Robert Scheer

Editor, Truthdig.com; Author, 'The Great American Stickup'

John Kerry, despite his democratic pretense, has sent a message to the disenfranchised of the Muslim world that the call for representative democracy on the part of the United States is nothing more than a public relations gimmick.

Hamid M. Saboory

Founding member, Afghanistan Analysis and Awareness; professor of international law, International Law at Kardan University

Building an equal relationship with Pakistan and Iran must be Afghanistan's top regional political strategy until there is visible, serious and honest commitment in support of peace efforts and lasting stability.

Jihad Al-Jabban

Princeton senior, Muslim, Interfaith leader, molecular biology researcher

Beyond the controversy of drone strikes is the issue with Congress's deplorable conduct. On that day Nabila and her family shared their heartfelt testimony, 430 representatives missed the opportunity to learn about the implications of the drone strike policy.

Carlo De Benedetti

President, Gruppo Espresso

Our current situation, particularly in the already-digitalized publishing world, is marked by the absence of a level playing field where people can compete without steroids or personal fouls.

Stephen Zunes

Professor of Politics and Chair of Mid-Eastern Studies, University of San Francisco

Rather than respond positively to Rouhani's election, the U.S. House of Representatives -- just two days before his inauguration in August -- voted by an overwhelming 400-20 margin to impose punitive new sanctions on Iran.

Raja Farah

Gay, atheist, activist, pacifist Arab (among other horrible things); blogger, ohmyhappiness.com

Hamed Sinno, the openly gay frontman of the Lebanese band Mashrou3 Leila, is gay. His gay voice represents the entire Arab world. Through his gay songs he captures the angst of the youth, singing about things no one gay has ever sung about in a gay way.

Vincent Warren

Executive Director, Center for Constitutional Rights

Guantánamo's military tribunals were not created to try crimes, but to hide them. This system was set up to ensure that the U.S. government's torture program would never face trial, and so far it has succeeded.

Robert Dreyfuss

Author of "Devil's Game: How the United States Helped Unleash Fundamentalist Islam"

Twelve years after the U.S. invaded Afghanistan to topple the Taliban and a decade after the misguided invasion of Iraq, Washington's actual standing in country after country, including its chief allies in the region, has never been weaker.

Dylan Ratigan

New York Times Best-Selling author, entrepreneur and formerly the host of MSNBC's The Dylan Ratigan Show

Violence, uncertainty and unrest go hand in hand with food, water and energy scarcity. Probably no Americans are more acutely aware of this fact than the men and women we have sent into harm's way over the last 20 years.

John Tirman

Executive Director, MIT Center for International Studies

The new Whiner State is Saudi Arabia. The cascade of criticism and ridicule stirred by the Saudis' loose-cannon diplomacy signals how badly the sheiks have miscalculated. But it's more than a PR disaster. It may indicate a shift in relationships and alliances in the region.

Ben Barber

Journalist, photographer, consultant

Some 200 million people around the world are increasingly threatened by toxic wastes such as lead, mercury, chromium and radioactivity according to a new report listing the ten most dangerous threats in the world.

Nick Turse

Managing Editor, TomDispatch.com

The only country in the region that seems to bear much resemblance to its pre-Obama self is Iraq, where violence has reached its highest level in half a decade.

Ivan Eland

Senior Fellow and Director of the Center on Peace & Liberty, The Independent Institute

U.S. policy toward Iraq is beginning to exhibit the illogic of its policy in Pakistan. ]In Iraq, the United States, fearing a resurgence of Sunni extremists there, will now increase military aid to a government that is close to the U.S. archenemy Iran.

Tony Newman

Director of Media Relations, Drug Policy Alliance

Annan and Cardoso have delivered a devastating critique on the failed war on drugs and are calling on governments to adopt more humane and effective ways of controlling and regulating drugs.

Marcello Signore

Online journalist, blogger and YouTuber

This must be a wake-up call for all heroes, not just Italian ones. Thousands of kids around the world feel alone and lonely. They are bullied; they are called names; they are the object of hate and discrimination. Thousands believe that their lives will never get better. Be their hero.

Colin Coleman

Managing Director, Goldman Sachs International Inc.

After almost two decades of democracy the world is asking: "what has Nelson Mandela's South Africa done with its freedom?" With the 95-year-old father of the nation ailing, the 52 million South Africans who see him almost universally as a hero are also asking what lies ahead long after "Madiba."

Eric Reeves

Professor at Smith College

The very arrogance and presumption defining this action by the intelligence community -- increasingly opaque and beyond the control of the State Department -- help make sense of any number of otherwise bewildering features of U.S. foreign policy.