More complicated?

Is the US discovering that Syria, and the whole Middle East, is more complicated than they thought? Here some Christians are caught in the middle of a fundamentalist Sunni war against everone who isn't fundamentalist Sunni.

Of course we still love you . . .

. . . with fracking reducing the need for oil, how much effort does the US want to spend on the intractable problems of the Middle East? If this is what they want, then why don't the American public like the lower international posture?

A 4 party system?

Clegg gets 36% -- how did Cameron and Milliband allow this?

Post-Snowden effect

What is proposed won't be what is enacted, and of course what it enacted will be bypassed; but it is important that "they" realise they must be seen to change the existing system, and that the efforts to tough it have failed.

Iran nuclear deal?

Motivation of Iran and US. Does it bother Iran to remember that the previous 2 Muslim states to give up nuclear programmes were both subsequently attacked, but Pakistan didn't and wasn't?

Middle East realignment

The title of this story is misleading -- it deals with a larger topic tangentiallyhttp://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/assad-is-already-counting-on-soldiers-still-at-school-to-fill-the-gaps-left-by-30000-casualties-9211142.html

Hugely significant for the finance industry?

The end of compulsory annuities; treating retirees as adults.

The state of the UK economy

Good analysis in the Guardian.

So what if India gets a new government?

Not much, seems to be the consensus.

Might Saudi Arabia stop supporting jihadis?

Intriguing possibility. This is the best discussion I could find online.

This isn't news -- it was obvious from the start. Quite a lot of other non-news in today's papers too.

What does Ukraine expect, and why?

They might be better to get on with what the neighbourhood bully has left them, after taking the Crimea back. The western countries might say the actions were illegal and perhaps they were, but that doesn't fix it -- after all, the illegal occupation of Palestine continues.

Another unstable oil producer

Interesting how the various Arab springtimes play out -- Egypt, Tunisia and Libya. Many aspects -- instability on Europe's border, oil supplies, another source of jihadi experience.

the shape of post election British politics

Is this the point from where Labour is the next government? It is hard to see the LibDems wanting to keep Cameron in power and ruin the economy by leaving the EU. And do the Tories then drift off to the right?

In search of Obama's balls

If Obama won't do anything about this, will the likes of Netanyahu and Putin take it as a sign that they can just run down the White House clock?

The state of the world

Is it hard to believe that this describes the same world and homo sapiens we see outside out front doors, or do we just not want to think about it?

The news today

A new feeding frenzy for lawyers; a new blow to the banks?

The news today

Good news from the Arabic Spring -- at least one seems to be progressing to summer.

The news today

Wasn't Hilary supposed to be sophisticated and sensible? If not in health matters, at least in foreign affairs? It must be hard to stay in the press while you decide whether to run.

The news today

Is this the sound of the Tories pissing off the Lib Dems to lose the chance to be the post-election government, or just the distancing of coalition relationship before the election?

The news today

If Putin stops at Crimea then the question is probably only how quickly it blows over, because nobody will fight him for it.

The news today

Here is some sense  to balance the hysteria about the Crimean issue; but here is real news.