For anyone following up last night's conversation wrt Syria, Rory Stewart had a good brief explainer of Syrian groups and recent history since the destruction of the Ottoman Empire. One of the i… (View Post)

You're stuck in your mindset and your worldview, I think. Religion (even Western religion) does not comprise "going to church". AFAIK, Islam as it has existed since the 7C in the ME in… (View Post)

I think you are perhaps trying to apply Western European assumptions in a Middle Eastern culture, and perhaps imagining that Islam in the ME exists separately to polity / society; not so - it encompa… (View Post)

FPT: Yes - some slightly different Usonian definitions / usage, and it was a good test knowing what the *other* options meant in detail, and stopping before words were read to choose the word *I* wou… (View Post)

I think Clarkson's problem is that he thinks he should be a law unto Himself, and presented his programme as such. He is pursuing only his own interest, and if he was on the other end he would b… (View Post)