Global, Israel, Politics

Is'ah We'sah Gonna Die?

Bernard Lewis, the neocon historian who coined the phrase “the clash of civilizations,” writes in today’s Wall Street Journal:

In Islam, as in Judaism and Christianity, there are certain beliefs concerning the cosmic struggle at the end of time – Gog and Magog, anti-Christ, Armageddon, and for Shiite Muslims, the long awaited return of the Hidden Imam, ending in the final victory of the forces of good over evil, however these may be defined. Ahmadinejad and his followers clearly believe that this time is now, and that the terminal struggle has already begun and is indeed well advanced. It may even have a date, indicated by several references by the Iranian president to giving his final answer to the U.S. about nuclear development by Aug. 22.
This year, Aug. 22 corresponds, in the Islamic calendar, to the 27th day of the month of Rajab of the year 1427. This, by tradition, is the night when many Muslims commemorate the night flight of the prophet Muhammad on the winged horse Buraq, first to “the farthest mosque,” usually identified with Jerusalem, and then to heaven and back (c.f., Koran XVII.1). This might well be deemed an appropriate date for the apocalyptic ending of Israel and if necessary of the world. It is far from certain that Ahmadinejad plans any such cataclysmic events precisely for Aug. 22. But it would be wise to bear the possibility in mind.

I have been bearing it in mind since I first read about it in Human Events Online, before realizing the guy who introduced the possiblity runs a psychotic right-wing website and writes for Frontpage magazine.
Turns out, this meme was fed to the radical right by Farid Ghadry, the Syrian version of Ahmed Chalabi. Ghadry supposedly believes Bush’s Middle East doctrine will lead to the “democratization” of Syria — placing him at the helm. Ghadry has identified himself as a friend of Michael Ledeen, the architect of the Bush administration’s regime-change policy, which is now focused specifically on Iran. Ledeen himself has issued similiar bunk prophecies of his own, stating in 2003 that Iran would achieve nuclear capability on another significant date in the Islamic calendar.
In other words, it’s utter bullshit.
[Update] I take it back. Maybe we’re f*cked.

14 thoughts on “Is'ah We'sah Gonna Die?

  1. Careful, Mobius, if your intelligence gets any better, the CIA or MI5 might try to recruit you.
    By the way, have you ever read Ledeen’s book, “Universal Fascism?”

  2. Why is Bernard Lewis a ‘neocon’ historian? He’s a historian the last time I checked; if you don’t like his views, fine, but simply because he is the favourite historian of Bush doesn’t make him a ‘neocon’. Dore Gold is also well liked by the Bush administration…does that make him a neocon as well?
    I myself prefer David Pryce-Jones, but Bernard Lewis does have some interesting points to make even if I don’t subscribe to his entire theory or majority of views.
    I’d be interested to know why the Miraj theory of 22 August is complete and utter bullshit beyond the fact that the information has come from right wing sources you don’t agree with.
    By this thinking I should discount everything coming out of the Guardian here in London given that I am right of centre? I may not agree with the majority of Guardian opinion or analysis, but there’s no denying that they have cracking coverage of the cricket and other UK sport. 🙂

  3. Dore Gold is a neocon by what definition? By association with Bush or because of views he has expressed?
    And still interested to hear why the Miraj theory of 22 August is complete and utter bullshit beyond the fact that the information has come from right wing sources you don’t agree with.

  4. And still interested to hear why the Miraj theory of 22 August is complete and utter bullshit beyond the fact that the information has come from right wing sources you don’t agree with.

    For starters, they don’t have nearly enough centrifuges, and aren’t even close to the amount they’d need to produce a nuclear stockpile. And going up against Isael with regular weaponry would of course be suicide, so they don’t really seem to have many options as far as apocalyptic catastrophe-production goes.
    I thought the reason to be afraid of Iran’s nuclear program was that it would eventually give them the ability to cause cataclysmic events. It seems a little bit impatient (and somewhat irresponsible) to suggest that Iran is going to cause global catastrophe in just a few weeks.

  5. “neocon” is just a term leftists use to label people they disagree with. They are trying to make the term about as popular as “liberal” is in the US. Also, Bernard Lewis may not be popular in academia, but when was the last time people actually cared what Middle East Studies professors had to say?

  6. BTW, Clash of Civilizations, is Huntington, not Lewis. This is not to say the Lewis is not a reactionary, but, he did not write Clash of Civilizations.

  7. Excellent, thanks Mobius. Although the first posting made me chuckle all the same (separated by a common language and all that; whenever the world gets too serious I lock the doors and watch ‘Life of Brian’).

  8. From Rabbi Hertzberg (z’l), “A Jew in America,” pp 284-286: “Neoconservatism was the label coined and adopted by Irving Kristol and Norman Podhoretz…[M]y old friends among the neoconservatives were startled and even a bit angered by my failure to join them. Without exception, they had not been Zionists even in the late 1940s, when Israel was fighting desperately for its independence and its very existence. Irving Kristol had been a Trotskyite in the 1930s and had been drifting to the right after the Second World War without ever taking part in Jewish affairs…[Nathan Glazer’s] writings always showed a mixture of academic detachment and Jewish concern, but he was never as passionate as he became in June 1967. He was then moving in with the neoconservatives…[S]elf -reliance was a great virtue for those who were well off, but no matter how self-reliant the Jewish slaves in Egypt had once been, it took the active help of God Himself to get them out of slavery and point them toward freedom.
    “I found no substitute in any of the new mantras of the neoconservatives for the Enlightened vision of the Declaration of Independence…”

  9. “This is not to say the Lewis is not a reactionary, but, he did not write Clash of Civilizations.”
    You’re partially right, he did not write the book but he did coin the term.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

The reCAPTCHA verification period has expired. Please reload the page.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.