The skewed incentives distorted our economy and our society.

The Cold War distorted that wisdom.

In countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh, military interventions have disfigured the original intent and contents of the constitutions and thwarted the evolution of a secular system.

Mendacity in the Communist press, which distorted the protests meaning and personally attacked student leaders, inflamed matters more.

Political transitions were marred by violence in some African countries, prompting good offices efforts by the United Nations and others to prevent disputes from escalating into armed conflicts.

We confused means with ends. Our bloated financial sector grew to the point that in the United States it accounted for more than 40 of corporate profits.

Mendacity in the Communist press, which distorted the protests meaning and personally attacked student leaders, inflamed matters more. The party resorted to anti Semitic propaganda, pointing to the Jewish ancestry of some of the student leaders.

ISTANBUL Turkey s beleaguered Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) have emerged victorious from this week s local elections. Still, the AKP s triumph is unlikely to ameliorate the country s internal conflicts, much less revive its tarnished international standing.

For there to be any genuine possibility of a lasting resolution to the conflict, all parties, including the international community, have to abandon the simplistic and one sided representations that have distorted the true reality, and recognize that no side has a monopoly on suffering and that the dreams of neither side can be fulfilled in full.