The President has learned a lot in Washington. But perhaps most impressive is his gift for the age-old DC tradition of political backslapping. Here is NYT photographer Luke Sharrett's time-lapse slideshow of Obama greeting 46 moochy foreign delegates. [NYT, Getty]

Well, which is it, Matt? Is Obama too subservient or too uppity? (Oh, wait—he's just uppity to the white man, as he sells our sovereignty to the Yellow Peril. Got it!)

Oh hey, looks like the the government of Kyrgyzstan has been overthrown.

Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai fixed the recent presidential elections, and now he is blaming the UN for doing that. He is also threatening to join the Taliban and generally being kinda nutty. Diplomat Peter Galbraith says he is on drugs!

Oh boy, Maureen Dowd pissed off Marty Peretz! How can I not click on a blog post from The New Republic's prickly, racist sometimes-owner headlined "Maureen Dowd And The Saudi Royals"?

The investigative bloggers at Brazil's Folha Online say Zynga confirmed keeping half the money in certain fundraising campaigns linked to Haiti relief. Zynga says it's been open about this all along. But these aren't questions the company behind Farmville relishes.

Apple products are made in factories that regularly employ young teenagers, constantly work people more than 60 hours per week, and falsify records to cover up their misdeeds. That's according to the shameless gossiping muckrakers at... uh, Apple Inc.

Googlers are gobsmacked that an Italian court found three company executives guilty of violating Italy's privacy laws over a video uploaded to Google Video. After all, the company quickly removed the video, of an autistic student being bullied, in 2006.

Stephen Walt has advice for people who plan on writing something controversial (critical of Israel), on dealing with the reaction you'll receive from certain people (The New Republic). It is sort of the foreign policy version of this.

Journalism training in Korea has all the hallmarks of a good reality show: Cub reporters must drink themselves silly, stay awake around the clock, sleep together, and stab one another in the back. It makes Columbia look like Coney Island.

A Saudi prince is on trial in London for strangling his manservent.

Google is putting its profits and growth on the line to stand up to China's authoritartian practices. Whatever we might suspect about its motives, the company deserves applause for that. Maybe now it can lead an allied, anti-repression tech force.

Portugal's parliament OK'd gay marriage! So, go to hell, Jersey. (It still may be vetoed.)

Here is a very interesting interview with an Iranian dissident.

You were maybe too busy opening presents or seeing It's Complicated and eating Chinese food to read Andrew Sullivan this weekend, but you have probably heard that something is up in Iran.

Spencer Ackerman has composed a very helpful (and optimistic?) explanation of what, exactly, our "end game" in Afghanistan is, and how it relates to the Endless War On Terror Forever. We are totally going to defeat al-Qaeda everyone!

Bloomberg's reporting Uganda's anti-gay bill won't include executions, but legislators are still "formulating punishments."

The cat! We mean the cat! Sorry, we didn't mean to confuse you, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. We just had no idea Canada was so gullible!

Palestinian refugees can now enjoy the world's first-ever street named after Twitter following a Dutchman's $146 donation. Good luck explaining Twitter to your kids, refugee camp parents, or giving out your address. At least the money goes to charity.

There are many perils to life in Congress: the humidity, town halls yelling... But worst must be when screw-loose ex-staffers go over to the opposition and accuse you of betraying your country to Turkey while having a lesbian affair.