It's called North America
"We need to articulate more clearly where we are." — US Senator Craig Thomas, calling for a more threatening stance towards China in relation to Taiwan.
Non-core obligations
"You can ignore your obligations under an international treaty if you choose to do so." — Prime Menzies John Howard, speaking to well-paid shock jock John Laws.
Screwing who?
"If you have a society based on debt forgiveness, who's going to invest in debt anymore? So you really screw up the market." — World Bank chairperson James Wolfensohn rejecting calls for debt relief for the Third World.
Just like before
"I responded ... out of friendship for the Indonesian people ... I would like Indonesia to be strong, unified and democratic." — Former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger on why he has accepted President Abdurrahman Wahid's appointment of him as a political adviser. Kissinger was instrumental in shaping US foreign policy for south-east Asia in the 1960s and '70s.
Market rules OK
"We don't know anything. But if something is cheap, we buy it." — The manager of a Phnom Penh hotel, one of several businesses accused of buying cut-rate electricity from a private company that stole it from the state power company.
Worried
"No foreign investors will be willing to come to invest in Cambodia where workers are strong." — Roger Tan, secretary-general of the Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia, complaining that garment workers are becoming too well organised.