Well, with the summer party universités d’été done and everyone going back to work, the run-in begins in earnest to the French presidential election. This shows every sign of being very interesting indeed. After all, it’s the biggest direct mandate for any politician in Europe and the second-biggest in the whole democratic world (I exclude [...]

Two entries in three weeks? It’s surprising we’ve even managed that much. Come on. It’s August. We’re in Europe. We’re all away from the computer and you should be too, enjoying the final hot, sweaty gasps of summer.
But if you just can’t tear yourself away, here are a few [...]

Dutch art weblog Suds and Soda tells us about an interview the Dutch publication Vrij Nederland recently conducted with British artist Tracey Emin. The interview is not available online, but the author of Suds and Soda gives us one quote:
Last week I went back to my therapist (Tracey says). I told him how happy I [...]

Jonathan of The Head Heeb sums up the detail of the US-French UNSC draft on Lebanon, and it looks eerily like the AFOE consensus solution. Key points, as we predicted, are how to arrange for everyone to claim victory..
If all these hurdles are overcome, then the Israel-Hizbullah war will end on terms that allow everyone [...]

Scotland Yard gets their man. Or in this case, at least 25 21.
Plots to blow up numerous planes en route from UK to US; Heathrow closed to incoming flights; numerous airlines cancelling flights; carry-on luggage effectively banned right now on UK flights; MI5 says threat is ‘critical.’ Glad my fishin’ trip doesn’t involve Britain [...]

Not that I’ve been all that prolific lately (having lots of work is better than the alternative, but it does cut into the blogging), but I’ll wrap two big projects this week and then head off for two weeks of fishing bicycling in Switzerland.
Mostly downhill, of course.

I’ve said before that Austrian politics has a really sick character you hardly find anywhere else, a sort of utter blankness of principle and whorish debasement in pursuit of preferment that would embarrass Silvio Berlusconi. But, Jörg Haider has managed to excel himself yet again.
Recap. Once upon a time there was the FPÖ, a rather [...]

The Onion: Bush Grants Self Permission to Grant More Power to Self. Funny, but also the best definition of the Kompetenzkompetenz I’ve ever seen.

SueAndNotU, a Washington DC blogger who’s been in Georgia for the last year, has more on possible escalations in and around Abkhazia.
A fascinating spectacle is unfolding in the wild, uncontrollable west of the country where parliamentarians and well-coiffed ministers are squaring off with warriors and wise men from another time. It’s as perfect an illustration [...]

From Lebanon’s Daily Star:
Turkey on Monday appointed a general who is expected to adopt a tougher line toward EU negotiations to replace the head the country’s powerful military, who was widely considered a moderate. The change in leadership, which was widely anticipated, comes as Turkey is insisting that Washington do more to crack down on [...]