10.6 million children died last year due to extreme poverty before they reached the age of 5 (equivalent to the child populations in France, Germany, Greece and Italy) — UNICEF, State of the World’s Children, Special Edition, 2010

24,000 children die each day due to poverty. They die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death. — UNICEF, State of the World’s Children, Special Edition, 2010

65 percent of the world’s hungry live in only seven countries: India, China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan and Ethiopia. — The State of Food Insecurity in the World, 2008

America has never fought a war against a democracy, and our closest friends are governments that protect the rights of their citizens — Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize speech, 10 December 2009

As a politician running for presidency he had to hide it, but it comes out every time and I think we just have to say it plainly, there is an anti-Semitic president in America — Hagai Ben-Artzi, brother-in-law of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calls Obama ‘anti-Semitic’, March 2010

Expresses concern about the Israeli nuclear capabilities, and calls upon Israel to accede to the NPT [Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty] and place all its nuclear facilities under comprehensive IAEA safeguards — International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) General Conference Resolution (53/24) 18 September 2009

For everyone on Earth to live at the current European average level of consumption, we would need more than double the biocapacity actually available – the equivalent of 2.1 planet Earths – to sustain us. If everyone consumed at the US rate, we would require nearly five. — The New Economics Foundation, 23 January 2006

For globalism to work, America can’t be afraid to act like the almighty superpower that it is….The hidden hand of the market will never work without a hidden fist-McDonald’s cannot flourish without McDonnell Douglas, the designer of the F-15. And the hidden fist that keeps the world safe for Silicon Valley’s technologies is called the United States Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps. — A Manifesto for the Fast World, Thomas Friedman, New York Times, 28 March 1999

In 2005, the wealthiest 20% of the world accounted for 76.6% of total private consumption. The poorest fifth just 1.5%. The poorest 10% accounted for just 0.5% and the wealthiest 10% accounted for 59% of all the consumption. — World Development Indicators 2008, World Bank, August 2008

Iodine deficiency is the greatest single cause of mental retardation and brain damage. Worldwide, 1.9 billion people are at risk of iodine deficiency, which can easily be prevented by adding iodine to salt. — UN Standing Committee on Nutrition, World Nutrition Situation 5th Report, 2005

Israel’s aim was to provide a strong blow to the people of Gaza so that they would lose their appetite for shooting at Israel… Implementation of the current operation had gone 90 percent according to plan — Shimon Peres, Israeli President & Nobel Peace Laureate, January 2009

It is estimated that 684,000 child deaths worldwide could be prevented by increasing access to vitamin A and zinc. — World Food Programme, Annual Report, 2007

It is useless and futile for us to continue talking peace and non-violence against a government whose only reply is savage attacks on an unarmed and defenceless people — Nelson Mandela Radio Interview 1961, Nobel Peace Prize Winner, considered a terrorist by the US State Department for 3 decades until removed on 2 July 2008

It’s important to explain that in foreign policy we are not looking for differences. I don’t see it as part of that style of parties. We don’t as in many areas of domestic policy say that we’ve got to differentiate with the government necessarily, foreign policy gains strength from continuity between parties. There are differences of speed and emphasis than of direction — William Hague, Conservative Friends of Israel Annual Business Lunch, June 2008

Justin Webb: “Do you regard President Mubarak as an authoritarian ruler?” President Obama: “No, I tend not to use labels for folks” — US President Barack Obama interview to the BBC, 2 June 2009

No territorial acquisition resulting from the threat or use of force shall be recognized as legal. — Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Co-operation among States, General Assembly Resolution 2625 (XXV), 24 October 1970

The cost of undernutrition to national economic development is estimated at US$20-30 billion per annum. — Progress for Children: A Report Card on Nutrition, UNICEF, 2006

The European Union was deeply concerned about the continued settlement activities and evictions in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including East Jerusalem and reiterated that they were an obstacle to peace — General Assembly Resolution A/RES/64/19, 02/12/2009

The Mission concludes that what occurred in just over three weeks at the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009 was a deliberately disproportionate attack designed to punish, humiliate and terrorize a civilian population, radically diminish its local economic capacity both to work and to provide for itself, and to force upon it an ever increasing sense of dependency and vulnerability. — Justice Richard Goldstone, United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, 29/09/2009

The richest 2% of adults in the world own more than half of global household wealth — UNU-WIDER study on The World Distribution of Household Wealth, 5 December 2006

The situation in Gaza is unsustainable and unacceptable. Israel’s legitimate security needs must be met, just as the Palestinians’ legitimate needs for sustained humanitarian assistance and regular access for reconstruction materials must also be assured. — Hilary Clinton, US Secretary of State, 1 June 2010

The United Nations and all its agencies and funds spend about $30 billion each year. This is a very small sum compared to most government budgets and it is less than 3% of the world’s military spending. — UN Financial Crisis, Global Policy Forum, 7 July 2010

The US was aiming to achieve a “new post-Iraq war security structure that can secure the flow of energy exports to the global economy”. The arms sales would “reinforce the level of regional deterrence and help reduce the size of forces the US must deploy in the region”; Anthony Cordesman, from the Centre for Strategic & International Studies in Washington — Gulf states in $123bn US arms spree, Financial Times, 20 September 2010

There is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, 2 June 2010

Top City bankers destroy £7 of value for every £1 they are paid privately while good hospital cleaners who prevent the spread of infection, saving lives and protecting the wider health of the public provide £10 of benefits for which they are directly paid only £1 — New Economics Foundation Report, A Bit Rich, The Financial Times, 14 December 2009

Total global military expenditure in 2009 is estimated to have been $1.531 Trillion. The US is responsible for 46.5 per cent of the world total, distantly followed by the China (6.6%), France (4.2%), UK (3.8%), and Russia (3.5%). — Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)’s 2010 Year Book

We have about 50% of the world’s wealth, but only 6.3% of its population…. In this situation, we cannot fail to be the object of envy and resentment. Our real task in the coming period is to devise a pattern of relationships which will permit us to maintain this position of disparity…. To do so, we will have to dispense with all sentimentality and day-dreaming; and our attention will have to be concentrated everywhere on our immediate national objectives…. We should cease to talk about vague and … unreal objectives such as human rights, the raising of the living standards, and democratization. The day is not far off when we are going to have to deal in straight power concepts. The less we are then hampered by idealistic slogans, the better. — George Kennan, Head of the US State Department Policy Planning Staff, 28 February 1948, Declassified 17 June 1974

What I have said is that we want to offer Iran an opportunity to align itself with international norms… the fact that we have tried will strengthen our position in mobilizing the international community, and Iran will have isolated itself, as opposed to a perception that it seeks to advance that somehow it’s being victimized by a U.S. government — US President Barak Obama Interview, Newsweek, 25 May 2009

What you [Israel] are doing here undermines the security of our troops who are fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. That endangers us and endangers regional peace. — Joe Biden, US Vice President to his Israeli interlocutors, 5 July 2010

Women make up a little over half of the world’s population, but they account for over 60 percent of the world’s hungry. — Strengthening Efforts to Eradicate Hunger & Poverty, UN ECOSOC, 2007

Yes, there are circumstances in which it [terrorism] is justifiable. It looked like a regime that would last forever, and it was blown down. It is hard to argue that, on its own, a political struggle would have delivered. The striking at the heart of a regime’s claim on a monopoly of power, which the ANC’s armed wing represented, was very significant. — David Miliband, UK Foreign Secretary, on Great Lives, BBC Radio 4, 11 August 2009

[The United Nations Security Council] calls upon Israel urgently to place its nuclear facilities under the safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency. — United Nations Security Council Resolution 487, 19 June 1981

‎I know what America is, America is a thing you can move very easily, move it in the right direction. They won’t get in their way. — Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, 2001

‎We are concerned about the determination of some governments to censor and silence individuals, and to restrict the free flow of information. We mark events such as World Press Freedom Day in the context of our enduring commitment to support and expand press freedom and the free flow of information in this digital age — Philip Crowley, US State Department, 7 December 2010, 5.30pm

“Amongst the various activities of the British and the American governments in the 20th century, not to mention the 19th century, this was a relatively small matter” about the Crime Against Humanity committed against the communities of the Chagos Archipelago. — James Schlesinger, US Secretary of Defence 1973-1975