It is striking the extent to which the word "secular" -- and related terms such as secular democracy and secular leaders -- are relatively synonymous with all that is good, right and universal in many Western accounts of developments in Egypt.

The indiscriminate association of the secular with good...

The violent and repressive tactics playing out today in the streets of Tehran bring back haunting images from the last Iranian revolution.

On September 8 (Black Friday), 1978, the Shah's troops fired on 20,000 pro-Ayatollah Khomeini protesters in Tehran's Jaleh Square, killing between 400 and 900 protesters, wounding 4,000,...