World Affairs: North America

A sense of an ending

Washington must cut the umbilical cords that ties it to Tel Aviv. If it doesn’t, the conflict in the Middle East will hasten American decline

Traffic out of control

Observations on Canada and drug trafficking

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Obama and Israel: a new hope

The signs after Barack Obama’s inauguration were all in favour of the pro-Israel lobby. But the signals of the past few weeks have caught Tel Aviv off guard

Spirit of the woods

Simon Akam experiences the calm of an artists’ retreat in upstate New York with an impressive visitors’ book

After the revolution

30 years on from the Islamic revolution, can sensible, sober diplomacy win out?

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Smile on the face of the tiger

Obama’s speech in Cairo on the Middle East peace process was seductive, but its content was as morally bankrupt as any of Bush’s spiels

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Old wound, same pain

The conquest of the Wild West left North America’s first inhabitants scattered, diseased and broken. Can they find a panacea at the gambling table?

Obama is part of the problem

War rages in the North-West Frontier and the poor are embracing the Taliban because they at least fix roads and discipline criminals. But if catastrophe is to be averted in Pakistan it is the corrupt elite who must be confronted

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'We must build our house upon a rock'

Barack Obama has used his first 100 days in office to remake the culture of US politics. But his critics are asking, “Is the president too socialist and too willing to appease America’s enemies ?” Even Warren Buffett, one of his great supporters, has scorned his wisdom of taxing the rich

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Don't get the vapours...

Obama makes for a hard target for satirists: he talks well, lovely wife and kids, perfect dog, mean jump shot
But Harry Shearer warns Democrats not to get the vapours