Skyrocketing oil and natural gas prices in the second quarter of this year led ExxonMobil to report the highest profit ever by an American company. In spite of falling production and rising operating costs, Exxon brought in a 138 billion dollars in revenue and reported an astounding net income of 11.7 billion dollars.

Last night, I watched Obama making his speech in Berlin where the infamous wall once stood, "the walls between the countries with the most and those with the least cannot stand. The walls between races and tribes, natives and immigrants, Christians and Muslims and Jews cannot stand," he said. I imagined him delivering the same speech with the separation wall Israel has created in the Jerusalem suburb of Abu Dis, in the background...but it was only a fleeting fantasy.

This past Wednesday, in a rare public appearance, Hezbollah's leader Sayyed Hassan Nassrallah greeted the five Lebanese freed from captivity in Israel after his organization returned the bodies of two captured Israeli soldiers.

"The period of defeat is over and the time of victory has arrived," said a beaming Nassrallah to a jubilant mass waving Hezbollah and Lebanese flags in Beirut.

Six years after the invasion of Afghanistan, the Taliban have been getting stronger. The Afghan government blames Pakistan for failing to prevent the insurgents from entering its territories. But most Afghans blame their own government. Who's to blame? And are the Taliban really making a comeback?

For the past several weeks, the Israeli government has been heavily engaged in indirect negotiations with its two arch enemies in contradiction to the policy of its greatest benefactor, the U.S., and its champion of champions, President George W. Bush.

Both Hamas and Hezbollah are on the U.S. State Department's list of Designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs).

In what's described as a "farewell tour," President Bush is on a six-country European visit. Included in his agenda is asking his hosts to make greater contributions to Afghanistan -- both in money and troops, as well as the ongoing issue of Iran's nuclear program.

This past Wednesday, at the Annual Policy Conference of AIPAC- the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, presidential candidate, Barack Obama drew a standing ovation when he pledged his "unshakeable commitment to Israel's security" if he is elected president in November, and declared that Jerusalem should stay an undivided Israeli city.

Scott McClellan reminds me of Saddam Hussein's Minister of Information, Muhammad Sai'd Al Sahhaf... kind of.

Robbed of its recruiting pool in urban areas as most of its leaders are dead or behind bars, al Qaeda in Iraq has resorted to the recruitment of women and children as young as eleven years of age. Al Qaeda has been largely driven out from al Anbar province by the Sunni Awakening movement but now it has emerged in the unstable region of Diala, parts of Mosul, and the districts of al Amiriya and al Athimiya in the capital, Baghdad.

Two important stories have emerged this week from the Middle East, and for a change, both had to do with peace.

On Wednesday Israel and Syria, in what appeared to be coordinated announcements, said that they had begun indirect talks in Turkey, the first confirmation in eight years of negotiations between the long-time enemies. Also on Wednesday, the tiny Gulf state of Qatar scored a diplomatic coup by pulling off a deal to end Lebanon's protracted crisis, successfully shepherding the negotiations between feuding Lebanese factions to end months of political turmoil and violence.

The warring parties in Lebanon agreed to a deal brokered by Arab diplomats, and incoming flights to Beirut's International airport have resumed ending a week of bloody, political crisis.

Celebrations have been taking place across Israel to mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of the state. Israeli families enjoyed fireworks, concerts and an aerial display while countries around the world, principally those countries that helped create Israel, showered it with words of admiration and congratulations.

Earlier this week, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown congratulated Israel on its 60th anniversary of independence, calling the state's creation one of the "greatest achievements" of the 20th Century. George W. Bush, along with present and past European dignitaries, is expected to attend the festivities.

Imprisoned for six years without being charged or given a trial, Al Jazeera cameraman Sami Al Hajj was finally released from the US Navy prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The man, who was "emaciated," as his attorney said, because of his hunger strike which began in January 2007, was taken to a hospital and later arrived home in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum.

"I've been dreaming of this moment for the past seven years," the cameraman said in an interview with Al Jazeera. Saying that "rats are treated with more humanity", Al Hajj also said that the inmates' "human dignity was violated".

The fall of the Taliban six years ago heralded new rights for Afghan women: no more beatings, no more repression, and no more mandatory burqas. But did their health and well-being improve?

When it comes to Palestinian children in Gaza, CNN, "the most trusted name in news," is unable to put out a headline that reflects the reality of the situation on the ground. Seven Palestinians have been killed in a raid by the Israeli army in the northern Gaza Strip, including four children and an elderly man.

This week, Syria made news headlines not once...but twice. One headline implicated it in enriching uranium and involved the CIA confirming to Congress that the target of a mysterious Israeli air raid in northern Syria on Sept. 6, 2007 was a reactor built with North Korean help.

The second headline, which in my opinion is the most intriguing one, was about a claim recently made by the Syrian president Bashar Al Assad that Ehud Olmert, Israel's prime minister, has made an offer to withdraw from Syria's Golan Heights in exchange for a peace deal with Damascus.

Although people in the Middle East cannot vote in the U.S. presidential primaries, the Arab media is providing daily coverage of the ongoing duel between Clinton and Obama. Less attention is being paid to McCain, except for when he makes outrageous remarks, such as his statement about keeping the troops in Iraq for "a hundred years."

Interestingly enough, many Arab pundits have dubbed the U.S. election process as "Electing the Emperor."

Shunned by Israeli political leaders, former US president Jimmy Carter met with a Hamas representative in the West Bank and says he will go ahead with plans to meet with the leader of Hamas and the Syrian President in Damascus to promote peace in the Middle East.