Under the Assads, Kurds were forbidden from learning their own language at school, or even from speaking it in the military. The result is a generation of Syrian Kurds, many now in late middle age, who can't write their own language.

Two decades after communism and the alleged end of the Cold War, Russia is still a cash economy. The preferred currency is dollars, though euros are also acceptable.

The FSB's invisible presence continued; the agency became an intangible part of my Moscow life - sometimes loudly, sometimes quietly, with someone in a back room clearly turning the volume of minor persecution up and down.

Taking your clothes off in front of strangers is something of a hobby in Germany, among both men and women, especially in the former communist East, where it was one of the few freedoms allowed.

I have spent over 50 years preaching and teaching the values of peace, mutual respect and altruism.

The Vietnam War totally turned my life around. Some people's lives were eliminated or destroyed by the experience. I was one of the fortunate few who came out better off.

I feel like I'll be writing World War 2 music the rest of my life.

In this life, we are in a constant search for inner peace. We long for it in all aspects of our lives, both personally and professionally. The truth is that we cannot have inner peace without balance. It seems that having too much or too little of anything completely throws off our balance, therefore limiting our inner peace.