Free Republic

Obama hits a rough spot Published: 25/11/2009 at 12:00 AM Newspaper section: News President Barack Obama of the United States has hit the one-year political wall hard, and it especially showed during his recent trip to Asia. In the year since Mr Obama was elected, both the excitement of the polls and the expectations have worn off. As with all democratic leaders, election hullabaloo has been replaced by reality. Not all promises can be achieved quickly, or in the way they were presented in a free-wheeling election. In some ways, Mr Obama has been brought down to Earth, and his...

The new and supposedly improved version of the United Nations' focus on international human rights has hit the headlines again, in a startling manner. Reports bubbling up through the bureaucracy of the Human Rights Council, as it now is called, are addressing the supposed problem of so-called small arms _ the term that bureaucrats use for rifles and handguns. An astounding report by the world body's Special Rapporteur on the subject has gone far overboard. It suggests that it ought to be global policy that neither nations nor their citizens have the right of self-defence. It is difficult to imagine...