"Our task is to contain the oil, ultimately to eliminate the leaking well and, most importantly, to clean up the oil, defend the shoreline and restore the shoreline where the oil comes ashore, so we return it to the original state, " he said.

CNN: BP robots steer cap to spewing well

It is all about give and take: you protect my champagne label, and I'll defend your olive-oil subsidy.

ECONOMIST: Nicole Fontaine: a European conciliator-general

It has been seen as a fig leaf for US troops in Africa, which could be poised to defend strategic interests like oil in, for example, Nigeria.

BBC: NEWS | Americas | Aids, oil and Africom on Bush tour

For Mr Bush, who has openly campaigned to defend the interests of the oil industry, to go suddenly weak at the knees about high oil prices is bizarre.

ECONOMIST: Pump fiction | The

After failing to recapture the oil terminals at Brega and Ras Lanuf, he has apparently laid a ring of landmines to defend Sirte and deployed a brigade there, led by one of his sons, Saadi.

ECONOMIST: The battle for Libya

Today - buoyed by massive oil and gas revenues - Russia feels more confident to flex its muscles, restore lost influence and defend its interests close to home.

BBC: Russia's game plan in Georgia