A few words in appreciation of Daniel Pipes

Submitted by lucretius (Poland), Sep 10, 2011 at 07:49

I would like to post here a few word in appreciation of Dr. Daniel Pipes' contribution to the defense of liberty against Islamism - the greatest threat it has faced so far in this century, just as Soviet communism was in the second half of the previous one (and I hope I will not embarrass him by doing so).

I can think of no better way of doing this than by comparing his role to the one played by his father, Richard Pipes, a great historian of Russia, Harvard professor and an advisor to president Reagan at a very key period in American-Soviet relations. During the entire cold war period professor Pipes stood out as one of the very few people who understood the nature of the threat and both its strengths and weaknesses without exaggerating either. Rereading today articles and books that Richard Pipes wrote even as far as the 1950s, one is struck by their remarkable prescience, particularly when contrasted with almost all the writings by other so called "Soviet experts".

I am convinced that the same clarity of understanding, without exaggeration in any direction and even prescience (though it is still somewhat early to speak of that) can be found today in the writings of Daniel Pipes. I hope to see a great deal more of them and that Western leaders of today will pay as much attention to them as president Reagan did to his father.

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