Blogging's been slow -- I'm doing some pretty heavy traveling this week for biz -- a few days in Sweden, UK, Italy, Germany and then back to the US by the end of the week.   As a colleague remarked, it's only Tuesday eve (US time) and it already feels like we've been here a week.

On the reading list for this trip:

• In Praise of Commercial Culture, by Tyler Cowen  (I read / reviewed another Cowen book, Creative Destruction, about a month ago)
• The Elusive Quest for Growth, by William Easterly

It is, of course, always pretty educational to watch European news, headlines and watch the reaction from this side of the pond to Iraq, NATO, France, etc.   Needless to say, the European Street is pretty angry at the American Cowboy and Bush is portrayed as our Fundamentalist leader issuing fatwas from Crawford, TX.   Conventional wisdom is pretty quick to conclude that he's stupid and that the world is dealing with a 2-year old who's got his hands on a Glock 9m some how.  

A recent poll in the UK argues that only 1 in 10 Brits "supports the war against Iraq."    I'm a little skeptical of what this exactly means & the precise phraseology of the question.   I'm doubly skeptical of the Saddam-esque 90% majority  ;-)

In any case, it isn't difficult to see the perception of America-as-aggressor / Iraq-as-victim arises (not to say that I agree with it).  I can't help but wonder if 6 months after Saddam's downfall if *anyone* will seriously wish it hadn't happened?    2 years from now, if Bernard Lewis is correct, we'll probably wonder why it took so long:

The demonstrations for joy in Kabul will seem like funeral processions compared to the demonstrations for joy that will break out in Baghdad, Tehran and perhaps even Damascus, if the West brought about the expulsion of the despotic inefficient regimes that rule in these countries.

Enough proselytizing.   The biggest news headlines in London right now center around new security measures being adopted at Heathrow against the fear of shoulder-launched SAMs being directed against commercial aircraft.   This story is actually larger than the alleged Osama tapes -- although the 2 are clearly related stories.   (the secondary headline was an old one from Princess Diana (I believe) calling Camilla Parker "the headache I wasn't able to shake")