So the Muslims had control. How did they get control? Asking nicely? And who owned the area before the muslims took control? And what religion were they?

Re: despots was that they existed before the West got involved, not after. I felt that 500BC was perfectly adequate to place the timeframe well before the West was organised.

And so no there was no intention to say that the West was any different or any better.

I thought that my points were perfectly clear. Thank you for pointing out that some members require themes to be painted with a thicker brush before they are able to discern them.

I'm not going to let the shortsighted low brow nature of your post adversely affect my digestion. To be upset by such commom tabloid reasoning would be beneath me.