The job numbers are positive. We've had more jobs created now than were lost during the recession. We're seeing that the creation we're seeing those numbers not only grow but shift toward the private sector and shift toward full-time employment and these are all signs that the recovery is taking some hold but we're not out of woods.

There was a widespread indignation in the American media. They were saying 'How can you make a movie during an election that's about politics? What are you doing? Are you trying to influence people's lives?' To which my response was 'Well I hope so.'

Well you know what I'm 60 years old and I've been interested in politics since I was on my daddy's knee. During the 1948 election we were praying for Truman. I know a lot about politics.

I learnt more about politics during one South Dakota dust storm than in seven years at the university.

The United States brags about its political system but the President says one thing during the election something else when he takes office something else at midterm and something else when he leaves.

Poetry is the opening and closing of a door leaving those who look through to guess about what is seen during the moment.

My actions to promote peace the mediation missions which I carried out during many conflicts which very often occurred between brothers of the same country are not driven by any ulterior motives or any calculations based on personal ambitions.

One of my great all-time loves in cinema and I've seen it three times is Bondarchuk's 'War and Peace.' Not a lot of people may have seen that film. It was made during the Soviet era.

And I have lived since - as you have - in a period of cold war during which we have ensured by our achievements in the science and technology of destruction that a third act in this tragedy of war will result in the peace of extinction.

We can realise a lasting peace and transform the East-West relationship to one of enduring co-operation.