Voters don't much like assassins, but a half-baked idea for a people's assembly on climate change and a tack to the right on immigration made Ms Gillard look shallow as well as disloyal.

ECONOMIST: The Australian election

While not a perfect fit, the parallels between President Bush's half-baked idea of setting up refugee camps on "flat" Iraqi territory -- to be defended by U.S. and allied armed forces and eventually turned over to someone else to manage (if someone like the U.N. steps forward to take on the task) - is eerily reminiscent of the early, ill-defined American commitment to the people of South Vietnam.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Return of the syndrome