"Such incidents are low profile, in contrast to the recent General Motors move against the Los Angeles Times. But the most insidious instances of advertiser pressure are the ones we never hear about -- implemented with winks and nods or the simple tacit understanding that the media business is, after all, a business."

"Here are four words that should make every self-respecting Canadian reach for an airsick bag: “Foreign Minister Stockwell Day.”

"The divisiveness of Palestinian American politics remains unthreatened and thereby ineffective, causing the government of Palestine to be weaker when it should be far stronger. The real foreign minister, al-Qidwa, has a powerless voice."

"The Cardinals who will choose the next Church leader are, themselves, quite different from the group that chose John Paul II. Of the 117 who will vote, John Paul II appointed 114. While half of this group is European, as they were in 1978, the percentage of Italians has dropped significantly. In 1978 one-fourth of all Cardinals voting were Italian; today they are just one-sixth."

"While Americans debate the wisdom of the Iraq war, we rarely confront the domestic costs. What could have been done with the more than $150 billion already spent on the war? And what are the implications of the fact that huge expenditures for the war are continuing with no end in sight?"

"Of course most Americans don’t remember Sharansky's history as a “refusenik” or “prisoner of conscience.” They probably don’t even remember the Soviet “gulags.” What they do know about Sharansky is that he has become the “darling” of the Bush Administration. It has been reported that it was a long conversation Sharansky had with Vice President Cheney that led to the Administration’s decision to isolate, ignore, and seek the removal of Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat."

"Israeli spokesmen like Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz and chief of staff, Lt.-Gen. Moshe Yaalon are liberally cited, and the Palestinians’ legally recognized right to all of the West Bank and East Jerusalem is dismissed as a “claim.”

"Expressing “disappointment” is standard Canadian diplomatic-speak for: “The government does not approve of Israel’s latest act of criminality, but won’t actually do anything about it because the Jewish Lobby calls the shots and we all want to be re-elected.”