As usual, it was a bittersweet experience.

Although they have made progress on governance, many of them remain weak states.

In these destitute areas, where most Iraqis live, people are prey to bitter temptations.

The country became embroiled in a bitter civil war, which lasted until nearly 1995.

The government sent in troops on 7 December, and a bitter street by street fight began.

And yet, in many places, a third of the children, by the time they're three already are facing a life of hardship due to this.

Kenya is embroiled in bitter tribal disputes, and saddled with a brazenly corrupt government.

Gaining consensus in China is a glacial process that will not be accomplished in a single speech.

Bailout operations invariably bring bitter controversy because they help some but not others.

And governments will determine whether we should prepare for bitter competition or a true team effort.

Slowly, many parents began to accept the fact that their children would be worse off.

Once the cards get shuffled, the positions change and individuals whose interests do not match the group s anymore, end up disappointed and bitter.

Sudan has been ravaged for decades by bitter conflicts rooted in abject poverty, struggles over resources, and ethnic and religious tensions.

Yemen emerged in 1990 from the reunification of South Yemen and North Yemen, which fought bitter wars in 1972 and 1979.

On July 2, Mexico held a presidential election that triggered what has become a bitter political firefight.

An artist, or group of artists, chooses a crowded street to convey the message in words or picture or both, that most of the times contain bitter sarcasm.

In France, the debate has stalled altogether due to bitter distributive conflicts, deep division within the Left, and the Right's absence of an economic and social vision.

Ahead of the Saturday showdown, rival fans have been gearing up offline, as well as in heated online exchanges, escalating into a bitter cyber war of intimidation.

It is a bitter irony that John McCain, the war hero, is considered a traitor by the conservative wing of his party because he has a compassionate attitude towards undocumented immigrants.

Sri Lanka, almost since independence in 1948, has been racked by acrimonious rivalry between the majority Sinhalese and the minority Tamils, who make up 12 of today s 21.3 million population.

Today, looking at the cavernous gulf between rich and poor, the irresponsibility that caused the global financial crisis, and the weak and divided responses to climate change, I feel bitter.

As US President Barack Obama said when accepting the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, We must begin by acknowledging the hard truth that we will not eradicate violent conflict in our lifetimes.

Those with bitter memories of Japanese behavior half a century ago should be reassured this debate is about how to defend peace, not about how to promote or wage war.

The DPJ suffered a bitter defeat in this summer s upper house election, after Kan abruptly proposed a significant increase in the highly unpopular consumption tax.

These eye popping statistics have sparked a widespread, sometimes rancorous debate about whether people are taking far more medication than is needed for problems that may not even be mental disorders.

For Russia, regime change in Syria its last military outpost in the region would be another bitter defeat for Iran, it would mean losing its most important ally in the Arab world, implying even deeper isolation.

She felt that her soul was in shreds as she recalled these memories, and she swallowed her anguish for being unable to say a final farewell to her son, and felt choked with bitterness.

The pursuit of this mission impossible would inevitably plunge Member States into a morass of bitter debate for an unpredictable period of time, taking other critical reforms hostage, including those that affect development, human rights, management of the Secretariat and collective international security.

A few months ago, I participated in the March of the Living at Auschwitz. Many Jews with European roots who now live in America or Israel were in attendance.

The country s mushrooming instability has triggered a bitter debate in the United States about the long term viability of Musharraf s military backed government and whether US financial support for Pakistan should continue.

Slowly, many parents began to accept the fact that their children would be worse off. The notion of Argentina as a country with infinite promise became a

TOKYO China is now engaged in bitter disputes with the Philippines over Scarborough Shoal and Japan over the Senkaku Islands, both located far beyond China s 200 mile wide territorial waters in the South China Sea.

In deciding to visit Ghana, a former British colony and a leading node in the global slave trade of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Obama bypassed the Kenya of his father. Kenya is embroiled in bitter tribal disputes, and saddled with a brazenly corrupt government.

In this passionate talk, Eve Ensler declares that there is a girl cell in us all a cell that we have all been taught to suppress. She tells heartfelt stories of girls around the world who have overcome shocking adversity and violence to reveal the astonishing strength of being a girl.

For its part, the United States has never attempted to give free college for all, and it took a bitter battle just to ensure that America s poor get access to health care a guarantee that the Republican Party is now working hard to repeal, claiming that the country cannot afford it.

Companies can suggest possible routes to get there, but governments are in the driver s seat. And governments will determine whether we should prepare for bitter competition or a true team effort.