QOTD: Daniel Pipes

Daniel Pipes in USA Today

An increasing number of voices are calling for Hamas to be recognized, arguing that the imperatives of governance would tame it, ending its arch-murderous vocation (it has killed about 600 Israelis) and turning it into a responsible citizen.

...The historical record, however, refutes this "pothole theory of democracy". Mussolini made the trains run, Hitler built autobahns, Stalin cleared the snow and Castro reduced infant mortality -- without any of these totalitarians giving up their ideological zeal nor their grandiose ambitions. Likewise, Islamists in Afghanistan, Iran and Sudan have governed without becoming tamed. If proof is needed, note the Iranian efforts to build nuclear weapons amid an apocalyptic fervor.

QOTD: Jacob Neusner

QOTD:Jacob Neusner

Conservative Judaism had been made up of "Orthodox rabbis serving Conservative congregations comprised of Reform Jews."

QOTD: Victor Davis Hanson

QOTD:Victor Davis Hanson

So how do we make sense of what seems so nonsensical [in Iraq and the Middle East in general]? Rather easily--just keep in mind four general talking points about America's recent role in the world and most things gradually become clearer.

Point One (for Americans): My own flawless three-week removal of Saddam Hussein was ruined by your error-prone postwar peace.

Point Two (for Middle Easterners): We are for democracy--unless you Americans help us obtain it.

Point Three (for Europeans): We are privately for and publicly against what you do.

Point Four (for everyone else): When angry at either the United States (or yourself,) just blame the Jews in America, and Israel abroad.

Sometimes in these crazy times, that is all you need to know.