Count me among those who think that the Nobel Committee has made a mockery of itself by awarding the Peace Prize to Barack Obama. I say this, incidentally, as someone who supports many of Obama’s foreign policy initiatives. However, even in those cases where Obama’s policies are both well-intentioned and well-conceived (for example, pushing for [...]

Muammar Gaddafi often comes across as a nutjob, travelling around with his amazon bodyguard and having himself crowned “king of kings”. And his long, rambling, intemperate speech at the UN Security Council yesterday certainly contained its fair share of crazy. However, I’ve suggested before that Gaddafi has more tactical acumen than the media gives him [...]

Eusebius McKaiser and Sasha Polakaw-Suranksky try to make sense of Barack Obama’s Africa policy:
Obama’s Africa policy is essentially premised on the promotion of — insistence on, even — good governance. This policy is touted not just as an intrinsic good for Africa but also, as Hillary Clinton said at the Eighth African Growth and Opportunity [...]

Andrew Sullivan joins the calls for Obama to release his “original birth certificate”:
So many readers are furious that I have dared to ask the president to show the original copy of his birth certificate. The reason for demanding it is the same reason for demanding basic medical records proving Sarah Palin is the biological mother [...]

Megan McArdle on the Obama deficits:
According to the CBO, which is usually preferred for projections because it does not share the White House Office of Management and Budget’s fervent desire to please the boss, the debt-to-GDP ratio will end up north of 80% early in the next decade. It peaked around 110% at the [...]

Ray Hartley is concerned about budget deficits under Zuma’s increased spending plan:
The ANC’s reaction to news that we are in recession - a pretty shocking one at that with GDP coming in at -6,4% - has been to say that spending on infrastructure and public works must be accelerated. Which is all good and well, [...]

While the Obama Administration has been focussed mainly on the so-called “AfPak” problem, the violence in Somalia has escalated to the point where it now ranks as one of the world’s most dangerous crises. The conflict became even worse this weekend, with the radical group al-Shabab carrying out an Iraq-style suicide bomb attack in Mogadishu. [...]