Israel has bombed homes of Hezbollah leaders and the group’s Al Manar TV station while likening the group to al-Qaeda. But a Washington Post reporter wrote yesterday that “[Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah has only disdain for bin Laden and the Taliban. In April, an al-Qaeda cell in Lebanon tried to assassinate him.” AS’AD ABUKHALIL AbuKhalil…

JAMAL DAJANI Dajani is producer of the TV program “MOSAIC: World News from the Middle East,” which features dramatic recent footage of the conflict. He said today: “We try to provide in a half-hour program a comprehensive look at both the narrative and pictures from the TV networks in the Mideast. From the footage that…

STEPHEN F. COHEN KATRINA VANDEN HEUVEL Available for a very limited number of interviews, Cohen is professor of Russian studies at New York University and author of the book Failed Crusade: America and the Tragedy of Post-Communist Russia. Katrina vanden Heuvel is editor of The Nation and, with Cohen, author of the book Voices of…

JOCHEN HIPPLER Bush is now in Germany. Senior research fellow at the Institute for Development and Peace at the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany, Hippler is author of a number of books, including Pax Americana? He said today: “In the general population here, there is still a deep mistrust of Bush, mostly in regard to his…

PAUL CARROLL Carroll is a program officer at the Ploughshares Fund, which works on disarmament issues. He has just returned from North Korea, where he had rare, detailed conversations with North Korean officials, including Vice Foreign Minister for U.S. Relations Kim Gae Gwan and his deputy, Li Gun, their former UN ambassador. Said Carrol: “We…

Dr. MONA EL-FARRA A physician and community activist in northern Gaza, El-Farra wrote in Monday’s Boston Globe: “Most Gazans … believe that Israel’s latest assault was pre-planned, that the soldier’s capture is merely a trigger. Israel dropped thousands of shells on Gaza, killing women, children and old people, long before his capture. This time, Israel…

LAURA CARLSEN Carlsen just wrote the article “ Mexico’s Dramatic Vote Count Lacks Credibility.” She is director of the International Relations Center Americas Program in Mexico City, where she has worked as a writer and political analyst for the past two decades. GILBERTO LOPEZ RIVAS Gilberto López Rivas is an anthropologist with the National Institute…

Though rarely featured in recent news coverage, Israeli critics of the Gaza attacks are speaking out loudly. TANYA REINHART Professor emeritus at Tel Aviv University, Reinhart is author of the forthcoming book The Road Map to Nowhere: Israel/Palestine Since 2003. She said today: “The present Israeli ‘operation’ is not about releasing the captured Israeli soldier…

The Washington Post reported today that North Korea’s missile testing prompted “a hastily called session of the UN Security Council after the Stalinist state unnerved the region.” The Associated Press reported on June 14: “The Air Force successfully tested an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile early Wednesday, officials said. The missile traveled 4,800 miles…

JOHN ROSS A U.S. journalist currently in Mexico City, Ross is author of the book Mexico in Focus: A Guide to the People, Politics, and Culture. NADIA MARTINEZ Policy analyst for Institute for Policy Studies, Martinez said today: “While it isn’t yet clear who will be Mexico’s next president, the overwhelming support garnered by Lopez…