Posters are well informed and on the mark!!!
The Cradle of Civilization was the Fertile Crescent whose
governance were Emperors & Monarchs since 7000 BC.
Democracy never had anything to do w/their system.
W/the intolerance of Islam from the 7th century onward;
the Middle East, excepting Israel, permanently closed its
door to democracy!
This journo and the Atlantic are brain dead!!!