There's a lot going on, much of which merits thought, comment and (probably more importantly) action. Unfortunately as ever, I can only touch on a fraction of it...

The brutality of the Uzbek government and US/UK support for it should be an international scandal. Instead the matter is hardly ever talked about it, certainly not by our Glorious Leader. This article by A.J. Doherty looks at Karimov's vicious regime and Western support for it. Damning, I think.

Apparently the Iraqi Governing Council think that they can replace the country's 50 year old flag with a new one which apparently symbolises Islam and Iraq's 2 main rivers. Unsurprisingly those opposed to the occupation have started burnming them already. Reasons for the dislike of the new flag are various not least is its apparenmt imposition by the occupying forces or at least their proxies. Furthermore, as Rahul Mahajan points out, "with the exception of the yellow bar, these are the colors of the Israeli flag", a decision which can only encouirage the theory that the US invasion was part of some Israeli/Zionist/Jewish plot against the Arab world, an idea which unfortunately does seem to be gaining currency

Blair's levels of denial with regard to the Israel-Palestine conflict shouldn't be a surprise, but he was quoted in yesterday's Guardian as saying, "I do not think any discussion of that issue is right unless we balance the suffering of both sides." This is simply nonsensical. No one with any humanity denies the horror of suicide bombiongs targetted against civillians and the civillised world should condemn such acts, nonetheless these are occasional, intermittent attrocities which affect only limited numbers of the Israeli population. By contrast Palestinians live daily under a military occupation which steals their land, restricts their access to water, curtails their freedom and has crippled their economy. They risk being shot, often with live ammunition ,at demonstrations, even when these are peaceful and may have their homes demolished by Israeli bulldozers. What institutions they have are often targetted by the Israelis and their democratically elected leader is apparently on Sharon's hit-list. It would be possible to go on, but hardly constructive. In short it is clear that claims as to the equivalence of the two nations' situation are simply not credible. To claim otherwise is simply untrue as Blair surely knows.