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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.

They may not have a government, but the Belgians do have one thing: frite week.

According to the Telegraph, 98.5% of Belgians find that the lowly fried potato is the symbol of national unity. Apparently, it’s the only source of agreement amongst the entire kingdom.

Oh, did I mention that the Belgians still do not have a government?

[From Divided Belgium may have had its chips - Telegraph ]

Or, Sarko’s on the market.

Shortly after a debilitating transit strike in France, a spokesman from palais de l’Élysée announced that M. Sarkozy and his wife, who had not been seen in public with the French President for weeks, have divorced by mutual agreement.

The ploy appears to be working. Most of the French papers are devoting an enormous amount of attention to the issue, although not necessarily giving the lead. If only the US could learn from this…

Oh wait.

[From Frozen by strikes, France is transfixed by Sarkozy's split with wife - International Herald Tribune]

[See also Le Temps - Nicolas et Cécilia Sarkozy ont divorcé]

According to Friday’s Marketplace [American Public Media], the FDA will be given new powers to monitor pharmaceuticals once they’ve been released onto the market, but the new Senate bill does not go as far as some. According to the report, advertisers claim that marketing of pharmaceuticals is protected by the First Amendment.

How is advertising protected by the First Amendment? Certainly the Constitution looks to protect the individual from oppression by the government by prohibiting the banning of political speech. But how far should that protection go? Even political speech is not absolute, and the Supreme Court has spent generations trying to figure out just how far that protection should go.

It is undisputed that the Congress has the power to regulate business and commerce. But I find it highly suspect that the Congress intended to grant a greater protection to commercial and business speech than to political speech is ludicrous. Whatever the impact on commerce, commercial speech is not and should not be beyond the reach of the government.

[From Marketplace: FDA bill stops short of drug-ad bans]

In what is perhaps the most important advance towards a new reform treaty for the European Union, the Dutch cabinet in the Hague today announced that it will not hold a new referendum on the upcoming EU reform treaty.

For those who may not remember, the first attempt at a constitution for the EU was killed by the Dutch people, who overwhelmingly voted against the new treaty in 2005.

The move also puts a damper on UK efforts to hold a similar referendum, a vote likely to be against acceptance of the new treaty.

[From nrc.nl - Europa - Kabinet: geen nieuw referendum over EU]
[English language report from BBC News - Dutch cabinet rules out EU vote]

In an idea created by someone with a serious irony deficiency, today’s Washington Post has a story about picketers who are hired just to protest. According to the Post, the unions have hiring the homeless, day-laborers, and students to march in picket lines.

The irony? The union doesn’t offer benefits, better hours, or any of the things organized labor “gives” (read: falsely promises) to its workers. Perhaps these professional picketers should unionize…

Senator McCain gives a speech calling for emmissions caps. I’m not sure how this will fly with the “Jesus says you have to drive a Ford Leviathan” vote.

After a heated four-way campaign for the French presidency that was on its way to up-ending the political landscape, the French seem to have gone back to what they know – the socialists and the UMP.

This is certainly a shift in the stance the election was tending towards. For the first time, the French looked to putting a centrist candidate, Bayrou, on the ballot. The xenophobic canidade, Le Pen, has never really been a contender (the previous election, where he made the second round, aside). But whatever happens now, the French will have to choose between the status-quo (Sarkozy) and the perpetual alternative to the status quo (Royal).

C’est la vie.