Straight from the desk

“When a statesman insists that his country is his, he is probably about to prove it.” - I.F. Stone We have a strange weakness for confident people. Give us two leaders. One says: “I'm not completely sure. Let's look at the evidence.” The other says: “I know exactly what to do.” Guess who gets the applause. We like the second one. It makes life easier. There is something comforting about watching a person walk into a complicated situation and behave as though the complication