USA DAWN: NEWS AND UPDATES

‘It’s like appointing Ronald McDonald to run the agriculture department.’ Photograph: Brian Harkin/Getty Images I n one of the futile demonstrations that marked the run-up to the Iraq war, I saw a woman with a sign that read “How Did Our  Oil  End Up Under Their Sand?” In nine words she managed to sum up a great deal of American foreign policy, back at least as far as the 1953 coup that overthrew Mossadegh in Iran and helped toss the Middle East into its still-boiling cauldron. If the Senate approves Rex Tillerson after his testimony on Wednesday, they’ll be continuing in that inglorious tradition – in fact, they’ll be taking it to a new height, and cutting out the diplomats who have traditionally played the middleman role. Rex Tillerson – who has literally spent his entire working life at Exxon – is big oil personified. It’s like appointing Ronald McDonald to run the agriculture department (which is certainly a possibility, since that job is still unfilled). So ...