Like Carter before him, Obama may succeed for a time in evading public scrutiny for his foreign-policy failures because the public will be too concerned with his domestic failures to notice them.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Ideologue-in-chief

Mr Karimov's policy may well succeed, at least for a time.

ECONOMIST: Central Asia

On average, less than a quarter of applications for observing time succeed.

ECONOMIST: Mining the digital skies

Bank of Canada head Mark Carney will succeed Mervyn King as governor July 1 in a surprise move for the Bank of England, at a time when the U.K. is facing difficult economic times.

FORBES: Bank Of England Looks Outside After Libor Scandal, Taps Canada's Carney