In a backroom of the elite espresso.

And touched by his sincerity the Clan took him in as a backroom retainer.

We're going to Grady's for dinner... and after that, we'll have a friendly little game in the backroom.

The international community should stop pushing for a backroom compromise that ignores the popular will. Let the world stand with neither Kibaki nor the opposition, nor for an arbitrary compromise, but with Kenya s voters.

So they imagine the property rights acquired through cronyism, nepotism, and backroom dealing as somehow emerging from a Lockean realm of freedom. When my government questioned this assumption, they cried out that this was interference by the state with legitimate property rights.

The process of choosing the Commission s president appears to be a conflict between the voice of the people, as expressed in the results of last month s European Parliament election, and backroom deal making by governments. But reality is more complex, and the genuine democratic mandate did not go to the person who claims to have won the election.

In dismissing such a recount, Frazer told Kenyans that they shouldn t expect their vote to be tallied accurately, and that power can be seized or perhaps even negotiated in a backroom. She also sent an unmistakable signal to those who would steal votes at worst, they might have to share a few cabinet positions with the opposition.

LONDON The World Cup has concluded with its usual flourish, and much of the world, as usual, couldn t help but get caught up in the excitement of it all which is exactly the outcome that Sepp Blatter wants. Blatter, the president of FIFA, the Cup s organizing body, wants the afterglow of an exciting month of play to blot out the corruption and backroom deals and, most recently, a ticket scandal that have roiled his tenure.