The rise of the West is, quite simply, the pre-eminent historical phenomenon of the second half of the second millennium after Christ.

Between 1980 and 2000 the number of patents registered in Israel was 7652 compared with 367 for all the Arab countries combined.

It’s our generation that is witnessing the end of Western predominance. The average American used to be more than 20 times richer than the average Chinese. Now it’s just five times, and soon it will be 2.5 times.

No civilization, no matter how mighty it may appear to itself, is indestructible.

The Armenian genocide showed what could happen when empires were beaten into nations.

When bond prices fall, interest rates soar, with painful consequences for all borrowers.

It's all very well for us to sit here in the west with our high incomes and cushy lives, and say it's immoral to violate the sovereignty of another state. But if the effect of that is to bring people in that country economic and political freedom, to raise their standard of living, to increase their life expectancy, then don't rule it out.