Beeple (Mike Winkelmann), Appleton, WI, USA.

Words that are strictly true seem to be paradoxical.

L.T.

Chris Round, Sydney, Australia.

I think we have to be cautious in interpreting ISIS claims of responsibility for terrorist attacks. Take the worst of the recent ones, in Nice. It was discussed by Akbar Ahmed, one of the most careful and discerning analysts of radical Islam.
He concludes from the available evidence that the perpetrator, Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, was probably “not a devout Muslim.

N.C.

Levi van Veluw, Arnhem, Netherlands.

There are serious barriers to overcome in the struggle for justice, freedom, and dignity, even beyond the bitter class war conducted ceaselessly by the highly class-conscious business world with the “indispensable support” of the governments they largely control.

N.C.

Through a combination of powerful imagery and atmospheric pace Genesis dares us to fleetingly glimpse our own origins, our civilization and the known universe.
Drawing heavily on a visual currency distilled from the subconscious and the psychology of self, we are taken on a stark journey marrying rippling, organic forms with stern, unyielding geometry.

Justyna Zduńczyk, Wrocław, Poland.

As the year 2013 drew to an end, the BBC reported on the results of the WIN/Gallup International poll on the question: “Which country do you think is the greatest threat to peace in the world today?”

By contrast, the debate in American scholarly and media circles is about whether Iran can be contained, and whether the huge NSA surveillance system is needed to protect U.S. security.

N.C.

toormix, Barcelona, Spain.

The softest thing in the world dashes against and overcomes the hardest; that which has no (substantial) existence enters where there is no crevice. I know hereby what advantage belongs to doing nothing (with a purpose).

L.T.