What we have failed to notice is how it [foreign aid] also makes pariahs of those countries in international public opinion, stealing their dignity as proper states with history, culture, nature, wisdom, language, learning and human endeavour by branding them as nothing more than victims and beggars for decades to come.

Israel announced Thursday that it will loosen its blockade of the Gaza Strip and allow more goods to enter the territory. The decision came in response to international pressure on Israel to end its siege of the strip following an Israeli raid on a Turkish aid ship that left nine activists dead.

What we now have is a chaotic E.U. policy toward Russia, with some member states holding the others hostage. Surely it is time governments realized that medium- and long-term interests are better served by consistency rather than bilateralism.

A fresh crisis in former Soviet Central Asia offers an opportunity for cooperation when Russian President Dmitry Medvedev calls on President Barack Obama at the White House next week.

An old debate among scholars and opinion makers on whether Turkey is sliding away from West towards East has again picked up speed, but this time with the open involvement of politicians in the West.

Whether the artifacts on display are works of art, rare alchemical texts, natural historical wonders, or even an array of symbolic stuff that is intended to “win the hearts and minds” of foreign audiences, an exhibition, to conjure an idea from one of my favorite writers, also has the potential to be experienced as a “house of deceit.”

The leaders of 20 of the world’s important economies are coming to town, and the residents of this good city are not in a welcoming mood. How could they be? A sign of the hassles ahead is the security fence that snakes for more than two miles around several downtown city blocks, where the G20 leaders will meet June 26-27.

When it comes to the mechanics of the Israeli PR campaign, it seems that they will win a positive outcome. With this strategy the Israeli government could win some support from leaders as well. Yet when it comes to the language of the PR campaign, Israel isn`t on the side of the winners. There are a few problems in the Israeli PR language.