By ARTHUR I. CYR, Scripps Howard News Service

Instant analysts in America often misread British politics, primarily because we use our own different political culture to explain theirs. The ruling Labor Party has just suffered a severe double defeat in elections for local county councils and the European Parliament. Drawing on our own personality-driven politics, pundits concentrate on Labor Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

From ancient times to the present, amphibious military operations have been rightly regarded as particularly challenging. The largest such enterprise was the Allied invasion of France in World War II on June 6, 1944 -- D-Day as it was known.

As the international community grapples with the latest thundering threats from North Korea, which for the second time in three years have been accompanied by a nuclear explosion, the principal forum is the United Nations.

Facebook, the exceptionally fast growing networking site, is both symbol and tool of globalization. The Internet represents development of a global society as well as economy. Young people primarily populate this particular social arena, entirely appropriate and not at all surprising.

The nuclear test by North Korea on Monday, following an earlier one three years ago, occurred not only on Memorial Day in the United States but during mourning in South Korea for former President Roh Moo-hyun, who committed suicide. The explosion has also been accompanied by missile tests.

In relatively slow but steady fashion, the Obama administration has been filling diplomatic posts. John Roos, head of the powerful Silicon Valley law firm of Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich and Rosati, reportedly is about to be named Ambassador to Japan. He is close to President Obama and a major campaign fundraiser. Moderate Republican Gov.

The visit to Washington of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has been free of public acrimony. Some predicted a contentious meeting with President Obama given the particularly hard-line personality of the Israeli leader. Instead, Netanyahu has emphasized support for an independent Palestinian state, though with restrictions, and urged immediate resumption of peace negotiations.

Barbarism and the law collide in war. Armed conflict is inherently terribly destructive. The law is a vital tool for mitigating the most brutal aspects of war. Both dimensions are present in the intensely politicized debate in Washington about torture.

The NASA space shuttle Atlantis was successfully launched Monday at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, beginning the latest adventure in the now lengthy story of exploration of outer space. This mission is focused on repair and upgrading of the Hubble Space Telescope, which was put into orbit in 1990 and has provided enormous amounts of valuable information.

Public attention to civilian deaths in Afghanistan underscores the challenging nature of the vexing ongoing guerrilla war. On May 4, according to allegations, civilians were killed during an Allied operation. Taliban insurgents entered a village in Bala Bulak in western Afghanistan and beheaded three civilians. When Afghan police responded, they were ambushed.