Foreign Policy Research Institute President Harvey Sicherman delivers an impromptu briefing on the Middle East crisis. A former aide to three U.S. secretaries of state, Sicherman examines the Israel-Lebanon-Gaza war as Round Three in the struggle between the U.S. and Iran over the future direction of the Middle East, or, to put it another way, between the forces for democracy and the forces for theocracy.
Zuhdi Jasser of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy discusses the modern U.S. relationship with Islam, both internally and in foreign relations, and critiques the institutions and viewpoints, both within the U.S. and within Islam, that he believes need to change before a peaceful, democratic balance can be reached between Islam and U.S. democracy.
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Mary Habeck of Johns Hopkins University looks at the theories backing jihadism and the practice of jihadism. She examines the differences between Islamist and Salafi groups that believe change can be achieved by social/political means and those that believe change can only be realized through violence—the Jihadi groups.
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Marc Sageman, forensic psychiatrist, discusses the importance of gathering actual solid evidence on terrorists, as human beings, and the difficulties present in collecting this information. He describes the information he gathered on a group of modern Salafi terrorists and the environment they came from.
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Fawaz Gerges of Sarah Lawrence College and Barry Rubin of the Global Research in International Affairs Center explore the political turmoil currently taking place in the Middle East, including the rise to prominence of Islamists in politics. Gerges argues that the Islamist powers rise to fill a vacuum of legitimate political authority. Rubin emphasizes the importance of Arab nationalism in the region's internal and global politics and the staying power of some of the region's regimes.
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David Forte of Cleveland State University discusses the development of Islam away from its original written texts, arguing that the legal community, the needs of empire, and tribalism have distorted the religion's spiritual message, resulting in the current harsh treatment of apostates and religious minorities. He includes some comparison of Islam's development to that of Christianity and Judaism.
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Jytte Klausen of Brandeis University and Michael Radu of the FPRI Center on Terrorism, Counter-Terrorism, and Homeland Security discuss the history and identity of Islam and Muslims in Europe, examining the differences in identity, political activity, and acceptance of Muslims in Europe and in the U.S.
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S. Abdallah Schleifer of the Washington News Bureau, Al Arabiya, compares and contrasts the interpretations of Islam that lead to Islamism and that lead to coexistence with or under other political systems. He focuses particularly on defining what, precisely, Islamism is and what adherents to the ideology believe.
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Library of Congress historian Marvin Kranz discusses Abraham Lincoln's first inaugural address, pointing out that research has revealed that some of the phrases in the speech were suggested to Lincoln by others, while at the same time praising Lincoln's self-taught prose writing style.
Library of Congress historian Marvin Kranz outlines the proceedings of the United States' first presidential inauguration, and points out the precedents that George Washington set during the ceremony.