The long-promised road map for Israeli-Palestinian peace, which Syria condemns as inadequate, is likely to be endorsed by the rest of the war-weary region.

ECONOMIST: Syria hates the war, but is too weak to play the spoiler

Mr Romney would take a more hawkish line abroad, with more criticism of enemies and more buttering-up of old allies, though a war-weary America would be no more likely to get involved in new conflicts.

ECONOMIST: Conclusion

There appear to be no good options in Syria and, like most Americans, NATO countries have grown very weary of the long war in Afghanistan.

CNN: G8 and NATO-athon, with Pakistan at the table