"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."

The 2010 Winter Olympics was like a huge economic and public relations prize carrot that the organizers dangled in front of us and expected us to chase after. The games was not so much a 17-day sports event that happened to take place in my corner of the world as it was the climax of an enervating four-year sensory assault of cheerleading, advertising and sloganeering.

"...we should have learned from the Oslo period, if the daily life experiences of people are worsening, negotiations will be negatively impacted. Throughout the 1990’s as settlements in the West Bank doubled in size and a network of Jewish-only roads were being constructed, carving the area into pieces, severely constricting Palestinian mobility; and Israel’s closure had caused economic stagnation, a doubling of Palestinian unemployment and a severe decline in personal income – I warned U.S. negotiators not to ignore these troubling facts."

"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."