Arab's contribution to civilization

This article debunks the commonly held idea that the Arabs brought great learning and a flowering of the arts for several centuries after the arrival of Mohammed.  Rather, it is suggested, they destroyed the library at Alexandria, and in general stopped all scholarship in lands they conquered.  Mmmm! More needs to be revealed on this subject.  It sounds like there are many unproven myths currently reigning in academia about the three centuries after Mohammed became all the rage in that part of the world.

Greek Tragedy

Walter Mead provides a brief and succinct history of Greece in this articlearticle.  He points out that Greece's history has been such that the Greeks have a kind of victim mentality that leads to rejection of outside meddling in their affairs and a resentment of capitalism.  This attitude is going to make the recovery from the current credit problem difficult.  This is a good analysis.