Seoul, South Korea -- Poor Pakistan! The main question is not so much “For how long can President Musharraf hold on to power?” as “What follows next?”

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Seoul, South Korea -- What Palestinian state can we expect now that Hamas and Fatah have gone their separate ways? Gaza under Hamas and the West Bank under Fatah will lead to two separate governments, as Hamas’s Ismail Haniyeh vows not to recognize the legitimacy of President Mahmoud Abbas's new cabinet. As gun battles and wars of words escalate between the two sides, the people of Gaza are likely to get out in massive numbers, creating a renewed refugee flow -- this time from internal civil war.

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The international journalists covering the world have been guilty of many shortcomings, but losing neutrality in their coverage of the Palestine conflict or of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is certainly not one of them. When compared with their counterparts from other parts of the world including the Middle East, journalists from the U.S., Europe and open societies in Asia can stand any test as far as fairness and impartiality is concerned.

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The Muslim firebrands demonstrating against the British monarchy's decision to bestow knighthood upon Salman Rushdie are doing their best to exaggerate the importance of this honor. The honor has been bestowed not for his alleged blasphemy of the Prophet Mohammad but for services rendered as a writer of English literature.

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Seoul, South Korea -- Given his role in taking Britain into war in Iraq and Afghanistan, it will be a tough job for Tony Blair to play the role of a peacemaker in the Middle East. However, he should lose no time trying to mediate the current factional fighting between Hamas and Fatah.

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