You know what they call a quarter pounder with foie gras in New York?

Long, but a must read by Sy Hersh on the assistance North Korea got from Pakistan in its nuclear weapons program (and on how to keep it hidden). This says Hersh, was everyone’s worst fear: that a third world country would become a nuclear proliferator. Indeed, the article says that Pakistan passed on this info because it couldn’t afford cash for the missiles it was buying from NK, but also says that members of Pakistan’s nuclear program hate the US. The CIA report at the center of this article was issued in June. If NK knew that, while nothing was said publicly, it may be owe reason it’s been so brazen about its nukes: the US was already covering up on its behalf. Just as we earlier covered up for Pakistan because it was our ally in imposing on Afghanistan a government we later overthrew.

The US objects to Libya being named president of the UN Human Rights Commission, the US delegate dilating on how sad it is that this occurs on the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. Why if Dr. King had tried to speak out for human rights in Libya, he’d have been shot...no, wait...what I meant was...

Even if Bush had made a case for invading Iraq, he hasn’t made one for doing it in a rush. I think he’s not doing himself much good with the recent burst of “Are we there yet? Are we there yet?”, by which I mean his repeated statements that he’s running out of patience, and Iraq is running out of time. There just seems to be a lot of running going on, when most of the world thinks there should be walking. Today Bush asked (read this out loud with a really annoying whine), “How much time do we need to see clearly that he is not disarming?” As much time as it fucking takes, so pop a Ritalin already.

The real reason for the rush isn’t exactly a moral or political argument, or one the Bushies can make in public: the delicate flowers of the US military can only actually go to war with Iraq in a few weeks of the year, otherwise it’s just too hot. So Bush’s patience was always going to run out in late January (and then he has to pull over and fuel up in the giant fuel pump that is the Persian Gulf, to beat a metaphor into the ground like a red-headed step-child). In fact, it will run out one week from today (the UN inspectors’ report is due out on Jan. 27, the State of the Union is Jan. 28).

Here’s the first paragraph of a WashPost story:

President Bush yesterday dismissed U.N. Security Council members who have said weapons inspectors should be given more time in Iraq, recalling that all of them, "including the French," voted last November to impose "serious consequences" if Iraq did not disclose and dismantle all of its weapons of mass destruction programs.

I always said that the resolution was written so that the US could claim it said one thing and France etc that it said another, but here’s Bush saying that the French actually voted for his war two months ago, they just forgot.

And god knows we need all that oil, because now we’re building a thousand-mile freeway in the Antarctic. Really. Between McMurdo Sound and the Scott-Amundsen base.

The Italian Supreme Court awarded custody of an 11-year old boy to his father because they deemed his mother over-protective. In Italy, imagine that!

The war to sell the most expensive hamburger in NY is actually escalating, with the DB Bistro Moderne selling one for $50. There’s a truffle on the side and a bit of foie gras in the burger. I swear this thing is a joke, because it’s called the DB Burger Royale, and the chef is French--remember the conversation in “Pulp Fiction” about what they call a Quarter Pounder with cheese in Paris? The Guardian liked the Royale. Personally, I had to go out to eat today because of a blackout and spent $7 on a hamburger, which seemed like quite enough.

The Times says that South Africa was behind the assassination of Olof Palme in 1986.

The new Afghanistan government’s chief justice bans cable tv as against Islam. He is also against co-education. Here we go again! Actually, most of the Taliban laws haven’t been changed. The punishment for adultery is still stoning.