With the Israel/Hizbullah War we are getting another round of interviews with Muslim leaders in the Middle East and commentary from various Arab and Iranian sources. The tacit background of the Israel Muslim debate is the continuing failure of Muslim societies and cultures.  After all, the Arab and Muslim Middle East is not constrained physically, stretching as it does from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indus River, one of the great land masses in the world.  A good part of it is located around the Mediterranean, one of the world's great trading areas.  It owns a large part of the world's oil resources, one of the great deposits of natural wealth in the world. So, why is it trapped in poverty, backwardness, hate and obscurantism?  What is missing?  I am struck by the absence of one person.  Can you guess who it is? I would say it is Isaac Newton.  No, not just because Newton is associated with the rise of Western science, although that would...(Read Full Post)