Thanks for the reply.

I would think you are right, with Iraq it may well take longer. I'm of the notion though, that they don't want to drink budweiser beer nor wear blue jeans. The american dream has waned, especially as Russia and China are unifying and countries around the world are beginning to see that democracy does not always equate with development. China is building HSR into the future, while in the UK we will be lucky if HS2 is completed in the 2030's ....at best. I'm not a fan of hand wringing democracy, other countries don't abide by it, and use the fact that western countries follow it to the latter, to their own gain. Too much health and safety and PC nonsense....that is what is holding a country like the UK back from becoming truly great again.

I'll concede on your use of the term "oriental despot" this time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orient

It is a traditional designation for anything that belongs to the Eastern world or the Middle East (aka Near East) or the Far East, in relation to Europe. In English, it is largely a metonym for, and coterminous with, the Continent of Asia.