Katherine Butler in THE INDEPENDENT
"A rash of military coups could be triggered across Latin America if the world fails to stand up to the illegal regime in Honduras a close aide of the ousted president ManuelZelaya warned yesterday. "The fate of Honduras is not just the fate of Honduras, but of the Latin American continent," Mr Zelaya's special adviser Allan Fajaro told The Independent. "Dark forces," he said, were watching to see how the crisis ends. "If we resolve this constitutionally they will know they too have to respect democracy. If not, these dark forces will know they have a green light and the continent will become an erupting volcano. That will be a very bad outcome, not only for our continent, but for Europe and the world." "

Hussein Agha and Robert Malley in THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS
"The idea of Israeli–Palestinian partition, of a two-state solution, has a singular pedigree. It has been proposed for at least eight decades. Jews first accepted it as Palestinians recoiled; by the time Palestinians warmed to the notion in the late 1980s, Israelis had turned their backs. Still, its proponents manage to portray it as fresh, new, and capable of leading to peace. International consensus on a two-state agreement is, today, stronger than ever. Meanwhile, interest among the two parties most directly concerned wanes and prospects for achieving it diminish. "

Aram Roston in THE NATION
"On October 29, 2001, while the Taliban's rule over Afghanistan was under assault, the regime's ambassador in Islamabad gave a chaotic press conference in front of several dozen reporters sitting on the grass. On the Taliban diplomat's right sat his interpreter, AhmadRateb Popal, a man with an imposing presence. Like the ambassador, Popal wore a black turban, and he had a huge bushy beard. He had a black patch over his right eye socket, a prosthetic left arm and a deformed right hand, the result of injuries from an explosives mishap during an old operation against the Soviets in Kabul. "