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

In Iran, there is no freedom of the press, no freedom of speech, no independent judiciary, no free elections. There is no freedom of religion - not even for Shiites, who are forced by Irans theocracy to adhere to one narrow set of official rules.

While Argentina, Brazil, and Chile - what in textbooks used to be called the ABC countries - seem settled into democratic politics and free market economics, the Andean countries are in disarray.

There are examples of fraternal dictatorships, or one, anyway: the passing of power from Fidel to Raul Castro.

I never said I had no idea about most of the things you said I said I had no idea about.

A great nation like the United States has many and varied interests, and we need both to do business with tyrants and to engage constantly in multilateral diplomacy.

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