North America

‘In the struggle against terrorism, is our foreign policy an aggravating factor? Yes, in that anything we do aggravates them’

‘Mid-2010 might be too late for Obama to switch gears on Iran. Its nuclear clock is ticking faster and faster’

‘In his decade as president, Chávez has parlayed socioeconomic resentment into near-invincibility. But Venezuela’s decay, and the chinks in his armour, are there for all to see’

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The new president will be welcomed by most ordinary Africans, if not by their rulers

Many Britons – and even some Americans – have a false idea of what the US is really like. Are Hollywood and TV to blame?

‘Mr Obama subscribes to the European critique of the Bush administration, but the self-abasement that the critics demand from America is as implausible as it is undesirable’

‘Let’s stop accusing the US of being a big bully. They are the ones who foot the bill and provide the military hardware’

‘Obama will try to succeed in the Middle East where Clinton and Bush failed’

Far from revealing what has gone wrong with American politics, Simon Schama’s new series shows what has gone wrong with British television