While Ms. Hillary is out threatening to obliterate Iran, Obama is out trying to bring peace to Nigeria. Absolutely unbelievable.

Even if the deal doesn't hold, it's just amazing that a US presidential candidate, in the midst of a three-on-one political battle (vs. McCain, Clinton and the Media) somehow finds time to appeal for a ceasefire in the volatile Niger Delta.

From ThisDay's report in Port Harcourt, Nigeria

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has said it is considering a temporary cessation of hostilities in the oil-producing region based on an appeal by United States presidential hopeful, Senator Barack Obama.

MEND also said in an e-mail that its ceasefire was to enable the federal government to have a rethink over the way it has handled the matter concerning its leader, Mr. Henry Okah.

The spate of attacks in the last two weeks has led to more volatility in the crude oil market with substantial production cuts in Nigeria.

And this isn't the first time. Back in January, JANUARY, he was on the horn to Kenya trying to help calm the violence in the wake of contested elections there.

Of course the story of Obama's action in this case contrasted with Hillary's bluster is a fun political story in the context of this increasingly-absurd campaign, and you can find the same Reuters story cut and paste across a variety of news sites like Politico.

But I want to go a step further and try to be the media I want to see. What is MEND? Why is there so much violence in the Niger delta? And why should we care?

There's an excellent primer on the situation over at The Oil Drum, a site devoted to discussing resource depletion in general and peak oil in particular. In March of 2007, Jeff Vail wrote a piece titled "Nigeria: Energy Infrastructure Firestorm"