Two Things...

Submitted by Alex (United States), Sep 20, 2005 at 18:08

I have two general comments on this article:

First, Musharraf's speech represented--at least in my mind--what Dr. Pipes has correctly identified in the bast as "benign antiSemitism." He has preserved the basic assumption of Mahathir's--namely, that wealthy Jews like George Soros control the US and world events, but he then praised this supposed control insofar as it was conducive to Muslim interests; note how he praised American Jews, but not the State of Israel, for helping Balkan Muslims, because doing otherwise might legitimize the Zionist cause.

Secondly, there is the somewhat related issue of formalism. Whether it be in government or foreign relations, Arab and Muslim governments are enacting policies that superficially resemble peace and democracy but are substantively intended toward legitimizing corrupt, violent, tyranny (though Dr. Pipes may be right in calling Jordan an exception to this rule). What better way to legitimize oneself in the eyes of the powers that be than to falsely ingratiate onself to the "Jewish financiers" who "control" them from behind the curtains of world institutions!

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