Saudi Arabia is a puritanical state that claims a monopoly of wisdom and virtue. – James Buchan
Is there any purpose to translating poetry? A poem does not contain information of importance, like a signpost or a warning notice. – James Buchan
The west has a great deal to answer for in the Middle East, from Britains belated empire-building after the First World War to the US and British policy that condemns modern Iraq to the material and social squalor of a half-century ago. – James Buchan
Were there peace and justice in the Middle East, the Arabs would no more need their tinhorn dictators than they would their corpulent princes. – James Buchan