Time I suppose to move on from the foaming of the camel's mouth of my last post, particularly now that I've witnessed a Republican debate that appears to be between those who believe that there is no such thing as a Palestinian and others who think that's probably true, but not a wise thing to say.  It seems to me someone ought to be apologizing to the Turks for their previous insistence that the Kurds were not a people but merely "mountain Turks".  Our guys aren't much better.  Krugman said it best, Gingrich is what stupid people think a smart person should sound like.  Whereas in fact, when he speaks as "a historian", he sounds more like an idiot.  His note respecting the Palestinians being "invented" is an excellent case in point.  To the extent he means there was no such thing as Palestinian sentiment prior to the end of the Ottoman Empire, then precisely that same point can be made respecting American national sentiment on behalf of North America's white inhabitants in, say, the start of the 18th century.  Or has this "historian's" research led him to conclude in fact God dropped the white people onto North America as his own modern version of the Chosen People?  Idiocy in any event deserves no longer than this paragraph. 

My latest paper, on why I think the shari'a rules on bankruptcy are obsolete, and are likely to stay that way notwithstanding the rise of Islamic finance, is available here.  Happy reading and many thanks to Abed Awad, Bob Michael and Jason Kilborn for excellent research on Islamic bankruptcy that helped pave my way.  Errors and omissions all mine.

HAH