Sadly, one has to wonder whether in fact such suspicions may not be partially justified. How else to explain the current U.S. "negotiating" stance: the United States is refusing to participate in the on-going negotiations with Iran but insists on dealing only through proxies. That stands in sharp contrast with the simultaneous negotiations with North Korea, in which the United States is actively engaged.

At the same time, the United States is allocating funds for the destabilization of the Iranian regime and is reportedly injecting Special Forces teams into Iran to stir up non-Iranian ethnic minorities in order to fragment the Iranian state (in the name of democratization!). And there are people in the Bush administration who do not wish any negotiated solution, abetted by outside drum-beaters for military action and egged on by full-page ads hyping the Iranian threat.

This is from Zbigniew Brzezinski, who will now be shouted down by the right as some sort of appeasenik. Very little could be farther from the truth. This is the son of a Polish diplomat who was present for Stalin's purges and Hitler's rise to power and was lucky enough to have been in Canada with the Polish mission when World War II broke out, and has as good an understanding of foreign affairs as anyone in this country. When he says "bad idea," take it to the bank.

Do not attack Iran - International Herald Tribune

As the investigation proceeded, Zarifa Dzhabieva, a former translator for the American embassy was found knifed to death in her own home. Whoever killed Dzhabieva ransacked her dwelling looking for something, even though none of the victim's valuables had been touched. Dzhabieva was under investigation for aiding and abetting the issuing of visas and forged documents to girls destined for the U.S. sex trade.

Wow, this qualifies as completely weird, but after the Homeland Security pedophillia mess, why not a little slavery?

United Press International - Security & Terrorism - US recalls ambassador to Azerbaijan

Another cleric, Ayatullah Asife Muhseni, told a gathering of preachers and intellectuals at a Kabul hotel that the Afghan president had no right to overturn the punishment of an apostate.

He also demanded that clerics be able to question Rahman in jail to discover why he had converted to Christianity. He suggested it could have been the result of a conspiracy by Western nations or Jews.

I really have to laugh. Every time someone trots out "moderate Islam," they do something like this.

Pressure Grows to Free Afghan Convert - Yahoo! News

The slogan, as one Defense Department official explained, reflected an adage adopted by Task Force 6-26: "If you don't make them bleed, they can't prosecute for it." According to Pentagon specialists who worked with the unit, prisoners at Camp Nama often disappeared into a detention black hole, barred from access to lawyers or relatives, and confined for weeks without charges. "The reality is, there were no rules there," another Pentagon official said.

And people wonder why we're not thought of so highly in the rest of the world anymore.

In Secret Unit's 'Black Room,' a Grim Portrait of U.S. Abuse - New York Times

Though America's trade deficit has been growing by about $100 billion annually - hitting $726 billion last year - that doesn't necessarily mean a sober day of reckoning is drawing near.

"It's clear that the US trade deficit cannot go on galloping ahead $100 billion a year indefinitely," says Daniel Griswold, a trade expert at the libertarian Cato Institute in Washington. But "it's more likely the adjustments will be incremental rather than jarring."

Whoa! I don't see $726,000,000,000 looking much like $100,000,000,000. If it were still looking that way, I might agree changes would be incremental. It's not. The only similarity is that the trade defecit hasn't hit 13 digits yet. This isn't going to be incremental, at some point that bill is going to come due and we're not going to be able to pay it.

By the way, that's DEFICIT. One year. What's the total DEBT?

About 400 years ago, Polonius said "Neither a borrower nor a lender be." While the principle is reasonable, practicality says it is permissible. We aren't being borrower and lender, we just keep borrowing, and borrowing, and borrowing. At some point, we need to give back. Well we don't have that, and that means it either gets fixed real fast, or the 1930's might look like an age of prosperity.

Giant trade gap: no end in sight - Yahoo! News

Virtually nothing is known about who is kept in the facilities, what interrogation methods are employed with them, or how decisions are made about whether they should be detained or for how long.

Let's avoid any of those inconvenient "laws" things and just do any damned thing that occurs to us. Why don't other people like us very much? Because we tout "rule of law" and "democracy" and "liberty" and then pull crap like this.

CIA Holds Terror Suspects in Secret Prisons

The second is that NATO sources have confirmed to United Press International that Fitzgerald's team of investigators has sought and obtained documentation on the forgeries from the Italian government.

With this now out, all bets are off. Literally anything could come out of Fitzgerald's office. The grand jury on the Plame Affair may end this week, but as a full member of the US Attorney's office, he has a responsibility to follow that trail as well.

This is not going to come to anything like a quick and easy end.

UPI - Fitzgerald looking at Niger forgeries.