My Sudanese sons have become americanized to the extent that they don't hold hands much, but we touch hands when we are meeting or parting that is qualitatively different from a handshake.  It's a soft hand to hand caress, an intimacy between men who demonstrate their connection and love for each other and I enjoy it.  

We also do a more animated greeting where we put arms around each other and pat each other on the back repeatedly, it's a much more joyful expression of the same.  I don't know what it means to my Dinka friends, but every time I see them do it with each other, I see it telling the two, I am so glad you are still alive, I am so happy to see you again.

I have reservations about posting the Bush/Abdullah handholding picture because of the potential gay-bashing that it implies, but the point in the picture is that this is our national energy policy:  an intimate partnership between American oil executives and Saudi despots.  

I think an intimate partnership between American oil execs and Saudi despots has weaknesses as a national energy policy.