Folklight Reflections

by Daniel Pipes February 24, 2011 From National Review Online The violent demise of the Middle East's longest-ruling leader – who came to office in September 1969, just a few months after Richard Nixon – stands well outside the mainstream of the region's politics, but then Moammer Gaddafi always did. Gaddafi (for the record, the correct spelling of his name is Mu'ammar al-Qadhdhāfi) began his rule at the tender age of 27, just as Pan-Arabist ideology was dying down; undeterred, long after others had given up on this fantasy, he remained a proponent of the notion of turning all Arabic countries into one gigantic whole. Eventually frustrated with Arabic-speakers, where the small population of Libya limited his influence, he turned south, where his outsized energy income bestowed real clout in Africa. Fortunately for the world, every one of his hare-brained schemes came to naught. What I observed in 1981 still holds true: "For all Qadhdhafi's hyperactivity, he rarely...

Egypt blocks Iran ships from Suez Canal Officials overseeing the strategic waterway that connects the Red Sea to the Mediterranean could not confirm the report, saying only that they have been told that plans by two Iranian naval vessels to cross through the canal had been canceled. By Avi Issacharoff and Reuters The Suez Canal has been told that plans by two Iranian naval ships to cross the waterway were canceled, an official said on Thursday. It was not immediately clear which side was behind the cancellation, but the Al-Arabiya daily reported that Egyptian authorities had blocked the ships from crossing. Any naval vessels passing through the canal, a strategic international shipping route that connects the Red Sea to the Mediterranean, must first have approval from Egypt's foreign and defense ministries, officials said. If the ships had crossed, it would have been the first time since Iran's 1979 revolution that Iranian warships had passed through the canal, officials said....

By Kelly O'Connell Sunday February 6, 2011 As Egyptians ponder revolution, the globe awaits how this will effect energy prices, Middle East relations, and world stability, especially considering agitation by the Muslim Brotherhood. It is mystifying how Obama supports these protesters, while admitting he hadn’t yet called Mubarak—America’s ally and Egypt’s president. Remember Obama’s deer-in-the-headlights routine when Iranians protested rigged elections. So what is different this time? As with all things Barack, if we scratch beneath the surface of superficial incompetence we find a genuine commitment to real leftism. It is axiomatic what excites Obama is some form of revolutionary liberalism, hence his “Change” mantra, and all subsequent progressive policies and past associations. So his backing leftist radicals makes splendid sense considering his instinctual sympathy for Marxist revolutions, Hegel’s fatalism and hem-of-the-garment Islamism. These issues are the topic of this...

A Culture of Death driving the world off a cliff ?!? by Roger W. Gardner The Global War on Terror. Why does the very name we have chosen for this monumental global conflict contain the seeds of our coming failure? The answer is simple. The name itself is prima facie evidence of our inability, or our adamant refusal, to face the hard truth about the real nature of this war. It is yet another example of our willful ignorance and our moral cowardice. Who are we fighting? Who are our enemies? Are we fighting some mysterious group of anonymous terrorists? Who has declared war against us, against the entire Judeo/Christian West? And finally, if we are afraid to even mention the name of our sworn enemy, how on earth can we ever expect to win this bloody war? - Read the Rest: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Jihadist globally have met little resistance in their self declared 'war' via a much dreaded 'ism! As my guitar gently weeps these forces are pushing...