They are not under any pressure," Veteran diplomat Francesc Vendrell believes before negotiating with Taliban elements, the West should first try to deal with the root causes of disillusionment in Afghanistan - poor government,corruption, and lack of economic opportunity.

VOA: standard.2009.03.11

There are things that we can all relate to, so just because it is set in that era or in this mythological world or even a million years into the future, any movie that is worth its salt in this kind of genre should reflect issues that we deal with today.

VOA: standard.2010.04.08