Political sentiment in the United States seems to be turning against the interventions and nation-building projects that have characterized US foreign policy in recent years. The revulsion at the cost and size of government, including the cost of expensive wars in the Middle East, has been amply demonstrated during the debt ceiling drama of recent weeks.

Resolution 1973, the UN Security Council resolution that implemented a no-fly zone over Libya, has been passed against the backdrop of a complex web of interests.

One might have gotten the impression that the wave of democratization which started in Tunisia and quickly spread to Egypt was destined to sweep through the entire region, leaving nothing an autocratic resonance autocracy in its wake.

The African Union has formally requested that the United Nations Security Council support a naval and air blockade of Somalia in the hope that such a move will cut off the flow of material aid to al-Shabab.

Al-Shabab’s latest attack displays a level of planning and execution that doesn’t bode well for the AU-backed transitional government in Mogadishu.

The al-Shabab attack on World Cup revelers in Uganda three weeks ago has served as a wake-up call for African Union leaders.

This weekend’s double bombing in Kampala bears all the hallmarks of an al-Shabab attack. It seems that Somalia’s homegrown strain of the Taliban has struck outside its own borders for the very first time.

Two major developments occurred in Somalia last week: a merger between the Ras Kamboni Brigade and al-Shabab, and al-Shabab’s long-suspected but hitherto unmade declaration of open alliance with Al Qaeda. Both do not bode well for the survival of the beleaguered Transitional Federal Government (TFG) in Mogadishu.

After decades of anarchy and disintegration, Somalia may once again soon be united, albeit under the banner of a terrorist government.

Despite its accusations of “genocide” in Darfur and an outbreak of violence in oil-rich Abyei, the US is negotiating with Sudan to normalize diplomatic relations.