Russia's withdrawal of support for the Iranian nuclear program might jeopardize these other lucrative deals. Even more problematic, Russian government officials rarely resign from their high-power positions at state-owned companies, so they stand to gain personally from continued or increasing ties with Iran.

One doesn’t need to be a Russian domestic radical or a foreign Russophobe to see major flaws in the way Russia is ruled. Dmitri Medvedev, has catalogued its problems: "an inefficient economy, semi-Soviet social sphere, influential groups of corrupt officials who want to squeeze the profits from the remnants of Soviet industry".

When diplomacy and subversion are not enough and fighting is unavoidable, use methods and tactics that exploit enemy weaknesses, avoid consuming combat forces, and patiently whittle down the enemy's strength. All is constantly changing as rulers and nations rise and fall.

If Bin Laden cannot be found, if the Taliban cannot be eliminated, if troops cannot be withdrawn, if victory cannot be declared, then western leaders must find a reason for soldiers to die. Like Crusaders, they are told to die for the sacrament of a holy grail.

"America Capitalism" is a "Lost Soul" ... we've lost our moral compass ... the coming collapse is the end of an "inevitable" historical cycle stalking all great empires to their graves. Downsize your lifestyle expectations, trust no one, not even media.

Its passage has evoked such powerful Eurosceptic currents that by default it has established the opposite of what it set out to achieve – the limits of European integration and expansion. Croatia and possibly Iceland will join, but Turkey and Ukraine seem less, not more, likely to do so.

Even though the WHO admits it is not testing patients for H1N1 around the world, they also state that the H1N1 "pandemic virus" is becoming more common than the common seasonal flu virus. A simple question in the interest of accuracy: How in hell's blazes do they know that if they stopped testing around the world? Gut feeling?

Moscow needs to be told that even reasonably good relations between Russia and the US will depend significantly on a change of its policy regarding Venezuela. President Obama has made a conciliatory gesture with the end of the missile defense plan for Central Europe. It is time for Medvedev and Putin to reciprocate.

Containing and weakening al Qaeda may be possible, but building Afghanistan into a modern, democratic country is not. The increasingly evident failures of nation-building in Bosnia and Iraq-which were both more promising candidates than Afghanistan-should have taught us that lesson.