Israel Matzav

Bernard Lewis on the current state of affairs in the Middle East

Here are a couple of key excerpts from a summary of lengthy interview with Middle East scholar Bernard Lewis. I hope someone is listening.

Mutually Assured Destruction won't work with nuclear-armed mullahs. If Iran did get nuclear warheads, don't count on them never using such weapons for fear of an American or Israeli counter-strike. "During the Cold War, both the Soviet Union and the United States had nuclear weapons but both knew that the other was very unlikely to use them. Because of what was known at the time as MAD —mutually assured destruction. MAD meant that each side knew that if it used a nuclear weapon the other would retaliate and both sides would be devastated. And that's why the whole time during the Cold War, even at the worst times, there was not much danger of anyone using a nuclear weapon." Lewis thinks the imams in Iran "are religious fanatics with an apocalyptic mindset. In Islam, as in Christianity and Judaism, there is an end-of-times scenario—and they think it's beginning or has already begun. . . . mutually assured destruction is not a deterrent—it's an inducement."

Turkey could be the next Iran. Turkey, once a bulwark against Islamic radicalism with its secular, pro-Western orientation, is changing. The Journal says that Lewis is alarmed by developments there. "In Turkey, the movement is getting more and more toward re-Islamization. The government has that as its intention—and it has been taking over, very skillfully, one part after another of Turkish society. The economy, the business community, the academic community, the media. And now they're taking over the judiciary, which in the past has been the stronghold of the republican regime."

Like I said, I hope someone is listening.

Curiously, Lewis is said to be delighted by developments in Egypt (and Tunisia and Libya). I'm kind of surprised he's not worried about Islamization of Egypt. In Israel, that concerns us greatly.

Labels: Bernard Lewis, Iranian nuclear program, Turkey

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:56 PM