“I accept there are people out there who don't like me. I don't like them.” — Salman Rushdie

Certainly, poverty and economic decline have a lot to do with the so-called rage of Islam. You've got all these young men in countries which are economically in bad shape. The idea that they might be able to make a good living and get married and have a family, a decent life, seems very remote to a lot of people in a lot of the world.

Normally when I read, I don't like music playing.

The West was involved in toppling the Mossadegh government. That ultimately led to the Iranian revolution.

One of the strange things about violent and authoritarian regimes is they don't like the glare of negative publicity.