"The crucial test for what is likely to occur in Afghanistan will be based on Pakistan’s interests, or more precisely what its military will agree to. Certain contours of Pakistan’s policy are clear. It will never tolerate an anti-Pakistan regime in Kabul; the risks would be too high and would open another front for Pakistan. This automatically means that the regime in Kabul cannot be comfortably aligned with India for any length of time. Last October’s strategic partnership agreement between Afghanistan and India would go out the window."

"Only the coming months will show how serious is the new government in Myanmar about its commitment to reform. Let’s hope that Thein Sein will not be like any of his hateful predecessors and will do all that is required to ensure human rights for all and bring glory to Myanmar."

"The question is: why do so many people believe that a new party has a good chance to win seats? Why does Ya’ir Lapid believe that a new party, headed by him, will become a major faction in the Knesset and perhaps even propel him into the Prime Minister’s office?"

"While the hawks in Washington have already declared a nuclear war on Iran in a metaphoric sense i.e. the assassination of the Iranian nuclear scientists, some of them avail themselves of a kind of literature in their reference to the nuclear assassinations which indicates the abyss of human degeneration. An impetuous example of this was reflected in a video circulated on the internet in which Rick Santorum, who is a sad excuse for a human being and a politically bankrupt White House aspirant, has unfeelingly described the assassination of Iranian scientists as “wonderful.”

"When the idea of ending slavery came and developed and took hold and spread, it could not be stopped by the occurrence of a sudden catastrophic outbreak of slavery. Slavery is not like a hurricane. It was a practice that went on and could be ended. It might be brought back, but only slowly, not in a mad rush of passion before anyone had time to think it through. War was different. The ending of war was an idea whose time had come. And then time halted. Time froze. The evolution of civilization was instantly thrown into reverse."

"The real question is: will Pakistan be able to wean itself away from dependence on the US? More crucially, have Pakistani decision-makers taken account of the fact that the Council on Foreign Relations, an influential US think-tank, released a report (December 9) listing Pakistan among the three most serious threats facing the US in 2012? The other two are the euro crisis and political instability in Saudi Arabia."

"...it is hardly any wonder that Egyptians are looking closely these days at the meaning of the word “peace”, as in “peace between Israel and Egypt”. An important part of the 1979 Peace Treaty was the clause that guaranteed “full autonomy” for the Palestinians within five years. For 27 years, Israel has been violating this clause. Instead of “full autonomy”, three decades on, the Palestinians are being called an “invented people”, and the US patron of this treaty is winking as Israeli leaders prepare to ethnically cleanse this imaginary people."

"The leader of the rising political party of Pakistan, Tehreek-e-Insaf (Pakistan Justice Party), Mr. Imran Khan announced that if the current rulers of Pakistan refused to follow the Supreme Court’s verdicts and trying to execute other measure which may over-rule the Court’ decision then he would ask the people of Pakistan to come out and stand behind the Courts of Justice. It is very visible now that if these rulers succeed in their plans then that will be an unrecoverable loss for Pakistan as it happened in the past in 1971 when Pakistan was broken into half."