"The clear trends of radicalization in Israel, politically and ideologically, will remain the main impediment to reversing this trend of deterioration in the peace process. Israel's willingness to end the occupation and (as an indication of such willingness) stop constructing settlements is the only way to allow progress towards ending the conflict peacefully and reaching the comprehensive and lasting peace that all the people of the region aspire to and desire."

"...no longer is nothing agreed until everything is agreed. Now, a partial, territorial settlement becomes possible. And second, the PLO UN initiative, by creating a Palestinian state, moves the conflict and its resolution to a state-to-state basis, where it should be easier to resolve and less dangerous even if the pre-1967 issues remain unresolved. When Abbas or his successor returns to the negotiating table as president of a state of Palestine whose territory and population are clearly defined rather than as chairman of the PLO with its large diaspora constituency, the conflict should be easier to manage, to the benefit of both sides."

"Unfortunately, Israel’s long-term plans include victimizing Palestinian children. According to Defense for Children International – Palestine Section, 105 children under 18 still remain in Israeli jails. Furthermore, the organization said that since 2008, it has documented 38 cases of children being held in solitary confinement. Children are routinely taken from their homes in the middle of the night, shackled, blindfolded and separated from their parents when interrogated."

"In the Great Game of Pipelinestan, as envisioned by former US National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski, the US has suddenly found itself holding all the wrong cards. While the US continues to audibly dream of a NATO-controlled Silk Road, pulling Eurasian wealth westward through a vortex of pipelines, it has suddenly found itself becoming a renter rather than a bona-fide landlord of Eurasian property. Eurasian dictators want to be courted, but the violent regime changes in Iraq, Afghanistan, and more recently, Libya have sent a rather unpleasant set of signals. US power-projection in the area dwindles with its economy, just as Russia and China are binding the Eurasian countries closer to their own economic interests."

"...2011 was a year full of turbulence and clamor for the international community. It was a year of wars, revolutions, threats and failures. One should wait to see whether 2012 will be a continuation of the crises which happened to our world or we can once again experience peace, tranquility and stability."

"It is simply unlikely that either party can hope to win the next election without massive support from the independents. Thus, if the Republican voters are serious about a change in the White House, they better wise up by nominating a candidate that the independent voters won’t mind voting for. Since the next election should also be about the direction the Americans would like their nation to follow in the coming years so as not to hastily embrace the fate of the falling Roman Empire, any urge to go back to the pyrrhic, gung-ho days of Bush would be not only insane, it would be utterly suicidal."

"The United Nations resolutions on Kashmir acquire a continuing decisive importance from two crucial factors. One, they constitute the only international agreement freely negotiated between India and Pakistan on the future status of Kashmir. Two, they embody the only principle on whose basis a just and durable settlement of the Problem can be achieved---the principle of freedom of choice by the people concerned. Both India and Pakistan signed their acceptance of the United Nations resolutions when neither was at a disadvantage or under any kind of coercion."

"It is apparent that Washington and Tehran are at crossed swords now and one cannot recall a time when Tehran was so boldly defiant in the face of the US cudgel-brandishing policies."