McCain buys ad on troop visit  —  Signaling a new aggressiveness, aides to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Saturday that he is going up immediately with an ad called “Troops” criticizing Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) for canceling plans to visit wounded troops at a U.S. military hospital in Germany.

How Obama Became Acting President  —  IT almost seems like a gag worthy of “Borat”: A smooth-talking rookie senator with an exotic name passes himself off as the incumbent American president to credulous foreigners.  But to dismiss Barack Obama's magical mystery tour through old Europe …

Stalking, Sniffing, Swooning  —  It could have been a French movie.  —  Passing acquaintances collide in a moment of transcendent passion.  They look at each other shyly and touch tenderly during their Paris cinq à sept, exchange some existential thoughts under exquisite chandeliers, and — tant pis — go their separate ways.

Industry Gushed Money After Reversal on Drilling  —  Campaign contributions from oil industry executives to Sen. John McCain rose dramatically in the last half of June, after the senator from Arizona made a high-profile split with environmentalists and reversed his opposition to the federal ban on offshore drilling.

Shiite Militia in Baghdad Sees Its Power Ebb  —  BAGHDAD — The militia that was once the biggest defender of poor Shiites in Iraq, the Mahdi Army, has been profoundly weakened in a number of neighborhoods across Baghdad, in an important, if tentative, milestone for stability in Iraq.

South Africa tells Robert Mugabe to surrender  —  The president and his cronies face a humiliating end  —  THE president of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, has been warned by Thabo Mbeki, the South African president, that he faces prosecution for the crimes he has committed during his 28 years …

Sleaze scuppers Democrat golden boy  —  Gotcha: Senator John Edwards, whose wife has cancer, has been caught in a sex scandal that ends his vice-presidential hopes  —  SCRATCH John Edwards off the list of potential vice-presidential candidates.  The former White House contender …

In study, evidence of liberal-bias bias  —  Cable talking heads accuse broadcast networks of liberal bias — but a think tank finds that ABC, NBC and CBS were tougher on Barack Obama than on John McCain in recent weeks.  —  Haters of the mainstream media reheated a bit of conventional wisdom last week.

Third of Muslim students back killings  —  Radicalism and support for sharia is strong in British universities  —  ALMOST a third of British Muslim students believe killing in the name of Islam can be justified, according to a poll.  —  The study also found that two in five Muslims …

Obama's Sober Mood  —  Greeted by thousands of Europeans, Obama's world tour went smashingly well.  But the candidate says he's not letting any of it go to his head. … —Sen. Barack obama in Berlin, July 24, 2008  —  Even if he wins the election this fall, Barack Obama will have a hard …

This Time, It's Different  —  Global Pressures Have Converged to Forge a New Oil Reality  —  The two events, half a world apart, went largely unheralded.  —  Early this month, Valero Energy in Texas got the unwelcome news that Mexico would be cutting supplies to one of the company's Gulf Coast refineries by up to 15 percent.

Helicopter parents  —  The New York Times devotes some of its front page to a story about overbearing parents who torture summer camp administrators with their specific instructions, whiny demands for exceptionalism, and unreconstructed anxiety.  This is an excellent use of that newspaper's valuable real estate.

Defining “Victory” in Iraq  —  As recently as the first half of 2007, the idea of an American victory in Iraq seemed like a fantasy to just about everyone, including me.  General David Petraeus surged additional troops to Iraq, however, and he transformed the joint American-Iraqi counterinsurgency strategy …