If only international conferences had the capacity to achieve at least a breakthrough leading to a peaceful resolution of the Mideast crisis, things would have long been settled.
Muammar Gaddafi now has started believing in martyr syndrome. His talk from a pulpit of his hideout to fight till death is no strange phenomenon. All dictators do that when faced with Hobsons choice.
Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has defiantly vowed to return to his country at the earliest. Recuperating from shrapnel injuries suffered in a rocket attack on the presidential palace in Sanaa last week, he is currently being treated in neighbouring Saudi Arabia.
Assads regime is now facing the music. The reported killing of 120 security forces personnel at the hands of agitating Syrians in the northwestern town of Jisr Al Shughour is reprehensible.
Fissures in the Middle East are exploding. The clashes on the Golan Heights border town, in which Israel used force to disperse Syrian protesters, were not an isolated incident.
Shrapnel has made the ultimate difference. With President Ali Abdullah Al Saleh safe and recovering in Saudi Arabia, Yemen political equation has taken a new turn. The spate of ambush attacks that left Saleh badly injured has proved to be the turning point forcing the embattled president to abandon Sanaa at this critical hour of real-politick.
The arrival of Diego Maradona on the Gulf soccer scene could herald even more top-level coaches to move towards what is swiftly becoming a mature soccer-playing region. Just as cricket teams have broken the barriers and brought in high level teaching talent from abroad (most of the sub-continental teams have successfully experimented with foreign coaches) the same could well become a norm in football, especially where competition is keen and fans love the game like they do in the Gulf and the Middle East.
Politics in Yemen is getting nasty. It is now in a prelude stage to a full-fledged civil war. The adamant attitude of President Ali Abdullah Al Saleh is proving to be the biggest obstacle on the path of peace and reconciliation. The latest spate of violence that wounded the embattled president in his presidential compound goes on to suggest how volatile things have changed in the republic.
The debate on drug abuse is likely to get hotter as contending opinions on decriminalisation and legalisation of certain drugs are bound to erupt. The latest report from the Global Commission on Drug Policy, an international commission on drugs, has reached the conclusion that the global war on drugs has failed. In order to combat the growing number of drug abusers, the commission instead has urged a change of strategy, including decriminalisation and changes in legal regulation of certain drugs like cannabis.