this & that

• Uganda, which was the first country to host an investigation by the International Criminal Court, says it won't arrest Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir if he visits Uganda for a conference next week. Stop Genocide has coverage of the "will-they, won't-they" debate that's apparently taking place at the highest levels of Uganda's government. Suffice it to say that if Uganda ignores its obligations to the ICC by refusing to arrest al-Bashir, it will probably hurt the court more than it will hurt Uganda.
  
• Professor Sean Jacobs is taking a break from blogging at Africa is a Country this summer, but you can read his insight on Obama's Ghana visit here.
  
• Professor Blattman grades Obama's Ghana speech here.
• More thoughts on the speech from one Zambian's perspective are here.
• Something to which to look forward (?) in my new life in Georgia.
• Amanda has some really nice thoughts on the need for more listening in international advocacy.
• Charles Taylor is finally testifying at his trial in the Special Court for Sierra Leone at The Hague. Good times.
• Apparently the Congo is the new black when it comes to overpriced outdoor fun for kids. How else to explain not only the Congo River ride at Schlitterbahn, but also Congo-themed mini-golf?
• What's the deadliest place in Sudan? If you answered Darfur, congrats on knowing that Darfur is in fact part of Sudan, but you're wrong.
  
• Those of you not in the US may not be aware that we are enjoying the once-every-five-years-or-so spectacle that is a Senate hearing to confirm a Supreme Court nominee. These hearings are always a fascinating mix of completely boring minutae interspersed with occasional moments of wonder. (Like, how do presidents from both parties always manage to find a nominee from among the .0001% of Americans who apparently don't have an opinion on the abortion issue? It's amazing.) It's extra interesting this year because many Republicans on the Judiciary Committee are busy implying that the first Latina to be nominated to the court is a racist. Eugene Robinson dismantles their arguments here.
• Have some Somali pirates worked out a bargain with al-Qaeda-connected elements in Somalia? Given that piracy was just recently officially declared "un-Islamic" by Somali clerics, I seriously doubt it, but anything's possible on the Horn. Odds are these pirates are not the ones you hear so much about on the news; Puntland's pirates are a long way from al-Shabaab's strongholds.
• Everything you need to know about American foreign policy blunders, arrogance, and sin you can learn from Graham Greene.