Daniel Pipes, Government appointee

[Ben Shniper]

Daniel Pipes, the brilliant and outspoken professor of Middle East Studies who sought to overthrow the stale and completely out of touch world of Middle Eastern courses at Universities around America, is now rewarded.

He has been appointed to be part of the United States Institute of peace:

http://www.usip.org/aboutus/history.html

More information on this well-deserved, but in some corners controversial subject is here:

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/gaffney.html

-Ben

[Baker]

Great choice I have always enjoyed is work he is one of the few experts on the Middle East to use critical thinking on conflicts and problems in that part of the world.

[a_unique_person]

Originally posted by Ben Shniper
Daniel Pipes, the brilliant and outspoken professor of Middle East Studies who sought to overthrow the stale and completely out of touch world of Middle Eastern courses at Universities around America, is now rewarded.

He has been appointed to be part of the United States Institute of peace:

http://www.usip.org/aboutus/history.html

More information on this well-deserved, but in some corners controversial subject is here:

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/gaffney.html

-Ben

Shouldn't that be the United States Institute of War?

[Tony]

Originally posted by a_unique_person


Shouldn't that be the United States Institute of War?

False dichotomy. War is not the antithesis to peace.

[a_unique_person]

Originally posted by Tony


False dichotomy. War is not the antithesis to peace.

I think I was putting more of a 1984 spin on things here.

[Ben Shniper]

What has Daniel Pipes done to promote war? If we had listened to him about Al Queda, perhaps September 11th and the Afghanistan campaign wouldn't have happened. Ditto with the Oslo Accords and the Israeli-Palestinian second intifadah tragedy.

Perhaps we should have been more skeptical of these "peaceful" times, and we could have listened to rational, logical people pointing out problems before they became conflicts.

-Ben

[a_unique_person]

DANIEL PIPES: WAR OF THE DIATRIBES
Peter Rodgers, Weekend Australian, 11/16/02
Peter Rodgers is a former Australian ambassador to Israel.

Militant Islam Reaches America
By Daniel Pipes, Norton, 296pp, $49.95

READING Daniel Pipes's latest book, brimming with dire warnings of Islamic threats, made me deeply envious. I so wish I could be a polemicist, then I'd never have to worry about accuracy and balance, about passing off egregious nonsense as alarming statement of fact, about repetition and self-contradiction. I, too, could trumpet mediocre fictions as insightful prophecies…

Pipes's solution to the problem of militant Islam amounts to supporting its enemies, whoever they are and no matter what they do, just as it earlier made sense to stick by Saigon or Augusto Pinochet in Chile. It was, of course, the US's later determination to stick by those fighting the Russian communists in Afghanistan that led the CIA into bed with Osama bin Laden. How little we learn...

[Ben Shniper]

Originally posted by Tony


False dichotomy. War is not the antithesis to peace.

What is the opposite of Peace, then?

-Ben

[Tony]

Originally posted by Ben Shniper


What is the opposite of Peace, then?

-Ben

Unrest.

[Cleopatra]

Daniel Pipes!!!!:mad:

Things getting worse, methinks.

:mad:

[Baker]

Originally posted by Cleopatra
Daniel Pipes!!!!:mad:

Things getting worse, methinks.

:mad:

Can you elaborate please?
Why is it a bad thing?

[Ben Shniper]

Originally posted by Baker


Can you elaborate please?
Why is it a bad thing?

Please be specific. I am very interested in people's viewpoint of why Daniel Pipe's appointment may or may not be appropriate.

-Ben

[specious_reasons]

Daniel Pipes is going to be a controversial figure, some Muslims think that this is (another) anti-Islam move by GWB.

As my friend puts it, replace "Muslim" with "n*****" and some of his articles sound like a KKK speech.

I'm not arguing the truth of that statement, I'm just pointing out what some Muslims feel.

[Pyrrho]

Originally posted by specious_reasons
Daniel Pipes is going to be a controversial figure, some Muslims think that this is (another) anti-Islam move by GWB.

As my friend puts it, replace "Muslim" with "n*****" and some of his articles sound like a KKK speech.

I'm not arguing the truth of that statement, I'm just pointing out what some Muslims feel.
It does seem to be GWB administration policy to antagonize Muslims. Not wise, IMHO.

[Cleopatra]

Originally posted by Baker


Can you elaborate please?
Why is it a bad thing?

Ok. First I will tell you that I read everything he writes.

I think that he does something a serious analyst must never do, at least in my opinion: He flatters the lowest ego of his readers...

Jews of the world and Israelis, don't need this, in my opinion again.

We don't need someone to tell us how right we are. I personally know that we have a right :) I know the adventures that my ancestors had just because they were Jews and I am proud of what great men and women were.

Also. We have a problem. Right? You don't start analyzing the problem by suggesting that you have the absolute right.Whether we like it or not it takes two to tango, Israelis have our share of attrocities.

The same way I ask the "philopalestinians" if they aknowledge Israel the right to have a state, the same way I pose the question to myself.

Do,we, Israelis want Peace? Do we know that we will have a price to pay for Peace?

If yes, Pipes doesn't help us towards that direction.

[Baker]

Originally posted by pyrrho2000

It does seem to be GWB administration policy to antagonize Muslims. Not wise, IMHO.

He also said Islam is about peace I didn’t agree with him on that but he was trying not to offend are Arab allies after 9/11 he could have made it very difficult for American Muslims but instead defended them and helped lower the abuse they might have faced.

[a_unique_person]

Originally posted by Cleopatra


Ok. First I will tell you that I read everything he writes.

I think that he does something a serious analyst must never do, at least in my opinion: He flatters the lowest ego of his readers...

Jews of the world and Israelis, don't need this, in my opinion again.

We don't need someone to tell us how right we are. I personally know that we have a right :) I know the adventures that my ancestors had just because they were Jews and I am proud of what great men and women were.

Also. We have a problem. Right? You don't start analyzing the problem by suggesting that you have the absolute right.Whether we like it or not it takes two to tango, Israelis have our share of attrocities.

The same way I ask the "philopalestinians" if they aknowledge Israel the right to have a state, the same way I pose the question to myself.

Do,we, Israelis want Peace? Do we know that we will have a price to pay for Peace?

If yes, Pipes doesn't help us towards that direction.

I have raised similar issues. One such issue is that since Israel is a Democracy, it can do no wrong. Because Palestine is not a democracy, it can only do wrong. (Well, they have elections, but these do not appear to be free and fair yet). Therefore, Israel is to get everything it wants and Palestine nothing.