It's drawing to the end of Tony's visit to Italy, and as it had to come, he and the new Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi met, and, like the walrus and the carpenter, 'talked of many things'..
One would have enjoyed being a fly on the wall at those discussions, which no doubt centered on Italy's withdrawal of troops from Iraq..
Mr. Prodi is not the same man as his predecessor, Mr Berlisconi.. he is not as much of a friend to the US or, in fact, to anything outside the growing boundaries of the European Union. Mr. Prodi would like to see his country be as pre-eminent in this new hegemony as either Germany or France, and a view which is in itself more traditional, a view which is much more cordial with Iran and Iraq and the rest of the Middle East, is doubtless one he will pursue.
As said, Mr. Prodi likes not George, or what he stands for, and despite Tony's influence in getting Mr. Prodi the position of European Commission President back in 1999, a move which by the way didn't turn out to anyone's real satisfaction, relations between Romano and Tony have soured over these past few years..
Iraq is not about to lose one of the major players in that particular war, but Europe is going to see an Italy which is willing to spit in George's eye, should that happen to benifit the Union.

Ahh, and that little terror of an Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is proclaiming from rooftops that neither he nor his physicists will bow to 'Western pressure' and abandon it's rights to nuclear technology. This comes a day after six world powers called on Tehran to bring a halt to research which could, and almost certainly will lead Iran into the group of nuclear powers.
The Director of National Intelligence in the States says Iran could have nuclear capabilities within ten years.
I'd give odds on three or four, tops.
Just in time for the total political confusion to reach it's peak in the West.