In the World Latest section of the Guardian, see the story about the importance of TM (transcendental meditation, remember that?), Yogic flying and so on in the Mozambican government.

And see the Tom Toles cartoon for the 17th, available on Yahoo or ucomics.com.

Contrary to what someone I spoke with thought, and indeed the NY Times editorial page thought, Bush didn't actually tell Americans to stop beating up anyone wearing a diaper on his head (to coin a phrase). He said "the enemy of America is not our many Muslim friends". The phrasing constructs Muslims as not being part of America, as outsiders, friends of America but not actually capable of being Americans.

The demand that Afghanistan destroy training bases and then let Americans inspect them must be clear to everybody as something not intended to be accepted. The Taliban are still persisting in their demand that some sort of evidence be presented first, which is of course a stalling tactic, but is also something demanded by countries we actually have extradition treaties (and indeed, diplomatic relations) with, such as Canada and France.

The US is using a military base in Saudi Arabia, constructed by the bin Laden family.