"The real question therefore now is, will this American administration and the EU, as well as other interested and active members of the international community, really allow Israel to get away with it again? If yes, then there can be only one outcome of this process: further encouragement for the right-wing in Israel and the Hamas opposition in Palestine and further radicalization in both societies."

"There are specific allegations that many journalists in Guwahati, who are among the lowest paid in India with starting salaries as little as US$50 a month, enjoy regular payments like monthly lump sum compensation from politicians in power. Licenses for wine shops are offered to reporters (and accepted happily by many) with the inherent understanding that they only write positive stories and if possible, kill negative reports against their politician-financers."

"If the US would get behind any or all of these alternatives more energetically, we might conceivably see positive, confidence-building results that could in future make an Israeli-Palestinian two-state solution more feasible than it is today."

"Since 1991 a new Silk Road has been opened to the West, stretching as it did a millennium ago from Italy to China and taking in at least seventeen new political entities. All roads, in this case, lead to the Caucasus, and US-NATO interest in this vital crossroads should surprise no one. US control there -- and in the Central Asian“stans” -- would mean containing Russia and Iran, the dream for American strategists since WWII."

"In scene after scene, the U.S. troops in Iraq clearly are shown as an aggressive, swaggering army of occupation, which soon comes to realize that the Iraqis, almost all of them they meet, don't want the U.S. troops in their country. It would be easy to surmise that a good share of the violence in that country most likely will cease once the Americans leave."

“Dear Everybody” is first-rating story telling. Michael Kimball’s novel about the suicide of a disturbed, 32-year-old weatherman, Jonathon Bender, from Jefferson City, Mo, will grip the reader at emotional levels. Even though you know up front what’s coming, you will be caring about the painfully lonely Jonathon, right up to his very last breath.

"...there is not much to be overly optimistic about. It is Benjamin Netanyahu we are dealing with, which is anything but encouraging. In the end, it's pretty safe to say that baby steps are all we can hope for."

"US politics revolve round grabbing others’ resources - peacefully if they may, forcibly if they must. In Afghanistan’s case, force has failed to achieve the desired result so Uncle Sam, an ill-mannered and uncouth operator, is about to put on the charm offensive all over again, for oil and gas and to save his thick hide."