[rmlew]

I know that this is an old piece. However, it is suddenly relevent again for two reasons.
1. The recent comments by Newt attacking the State Department.
2. The nomination of Daniel Pipes for a seat at the US Institute for Peace.

[Cicero]

Excellent posts. I knew something about the Arabists from my reading (not just the current news, but Talbot Munday's old romances, for example, and Percival Christopher Wrenn) but I never ran across this book.

What this review suggests is that maybe we need a third generation in the State Department. The Peace Processors replaced the Arabists, and now they need to be replaced too, ASAP. No doubt Martin Indyk is better than some sand-mad romantic from the Victorian age, but he hasn't done such a great job.

[A. J. Nolte]

And oh what a stir the Pipes appointment is making. The Counsel on American Islamic Relations is having a collective cow. I got a chance to hear Pipes at CPAC, and the Middle East Forum is second to none. Five stars to the president on this one.

[TopQuark]

Thanks for the good article posted for a good reaosn.

[Valin]

Thanks for posting this. Bookmarked.

[livius]

Good article - the fact that it's ten years old merely shows how long this problem has been going unattended, noticed only by a few, such as Daniel Pipes.

"They loved a pristine Middle East, and regretted its modernization."

I think, as he points out, while much of the current problem is motivated by certain modern political movements, the difficulty in dealing with it is based on this peculiar and long-entrenched (and unacknowledged) romantic attitude.

[SJackson]

An excellent reminder.

[SJackson]

If you'd like to be on or off this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.

[Grampa Dave]

Thanks for reposting this excellent history lesson which many of us have no concept of.

It is very timely and sheds some understanding of the romance some of our elitist Ivy Leaguers have. Obviously, this did not rub off on our President!

I have bookmarked this.