The prime minister said criticism of the defence force was an example of "misguided patriotism that will lead countries backwards".

BBC: You are in: UK Politics

"There is a real risk that development will start to go backwards in many countries as the money dries up and that the recession will lead to worsening poverty and terrible consequences for the men, women and children caught in its grip, " she added.

CNN: Lesson for Africa from global economic crisis

But both men, like their counterparts elsewhere in the region, seem to realise that the only alternative to pressing forward with their reforms, however unpopular, is to see their countries slide backwards into economic stagnation, deeper poverty and still worse unrest.

ECONOMIST: Reform or bust | The

For the most part European countries have bent over backwards to accommodate the sensibilities of the newcomers.

ECONOMIST: Europe and Islam

Its main character, a bumbling and backwards cleric often depicted in compromising scenarios, resonated with countries grappling with the thorny issue of modernization -- particularly Iran, where Molla Nasreddin's first year of publication coincided with the Constitutional Revolution, an attempt to reform Iran's monarchy.

CNN: Iran's cartoonists find new lines of expression