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

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

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.

So many secrets, not enough intelligence

Paul McGeough Does this jolt to the massive combine that is the US intelligence system, by the unseemly departure of the head of the CIA in what we know as the Petraeus affair, require a pause to look at the house...

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

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

Bibi the fall guy as Barack wins the lot

Paul McGeough Moscow's thinking on the new Obama line-up comes discreetly, deniably.

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

Nobel cause writes China into corner

Paul McGeough There are idiots - and then there's the Chinese government.

Paul McGeough

Light the touch paper and stand back

Paul McGeough What the hell was that? In a perfect global storm: massive over-reach by crackpot Christian fundamentalists in California collided with what may have been a lucky break for the remnants of al-Qaeda's...

Paul McGeough

Oiling the wheels of justice, US-style

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

Paul McGeough

War of words is Israel's best defence

Paul McGeough Is Israel actually going to war - or merely threatening to go to war?

Paul McGeough

Here's a banking chief worth protecting

Paul McGeough When Muhammad Yunus gets mugged by the government of Bangladesh, our culture of modern hero-worship manifests as blanket indifference.

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

Assad's Alawites run out of options

Paul McGeough The dilemma for Syria's Alawites is acute. Do they go off a cliff with Bashar al-Assad, or can they retreat to safe ground?

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

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

Republicans plot to steal White House

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

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.