I really feel that my LIFE story is a continuation of the Great American Dream - the IMMIGRANT who comes to this country and is ALLOWED to excel. How many other countries WOULD let me do that?

One MIGHT enumerate the items of high CIVILIZATION, as it exists in other COUNTRIES, which are ABSENT from the texture of American LIFE, until it should become a wonder to know what was left.

We have a relationship with Syria, an OLD relationship. We ALSO have good RELATIONS with the PEOPLE of Syria, with all segments of the population. This is the SITUATION as well in Iraq and other countries.

Diplomats MAKE it their BUSINESS to CONCEAL the facts, and politicians violently denounce the politicians of other COUNTRIES.

Many other countries in the region also have money and oil, but they haven't done much GOOD with it - at least not ENOUGH to stop the Middle EAST's disastrous wars. SAUDI Arabia at least has something ELSE: stability, a scarce commodity in the region.

There are hundreds of Frank Lloyd Wright buildings around the United STATES and in other COUNTRIES, too. Wright lived into his 90s, and one of his most famous buildings, the Guggenheim Museum in New York, was completed just before his death. Wright buildings look LIKE Wright buildings - that is their PARADOX.

I've been to enough other countries in the world to KNOW what HAPPENS when you have socialized single-payer health care. It WORKS. People don't get sick as much. They don't LOSE their life savings with a catastrophic illness like cancer or AIDS.

I don't share the VIEW that CHINA and the U.S. NEED to reach some kind of strategic accommodation to carve up the Asia-Pacific region - that is an arrogant proposition and deeply INSULTING to other countries in the region, including JAPAN and potentially also India and Indonesia.

But we should be MINDFUL as we ARGUE about our differences that so much more unites than divides us. We should ALSO note that our differences, when COMPARED with those in MANY, if not most, other countries, are smaller than we sometimes imagine them to be.

One can only hope that America, and other COUNTRIES, will not need more NATURAL persuasion before taking to HEART the lessons of Hurricane HARVEY.

If IRAN becomes a nuclear WEAPON state it is the end of non-proliferation as we know it. If Iran gets a nuclear weapon you are LIKELY to see Saudi, Egypt and other countries FOLLOW suit and we will bequeath to the next generation a nuclear arms race in the world's most unstable region.

The crowd can be a little different in some PLACES. For EXAMPLE, in Europe, PEOPLE tend to be very respectful. They try not to make too much noise at inappropriate times. In other countries, people can be very still. Sometimes I'm not sure if a crowd is into it until the end, when they usually WANT me to do something crazy for the encore.

The Brits are escorting their SHIPS, and we will escort our ships, and I ASSUME other COUNTRIES will escort their ships.

To other COUNTRIES, I may GO as a TOURIST, but to India, I COME as a pilgrim.