepened, apparently, as the image of the Arab as a laughing stock—lagging behind Albania!—took hold of the conversation.

Mere HER i Slate – kan også læses her i National Post. Khaled Abu Toameh er inde på noget lignende her hos Hudson New York. Og næste: Daniel Korski interviewer Paul Wolfowitz:

Coffee House Interview: Paul Wolfowitz Daniel Korski interviews Paul Wolfowitz on Coffee House, The Spectator Blog

By Paul Wolfowitz | Coffee House, The Spectator Blog | January 30, 2011

Nobody is as associated with George W Bush’s drive to promote freedom and democracy in the Middle East as former US Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz. His role in the Iraq War, and belief that the US should promote democracy in a part of the world better known for authoritarian rulers, remains controversial to this day.

But now that the Middle East is being rocked by pro – democracy protests – as people demand freedom, employment, and an end to tyranny – is this advocate of democracy finally being proven right? And what does he think about the dangers of democratic transitions? Dr Wolfowitz kindly agreed to answer a few questions about democracy and the Middle East:

Mere HER hos AEI. Der er flere pundits her:

• Pundits om Egypten

 

Andre kilder: Barnabas Fund, Barnabas Fund, ABC Australia, Ezra Levant, Hudson New York, Hudson New York, CNN, CBS News, National Review Online, The Spectator, The Washington Post, The Weekly Standard, Wired, FierceMarkets, U.S. News, The Patriot Post, The Washington Examiner, Tablet Magazine, Berlingske Tidende, Jyllands-Posten, Wikipedia,

Video: ASMEA-konference 2010

Fra en konference afholdt af ASMEA den 4. – 6. november 2010 – “The Middle East and Africa in the 21st Century: Local Trends, Regional Challenges, Global Impacts”. Den mest interessante video er den med Gerald Prunier, som er ret chokerende, men videoerne er faktisk interessante allesammen.

Bernard Lewis indledte konferencen med en tale, som kan ses i posten nedenfor:

• Video: Bernard Lewis i Washington D.C.

Roundtable A: Turkey’s Future as a Democratic Ally

ASMEA 2010 Conference Panel “Turkey’s Future as a Democratic Ally”

Prof. Bassam Tibi ( University of Göettingen )
Prof. Joshua Walker ( Brandeis University )
Prof. Birol Yesilada ( Portland State University )
Mr. Nuh Yilmaz (Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research)

I Q&A-delen hører man bla. debatindlæg fra Bernard Lewis – der er stor uenighed om Tyrkiets udvikling:

Den næste video går hurtigt over til at omhandle militære angrebsstrategier helt ned til det operative niveau. Hvad gør man konkret, hvis USA skal angribe Iran? Den video syntes jeg ikke, var voldsomt interessant:

Roundtable B: “Iran’s Nuclear Program: The Military Option”

Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney (USAF-ret.)
CAPT Chuck Nash (USN-ret.)

I denne video hører man bla. om den danske flådes arbejde i farvandet ud for Somalia:

Roundtable C: “The Furture of Military Operations in the Horn of Africa”

RADM Terry McKnight (USN-ret.)

Her får man en god indsigt i et land, men ellers ikke hører alverden om:

Roundtable C: Eritrea and its Discontents

ASMEA 2010 conference discussion led by Dr. Gerald Prunier

Den afsluttende taler her forsøger lidt faderligt at berolige alle:

Lunch Banquet and Keynote Address:

“How to Stop Failing, From Israel to Pakistan”

Dr. Leslie Gelb (President Emeritus, Council on Foreign Relations)

Video: Bernard Lewis i Washington D.C.

Her drejer det sig om en tale. Bernard Lewis sammenligner islam med nazisme og kommunisme og kommer ind på, hvordan islam degenererer i disse år. Fra 4. – 6. november 2010 – uploadet igår:

Prof. Bernard Lewis addresses ASMEA conference reception

Video: Bernard Lewis om muslimer og terror

Fra TVO programmet, Allan Gregg In Conversation. Nyt interview fra i år:

Bernard Lewis on what it means to be Muslim

January 1, 2011  |  Length: 27:02  |  TVO

Bernard Lewis is considered the West’s leading historian and interpreter of the Middle East. With fears of terrorism still of concern to Ontario, Bernard Lewis talks about the forces that drive terrorism. His latest book is “The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror.”

Kan også ses på YouTube her.

Video: Bernard Lewis – forelæsningsrække

Begge videoer er optaget i Tel Aviv – uploadet på  YouTube for hhv. 1 og 2 uger siden og begge foredrag drejer sig om den historiske udvikling i forholdet mellem islam, kristendom og den jødiske tro. Der er næsten ingen omtale af de problemer, vi oplever i Vesten i moderne tid.

Den første forelæsning handler om fire mellemøstlige religioner, nemlig jødedommen, kristendommen, islam og zarathustrianismen. Hovedvægten er lagt på Iran og shia-islam:

Orthodoxy and Heresy in Middle East Religions

A lecture by Prof. Am. Bernard Lewis, Prinston University.

The event was held at the Tel Aviv University, the Moshe Dayan Center.

Fra 9. januar 2007. Kan ses i Windows Media Player her – åbner Tel Aviv University’s hjemmeside.

Den anden forelæsning handler bla. om lidt begrebsafklaring, krige mellem muslimer og kristne, det ottomanske rige, minoriteter i arabiske lande:

Islam the West and the Jews

The Mortimer and Raymond Sackler Institute of Advanced Studies, The Moshe Dayan Center, Tel Aviv University

Fra 25. januar 2007. Kan også ses i Windows Media Player på Tel Aviv University’s hjemmeside her.

Ny artikel af Bernard Lewis

Hvad er moderat islam? Det har Wall Street Journal spurgt 6 forskellige islamsagkyndige mennesker om. En af dem er Bernard Lewis, som skriver:

A Symposium: What Is Moderate Islam?

The controversy over a proposed mosque in lower Manhattan has spurred a wider debate about the nature of Islam. We asked six leading thinkers—Anwar Ibrahim, Bernard Lewis, Ed Husain, Reuel Marc Gerecht, Tawfik Hamid and Akbar Ahmed—to weigh in.

A History of Tolerance

By Bernard Lewis

A form of moderation has been a central part of Islam from the very beginning. True, Muslims are nowhere commanded to love their neighbors, as in the Old Testament, still less their enemies, as in the New Testament. But they are commanded to accept diversity, and this commandment was usually obeyed. The Prophet Muhammad’s statement that “difference within my community is part of God’s mercy” expressed one of Islam’s central ideas, and it is enshrined both in law and usage from the earliest times.

This principle created a level of tolerance among Muslims and coexistence between Muslims and others that was unknown in Christendom until after the triumph of secularism. Diversity was legitimate and accepted. Different juristic schools coexisted, often with significant divergences.

Sectarian differences arose, and sometimes led to conflicts, but these were minor compared with the ferocious wars and persecutions of Christendom. Some events that were commonplace in medieval Europe— like the massacre and expulsion of Jews—were almost unknown in the Muslim world. That is, until modern times.

Occasionally more radical, more violent versions of Islam arose, but their impact was mostly limited. They did not become really important until the modern period when, thanks to a combination of circumstances, such versions of Islamic teachings obtained a massive following among both governments and peoples.

From the start, Muslims have always had a strong sense of their identity and history. Thanks to modern communication, they have become painfully aware of their present state. Some speak of defeat, some of failure. It is the latter who offer the best hope for change.

For the moment, there does not seem to be much prospect of a moderate Islam in the Muslim world. This is partly because in the prevailing atmosphere the expression of moderate ideas can be dangerous—even life-threatening. Radical groups like al Qaeda and the Taliban, the likes of which in earlier times were at most minor and marginal, have acquired a powerful and even a dominant position.

But for Muslims who seek it, the roots are there, both in the theory and practice of their faith and in their early sacred history.

De øvrige respondenter finder man HER i Wall Street Journal. Disse er:

• Anwar Ibrahim: The Ball Is in Our Court
• Ed Husain: Don’t Call Me Moderate, Call Me Normal
• Reuel Marc Gerecht: Putting Up With Infidels Like Me
• Tawfik Hamid: Don’t Gloss Over The Violent Texts
• Akbar Ahmed: Mystics, Modernists and Literalists

Video: Bernard Lewis & Robert Wistrich

A Dialogue between Prof. Bernard Lewis (Prof. Emeritus, Princeton University) and Prof. Robert Wistrich, Tuesday, February 16, 2010.

Research Seminar The Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism – SICSA The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Video: Dan Diker & Bernard Lewis

Hele interviewet – uddrag kan ses på YouTube her og her:

Dan Diker Interviewing Bernard Lewis at the Jerusalem Conference, January 26, 2009

Dan Diker, director of the Institute for Contemporary Affairs, interviews Professor Bernard Lewis at the Jerusalem Conference on the subject of the Middle East and the conflicts within it.

Startes HER – åbner Windows Media Player. Varighed 37 minutter. Reservelink her.

Video: Bernard Lewis om islamforskning

Fra 25. april 2008:

Professor Bernard Lewis’s Keynote Speech

ASMEA’s Chairman, Professor Bernard Lewis, addressed an audience of over 200 people on Friday, April 25th in a keynote speech to the attendees of the 2008 ASMEA conference. Entitled “Studying the Other: Different Ways of Looking at the Middle East and Africa,” his speech discussed the threat to the freedom of scholarly inquiry regarding these two regions and the prospects for enhancing the body of knowledge in an open and inter-disciplinary manner.

Reservelink Vimeo.

Video: The Third Jihad

Nu kommer efterfølgeren til Obsession. Den hedder The Third Jihad. Heri medvirker blandt andre Bernard Lewis, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Melanie Phillips, Rudy Guiliani, Walid Phares:

Video: Bernard Lewis – igen!

Ja, så er han her igen. Geniet Bernard Lewis. Denne gang fra Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Institute of Politics, 21. marts 2002. Foredrag:

Religion and Democracy in the Middle East

Varighed: 1 time. Video starter HER.

Jeg minder om de to andre videoer med Bernard Lewis, som kan redde påsken for alle. Link HER. Det er også på dette sidste link, man finder den nyeste video, som er fra 7. marts i år.