First impressions matter. Experts say we size up new people in somewhere between 30 seconds and two minutes.

At the United Nations, a lynch mob for Israel is always just a moment away.

I grew up in Queens, in New York City, in a middle class Jewish family. My mother was a public school teacher, my father was a lawyer. They were Democrats - kind of middle-of-the-road democrats.

There is no way around the contradictions and dangers inherent in Israel's decision to free over 1,000 prisoners in order to liberate Gilad Shalit.

Dubai must crack down on rampant smuggling, and the U.A.E. federal government has significantly stepped up pressure.

As the Palestinian leadership never seems to pay any penalty for its words, America's seriousness about the peace process is in doubt.

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned, it seems, to direct the Middle East policy of the Obama administration.