"There seems to be little hope the upcoming talks will bear splendid fruits unless the US dismounts its mule of obstinacy, puts an end to its animosity towards the Islamic Republic, forsakes its morbid cynicism and acknowledges that Iran is not pursuing a nuclear weapons program."

"Regarding transformations in the Arab world over the past fifteen months in relation to NATO, the net result is that the U.S.-dominated military alliance is poised to gain one new adjunct, Libya, with Syria targeted as the next. Lebanon is another prospect for the Mediterranean Dialogue after Libya and Syria, which if it occurs will convert the entire Mediterranean basin into NATO territory. Similarly, if the West and its Arab monarch allies can arrange for the installation of compliant regimes in Iraq and Yemen (perhaps royal pretenders to complete the pattern), NATO can acquire two additional Istanbul Cooperation Initiative cohorts as well. "

"The daily stream of Jewish and Christian Disney-pilgrims continue to wail at one Wall or pass through another to visit a faux manger in Bethlehem, or a prettified Garden of Gethsemane. Only Egypt’s Coptic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church refuse to give permission to pilgrims to make these jaunts, which give tacit approval to Israel’s destruction of Jerusalem’s Christian and Muslim heritage."

"Media analysis is often tacit; by dropping hints of religious or ethnic background of the perpetrator, and selectively citing out other similar cases it paints a general picture, indicating the source of the problem. For sure, that would have been the case, had the man been of a foreign complexion with a name like Ahmed, instead of Shane; the Islamophobes and closet racists would have argued that this wife-beating episode is another example proving that it is an Islamic phenomenon. Such Melanie Phillips like analysis usually gets endorsed by nasty comments found below it."

"In the end, we have too little knowledge about the history, culture, and people of the region to play a constructive role in transforming their societies. Our mistake in Afghanistan and Iraq was not just that we believed that we could use force to create a democratic order. It was that we assumed that we could play any constructive role in changing countries and peoples about whom about whom we knew so very little in the first place. This was true for our failed wars, and it is also true for our efforts at democracy promotion."

"The victory may not be in the numbers of pro-Palestinian supporters that made it into the country; that was obviously not the case. But there is a palpable victory in the number of people who were willing to risk arrest, detention and deportation to stand by the Palestinians and their cause. There is a victory in the number of Israelis who would defy their own government and risk being called ‘self-hating Jews’ and ‘traitors’ to stand by their principles and say to Israel’s face that the occupation must end. There is something to be said about Israel when it is so threatened by a sign held up by peaceful protesters with three simple words: Welcome to Palestine."

"We've built a permanent military, as if we're always at war. And we've managed to usually be at war in one little country or another. Now, 57% of government spending (in President Obama's proposal for 2013) goes to wars and preparations for wars -- that is, if we don't count special programs that pay for themselves with special taxes of their own, like Social Security. Our country has 5% of the people in the world and over 50% of the war spending."

"The ugly Israeli wall is now in place and the Israelis can install whatever security measures they wish to ensure that the safe-passage road keeps Israel safe, but to deny millions of Palestinians the right to travel to and from Gaza clearly amounts to collective punishment."