Dangerous and deepening divide between Islamic world, West

[Dilloduck]

WASHINGTON (Reuters)- For those who believe in a clash of civilizations between the Islamic world and Western democracy, the last few weeks must seem like final confirmation of their theory.
Even those who reject the term as loaded and simplistic speak sadly of a perhaps catastrophic failure of understanding between Americans in particular and many Muslims.
The outrage and violence over a crude film ridiculing the Prophet Mohammad points to a chasm between Western free speech and individualism and the sensitivities of some Muslims over what they see as a campaign of humiliation.
There seems no shortage of forces on both sides to fan the flames. The tumult over the video had not even subsided when a French magazine this week printed a new cartoon showing the prophet naked.
"It's ridiculous," Zainab Al-Suwaij, executive director of the America Islamic Congress, said of the violence that on Friday killed 15 in Pakistan alone as what were supposed to be peaceful protests turned violent.
"Yes, this video is offensive but it is clearly a grotesque over reaction that in part is being whipped up by radical Islamists in the region for their own ends. But it does show you the depth of misunderstanding between the cultures."


http://news.yahoo.com/dangerous-deepening-divide-between-islamic-world-west-145536305.html

[Tyr-Ziu Saxnot]

http://news.yahoo.com/dangerous-deepening-divide-between-islamic-world-west-145536305.html

Welcome to the realization that many Americans came to immediately after the 9/11 attacks. I was way ahead of the curve being onto the Islamic agenda and its aim to destroy America(big Satan)well before that but before 9/11 when I ever tried to point it out I was called a crazy conspiracy nut! Even today I get called that by appeasors and other assorted types of idiots..-Tyr

[Dilloduck]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Clash_of_Civilizations

Several people beat you to it. Yahoo just posted an article about it. Several intereting points are made about it.

[Dilloduck]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-19616356


Afghanistan: Nato air strike 'kills eight women' in Laghman

Major Adam Wojack, a spokesman for the Isaf international forces: ''This is a tragic loss of life, our sincerest condolences go out to the community''
<!-- END - caption --><!-- end of the embedded player component --><!-- Player embedded -->Continue reading the main story (http://www.debatepolicy.com/#story_continues_1) <!-- Non specific version -->Taliban Conflict (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/south_asia/afghanistan_pakistan/default.stm)

Marching forwards (http://www.debatepolicy.com/news/world-asia-19591871)
Taliban fighters switch sides (http://www.debatepolicy.com/news/world-asia-19153734)
What lies ahead? (http://www.debatepolicy.com/news/world-19433577)
Nato's exit strategy Watch (http://www.debatepolicy.com/news/world-asia-17999603)



At least eight women have died in a Nato air strike in Afghanistan's eastern province of Laghman, local officials say.
Nato has conceded that between five and eight civilians died as it targeted insurgents, and offered condolences.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai "strongly condemned" the deaths and has sent officials to the area to investigate.
Earlier on Sunday, four US soldiers with the Nato forces were killed in an attack by suspected Afghan police.
The attack in southern Zabul province brought to 51 the number of Nato troops killed in "insider attacks" this year, and came a day after two UK soldiers were killed at a checkpoint in Helmand by a man in police uniform.

[Tyr-Ziu Saxnot]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Clash_of_Civilizations

Several people beat you to it. Yahoo just posted an article about it. Several intereting points are made about it.


Did not beat me to it as my discussions about it started in 1982. That link states 1993/1995 but was great info that I was unaware of . Thanks , I will book mark and research that information that you have just provided .-Tyr

[tailfins]

Did not beat me to it as my discussions about it started in 1982. That link states 1993/1995 but was great info that I was unaware of . Thanks , I will book mark and research that information that you have just provided .-Tyr

I just hope our response is guided by good military science. The idea is to preserve the American way of life and American lives; not to just make ourselves feel good.

[Tyr-Ziu Saxnot]

I just hope our response is guided by good military science. The idea is to preserve the American way of life and American lives; not to just make ourselves feel good.

Very well stated and I see no need to add to it.. I agree with that 100%!!--:beer:--Tyr

[Tyr-Ziu Saxnot]

Did not beat me to it as my discussions about it started in 1982. That link states 1993/1995 but was great info that I was unaware of . Thanks , I will book mark and research that information that you have just provided .-Tyr

While researching the link you provided I found this.


http://www.campus-watch.org/article/id/11

Nevertheless, no matter how mistaken Kramer and Pipes may be in terms of the policies they advocate, some of their criticisms of Middle Eastern Studies in the United States are valid. Many American specialists on the Middle East are so determined to rebut popular stereotypes about Islam that they idealize all things Islamic, especially the militant movements commonly referred to as ‘fundamentalist' or ‘Islamist'. Scholars like John Esposito do ignore or downplay the anti-Semitic conspiracy theories that pervade the Islamist literature (Munson 1996). They do ignore or downplay the threat that such movements pose to human rights as well as to the possibility of resolving the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Moreover, while Kramer exaggerates the impact of Edward Said's Orientalism on political science (Gause 2002), it is true that any scholar who dares to discuss discrimination against the Baha'is in Iran, slavery in the Sudan, or the Islamists' persecution of intellectuals in Egypt runs the risk of being called an ‘Orientalist', a ‘Zionist', or an agent of American imperialism. Conversely, of course, anyone who dares to criticize the policies of Ariel Sharon runs the risk of being called an anti-Semite or a self-hating Jew.

The field of Middle Eastern Studies has become politicized and polarized between two forms of moral myopia represented by Daniel Pipes on the one hand and John Esposito on the other. Reading Pipes, one could easily believe that Muslim hostility toward Israel is simply a matter of anti-Semitism. Reading Esposito, one would never know that anti-Semitism is indeed a serious problem in the Islamic world. Pipes demonizes Islamic militancy without analysing the various social, nationalistic, and religious grievances that fuel it (see Pipes 1996). Esposito idealizes Islamic militancy while downplaying the bigotry, fanaticism, and violence associated with it (see Esposito 1999). Students of Islamic militancy need to avoid both Pipes's demonization and Esposito's idealization.

I strongly disagree with some of it but the information given there bears closer scrutiny. Tyr