Three Thousand Versts of Loneliness

Nick Robinson has been interpreting British political leaders’ reactions to Barack Obama’s election victory. David Cameron and Gordon Brown in particular have been conspicuously swift in their attempts to sequester a little of the US President Elect’s gold dust for their own purposes. During Prime Minister’s questions the Conservative leader clashed with his Labour counterpart , whose conference jibe about novices has acquired unfortunate connotations following Obama’s victory. Cameron’s cadres in Northern Ireland have also been drawing inferences from the presidential election. Obama is depicted as an inspirational leader who proves that anyone with necessary aptitude can ascend to the top political post in America. Whilst the UK does not encompass close to the 50 states comprising the US, it does include 4 constituent parts and the lesson which the NI Tory blog gleans from Obama, is that it is hugely important that parties should compete robustly in every corner of the Kingdom,...

Russia’s influence on its neighbours is most often portrayed as lamentable and exploitative. As such it is unsurprising that Dmitry Medvedev’s efforts to broker a settlement between Armenia and Azerbaijan have been at best ignored and at worst portrayed as a cynical component of Russia’s attempt to establish energy hegemony over the west. Whilst states will naturally be most motivated by projects which accord with their own interests, Russia is in no way unusual in this regard and its mediating in the Nagorno Karabakh dispute should not be lightly dismissed. The conflict, like other post Soviet crises, has been bequeathed upon the states by a strategic piece of Stalinist arbitrariness. Karkakh, a region populated mainly by ethnic Armenians, was allocated to Azerbaijan’s administrative area under Stalin’s policy of divide and rule. Now Medvedev has the leaders of both countries signed up to solving their disagreements by negotiation. This is unequivocally a positive development. ...

The US election is politics’ Premier League. Throughout the world there are people who aren’t going to the match, indeed they're not entitled to attend a match, but nevertheless, almost everyone has a favourite team. This morning Boris Johnson declared himself an Obama fan in the Daily Telegraph, which represents a significant addition to the list of British Conservatives who will be celebrating, should the Democratic candidate win, in the wee small hours of the fifth of November. Traditionally, of course, Conservatives feel much more inclined toward Republican candidates in American elections. However, there is something of a sea change in this particular election. Iain Dale previously examined the phenomenon in an article which suggested that David Cameron himself might quietly favour Obama. Meanwhile Burke’s Corner turned its erudite gaze toward the underlying reasons which are making Conservatives in the UK comfortable with the Democrat ticket and uncomfortable backing...