Pipes does not think the present "cartoon war" a Clash of Civilizations, a term taken from a book of the same title (by Huntington at all the usual places) which paints a gloomy picture for the West in terms of the "clash" (declining birth rates, the abandonment of religion and the accompanying vanished moral floor, the rise of both Asian and Muslim civilizations and so on). Hope he's right, but when a couple of clown imams can start a world wide series of riots it makes one at least pause. This could be the dying ember of Muslim extremism or the start of the tide. As a second read you might look at Tony Blankley's "The West's Last Chance: Will We Win the Clash of Civilizations?" in which he backs up Huntington's thesis but sees a solution, something Huntington does NOT see. BTW the Huntington book is a very important one, one that was trashed by all the Lefties when it first came out but is now read by everyone. I urge you to buy it if you haven't read it already.