ndmckinney|net

Enjoying the day off.

Thursday thru March: Bar prep.

According to a number of news sources, the FTC stated today that it will not oppose the proposed acquisition of DoubleClick by Google. The proposed deal, at US$ 3.1 billion deal would make Google the largest internet advertising company in the world.

However, the European Commission has not yet ruled on whether or not Google’s proposed purchase of DoubleClick violates Article 139/2004 [rules on merger control]. A ruling on this is due by April 2008.

John Barron of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation has an entertaining op-ed piece in the Washington Post that provides an entertaining comparison between Australian and U.S. national elections.

Just in time for my trip to the Apple store to day to have my MBP repaired (more after its return), the Washington Post ran this story describing the pains of going to an Apple retail store.

A new U.S. intelligence assessment regarding Iran’s nuclear weapons program reports that the Iranian government abandoned a suspected nuclear weapons program. According to the Washington Post report, Iran was working on a covert nuclear weapons program, but abandoned the program in 2003 in the face of international pressure. As I read it, the Iranians are certainly smart enough to know when to back down from their bombastic anti-Western rhetoric and act in the interests of their state.

Apparently, as M. Bush reads the report, this is bad news.

Instead of continuing to seek a diplomatic solution, where the spectre of war can be avoided, Bush is using the opportunity to promote a military conflict. The logic, deduced from a White House press conference today, is that since the Iranians had a covert weapons program, they must intend to start another one (”What’s to say they couldn’t start another covert nuclear weapons program?”) Bush has taken this opportunity to not only distort the analysis of his own NIE assessment but to show the world that his diplomatic intentions are not pure.

[From Bush: Iran Intelligence Report is Warning Signal - washingtonpost.com]

UPDATE: The International Herald Tribune has a copy of the NIE posted to their website, available from this link.