I have made multiple trips throughout the Middle East from Mediterranean Crete, Cyprus, Egypt, Lebanon, through the fertile crescent, Jordan and many parts of Turkey. From Istanbul, the only city on earth built on two continents, I have made repeated visits from the Bosphorus to the ancient cities of Izmir (Biblical Smyrna), Ephesus, and Pergamon, then to Antalya and its nearby ancient ruins of Side, Perge and Aspendos, and through the capital Ankara via Konya to Cappadochia--a unique blend of geologic natural wonders and human habitation forced upon persecuted refugees.
|
|
I have visited each of the Gulf States and oil kingdoms of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, and Oman several times each. I had also seen areas not possible now to enter safely as an American, whereas I had even lectured in Babylon and Baghdad, Iraq and in Teheran, Iran. I have watched a rightward drift in the political and cultural religious conservatism in much of the Islamic world particularly in the Gulf States, and remain a close observer as External Examiner for the University of Kuwait. My first visit to Kuwait City was interrupted by Saddam Hussein's arrival 48 hours earlier, but I have been back at each stage in the reconstruction following the Gulf War, from the quenching of the oil field fires to the ultra-modern architectural resurrection. Despite this urban renewal, there has been social regression, with a serious effort to resegregate all university, and even medical, education by gender.