Quotes of the week

They said what?!?  

The imperialists see extremists everywhere. It's not that we are extremists. It's that the world is waking up. It's waking up all over. And people are standing up.

Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela, in a speech to the United Nations

Maybe we have to change location. Maybe we have to put the United Nations somewhere else; maybe a city of the south.

Chavez

Lula is not a conventional president and enjoys a degree of identification with the less-educated sector of the populace that is like a safe conduct pass that allows him to do what he wants. He has been absolved beforehand.

Rubens Figueriredo, public opinion consultant in Brazil

I think it’s obvious the difficulties we’ve experienced in Iraq have certainly emboldened [terrorist groups]. But I would also argue that these people didn’t need any motivation to attack us on September 11.

John McCain, US Senator, seemingly unaware of US foreign policy prior to 2001

Democracy means if the people want something that is against God’s will, then they should forget about God and religion. Accepting Islam is not compatible with democracy.

Mesbah Yazdi, fundamentalist Iranian clerical leader

If these troops are going to clash with the resistance, they are going to clash with the people.

Abu Rowda Noureddin, Lebanese villager reflecting on Italian troops sent under UN auspices to villages close to Israeli border

We try to get the kids to understand that even though they might make a few dollars now, if there is ever a problem with the economy or something, they’ll need that diploma.

Annette Ramrattan, superintendent of a school district in Alberta, after reports that the booming economy has encouraged students to drop out of high school

Winter is different now than it used to be. The dice have clearly been loaded to give us warmer-than-normal seasons. The climate has changed.

David Phillips, Environment Canada senior climatologist

Western intelligence, the Americans, the Saudis, want bin Laden to appear. Perhaps they’re trying to agitate him to appear by video to try to fix some information about his real location.

Diaa Rashwan, expert on Islamism at Cairo institute

There are risks in this, from an insurance point of view, but if you can appeal to someone’s way of life, you can make a real bond that will help the business stick.

Jim Wallace, GuideOne president, an insurance company that offers no deductible car coverage to Christians on their way to or from church

We have the potential to produce five million barrels per day, which is half of current Saudi production.

Murray Smith, Alberta’s “representative” in Washington, in an advertising supplement in the Globe and Mail touting Alberta as the solution to America’s supply gap

The potential ability of the Canadian oil sands industry to meet expectations of bridging a future oil supply gap is not based on reality.

Swedish energy industry report

I can tell you that the statements in that report will be far stronger than what existed in 2001. It will be flabbergastingly stronger. We need to move to a complete and utter change in our energy system so that we no longer rely on fossil fuels. Period.

Andrew Weaver, University of Victoria author of UN report on the environment, due out next year