from Crikey ….. 

Iguanagate II: the return of Della Bosca 

Alex Mitchell writes: 

Chinese fans are watching the Olympics on TV, puffing on cigarettes in a smoke-filled bar. Suddenly, when the Chinese team scores, they crush out their cigarettes and jump up to cheer. 

'Love China,' says a message on the screen. 'Increase patriotism even more. Love a smoke-free Olympics.' 

America is a country badly in need of therapy.  

We don't know who we are anymore; everything is topsy-turvy. It's like we're suffering a national identity crisis and need a turn on the couch.  

from Crikey ….. 

Andrews left naked by innocent Haneef 'secret dossier' 

America’s back in the cold war and W’s back on vacation. 

Talk about your fearful symmetry. 

“And also I salute somebody, in President Musharraf, who has led a transition of his country to a democratic state. Pakistan has not always been democratic, something the President freely acknowledged. And I do not think enough credit has been given to Pakistan under President Musharraf's leadership for the transition over recent years…" 

John Winston Rattus 

Britain's Prince Charles has again voiced his opposition to the spread of genetically modified (GM) crops. 

The heir to the British throne was responding to plans to allow 50 British farms to plant GM crops. 

The truth is that the campaigns of both Barack Obama and John McCain are being inundated with cash from more or less exactly the same gorgons of the corporate scene.  

The risk of a new era of east-west confrontation triggered by Russia's invasion of Georgia heightened yesterday when Moscow reserved the right to launch a nuclear attack on Poland because it agreed to host US rockets as part of the Pentagon's missile shield. 

After years of claims and counter-claims, new figures show cotton became the thirstiest crop in the whole Murray-Darling Basin two years ago, guzzling 20 per cent of all the water used for agriculture in region. 

The US and the Europe today demanded that any settlement of the conflict in Georgia had to be based on recognition of the small Black Sea country's territorial integrity. But after overrunning Georgia in five days with troops, tanks, and bombers, Russia rejected the terms. 

Russian behaviour in Georgia has 'called into question the entire premise' of relations between Washington and Moscow, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said yesterday, even as the Bush administration appeared willing to let Russia take its time removing its forces from disputed areas inside the former Soviet republic. 

Consigliere of the Bushit Crime Family, Dick Cheney, called Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili to express US solidarity in the conflict with Russia & told him "Russian aggression must not go unanswered," the war criminal’s office said on Monday. 

World oil prices, which have plunged from recent record heights, could spike higher again should the market be rocked by new supply-side shocks, according to industry experts.

Oil Prices Risk New Rises On Supply Shocks, Analysts Warn