rince William the "heir" to the British throne and his younger brother Harry are usually referred to by the tabloid newspapers as, in sequence, "the Heir" and "The spare". My hats off to "the spare" for volunteering to fight for his country, fulfilling his military service in Iraq. He'll still, surely, be followed by the scandal-mongering press but with the emphasis now on patriotism and probable bravery, rather than living down to the image he'd earned as a pot smoking playboy. Soon he'll be in the desert as a member of the Household Cavalry. Godspeed.

Becks and Posh are soon to be house hunting in Malibu, checking in with their friend Tom Cruise on how to handle Los Angeles, and preparing to be the major addition to The Galaxy; the Los Angeles soccer team. I'll wager that within a very short while, as the news of the enormity of the five year contract and its phenomenal, multi-million dollar paycheck, many of the other stars of great European teams will be deserting the likes of Arsenal, Juventus, the Moscow Dynamos and just about every major team, will be offering themselves, perhaps even begging their managers to pursue an equal opportunity for them. David Beckham's soccer skills are possibly waning, somewhat, but his star-power will serve him and L.A well. Kick- off is in August.

It was most unexpected; hearing our President acknowledge in a recent interview that we were "not winning"" in Iraq. Almost everyone else got the message; generals, the public, the press, members of the so-called "Coalition of the Willing" and an ever-growing number of Republican members of the House and the Senate - they understand. Now we have "The surge"; a rapid increase of some 20 - 25 thousand of our men and women to be added to the force to make Baghdad peaceful and free from fear. Sadly, it will most likely, just give the snipers more targets. Thus far well over 3,000 of our forces have been killed and, unbelievably, as many as 24,000 wounded. And when the troops do come home they'll possibly have to turn around and head back to this hellish war, while at home, their family lives are very frequently torn apart.
What an enormous mistake George Bush made when he mostly rejected the Iraq Study Group report, which truly had bi-partisan membership. It was fair, accurate and modest in its proposals with a call for diplomatic moves and adjusting the way we pursue the mission (admitting that any abrupt withdrawal would be chaotic). But what we have is the repeat or continuation of a strategy they were not able to execute the first time round. Richard Holbrooke, the Democratic foreign affairs expert put it this way on PBS, when the President spoke, "The speech was an astonishing event. The President is doubling down on every bad bet". Pat Buchanan on MSNBC warned what would happen if the U.S. simply withdrew or maintained the status quo: "I think the President's gonna get his last chance, but I think it's the last one".

The Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is certifiably bonkers; he's a lunatic - and a dangerous one. He's the fellow who has called for the State of Israel to be "wiped off the map". A couple of weeks ago he convened a two-day conference dedicated to examining so-called" "evidence" that the Nazi Holocaust never actually took place. His so-called scholars on the subject included the former KKK leader David Duke! He was shrewdly playing to the extremists in his regional audience. He wants to discredit the historical event which laid the groundwork for the creation of Israel. So, here's the question, if we take him at his word, President Ahmadinejad, are you attempting to question the Holocaust for political gain, or are you resuming laying the groundwork of the Nazi Adolph Hitler - but a Hitler, who soon will have Nukes at his disposal?

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