The Bird Market (Esfahan Bazaar, Iran) by Desmond Kavanagh on Flickr.

Israeli resident tries to play victim whilst Gaza resident is bombed out of his seat during this CNN interview.

What is the Arab world has come to be called "the Middle East". Is this an innocent descriptor or a divisive political tool?

Once religion is banished...

Harris, Hitchens, Dawkins and Dennett know nothing about the Middle East. They do not speak Arabic. They have never studied Islam. This ignorance does not prevent them, however, from denouncing Islam and the danger posed by the Muslim world. They costume their fear and desire for revenge as a war of ideas, a "clash of civilizations," a noble "crusade" against the pernicious force of religion. And in this clash only one belief system has any validity - their own. Once religion is banished we will all be safe". --- Chris Hedges, "I Don't Believe in Atheists"

Ceiling fresco in Fin Garden, Kashan, Iran.

Different groups in the [Middle East] drew two lessons from [return of the shah in Iran] - one, that Americans were willing to use both force and intrigue to install or restore their puppet rulers in Middle Eastern countries; the other, that they were not reliable patrons when these puppets were seriously attacked by their own people, and would simply abandon them. The one evoked hatred, the other contempt - a dangerous combination.   Clearly, something deeper is involved than these specific grievances, numerous and important as they may be, something deeper which turns every disagreement into a problem and makes every problem insoluble. What we confront now is not just a complaint about one or another American policy but rather a rejection and condemnation, at once angry and contemptuous, of all that America is seen to represent in the modern world.   ― Bernard Lewis, The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror

Mosque of Sheikh Lutfullah - Esfahan, Iran

Thābit - ثَابِتٌ  Firm, strong; confirmed, proven; a constant. (Arabic: ثَابِتٌ Thābit)