Mike Huckabee’s Unique Foreign Policy

Posted by Daniel Pipes Weblog - December 24, 2007 on 9:00 am | In DanielPipes | No Comments Mike Huckabee's article in Foreign Affairs has come in for much deserved ridicule, for such statements as these two: Mike Huckabee, Republican presidential candidate. "Much like a top high school student, if [the United States] is modest about its abilities and achievements, if it is generous in helping others, it is loved. But if it attempts to dominate others, it is despised." "We must first destroy existing terrorist groups and then attack the underlying conditions that breed

 


U.S.-Israel Tensions, Post-Annapolis

Posted by Daniel Pipes Weblog - December 23, 2007 on 9:00 am | In DanielPipes | No Comments Before the Annapolis meeting took place in late November, I warned of the danger that a joint U.S.-Palestinian position might emerge that the Israelis would resist, thereby leading to "a possible crisis in U.S.-Israel relations of unprecedented proportions." Here is the first installment to follow up on that worry, to be updated as needed. "Israel fears clash with U.S. over peace talks' impasse" writes Barak Ravid in Ha'aretz: A senior adviser to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Israel may come

 


Fund the Palestinians? Bad Idea

Posted by Daniel Pipes - December 19, 2007 on 9:00 am | In DanielPipes | No Comments

Lavishing funds on Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority to achieve peace has been a mainstay of Western, including Israeli, policy since Hamas seized Gaza in June. But this open spigot has counterproductive results and urgently must be stopped. Some background: Paul Morro of the Congressional Research Service reports that, in 2006, the European Union and its member states gave US$815 million to the Palestinian Authority, while the United States sent it $468 million.

 


The Latest about Mosul Dam

Posted by Daniel Pipes Weblog - December 17, 2007 on 9:00 am | In DanielPipes | No Comments A truck bomb has blown up about 1 kilometer away from the Mosul Dam, killing one policeman, injuring a second, and damaging a section of the main access bridge, announced Brigadier-General Abdul-Kareem al-Jubouri, the commander of police operations in northern Nineveh province. According to Reuters, "Jubouri said the bomber parked his truck near the bridge, telling police that it had broken down and that he need to fetch a tow truck. Shortly after he left the scene it detonated." This attack

 


Assessing the American-Led Effort in Iraq

Posted by Daniel Pipes Weblog - December 16, 2007 on 9:00 am | In DanielPipes | No Comments The surge is working, which is great news. But is that reason to conclude that the whole American-led effort in Iraq is working? I think not. The reduction in fatalities of both Iraqis and multi-national force members is important but hardly the only criterion to go by. After all, the American prescence in Iraq is not intended just to avoid death but to build a model of something new and better, a "free and prosperous" Iraq. By that latter yardstick, I would say that American efforts are less

 


Guilty Pleas By Would-Be Los Angeles Terrorists

Posted by Daniel Pipes Weblog - December 14, 2007 on 9:00 am | In DanielPipes | No Comments After the arrest of terrorist suspects, the case often goes silent for so long that one forgets about them. I published a column on "L.A.'s Thwarted Terror Spree" over two years ago. Now, suddenly, Levar Haley Washington, 28, and Kevin James, 31, have reappeared in the news, having pleaded guilty to the charge of seditious conspiracy. Washington also pleaded guilty to using a firearm to further the conspiracy. Both face up to 20 years in prison on the conspiracy charge and Washington could have

 


NIE News: Nearly 2/3s of Americans Say It Leaves Them Less Safe

Posted by Daniel Pipes Weblog - December 13, 2007 on 9:00 am | In DanielPipes | No Comments My column this week, "That NIE Makes War against Iran More Likely" seems to reflect how a very sizeable majority of Americans feel, according to a brand-new poll by the Israel Project. Here is its eighth question, asked of 800 likely voters during the period December 10-12: Some say the National Intelligence Estimate on Iran means we are more safe because it shows the threat from Iran is not as imminent as had been believed. Others say the estimate will make us less safe because it might lead

 


That NIE Makes War against Iran More Likely

Posted by Daniel Pipes - December 13, 2007 on 9:00 am | In DanielPipes | No Comments

[JP title: "Their own worst nightmare"] With the Dec. 3 publication of a completely unexpected declassified National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), “Iran: Nuclear Intentions and Capabilities,” a consensus has emerged that war with Iran “now appears to be off the agenda.” Indeed, Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, claimed the report dealt a “fatal blow” to the country’s enemies, while his foreign ministry spokesman called it a “great victory.”

 


Israeli Breakthrough at the United Nations!

Posted by Daniel Pipes Weblog - December 9, 2007 on 9:00 am | In DanielPipes | No Comments After nearly sixty years of membership at the United Nations, the Israeli government passed its first-ever resolution at the General Assembly's Second Committee, which deals with development issues, on a topic unconnected to the Arab-Israeli conflict or the Holocaust – and without a single opposing vote, at that. The tally: 118 states favoring the resolution, 0 opposing, 29 abstaining. With the exception of South Africa, those abstentions were from Arab- and Muslim-majority countries.

 


Turkey as Rival

Posted by Daniel Pipes Weblog - December 6, 2007 on 9:00 am | In DanielPipes | No Comments I argue today with the consensus view in Washington that things are going wonderfully in Ankara in "Turkey, Still a Western Ally?" Here are just a few of the articles out concurrent with mine that argue partially or entirely the opposite: The American Interest: With impressive skill, Mustafa Akyol makes the case in "Turkey's Veiled Democracy" that the AKP represents "Turkey's Muslim liberalism." American Spectator: Ilan Berman of the American Foreign Policy Council mostly sees things as I do

 


Riyadh Reorients to Moscow

Posted by Daniel Pipes Weblog - December 5, 2007 on 9:00 am | In DanielPipes | No Comments The Saudi government has just made a major military move away from the United States and toward Russia, reports Geostrategy-Direct, a private intelligence service offered by the somewhat clandestine East West Services, Inc. In a report titled "Fears of U.S. ‘grand bargain' with Iran sends Saudis to Moscow" (available only via paid subscription), it details the recent visit to Moscow by Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia, where he reportedly began a strategic dialogue with

 


Turkey, Still a Western Ally?

Posted by Daniel Pipes - December 5, 2007 on 9:00 am | In DanielPipes | No Comments

“Far from being the source of anti-Americanism in Turkey, the AKP represents an ideal partner for the United States in the region.” So asserts Joshua W. Walker, a former Turkey desk officer at the State Department now studying at Princ­eton University, referring to the Justice and Development Party (known as the AKP). Writing in The Washington Quarterly, Walker supports his thesis by noting the constructive Turkish role in Iraq, praising “how carefully the AKP has guarded the [U.S.]

 


Recidivist Palestinian Terrorists

Posted by Daniel Pipes Weblog - December 4, 2007 on 9:00 am | In DanielPipes | No Comments News yesterday about the Israeli authorities releasing 429 Palestinian prisoners in a "confidence-building measure" for Mahmoud Abbas (leaving, by the way, 8,800 Palestinian security prisoners in Israel's jails) brings a report on Palestinian recidivism released in September 2007 to mind. Conducted by Almagor, an organization representing the Israeli victims of Palestinian terrorism, it found that 12 percent, or 854 of the 6,912 convicted Palestinian terrorists released from Israeli jails

 


Not Child’s Play: The Teddy-Bear Intifada

Posted by Daniel Pipes Weblog - December 3, 2007 on 9:00 am | In DanielPipes | No Comments National Review Online asked a group of experts: "There is rioting in Sudanese streets calling for the death of a woman over a teddy bear named Mohammed. What can we in the West possibly do with this — nationally, individually? How do we help? What must we learn from it?" For all replies, see "Symposium: Not Child's Play" The mob demanding the execution of Gillian Gibbons — for allowing her seven-year-old pupils to name a teddy bear Mohammed — may have been government-prompted. In any case,

 


Accept Israel as the Jewish State?

Posted by Daniel Pipes - November 29, 2007 on 9:00 am | In DanielPipes, Jihad Watch | Comments Off Surprisingly, something useful has emerged from the combination of the misconceived Annapolis meeting and a weak Israeli prime minister, Ehud ("Peace is achieved through concessions") Olmert. Breaking with his predecessors, Olmert has boldly demanded that his Palestinian bargaining partners accept Israel's permanent existence as a Jewish state, thereby evoking a revealing response. Unless the Palestinians recognize Israel as "a Jewish state," Olmert announced on November 11, the Annapolis-

 


“Dawah Kit for Mobile Phones”

Posted by Daniel Pipes Weblog - November 28, 2007 on 9:00 am | In DanielPipes, Jihad Watch | Comments Off The e-mailman brought today an ad from "Guided Ways" for a way to spread Islam via a "Dawah Kit with references from the bible" that is now available for Java-enabled phones, Smartphones, Pocket PCs, Blackberry devices and Symbian OS." Here are the details: Want to give dawah (invitation) to your fellow Christian and Jew colleagues but can't memorize references from the bible? Impressed with the different international orators such as late Sheikh Ahmed Deedat, Dr. Zakir Naik, Dr. Bilal Philips

 


What’s Wrong With Annapolis

Posted by Daniel Pipes Weblog - November 27, 2007 on 9:00 am | In DanielPipes, Jihad Watch | Comments Off I have written at some length against the "meeting" at Annapolis today, but George W. Bush summed up the problem more succinctly when he read to the gathered worthies from some 40 states this sentence from the Palestinian-Israeli "Joint Understanding": We express our determination to bring an end to bloodshed, suffering and decades of conflict between our peoples; to usher in a new era of peace, based on freedom, security, justice, dignity, respect and mutual recognition; to propagate a

 


Mr. Palestine?

Posted by Daniel Pipes Weblog - November 26, 2007 on 9:00 am | In DanielPipes, Jihad Watch | Comments Off Some thoughts on the eve of the Annapolis meeting: "Mr Palestine"? Called the best friend Israel ever had in the White House, George W. Bush is, in my view, worrisomely over-confident. He believes he has discovered the solution to a highly complex and subtle century-old conflict. But I expect major problems. The cover of the Nov. 24 Economist shows a picture of Bush under a bold headline that reads "Mr Palestine." The subtitle deems him "The only man who could make it happen" – with

 


Moshe Ya’alon: “To Be Coddled, Go Left”

Posted by Daniel Pipes Weblog - November 25, 2007 on 9:00 am | In DanielPipes | No Comments Moshe Ya'alon, former Israel Defense Forces chief of staff. The former chief of staff of Israel's defense forces, Moshe Ya'alon, has come out and said explicitly what everyone knows about politicians and what no one normally dares say. As Arutz Sheva sums up his advice in its headline: "To Be Coddled, Go Left." Politicians have learned that if they go towards steps such as disengagement, convergence [i.e., withdrawal from Judea and Samaria], and folding, then the central current of

 


Lee Harvey Oswald’s Malign Legacy

Posted by Daniel Pipes - November 22, 2007 on 9:00 am | In DanielPipes, Jihad Watch | Comments Off What's wrong with American liberalism? What happened to the self-assured, optimistic, and practical Democratic Party of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, and John F. Kennedy? Why has Joe Lieberman, their closest contemporary incarnation, been run out of the party? How did anti-Americanism infect schools, the media, and Hollywood? And whence comes the liberal rage that conservatives like Ann Coulter, Jeff Jacoby, Michelle Malkin, and the Media Research Center have extensively documented?

 


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