Nicholas Kristof has an interesting column on why the Middle East stagnated economically after the 1200s while the western world boomed. Many Arabs have an alternative theory about the reason for the region’s backwardness: Western colonialism. But that seems equally specious and has the sequencing wrong. “For all its discontents, the Middle East’s colonial period [...]
Nicholas Kristof
America’s History of Fear
Good column today by Nicholas Kristof Screeds against Catholics from the 19th century sounded just like the invective today against the Not-at-Ground-Zero Mosque. The starting point isn’t hatred but fear: an alarm among patriots that newcomers don’t share their values, don’t believe in democracy, and may harm innocent Americans. Followers of these movements against Irish, [...]
