Posted on 04/23/2008 7:14:23 AM PDT by drzz
Provided to you by "le blog drzz", France's first conservative blog owned by Freeper drzz.
HOST -
DANIEL PIPES - PH.D from Harvard - 84th on the list of the most influential Harvard alumni in the world. - Former adviser of Rudy Giuliani - Nominated for the US Peace Institute by President Bush in 2005 - 12 books, columnists in national and international papers, multiple appearances in TV and radio shows.
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1. The Bush presidency will end next January 2009. Is its legacy satisfying on your point of view ? What are Bush’s strongest successes - and failures ? PIPES - I am a supporter of the president and wish him well but have concluded that, when it concerns the Middle East and Islam, his polities have largely failed. I am thinking of four areas in particular, radical Islam, preemption, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and democracy building.
2. You were an adviser of Presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani. Do you think John McCain shares Giuliani’s opinion on radical islam ? PIPES - Yes, John McCain is very forceful on this topic, calling radical Islamic extremism the “transcendent challenge of the twenty-first century.”
3. What is your opinion on Barack Obama ? PIPES - 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 badly than McGovern (who won just 17 out of 537 electoral college votes), but he will do very badly.
4. Professor Guy Milliere wrote that radical islam is slowly being defeated. Do you share this optimism ? PIPES - No, I see it growing more sophisticated and dangerous. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey worries me much more than Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran did.
5. Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Wafa Sultan and Bat Ye’or think the differences some people make between “radical islam” and “islam” are products of wishful thinking. How do you argue against that opinion ? PIPES - In many ways, but most simply by noting that when I took up this topic in the late 1960s, radical Islam barely existed. It is a historical phenomenon that developed over the subsequent decades. There is every reason to think it will eventually subside.
6. A Swiss conservative party proposes to ban minarets when Geert Wilders asks to remove the most offensive parts of the Quran. Western people are obviously divided on how to deal with the question of islam. What would you propose ? PIPES - I do not think minarets are the problem; nor can Muslims remove certain verses. But they can reinterpret the Qur’an as a whole and aggressive verses in particular.
7. What is a “democratic islam” according to you ? PIPES - Muslims can develop democratic ways but only after doing a great deal of hard work to change their understanding of their religion.
8. Do you condiser yourself as a neoconservative ? If yes, has the neoconservative ideology win the battle of minds in America ? If no, could the United States fall again in a Clinton’s way of dealing with foreign policy ? PIPES - I am not sure if I am a neoconservative. Some of my oldest friends and closest allies are called neo-conservative but I have significant disagreements with them on issues such as Iraq, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and democracy building.
9. Israel celebrates its 60th aniversary. What are the main challenges for the state in a near future ? And what should Olmert’s government do to secure its country ? PIPES - Israel faces a multi-pronged peril that includes nearly every means imaginable: weapons of mass destruction, conventional military attack, terrorism, economic blockade, demographic assault, and ideological undermining. No other contemporary state faces such an array of threats; indeed, probably none in history ever has.
10. What should the Western world do with Ahmadinejad’s Iran ? PIPES - Make very clear that its building nuclear weapons is unacceptable, hoping that the Iranian leadership will on its own close down this program but, if necessary, doing so for it.
11. How do you imagine the future of Europe ? PIPES - Bleak. I see two main options: “Eurabia” (i.e., domination by Muslims) or protracted civil conflict.
12. What are your next projects ? PIPES - To build up Islamist Watch, the Middle East Forum’s project to combat lawful Islamism, the radical Islamic threat that works within the system.
13. You publish your first book in French titled “L’islam radical à la conquête du monde” (Cheminements, collection “Turgot”, 2008). What message do you want to share with a French speaking audience ? PIPES - I hope to add to the already excellent analysis in French of the existential threat facing Western civilization.
“Obama 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 badly than McGovern (who won just 17 out of 537 electoral college votes), but HE WILL DO VERY BADLY.”
Daniel Pipes
I wish he had elaborated on some of those reasons and provided an idea of when "eventually" will be.
Kind of a side issue.
Will you be in any trouble with the PC police in France like Briggitte Bardot is?
I hope he’s right about Obama....
Don’t worry. They already tried - and failed !
Freeper drzz is unbreakable.
Good!
Nice work.
He is right.
Excellent interview! For me, the most important Q&A was:
Q 5. “Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Wafa Sultan and Bat Ye’or think the differences some people make between “radical islam” and “islam” are products of wishful thinking. How do you argue against that opinion?”
A. PIPES - “In many ways, but most simply by noting that when I took up this topic in the late 1960s, radical Islam barely existed. It is a historical phenomenon that developed over the subsequent decades. There is every reason to think it will eventually subside.”
I think Pipes is a realist and very knowledgeable. So this reply provides some encouragement, even if other answers did not.
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