Conferences at the top level are always courteous. Name-calling is left to the foreign ministers.

We both agreed that Stalin was determined to hold out against the Germans. He told us he'd never let them get to Moscow. But if he was wrong, they'd go back to the Urals and fight. They'd never surrender.

Americans wanted to settle all our difficulties with Russia and then go to the movies and drink Coke.

It was fear. He didn't want to see a united Germany. Stalin made it clear to me - I spoke with him many times - that they couldn't afford to let Germany build up again. They'd been invaded twice, and he wasn't willing to have it happen again.

The landmine is eternally prepared to take victims. In common parlance, it is the perfect soldier, the 'eternal sentry.' The war ends, the landmine goes on killing.

In war, everything changes. You are very selective of what you do because everything you do can be the last thing you do in your life.

So one important lesson of Vietnam is, the first casualty of an unwise and unjust war are the American troops called on to fight it. Their service should be honored.

We are convinced that gender equality is the foundation of sustainable peace and development and that gender-based violence needs to be addressed head-on as part of the efforts to build peace.