"Muslim Rohingya refugees should not be treated with hostile attitude in all the countries where they refuge. Rather they should be treated by maintaining humanity and international refugee Law. The Malaysia government is seriously considering now to provide work permit to refugees until they are not settled in third countries. In fact, it is a good news for the refugees in Malaysia. The other countries where refugees are sheltering also should follow the decision of Malaysia government."

"...here comes the overriding philosophy that Israel espouses and which the west in particular so surprisingly accepts time and again. Because it is a nation founded on guilt and on the belief that most of the world is "against them" Israel's so-called security considerations justify any and all abominations, first and foremost murder. This is the logic that Israel used in the killing of over 1,400 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the rationale for the assassination of Abu Jihad, Sheikh Yassin and Abdul Aziz Rantisi. This is why the Goldstone Report was trampled on by Israel and its allies and this is why Israel's occupation of Palestine has endured for over 40 years along with all the violations this entails for the occupied people."

"When Herzl originated the Zionist idea, he did not intend to found the “State of the Jews” in Palestine, but in Argentina. Even when writing his book, he devoted to the country only a few lines, under the headline “Palestine or Argentina?” However, the movement he created compelled him to divert his endeavors to the Land of Israel, and so the state came into being here."

Kathy Flann’s collection of eleven short stories in “Smoky Ordinary,” was a delight for me to read. For example, in her compelling tale, “The Dispossession of Billy Montgomery,” you will find plenty to hold your interest, while having a huge laugh at the same time. Ms. Flann’s fiction stories are centered around “Smoky Ordinary,” a community located in rural Virginia, just south of Washington, D.C. I highly recommend her book.

"In this online debate about the Israel/Palestine conundrum, the passions are high, but preliminary signs for a way out of the Middle East bloodbath poke through the arguments. Or maybe not. You judge."

"What is being created from the wreckage of the American occupation is both akin to what we intended and different from what we envisioned: what is emerging is a secular, pluralist, multiparty, market-oriented democracy. But, alas, this is not the age of miracles: Damascus and Tehran are not intimidated, the region's Salafists are not defeated, the Palestinians are not humbled--and there isn't an Iraqi leader in sight who would be caught dead in Jerusalem. Or have anything to do with the Americans."

"...the forthcoming Iraqi election is attracting more foreign attention than domestic. Most Iraqis, after the experience of the past seven years and two elections, have lost interest due to the huge amount of corruption, insecurity, lack of services and increasing poverty. Hence it is likely that external factors and influences will decide election results."

"When in later years, these Jerusalem bureau chiefs retire from the field of battle and are promoted to the rank of armchair general back at media HQ – when they become a Thomas Friedman paid to pontificate regularly on the conflict -- they can be trusted to talk to those same high-placed officials, explaining their viewpoint and defending it. That is why you will not read anything in the NYT questioning the idea that Israel is a democratic state or see coverage suggesting that Israel is acting in bad faith in the peace process. "