On his radio show today, Dennis Prager (whose first draft of his new book is due to his publisher in a month) said: “I have been warning you about Turkey. We are told over and over by the experts, by the professors, that Turkey is an excellent model of moderate Islamic party running a country. Nothing to worry about. This is a moderate Islamic party running Turkey.”
According to the Wall Street Journal: Another key variable in the regional dynamic is Turkey, Mr. [Bernard] Lewis’s particular expertise. He was the first Westerner granted access to the Ottoman archives in Istanbul in 1950. Recent developments there alarm him. “In Turkey, the movement is getting more and more toward re-Islamization. The government has that as its intention—and it has been taking over, very skillfully, one part after another of Turkish society. The economy, the business community, the academic community, the media. And now they’re taking over the judiciary, which in the past has been the stronghold of the republican regime.” Ten years from now, Mr. Lewis thinks, Turkey and Iran could switch places.
So even as he watches young Middle Eastern activists rise up against the tyrannies that have oppressed them, he keeps a wary eye on the spread of Islamic fundamentalism. It is particularly challenging because it has “no political center, no ethnic identity. . . . It’s both Arab and Persian and Turkish and everything else. It is religiously defined. And it can command support among people of every nationality once they are convinced. That marks the important difference,” he says.
“I think the struggle will continue until they either obtain their objective or renounce it,” Mr. Lewis says. “At the moment, both seem equally improbable.”
Monday, April 04, 2011 Radio Show
20110404 – 1 Great Transgendered Americans
Prager H1: Want to know why the state of California is in a freefall? Add this to the list. The legislature is anxious to pass a law mandating that students learn about the contributions of lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgendered Americans to US history. Great bi-sexual and transgendered Americans? Can you name any?
Monday, April 04, 2011 Radio Show
20110404 – 2 The Goldstone Travesty
Prager H2: The author of the Goldstone Report, the UN report that denounced Israel for targeting civilians in its Gaza war with Hamas, now admits he might have been too hasty in drawing his conclusions. This fool now regrets trusting terrorists to tell the truth. His pathetic retraction won’t undo what he’s done… The dean of Western scholars of Islam, Bernard Lewis, offers a sober assessment of the state of the Middle East.
Monday, April 04, 2011 Radio Show
20110404 – 3 First Hour Replay
Prager H3: Dennis has a speech in Sacramento tonight. Unfortunately, his Southwest Airlines flight was cancelled. Now he has to drive, necessitating an early departure from the show. Southwest had an incident with one of its planes over the weekend and has subsequently cancelled hundreds of flights. We replay the first hour from today’s show, an instant Best of Prager Hour.
