The Long Shadow: Culture And Politics In The Middle East
Daniel Pipes has put together in one book various essays, articles and book reviews that he wrote and published in Commentary and elsewhere during the 1980s. He ties them up in five separate packages (Islam, the Persian Gulf, the Arab-Israeli conflict, terrorism and U.S. policy), and as a unifying theme cites his historian's perspective. He also takes note of cultural continuities and of a prescience at the time of writing that makes these pieces stand up today. The parts do not really make a whole, but Pipes is a talented scholar and observer, outspoken and at times controversial, always worth reading.
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In his article "Europe's Angry Muslims" (July/August 2005), Robert Leiken argues that European Muslims are "distinct, cohesive, and bitter." He later writes that Islamist terrorist groups should not be compared with marginal European terrorist groups because Islamist terrorists have a "social base" from which to operate. The implied claim that all European Muslims are or could be supporters of terrorists (if they are not terrorists themselves) needs to be answered.
In three new books, experts explore every angle of September's horrific attacks. The warning signs, it seems, had long been evident. Herewith some strategies for how to read the signals next time -- and how to fight and win the new war on terror.
The world today faces not only a clash of civilizations but a clash of emotions as well. The West displays -- and is divided by -- a culture of fear, while the Arab and Muslim worlds are trapped in a culture of humiliation and much of Asia displays a culture of hope.
