“Gradual change is in principle, of course, a good idea, certainly in countries where a blatant disregard for civil liberties go hand in hand with outright brutality and a plundering of the nation’s resources. In such instances—and in the Arab… — John R. Bradley Copy Share Image
“But if Nasser's gift to the Egyptians was their sense of pride, Mubarak's curse is to have created a cultural climate where the only… — John R. Bradley Copy Share Image
“However, since the Syrian regime is even less transparent than the NGOs, we have no way of knowing that, either.” — John R. Bradley Copy Share Image
“After the attack, it was again the image of the country, rather than the well-being of those who had been caught up in the violence, that seemed to take precedence. Knowing that a picture speaks a thousand words, the government forces, according to eyewitnesses widely quoted at the time, put most of their effort into finding and confiscating camcorders and… — John R. Bradley Copy Share
“Because Islam is so tightly bound up with Acehnese exceptionalism, it has since the introduction of Islamic law become the territory’s version of political correctness. There is no public forum where its tenets may be safely challenged. Aceh is never going to be in a position to divest itself of Islamic law without the implausible scenario of a violent revolution… — John R. Bradley Copy Share
“After all, there is in more stable, developed countries like the United States and Britain a quantifiably more vicious culture of child abuse. A… — John R. Bradley Copy Share Image
“After that fateful day of July 23, 1952, the "Paris Along the Nile," as Cairo was lovingly renamed by the foreigners who flocked to… — John R. Bradley Copy Share Image
“Mansour earned the nickname "Al-Turbiny," from the air-conditioned express trains linking Cairo with Egypt's second city Alexandria, whose roofs were the favored location for his crimes. Police said he would to rape, torture, and chop up his victims on carriage roofs before tossing them on to the trackside, dead or barely alive.” — John R. Bradley Copy Share
“The situation is complicated, though, in a country like Tunisia, where sudden and dramatic change in favor of Western-style democracy at this juncture does still risk undoing what good work has been done. Freer and fairer elections risk bringing to power a small band of rabid Islamists who can be guaranteed to whip up populist campaigns against Western influence, women’s… — John R. Bradley Copy Share
“Nothing gives your average bored Sunni bigot surfing the web more instant gratification than zooming in on sigeh to condemn the Shia as debauched heretics, but there could be few more vulnerable moral high grounds where he might pitch his flag of religious superiority than this particular spot in cyberspace. The Sunnis, after all, have their own versions of this… — John R. Bradley Copy Share
“despite having a thriving gay prostitution scene, Damascus is unlike just about every other Middle Eastern city I have visited in not having any… — John R. Bradley Copy Share Image
“The Arab Spring has been a dismal failure. All indications are that what comes next will be significantly worse than what existed before, in Tunisia and everywhere else, and the traumatic events up to now have already caused untold havoc and violence and made the lives of innocent ordinary people even more miserable than they already were. Socially and economically,… — John R. Bradley Copy Share
“An investigative report by the BBC in July 2007 found that thousands of young Egyptian men try to enter Europe illegally every year. Sometimes… — John R. Bradley Copy Share Image
