Why intellectuals gush over despots

Western observers who espouse tyranny never suffer any career damage

In 1978 British academic Malcolm Caldwell made a pilgrimage. A radical figure at the London School of Oriental and African Studies, Caldwell was wackily Left-wing even by the standards of the UK university system, and a tireless critic of American foreign policy.

As a self-declared Marxist, Caldwell had become a firm supporter of one of the more controve…