The Lion's Den

Ahmed Shafiq, the former air force commander and former president Hosni Mubarak's last prime minister, actually won the presidential race by a narrow margin.

Barack Obama has a weak record in the Middle East, but one would not learn this from the debate, where Mitt Romney praised Obama's achievements ("It's wonderful that Libya seems to be making some progress"), agreed with Obama more than he disagreed, and rarely pointed out his failings. Presumably, Romney took this mild approach to establish his likability, competence, and suitability to serve as commander-in-chief.

Even the modestly dressed and Islamist friendly Catherine Ashton did not escape being photoshopped.

As ever, Muslims raise startling new issues and Islam drives the social and legal agenda in the West.

Before the "8 March Revolution," Syria had been exceptionally unstable. Then came the heavy hand of the Ba'athists.

Publishing house Palgrave Macmillan apologized for appearing to endorse "the Palestinian struggle."

Things have never been so good in the Jewish state.

When will American politicians and military leaders eventually realize that training foreign soldiers does not allies make them?

I vote Republican because I support the party's core message of individualism, patriotism, and respect for tradition, in contrast to the core Democratic message of dependence, self-criticism, and "progress." I am inspired by the original reading of the U.S. Constitution, by ideals of personal freedom and American exceptionalism. I vote for small government, for a return of power to the states, for a strong military, and an assertive pursuit of national interests.

Special Ops used to be about capturing or killing enemies; now it's about shaping public opinion.

The sort of reasoning going around in Turkey regarding the Israeli strike in Syria can quickly leave one with a sore head.

The AWACS Israel is selling to Turkey will potentially be used against Israel in the Mediterranean Sea.

One must expect future non-suicide bombers to turn to niqabs or burqas, as many terrorists and criminals have repeatedly done.

What a launch for Kerry, whose mental vapidity promises to make Hillary Clinton actually look good in retrospect.

Both law enforcement, the media and elected officials are reluctant to give out information about the attackers' religion, much less their motives.

Should the crackdown succeed in isolating, weakening, and destroying the Islamists, then others will replicate it elsewhere.

Unlike nearby Israel, which is also surrounded, Cyprus lacks either a military option or protective fences.

Odd that CUFI is out there swinging and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee is silent.

Erdoğan can be seen as the anti-Atatürk, the leader who seeks to undo substantial parts of his predecessor's legacy, especially Atatürk's rejection of Shari'a, or Islamic law.

The Nation of Islam's historic role as a bridge between American blacks and Islam ended in 1975 when W. Deen Mohammed followed his father, Elijah Muhammad, as leader of the Nation and immediately disavowed his father's folk religion, bringing his followers to normative Islam, the Islam of the Middle East. From then on, despite the theatrics of Louis Farrakhan, the Nation has been in a long downward trajectory. Now comes evidence, thanks to Tony Ortega in the Village Voice and Eliza Gray in The New Republic, of a jaw-dropping turn by Farrakhan, 79, to Scientology; as Gray's subtitle puts it, "America's two weirdest sects join forces."

Now that Israelis humiliated themselves and Erdogan is rampaging ahead, some are awakening to the fact that this apology only made matters worse.

Middle East expert Daniel Pipes advocates backing Assad in Syria to keep the civil war there going.

The military has grown so large because of preferential tax treatment, subsidized labor, an extra-legal status, and old-boy networks.

If Assad is winning, Western governments should respond by helping the rebels to prevent Assad from crushing them.

You expressed having had "genuine concerns" about Hagel prior to your White House meeting with him; now is the moment for you to follow the dictates of your conscience.

Barack Obama's approach pulls the United States back from its customary adult role and has it join the children.

Sometimes one is better off when an opponent feels compelled to prove his bona fides.

Israeli responses have been stark, blunt unlike anything in memory.

Dallas was a bastion of right-wing kooks with a vast legacy -- now, watch how this bastion gets blamed for the communist Oswald...

Secure Freedom Radio Originally published at Daniel Pipes