Heads up! American intellectuals speak out

Trying to follow the fascinating world of American political science? Take this test and see how well you're doing.

(a) Who said this?

...the moral issue about whether the hugely disproportionate death tolls on the two sides justify the Israeli action remains on the table.

(b) How about this one?

This is one of those moments that shines a cruel light on the failure to translate into effective action the emerging consensus about the centrality of soft power, and the need to integrate communications and policy.

(c) Or this:

But put in a different, more hawkish context, I’d say what Israel is doing in Gaza is certainly better-justified than what the United States did in Iraq....[There is] a disproportionate level of shock and appalledness from some quarters about Israeli activities as if this action is some kind of unprecedented outrage in human history. The real outrage is how common and banal, how unsurprising and thoroughly precedented it is.

Too easy for you? Here's a tougher one. What is the context for this remark, and who said it?

(d)...I’m starting to feel disgusted at our philosophical quibbling in the light of what’s actually happening.