Copyright 2008 DanielPipes.org Sun, 24 Aug 2008 17:37:05 -0400 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://www.danielpipes.org/blog webmaster@danielpipes.org en-us Daniel Pipes http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2008/08/bagels-in-dubai.html http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2008/08/bagels-in-dubai.html Fri, 15 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EST Pictures of the very first Airbus 380 flying from Dubai to New York City show a smiling attendant at the first class bar. Yes, a Persian Gulf airline serves alcohol. But what's really of interest is the plump bagel sitting on the right side of the counter, under a glass top. Bagels are, of course, the Jewish ethnic food that legend holds goes back to 1683 and the defeat of the Turkish army at Vienna. How curious to find them on a maiden A380 voyage of Emirates airline. Incidentally, those Daniel Pipes http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2008/08/extra-leading-new-york-publisher-spikes-book.html http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2008/08/extra-leading-new-york-publisher-spikes-book.html Thu, 7 Aug 2008 23:15:22 EST Random House, a unit of Bertelsmann AG, has announced that is has canceled publication of a novel, The Jewel of Medina, by Sherry Jones, that was to be published on August 12. The novel concerns the child wife Aisha of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Random House made no bones about its reasons in doing so, with Deputy Publisher Thomas Perry stating that Random House received "cautionary advice not only that the publication of this book might be offensive to some in the Muslim community, but also Daniel Pipes http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2008/08/a-final-reply-to-yoram-schweitzer.html http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2008/08/a-final-reply-to-yoram-schweitzer.html Sun, 3 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EST Yoram Schweitzer has now responded twice to me, and I think it about time to close down his and my exchange, but not before one final, brief reply on my part. (To recapitulate, the sequence, all published in The Jerusalem Post, began on July 21 with my article, "Samir Kuntar and the Last Laugh," which criticized the Israel-Hizbullah exchange; he replied July 24 with "Not That Bad a Deal," disagreeing on specifics and castigating me for even opining on the matter; on July 28, in "May an American Daniel Pipes http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2008/07/cairene-book-covers.html http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2008/07/cairene-book-covers.html Thu, 31 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST In my three years resident in Cairo, between 1971 and 1977, I spent an inordinate amount of time combing the city's book stores for what the sellers called turath, or tradition - the classic texts of Islamic civilization. While searching out these cultural gems, however, I could hardly miss the garish, grisly titles and covers of Arabic-language books on current affairs, ugly rants against Israel, Jews, the United States, Americans, the West, Christians, orientalists, and other targets. These Daniel Pipes http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2008/07/islamic-but-not-shari.html http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2008/07/islamic-but-not-shari.html Tue, 8 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST Soner Cagaptay, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, is one of the most astute analysts of Turkish politics. But he writes something in the conclusion to an article, "Turkey Versus Turkey," in the Wall Street Journal Europe that I cannot agree with. Looking at the "battle for Turkey's soul" currently taking place between "secular Turkey" and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), he speculates what will follow should the AKP win. In that case, Daniel Pipes http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2008/07/how-europes-counterterrorism-laws-differ.html http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2008/07/how-europes-counterterrorism-laws-differ.html Thu, 3 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST In my column, "Which Has More Islamist Terrorism, Europe or America?" I show that "the Muslim per-capita arrest rate on terrorism-related charges in the United States is 2.5 times higher than in Europe." I mentioned there a difference in the legal systems between the two continents that makes that ratio even higher but lacked the space to explain it. In brief, European laws make it much easier to arrest terrorism suspects than do the American ones. Consider two expert views on the topic: Daniel Pipes http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2008/07/if-not-arab-israeli-peace-now-what.html http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2008/07/if-not-arab-israeli-peace-now-what.html Tue, 1 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST Moment Magazine asked several analysts briefly to discuss the state of Arab-Israeli diplomacy. "Many Israelis, perhaps even a majority according to some polls, believe that the time has come for Israel to follow the 2003 Road Map to create two states—one Jewish, the other Palestinian. Yet, others in Israel and in the diaspora caution that the pursuit of peace at this time is hopeless, foolhardy, even dangerous. In the belief that it is important to hear voices from all sides of the debate, Daniel Pipes http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2008/06/barack-obama-google-and-this-website.html http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2008/06/barack-obama-google-and-this-website.html Mon, 9 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST I pay my first visit to the "Googleplex" in a few days and thought I'd prepare by seeing how this website, www.DanielPipes.org, does in Google's rankings. I started out with the hot name of the moment, "Barack Obama," and was midly stunned to see that I come in #5, following only Obama's campaign site, his Senate site, Wikipedia, and Reuters – and ahead of nearly 61 million other entries. Daniel Pipes http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2008/06/richard-silverstein-shoots-himself-in-the.html http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2008/06/richard-silverstein-shoots-himself-in-the.html Fri, 6 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST I count 16 attacks on me penned by one Richard Silverstein during the past four years, or one every three months; is it fair to say that this leftist is obsessed with me? I make a habit of ignoring him, but his latest screed in London's Guardian, "Uninvited Guests," contains not one but two errors, so here follow my corrections. Daniel Pipes http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2008/05/john-hagee-the-holocaust-and-me-thinking.html http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2008/05/john-hagee-the-holocaust-and-me-thinking.html Thu, 29 May 2008 01:01:23 EST Leonard Fein has noted in the Forward that I am one of those scheduled to speak at John Hagee's Christians United for Israel conference in July. In the light of new information about Pastor Hagee's views on the Holocaust and the news that John McCain repudiated Hagee's endorsement of him for president, Fein wonders, what are the others and I doing about the CUFI conference? Will they cancel their appearances, he asks. "Or will they twist and turn to rationalize their continuing support for this Daniel Pipes http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2008/05/bangladeshis-banned-by-bahrain.html http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2008/05/bangladeshis-banned-by-bahrain.html Wed, 28 May 2008 00:00:00 EST Imagine this scenario in a European country: A Bangladeshi migrant worker, a car mechanic, is charged with a premeditated murder, accused of slitting the throat of a European national with a hacksaw due to a disagreement concerning payment for work done on the victim's car. The murder outrages some local government officials, who claim Bangladeshi immigrants are behind the nation's growing crime problem and demand the deportation of more than 100,000 Bangladeshi laborers. For example, a member Daniel Pipes http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2008/05/abba-eban-speaks-on-israels-10th-anniversary.html http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2008/05/abba-eban-speaks-on-israels-10th-anniversary.html Thu, 8 May 2008 00:00:00 EST On the occasion today of Israel's 60th anniversary, going back fifty years and watching a television interview on April 12, 1958, with the country's then-ambassador to the United States, Abba Eban, offers both an insight into what has changed and what has not and an opportunity to hear the most eloquent defender, bar none, of the Jewish state. Video and transcript of the interview can both be found on the University of Texas website. Take the very first exchange, in which a flat-toned Mike Daniel Pipes http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2008/05/responding-to-joshua-muravchik-about.html http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2008/05/responding-to-joshua-muravchik-about.html Thu, 1 May 2008 00:00:00 EST Joshua Muravchik of the American Enterprise Institute began a debate with me on the subject of lawful Islamists in a June 2007 piece titled "Pipes v. Gershman," to which I responded on July 6, 2007 at "When Conservatives Argue about Islam." Muravchik initiated a second round in February 2008 with an article (co-authored with Charles P. Szrom), "In Search of Moderate Muslims." Here is my reply to the latter, in the form of a letter to the editor of Commentary magazine, published in the May issue Daniel Pipes http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2008/04/laurie-mylroies-shoddy-loopy-zany-theories.html http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2008/04/laurie-mylroies-shoddy-loopy-zany-theories.html Wed, 30 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EST Andrew McCarthy, the U.S. prosecutor who successfully put away Omar Abdel Rahman, the blind sheikh, has finally written the piece that many of us have long intended to do but never got around to doing – exposing the work of Laurie Mylroie. Daniel Pipes http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2008/04/predicting-the-2008-us-presidential-election.html http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2008/04/predicting-the-2008-us-presidential-election.html Wed, 23 Apr 2008 20:39:00 EST In March 2004, I took a risk and in a blog titled "Predictions about the 2004 U.S. Presidential Election" stated that "I expect the U.S. presidential election in 2004 will be a Bush blow-out, reminiscent of 1984." Today, I took a similar trip out on a limb and replied to a question about Barack Obama: He is the first far-leftist possibly to become the Democratic candidate for U.S. president since George McGovern succeeded at this in 1972. Should Obama be nominated, I expect he will do less Daniel Pipes http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2008/04/exposed-a-university-grovels-for-saudi-money.html http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2008/04/exposed-a-university-grovels-for-saudi-money.html Tue, 22 Apr 2008 04:45:00 EST Richard Kerbaj, the Australian's extraordinary young reporter, has himself another scoop, one that reveals the inner workings of Brisbane-based Griffith University's efforts to win A$1.37 million in Saudi funding for its "Islamic Research Unit." Griffith's Vice-Chancellor Ian O'Connor wrote in a letter to Saudi ambassador Hassan T. Nazer, dated September 11, 2006: We would be pleased to discuss ways in which your contribution could be recognised through, for example, the naming of a particular Daniel Pipes http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2008/04/mecca-mean-time.html http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2008/04/mecca-mean-time.html Mon, 21 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EST That Greenwich Mean Time became universally accepted resulted from centuries of British cultivation of the maritime sciences. Although replaced by the technically more advanced Coordinated Universal Time, GMT remains in place; more importantly, perhaps, its exact opposite, running through the Pacific Ocean defines the International Date Line. So much for science and history. According to the BBC, at a conference held in Qatar titled, "Mecca, the Centre of the Earth, Theory and Practice," a Daniel Pipes http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2008/04/those-gentle-humanitarians-at-fatah.html http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2008/04/those-gentle-humanitarians-at-fatah.html Thu, 17 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EST In addition to Fatah clearly and explicitly wanting to eliminate Israel; for a fresh example see the statement on April 9 by the Palestinian Authority representative in Lebanon, Abbas Zaki, about the Israelis: the PLO, he says, intends to "drive them out of all of Palestine." But in addition to this – which should be enough to render it unfit for negotiations with Israel or benefits from Western states – it is also a horrific organization in its own right. For one instance of its brutality, Daniel Pipes http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2008/04/zakariya-zubeidis-crushed-will-to-fight.html http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2008/04/zakariya-zubeidis-crushed-will-to-fight.html Mon, 14 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EST Until recently the commander of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades in Jenin, Zakariya Zubeidi was a terrorist leader against Israel, but he is that no longer. In an interview with Ha'aretz, he tells about his listless new post-terrorist life, blaming much of his problem on the death of Yasir Arafat and the lack of subsequent leadership: Daniel Pipes http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2008/04/learning-in-arabic-about-jews-and-judaism.html http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2008/04/learning-in-arabic-about-jews-and-judaism.html Thu, 10 Apr 2008 19:21:47 EST When I lived in Cairo in the 1970s, I conducted a little experiment: What, using only Arabic-language sources, could I learn about Jews, Judaism, Jewish history, Jewish culture, and the like? The paucity of resources stunned me; basically, the best way to learn about these subjects was to read between the lines of antisemitic tracts. It is therefore with delight that I read today that the American Jewish Committee, under the directorship of Yehudit Barsky, has launched a new website, Asl