Sex trumps torture and corruption

Paul McGeough This is about carnal relations, not global security - got it? We're talking sex, so if you're looking for heavy breathing about ethics and morality, move on, turn the page.

Paul McGeough

Still waiting for Western civilisation

Paul McGeough Murder is disturbing - whether the victim is a secular political leader in the fraught, post-revolutionary chaos of Tunisia or a kid at school in the sensible and stable, we-know-how-to-do-it US.

Paul McGeough

The NRA-style potshot is alive and well

Paul McGeough If just a single bully works the neighbourhood, there's a good chance that his protection racket can hold up.

Paul McGeough

It's time for action to halt obscenities

Paul McGeough Tears don't cut it, Mr President. After another school massacre on Friday, a tearful Barack Obama declared ''our hearts are broken'', before promising ''meaningful action to prevent more tragedies...

Paul McGeough

Obama changes course between courses

Paul McGeough For a time there, it looked like business as usual in the Middle East.

Paul McGeough

Obama has to factor Arab Spring into reaction to Israeli-Hamas crisis

Paul McGeough WASHINGTON: We have yet to see the mettle of Barack Obama in his second term as US President, but it will be intriguing to watch how he sustains Washington's support for Israel in the coming four...

Paul McGeough

Sandy strike timely reminder to deniers

Paul McGeough Can you imagine how events might have unfolded had hurricane Sandy struck a few weeks earlier?

Paul McGeough

Pull the plug on Murdoch's modem

Paul McGeough Many families reach a point at which they need to confront the antics of the oldies - it appears to have arrived for the Murdochs.

Paul McGeough

Oiling the wheels of justice, US-style

Paul McGeough The ritual of the American party conventions is fascinating for foreigners.

Paul McGeough

Rebels bank on Aleppo as new Benghazi

Paul McGeough Let's get real. The Syrian conflict is a war, not a French-knitting circle.

Paul McGeough

In the US, the gun lobby calls the shots

Paul McGeough It didn't take long for a would-be copycat of last week's Colorado mass killer to emerge.

Paul McGeough

This is Romney's campaign to lose

Paul McGeough ELEMENTS of the commentariat are demanding a Sister Souljah moment from Mitt Romney. The call harks back to 1992 when candidate Bill Clinton gave the African-American rapper a jab in the ribs for her...

Paul McGeough

Republicans plot to steal White House

Paul McGeough There's a fiendish cleverness in perpetrating a fraud in broad daylight.

Paul McGeough

Why Obama faces a hopeless war in Syria

Paul McGeough ''Sensible'' doesn't cut it when women and children are being murdered on YouTube.

Paul McGeough

Egyptian generals let Arab Spring wilt

Paul McGeough The jig was up in Cairo when Barack Obama coughed up to the generals a cool $1.5 billion.

Paul McGeough

Plus ça change for a Europe in crisis

Paul McGeough They talk and talk and talk, but can they ever achieve anything? I'm talking about the Europeans.

Paul McGeough

When charity bites the hand that feeds it

Paul McGeough In Afghanistan it's mop-up time. As foreign armies eye the exits, a meeting in San Francisco last week was a different kind of mopping-up for a non-combat force that is likely to remain on the ground...

Paul McGeough

Take a bite out of Iran at your peril

Paul McGeough You'd have thought the reality of Afghanistan and Iraq might act as a break on the instinctive lunge by hawks to compare apples with oranges as they try to gull us into a belief that war is a doddle.

Paul McGeough

Postage stamp nation as global ringmaster

Paul McGeough The word ''bluff'' gets an outing in analysis these days. Is Benjamin Netanyahu bluffing about an attack on Iran?

Paul McGeough

A great race is all about the timing

Paul McGeough Some will gloat about the skeleton that tumbled from Mitt Romney's closet this week. But I'm more taken with the timing.