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By Syed M.Aslam
 Aug 13 - 19 , 2001

*** "THE ROAD TO VICTORY is never rosy. I think I've learned from failure. I think it's hard to be a great man if you have never tasted failure. Look, if they tell me I have to go, then I'll go. But I'll never really go away."

(Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra days before the court verdict acquitting him of corruption charges)

*** "ONE OF THE ADVANTAGES of prison is that you can read. I read about some very brave people who handled cancer."

(Former South African President Nelson Mandela expressing confidence to beat his prostate cancer)

*** "... how do they classify the killings of children — target killings, assassination or just a killing by mistake . . . The most polite word I can use towards BBC is hypocrisy."

(Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo accusing the British Broadcasting Corporation of playing down Israeli brutalities against the Palestinians in the occupied territories)

*** "JAPAN IS NOT going to buy impunity with money ... I want to go down in history as a president who contributed something to reduce poverty."

(Peru's first freely elected president of Indian descent, Alejandro Toledo, inviting private Japanese investment without compromising the extradition of his predecessor Alberto Fujimoro to face corruption trial)

*** "DO YOU really believe that most of today's art come about because of the Beatles? I don't believe you're that insane Paul ... Didn't we always say that we were part of the movement — not all of it."

(An angry letter penned by late Beatle, John Lennon, to one of his three partners, Paul McCartney, after the group's breakup in 1970. The letter is expected to fetch upto $ 112,000 when it goes for auction by Christie's on October 4)

*** "IS THE UNITED STATES really concerned about human rights and peace?"

(Syrian newspaper 'Tishrin' criticising US Vice President Dick Cheney's remarks justifying Israel's policy of target killing of Palestinian leaders)

*** "YES — WE HAVE DONE that and we are not denying it and we are proud of it."

(Newspaper of the ruling Baath party of Iraq, "Al Thawra", confirming that Baghdad has ungraded its air defences to thwart air attacks by US and UK warplanes)

*** "IN JULY 1995, General Krstic, you agreed to evil ... You are therefore guilty of genocide, General Krstic."

(Judge of The Hague War Crimes Court, Almiro Rodrigues, convicting Bosnian Serb general Radislav Krstic for massacre of 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica)

*** "NOBODY CAN deny legitimacy of freedom struggles wherever they are waged. People do and will fight back when their homeland is occupied and when their basic rights are trampled."

(Pakistan's representative to the UN, Shamshad Ahmad, stressing that eradicating small and light weapons could not create peace without solving the root cause of conflicts in areas such as Kashmir and Palestine. He was speaking at the UN Security Council about the progress made at the UN conference on small arms last month)

*** "HIS AGGRESSIVE appealing, anger, irritation on the field ... they all corner attention around him, around I, Me, Myself, Sourav Ganguly, captain."

('Indian Express' newspaper's criticising cricket captain Sourav Ganguly for throwing tantrums)

*** "THE CHEQUE is in the mail."

(A spokesman of US Defence Department, Pentagon, confirming the payment of reported $34,000 for the costs incurred during the three-month seizure of spy plane forced by China)

*** "THE VALUE of a man is not the same as the value of a rat ... Cloning is immoral ... Someone said that cloning is the worst manifestation of human slavery and I agree with this."

(Adviser to Pope John Paul opposing human embryo cloning and demanding moratorium on it)

*** "WOODY ALLEN (film maker and actor) wasn't talking about foreign policy when he said that 85 per cent of life is just showing up."

(Democratic Senator and majority leader Thomas Daschle attacking President George W. Bush's unilateral policy of sending US officials to international meetings)

*** "THE DANGER is that such monopoly control can be given higher priority than ensuring the progressive realisation of the rights to health, food, access to information, and even the right to education."

(A study conducted by jurists of UN Sub-Commission on Human Rights, J. Oloka-Onyango of Uganda and Deepika Udagama of Sri Lanka, saying that no international agreement should prohibit policies that ensure access to medicine at affordable prices)