Blair

Nothing to do with Algeria, but I just noticed that Tony Blair appears to live in a different universe than the rest of us:

...there are many reasons for long-term optimism. Across the Middle East, there is a process of modernisation as well as reaction. It is unnoticed but it is there: in the UAE, in Bahrain, in Kuwait, in Qatar. In Egypt, there is debate about the speed of change but not about its direction [sic!.] In Libya and Algeria, there is both greater stability and a gradual but significant opening up.