More Than Slightly Obnoxious Question Called For

Submitted by Alex (United States), May 13, 2015 at 21:20

Dr. Pipes, please ignore the following question if you find it infantile, extraneous or embarrassing, but I really feel like asking it:

In keeping with your recent interviews on the topic of being an historian, I would find it enlightening to know whether the newly reversing imbalance between Israel and her current and former enemies vis a vis control over natural resources (natural gas exports, desalination), along with the growing potential for nuclear war in the Middle East, tempt you into lending credence to eschatological depictions of history?

I do not--and I know you do not--view human events through a deterministic cyclical lens. Nonetheless, I think it must be tantalizing even for a professional historian to wonder whether trends such as those that we are witnessing now are significant of some larger historical narrative not entirely under human control.

I am reminded of a quote from the late famous historian, of Islam Marshall Hodgson (

https://books.google.com/books?id=COOGFSH_jUkC&printsec=frontcover&dq=marshall+hodgson+venture+3&hl=en&sa=X&ei=rfdTVc-YJdW3yASA3ICwBw&ved=0CBsQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=marshall%20hodgson%20venture%203&f=false ; See 1st pargraph on pg. 5 through first full paragraph on pg. 6).

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