Local markets for literary fiction remain underdeveloped; the metropolis often holds out the only real possibility of a professional writing career.

I think subsuming political and economic conflicts into some grand 'clash of civilisations' theory or 'the West versus the rest' binary is a particularly insidious form of ideological deception.

As the 19th century progressed, Europe's innovations, norms and categories came to achieve a truly universal hegemony.

Gandhi, brought out of his semirural setting and given a Western-style education, initially attempted to become more English than the English.

It is extremely important that mass media, having freed from the relics of the Cold War, served for peace and dialogue between nations and religions, the rich and the poor, countries and continents.

I don't think anyone who has been to Africa comes away untouched by the place. You see a lot of beauty and optimism, but you also come away with an awareness of the huge gulf between what most of us have and what most of them have to make do with. Then, every now and then, a famine or a war makes everything a hundred times worse.

Also, General Zinni, who commanded central command, was very much opposed to the war in the first place, as I was. We were both quoted to that effect in February of 2003.

Peace, if it ever exists, will not be based on the fear of war but on the love of peace.