...the AK Party has injected new vibrancy into its relations with the Middle East and Turkey is emerging as an increasingly powerful and influential player, with Turkish diplomacy scoring numerous success stories there.

Where knowledge is limited, and the desire to learn the complex reality doesn't exist, public opinion can be shaped by whoever generates the most powerful symbols. And on a matter of only tangential interest, governments tend to follow their publics' wishes, however they originate. There is little to be gained for governments in resisting public opinion and much to be gained by giving in.

What should have been a quiet piece of policing now has the word ‘atrocity’ appended to it. The press may be being disingenuous, even craven, but the Israeli commanders were monumentally stupid for falling into such an obvious trap.

More than 200 editors, journalists and publishers of Russian media around the world, as well as Russian government officials,visit Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem, as part of the 12th Annual World Conference of the Russian language press.

People in both Israel and Azerbaijan are far from understanding how our peoples live - they are unaware of the culture, political views and history of our countries. And this is despite the fact that large numbers of immigrants arrived in Israel from Azerbaijan. In this situation, the mutual exchange of delegations, media workers and promoters of culture, of course, can play an important role in improving relations between our peoples.

Syrian President Bashar Assad said Monday that the United States has lost its influence in the Middle East due to its failure to contribute to regional peace, in an interview with the Italian newspaper La Republicca.

Israel's government rejected a Qatari offer to re-establish trade relations that would have allowed the Gulf state to provide aid to Gaza, two senior Israeli government officials said Thursday.