Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met Somali President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed at the U.S. Embassy in Kenya to discuss ways Washington can provide additional financial and military support to help the fragile government defeat an insurgency by Islamic extremists.

As is typical when two officials meet, they shook hands. President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed is a Muslim. Traditionally in Muslim society, a Muslim man never shakes hands with a woman in public. That moment was a very interesting moment, following what his religion tells him to do  or following a diplomatic convention. As the Kikuyu of Kenya say, “When a lion cannot find the flesh to feed on, it has no choice but to eat the grass.”