You see these occasional speculations (original) as to why France might have opposed a US-led war on Iraq. I personally think the answer is pretty obvious; France does not want the US to have a free hand to do whatever it wants in the world. “Aha,” cries my hypothetical right wing strawman. “So you think France is in the right?” No, I just think it’s a perfectly natural reaction to have when confronted with a hyperpower. It doesn’t mean they’re acting in the best interests of the United States, and it doesn’t mean they’re really allies after all. It just means that I don’t think they’re malevolent, evil, or otherwise deserving of censure. ...

So, how are those wacky Bush-hating Dixie Chicks weathering the storm of controversy surrounding their recent comments about our fine President? Sales plummeting? Losing money? Well. Actually, no, not in any sense. Their newest album is still #1 on the March 22 Billboard Country charts (original). That album, Home, is #3 on the Amazon popular music sales chart — and rising, up 11% from yesterday according to JungleScan. Wide Open Spaces is #39 on the Amazon charts, and Fly is #49. ...

In news that will no doubt have a profound effect on the war — almost as profound as the initial announcement — the Solomon Islands have pulled out of the coalition (original). In fact, the Solomon Islands Prime Minister says he was completely unaware that they were even in the coalition. I mean, no, of course it doesn’t matter. But how do you add a nation to the list without checking first? Did they just hope the little guys would be too embarassed to contradict them? ...

I got another bit of spam today, entitled “bryant, mountain view lender with 4.5% low interest rates”. The body of the spam was this: Envy, spit thy gall; Plot, work, contrive; create new fallacies, Teem from thy Womb each minute a black Traitor, Whose blood and thoughts have twins conception: Study to act deeds yet unchronicled, Cast native Monsters in the molds of Men, This is an excerpt from A most pleasant comedy of Mucedorus the King’s son of Valentia, and Amadine, the King’s daughter or Arragon, Act V Scene II. It is attributed to Shakespeare, but this is apocryphal. I must say, my spammers choose interesting texts. ...

The Globe and Mail reports that friendly fire killed 52 Kurds (original) in the last few days. The dead were members of the Islamic Group of Kurdistan, which is an Islamic Kurdish group that has worked with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan at least up until now. This does not constitute an emergency, but it does further unsettle the situation in Northern Iraq. The Islamic Group of Kurdistan was theoretically willing to help fight Ansar, the Al Qaeda-related group that holds another patch of Northern Iraq — but now there’s more tension and we could wind up with additional anti-American sentiment up there. The more tense things get, the more likely it is that Turkey will decide to just move in. ...

CafePress wants to know what size books you want (original). They discuss the sizes they’re considering, and it looks to me like the consensus will settle in around the right area. I continue to be excited about all this. There is much discussion elsewhere on the message board about the need for CafePress to support Word documents. Five years from now, there are going to be countless CafePress printed volumes of badly formatted poetry at yard sales across American. I hope we’re ready for that as a nation.

Pakistan and India are testing missiles again. South Korea is sending troops to Iraq (original) — or maybe not (original). Curse that public opinion. North Korea is getting more isolationist. Busy times.

I just added Intel Dump (original) to the War News list. It’s intelligent commentary from an ex-officer, now UCLA law student. Conservative blogger but without much of a conservative slant, which nicely balances the slightly liberal slant of (say) The Agonist. Read and enjoy.

In the first week of the war, we haven’t seen: Widespread civilian casualities Evidence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction Iraqi forces rolling over and surrendering en masse Worldwide terrorist attacks The fall of Tony Blair’s government Coalition troops in the streets of Baghdad Saddam’s head on a pike On the other hand, North Korea’s still rattling the old sabers, so some expectations haven’t been confounded. Unrest continues in Southern Iraq; there are reports of an uprising against Saddam in Basra, however. While the quick dash for Baghdad failed, it’s not clear that this represents a serious setback. It looks like the next few days are going to be dedicated to shoring up the coalition position before we launch the attack on Baghdad proper. The troops badly need rest. ...

A while back I noted the Pattern Recognition annotation effort. t.rev pointed out that it sucked so far. It continues to be more criticism than annotation, but you know, it’s the kind of thing obsessives like me read. And it’s done, except for the Themes section.