A lot of people tend to think I'm a dogmatic ideologue, which I'm not.

Many of the most difficult questions concerning the role of ethnic minorities centers on language.

When I think of countries that I enjoyed visiting, that I would want to go back to, Italy would be one, Japan would be another. I've only been to Indonesia once or twice and it seems like such a fascinating country. I guess India certainly.

There are lots of conflicts going on in the Middle East. It is unclear as to which country will emerge, if any, as the dominant or hegemonic power in the Middle East.

I think it's hard to talk about the Muslim world and Christian world as blocks.

Islam's borders are bloody and so are its innards. The fundamental problem for the West is not Islamic fundamentalism. It is Islam, a different civilisation whose people are convinced of the superiority of their culture and are obsessed with the inferiority of their power.

I think we can expect leaders of Muslim societies to cooperate with each other on many issues just as Western societies cooperate with each other.