Georgia just can't get Vladimir Putin out of its mind.

A new cartoon of extremely poorly-drawn yellow characters on Georgian TV called The Samsonadzes -- an obvious knock-off of The Simpsons -- is rising high in the ratings chart. Creator Shalva Ramishvili disavows his show is a copy:

The Samsonadzes is a native Georgian serial about a Georgian family... I want to say to Simpsons fans, please do not think that our show is an imitation or a rip off of The Simpsons. Yes of course it was an inspiration for us, but the Samsonadzes is not a copy.

A recent episode featuring Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin makes it hard to disagree on the "native Georgian" part, at least. Ramishvili described the importance of including Putin and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in a recent episode:

Having the Russian leaders on the show was like fulfilling a civic duty. The whole world is interested in the relationship between Russia and Georgia and we all know what Russia did in Georgia during the war [of August 2008].

Apparently, there's a trend of Eastern European knock-offs of The Simpsons: check out this "cult hit" on YouTube of The Simpsons set in rural Estonia.

Uganda's Chief Magistrate's court dismissed a landmark case on Wednesday that had been filed by two Ugandan journalists, Angelo Izama and Charles Mwanguhya Mpagi. The file was introduced by the journalists as an attempt to use Uganda's Access to Information Act to force the Ugandan government to release the details of five oil Production Sharing Agreements that it has signed with oil companies. The government and the oil companies has resisted pressure to divulge even the smallest details to the public -- both attempting to deflect criticism by citing the other's insistence in maintaining secrecy over the deals.

Oil explorers have long been skeptical of Uganda's potential for holding large oil deposits but in the last few years oil exploration has proved wildly successful. The estimates now lie upwards of 6 billion barrels of oil -- if on the higher end, Uganda would surpass Sudan for the fifth largest oil reserves in Africa.

Observers are not optimistic at the implications of Uganda's oil finds. Although it would inject billions of dollars annually into Uganda's economy, widespread corruption (Uganda was ranked 126^th out of 179 countries in Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index) increases the risk that the country could slip into the feared "resource curse". While the government and the oil companies paint a rosy picture for the public, analysts are less sanguine. As Taimour Lay writes in The Guardian, the components for a bad situation are all there:

The ingredients for the so-called "resource curse" are all in place: contract secrecy, government corruption, commercial disinformation campaigns, with environmental protections ignored, and a simmering border dispute with the Democratic Republic of the Congo frozen rather than resolved.

Although the Chief Magistrate's reasoning behind the dismissal of the case was less than convincing (he cited "national security"), it certainly highlighted Uganda's press freedom, right? That is, until Angelo Izama was slapped with a charge of libel and driven to jail on the very next day. The complaint? A December 2009 article in which Izama suggested parallels between President Yoweri Museveni and Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

Although this is not a new tactic -- typically used by the Ugandan government to intimidate journalists -- such cases have certainly picked up in the last year. In a country where press freedom is one of the most important aspects of its "partly free" rating by Freedom House, this is a disturbing trend.

The Committee to Protect Journalists reports on the Ugandan government's widespread use of defamation statutes to coerce its critics:

"If anything proves that a government is authoritarian, it's jailing journalists who raise questions about the government," said CPJ Africa Program Coordinator Tom Rhodes. "It's regrettable that the magistrate charged Angelo Izama and Henry Ochieng with criminal libel. It's time for Uganda to join the ranks of democracies by eliminating criminal defamation statutes."

...

Izama and Ochieng are among several Monitor journalists facing criminal charges in connection with their coverage, according to CPJ research. Sedition charges also hang over radio journalists Robert Kalundi Sserumaga and Betty Nambooze, while a government ban remains on popular debate programs and Central Broadcasting Services, the station of the traditional kingdom of the Baganda, Uganda's largest ethnic group, since last September.

Election fever for the 2011 presidential elections starts in the next few months and President Yoweri Museveni will be running for his fourth term. A potential resource curse and press intimidation are not the best of omens for a free and fair election. Ugandan journalists will play an essential role in pushing for transparency -- and I have a hunch they won't be cowed.

(Hat Tip: Michael Wilkerson)

For FP contributor Jeff Stein spoiling a surprise in former CIA operative John Kiriakou's upcoming book. Our bad, Colbert.

There's no two ways about it: The last year of foreign policy had more drama than a Scorsese epic and enough thrills to put Avatar to shame. From the fearsome battle in the Afghan hills to the U.S.-China love-hate relationship, and from the serious al Qaeda threats in Yemen to the hard-to-take-seriously pirates off the Somali coast, 2009 was arguably a much more interesting year for global politics than for movies. So with Oscar nominations due tomorrow, we're taking nominations for our own FP Oscars.

Who would you pick for the best actor of the year? Is President Barack Obama holding his own in an unfriendly world, or does the ubiquitous Brazilian President Lula deserve an Oscar? Is Muammar Qaddafi's persona just too good to be true, or do you prefer the smooth, suave diplomacy (and wacky domestic antics) of France's Nicolas Sarzoky?

You tell us what scandals, dramas, tragicomedies, and personal stories are your picks for the history books in 2009. Listed below are the categories and a few sample entries. Send your own nominations to Joshua.Keating@foreignpolicy.com or paste them in the comments below. May the best news win!

Best picture: What one story encapsulates the year?

Best drama: Spies, dissidents, treachery, and truth. Were the adrenaline-pumping protests following the Iran elections the most dramatic event? Or perhaps it was the long, drawn-out U.S. decision to send more troops to Afghanistan. If you have a humanitarian bent, the crises in Haiti, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan might come a heart-wrenching first.

Best comedy: If it isn't a tragedy, the dysfunction of the U.S. Congress is certainly good for a laugh. Then again, how about the Copenhagen Climate conference that ended in a collective shrug? Or the British MPs who used their expense accounts to buy fancy rugs and re-dig their backyard swimming pools?

Best romantic comedy: Gordon Brown requested meeting after meeting with the U.S. president; Obama just didn't have time. Brown gave him a romantic antique biography of Churchill, and Obama gave him a DVD box set. Let's just say the special relationship isn't all it used to be. But then again, there are other comedies in Europe these days ... Berlusconi anyone?

Best romantic drama: Unclear whether this should be a drama or a comedy, but the Russian President Dmitri Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladamir Putin certainly have a relationship worth noting -- as their press photographer has shown time and time again...

Best action: A U.S. ship is seized in the Gulf of Aden and devious pirates take the Maersk Alabama captive on the high seas, demanding a ransom for their deed. But lo and behold! A brave captain sacrifices his freedom to save his crew. And the U.S. whacks three pirates in the end, bringing everyone home safely! Phew!

Best special effects: Hmm, how about that missile launch in North Korea? It hit right on target: the Pacific Ocean.

Best director: Nicolas Sarkozy is a whirling dervish of diplomatic activity.

Best actor: Very few world leaders can also claim their own daily television shows -- and surprisingly humorous ones at that. "Alo Presidente" hasn't exactly skyrocketed Hugo Chavez to fame (his coup attempt back in the 1990s did that), but man has this guy mastered media in the Drudge Era.

Best actress: On a more serious note, few women leaders have been more powerful this year in asserting political freedom than Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi. Or does Hillary Clinton have your vote? As one FP staffer put it, "she's the queen of 'the show must go on.'"

Best supporting actress: Is Carla Bruni the perfect companion for a perfectionist French president?

Best supporting actor: Let's be honest: One man whose entire year has been a story about other people's interests is the ousted president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya. For all his posturing and pontificating, he was never running the show.

Best costume: Libya's Muammar Qaddafi designs his own clothes.

Worst costume: Libya's Muammar Qaddafi designs his own clothes. You decide.

Lifetime achievement award: Fidel? Kim Jong Il? Mubarak? Most of the longest-lasting players on the world stage aren't particularly savory characters. Got someone better?

We'll post a full list of nominees based on your e-mails and comments on Monday, Feb. 8 and give you a chance to vote. The final winners will be announced at the end of the month. 

We promise to keep the musical numbers short.

Washington Post reporter Ian Shapira, referring to an incident where CNN medical expert Sanjay Gupta actually began treating patients in Haiti, asks, "Are reporters with backgrounds in medicine being show-offs when they simultaneously report on a disaster and administer care?"

A somewhat convoluted CNN.com writeup of the incident reveals that Gupta -- after a team of Beligan doctors and nurses left a field hospital due to security fears -- "monitored patients' vital signs, administered painkillers and continued intravenous drips. He stabilized three new patients in critical condition."

"I confess that when I saw the CNN reporter Sanjay Gupta caring for a baby in Haiti, dealing with the child's head wound, I cringed," Shapira writes. "I thought he had an ulterior motive, that he was trying to boost CNN's flagging ratings by sending a message to audiences back home: CNN tells great stories, but CNN also saves lives!" Reporters aren't supposed to get involved in the narratives they cover, but Shapira concludes, that in this case Gupta did the right thing by intervening.

Gupta's story reminded me of Kevin Carter, the South African photographer who committed suicide in 1994, only a year after taking this Pulitzer Prize-winning photo of a Sudanese girl suffering from malnutrition as a vulture patiently awaits her demise:

Seeking relief from the sight of masses of people starving to death, he wandered into the open bush. He heard a soft, high-pitched whimpering and saw a tiny girl trying to make her way to the feeding center. As he crouched to photograph her, a vulture landed in view. Careful not to disturb the bird, he positioned himself for the best possible image. He would later say he waited about 20 minutes, hoping the vulture would spread its wings. It did not, and after he took his photographs, he chased the bird away and watched as the little girl resumed her struggle. Afterward he sat under a tree, lit a cigarette, talked to God and cried. "He was depressed afterward," Silva recalls. "He kept saying he wanted to hug his daughter."

The haunting image made Carter a global celebrity, but it also raised uncomfortable questions about whether he should have helped the girl rather than simply watching her die.  To be sure, Carter had plenty of emotional and financial problems, and he drank and used drugs excessively.  But's it's not hard to imagine that his world-famous photo left him wracked with guilt, contributing to his suicidal state of mind. In his rambling final note, he wrote, "I am haunted by the vivid memories of killings & corpses & anger & pain . . . of starving or wounded children, of trigger-happy madmen, often police, of killer executioners."

That's why I can't blame Gupta for helping out when he did. On the one hand, he crossed a journalistic line and became part of the story. On the other hand, he probably saved a few Haitians' lives. Imagine how he'd feel if he had to report on CNN that he'd stay there to watch them die that night?

The tragedy in Haiti has been a rare instance where the attention of the U.S. public has been intensely focused on an event overseas. But with Scott Brown's ascendancy, attention has swiftly shifted back to domestic politics. (Wolf Blitzer looked like he had whiplash on CNN last night trying to transition back in forth between the two stories.)

While both stories are undeniably important, they're hardly the only things going on in the world right now. Here are some major recent developments in world hotspots that have gotten short shrift in the press in recent days:

Afghanistan:
President Hamid Karzai announced plans to entice Taliban fighters to lay  down their arms in exchange for land and pensions. Asked if the program would work any better than previous efforts, U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke responded, "It can't be any worse."

The names of 645 detainees at Bagram airbase have been released. 

Iraq:
Violence continues to rise ahead of March's parliamentary elections. Gunmen killed five people in the office of a Baghdad charity in what appear to be the city's first targeted killings of civilians in more than two years. 

Russia:
U.S. National Security Advisor James Jones and Joint Chiefs Chairman Mike Mullen have left for Moscow to hammer out the final details on a successor to the START treaty. 

A journalist in Siberia was beaten to death by police. 

Israel:
The Knesset passed a no-confidence vote in Prime Minister Netanyahu's foreign policy on Monday. Embarassingly, the vote came on the same day as a visit from German Chancellor Angela Merkel. U.S. envoy George Mitchell is also in the region to try to restrat Israel-Syria peace talks. 

Nigeria:
Religious rioting has left more than 400 people dead, a situation that isn't be helped by the fact that ailing President Umaru Yar'Adua is still AWOL. Yar'Adua is said to finally be out of the hospital, though. 

Yemen:
As Yemen continues to bomb al Qaeda targets, Saudi Arabia continues its bloody fight against the Shiite Houthi rebels. It's Saudi Arabia's first significant military operation since the Gulf War.

Venezuela:
In recent days, Hugo Chavez's government has taken over three banks, a French-owned supermarket chain, and jailed a political opponent on graft charges. 

Chile:
Lucky dogs Blake and Beth went to Chile to report on last weekend's election, which has brought a right-wing government to power for the first time since the end of the Pinochet era. 

Somalia
The U.N. reports that more than 63,000 people have been displaced by fighting in Somalia in just the last 19 days. It's hard to imagine that a disruption on this level in any other region except the Horn of Africa wouldn't be a major international story.  

Heavens to Betsy! The Obamas aren't going to enough embassy parties, frets Time's Mark Halperin, the self-styled voice of Washington's collective wisdom:

In 2008 the country clearly craved new leadership that would sweep into the capital and change the ways of Washington. But politically and personally, the First Couple and their top aides have shown no hankering for the Establishment seal of approval, nor have they accepted the glut of invitations to embassy parties and other tribal rituals of the political class. In the sphere of Washington glitter, the Clintons were clumsy and the Bush team indifferent, but the Obama Administration has turned a cold shoulder, disappointing Beltway salons and newsrooms whose denizens hoped the über-cool newbies would play.

That's via Matt Yglesias, who mockingly says it's "[s]hocking that the über-cool don’t want to go to embassy parties."

I don't think I need to point out that Halperin's gripe is ridiculous. I will posit, however, that perhaps the Obama's aren't playing a Beltway game. Michelle, for instance, made a much-ballyhooed guest cameo on the Food Network's Iron Chef America program Sunday night, touting her organic White House vegetable garden. I don't know about Georgetown salons, but a lot of the eco-friendly folks in various European embassies would probably heartily approve of that sort of thing.

The year's best takedowns, journalistic or otherwise. Put yours in the comments. 

10.  Glenn Greenwald on Jeffrey Rosen's profile of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor in The New Republic: "[Rosen's] smear of Sonia Sotomayor's intellect and character -- based almost exclusively on anonymous, gossiping ‘sources' -- is such a model of shoddy, irresponsible, and (ironically enough) intellectually shallow ‘journalism' that it ought to be studied carefully."

9. Jeffrey Goldberg in The Atlantic on airport security (from 2008, but timely): "I was wearing under my shirt a spectacular, only-in-America device called a 'Beerbelly'.... which fit comfortably over my beer belly [and] contained two cans' worth of Bud Light at the time of the inspection. It went undetected. The eight-ounce bottle of water in my carry-on bag, however, was seized by the federal government."  

8. Stephen Holmes on Chris Caldwell for The American Prospect: "If Caldwell and his fellow doomsayers are to be believed, Muslims have now done what they failed to do at the gates of Vienna in 1683. They have breached Europe's defenses and created 'beachheads' behind enemy lines....Some may object that this way of seeing Europe's immigration problem is inflammatory, but the more serious problem is that it makes no sense."

7. David Rieff on Daniel Jonah Goldhagen for the National Interest: "It is hard to believe that the erstwhile-Harvard political scientist turned full-time moralist, pro-Israel polemicist and amateur historian Daniel Jonah Goldhagen could have a more devoted admirer than, well, Daniel Jonah Goldhagen."

6. Barney Frank at a town hall meeting, responding to a protester who said he supported a "Nazi policy": "On what planet do you spend most of your time?...Trying to have a conversation with you would be like trying to argue with a dining room table. I have no interest in doing it."

5. Matt Taibbi in Rolling Stone on Goldman Sachs: "The first thing you need to know about Goldman Sachs is that it's everywhere. The world's most powerful investment bank is a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money."

4. Jacob Heilbrunn on Ban Ki-moon in Foreign Policy: "As secretary-general, Ban's soporific effect has never left him. One U.N. watcher told me that Ban is like the proverbial tree falling in the forest with no one around to witness its crash-if you don't hear him, does he really exist?"

3. Rory Stewart in the London Review of Books on Afghanistan counterinsurgency jargon: "After seven years of refinement, the policy seems so buoyed by illusions, caulked in ambiguous language and encrusted with moral claims, analogies and political theories that it can seem futile to present an alternative."

2. Betsy Kolbert in The New Yorker on Superfreakonomics: "To be skeptical of climate models and credulous about things like carbon-eating trees and cloudmaking machinery and hoses that shoot sulfur into the sky is to replace a faith in science with a belief in science fiction. This is the turn that SuperFreakonomics takes, even as its authors repeatedly extol their hard-headedness."

1. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the failure to capture Osama bin Laden at Tora Bora: "Removing the al Qaeda leader from the battlefield eight years ago would not have eliminated the worldwide extremist threat. But the failure to finish the job represents a lost opportunity that forever altered the course of the conflict in Afghanistan."

0. A bonus, for this noughty, horrible, wretched, bloody decade: The Awl and Paul Krugman on this noughty, horrible, wretched, bloody decade.

Honorable mentions:

Chris Hayes in the Barnes and Noble Review on Ralph Nader's novel

Conor Clarke on Sarah Palin on cap and trade for the Daily Dish

Jon Stewart with Betsy McCaughey

Jon Stewart with Jim Cramer

Ezra Klein on the Republican budget proposal

Matt Yglesias on Greg Mankiw

U.S. President Barack Obama to CNN's Ed Henry  

The New York Times editorial board on Lou Dobbs

Stephen Walt on the myth of al Qaeda safe havens for Foreign Policy

Weston Kosova and Pat Wingert on Oprah Winfrey for Newsweek

Maureen Tkacik on CNBC for the Columbia Journalism Review

David Rothkopf on the Commerce Department for Foreign Policy