The War on Terror Smackdown: Ken Livingston vs. Daniel Pipes

Ken Livingston will be debating Dan Pipes on Jan 20. 

Fascinating, and more than a bit surreal.  To see a sitting mayor to be mixing it up in the ring like this.

Ken Livingston is the amazingly outspoken mayor of London who’s created uproars in recent years by calling Ariel Sharon a war criminal, fantasizing about the death of the Saudi royal family, and inviting Yusuf al-Qaradawi to a 2004 London conference on hijab.

It’s nice to see that one can have a backbone and some convictions on the Middle East and still have a political career on the Other Side of the Pond.

The conference also includes numerous talks, some by prominent UK Muslims.

Conference: Clash of Civilisations

Gavin Esler, BBC Newsnight presenter, will chair the main debate between Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London, and Daniel Pipes, Director of the Middle East Forum, an American think tank that advises US policymakers on the Middle East, on these contrasting approaches and their implications for Londoners. Pipes argues that ‘there is not so much a clash of civilisations as there is one of civilisations vs. barbarism.’