Different Strokes-

looking forward we have Mark Steyn with an essay anatomising recent history. Some do find his work a little gruesome; I just marvel at the clean stokes of the scalpel. As for the argument, there's no doubt he's right and we've been soft-pedalling this issue for decades. I can imagine many anti-war types saying we knew it all the long, Iran's next. That was the horrible thing about being pro-war 3 years ago; logically it should have been, short of miraculous success in Iraq being completed in a matter of months and intimidating countries like Iran into quiescence, but to say so meant effectively becoming the living room advocate of WWIII, mini-Hitler on the sofa.

Well, opponents of the war put paid to the quick Iraq victory which could have salvaged our bacon, didn't they? More or less as I knew they would. I don't think history's a trainwreck; I desperately hope not, but it's certainly a gory business which you can sometimes catch yourself anticipating far too much for comfort.

Riding shotgun we have Christopher Hitchens, doing the brilliant lawyers job he specialises in, reminding one of the proper rational processes involved in thought.

Squabbling over an election result, we have Silvio Berlusconi and Romano Prodi. Ah well, it's not the good news I was hoping for which would have avoided yet more anti-Iraq war (or pro-terrorist) irrationalism. And we also have Chirac abandoning the man whom the BBC profiled using the quote '"It could be seen as a relationship between a bigger and a younger brother,"
"Someone like Mr Chirac is quite lonely. He has no son. He has two daughters, but no son."

Bigger and a younger brother? Maybe Cain and Abel, I suppose (honestly the Beeb's take on France is the other side of absurd sometimes). Eursoc rounds up the Euro situation.

But, to come back to Iran for a moment, I notice that Ammedinejad (sic) has been promising some very good nuclear news, and has swiftly followed it up. Simultaneously, Iran wants in to the UN's "human rights" body. It's like a prizefighter bulking up- not good news if you're the opponent he has in mind.