THE ECONOMIST has a story on the Executive Life / Credit Lyonnais scandal — which may result in high French politicos being tried by the United States — and another on Jacques Chirac’s efforts to keep things covered up:

Both the bank and CDR are keen to close the affair. France’s finance minister has no problems with the proffered deal. Not so Jacques Chirac, France’s president. Late on November 25th, the French president simply refused to sign. The reason is that the proposed settlement still excludes François Pinault, one of France’s richest businessmen and one of Mr Chirac’s closest friends. Mr Pinault, whose company Artémis bought Executive Life and made fat profits, was behind the derailing of the settlement last month. After Mr Pinault lobbied Mr Chirac, France’s justice minister said that his country wanted a “global” settlement, leaving “no one outside”. . . .

It is unclear why the American camp is risking its own credibility by playing along with what amounts to French political cronyism.

I don’t think that American credibility has ever been enhanced by playing along with French political cronyism. Are we trying not to embarrass Chirac? And if so, er, why?

DONALD LUSKIN IS PRAISING PAUL KRUGMAN for getting it right. No, really.

THE CORNER HAS AN EMAIL FROM A SOLDIER about Bush’s Baghdad visit:

The President’s visit was even more of a morale boost to the Iraqis than it was to the troops. When the President of the U.S.A. visits a place like this, it’s like the most popular kid in school coming to a party hosted by the A.V. club. The Iraqis feel validated and Al Jazeera looked foolish in the eyes of the Iraqis trying to find a negative spin to the story.

And there’s this observation about Hillary Clinton’s presence there:

Sen. Hillary Clinton also is in Iraq. So far, at least, she’s not criticizing Bush. She’s not saying the war was unjustified or a plot hatched in Texas. She’s not dropping hints about how the U.S. could cut-and-run and make it look like an endorsement of the U.N. or of principled multilateralism.

Instead, she’s praising the troops. She’s praising the humanitarian effort. She’s praising Coalition efforts to assist an Iraqi “transition toward democracy.”

It’s probably true that no one espousing such views can win the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004. But if you expect the Democratic candidate to be licking his wounds about this time next year, and if you have your eye on 2008, this is the smart play.

And it may be more than that. Not everyone on the Left is a post-humanitarian and an apologist for terrorism and Islamist totalitarianism. Could it be Hillary – of all people –who leads the Left back from its current dance with the devil?

One can hope.

UPDATE: Andrew Sullivan has another email from a soldier in Iraq, who’s also pleased with Bush’s visit. And Best of the Web has a roundup of press reactions, with this observation in response to a couple of them:

Is it any wonder Americans don’t trust the press? Here we have an editor of the New York Times insisting that reporters can keep a secret, then in the very next breath, a self-styled rabbi of reportorial “excellence” denounces them for doing just that.

Read the whole thing.

MORE: Francis Porretto says that Bush was counting coup. Hmm. I’m not sure I like that analogy — coup-counting isn’t necessarily a formula for victory — but make of it what you will.

EVEN MORE: Andy Freeman emails:

We keep hearing about how the terrorists come from an honor-based culture, usually as part of an argument that we shouldn’t humiliate them.

That’s wrong. Humiliation is an important part of defeating an honor-based culture.

We need more coup-counting.

Hmm. Interesting. And reader Joseph Knight has an observation:

It was just a few weeks ago that the Bush administration was full of leaks, with what seemed to be a torrent of sensitive and confidential data and memos being made public in virtual real-time.

So, the part of my brain not currently covered by tin-foil is seeing this Iraq trip as a trial balloon of sorts, to see who can keep a secret. I would bet a new “circle of confidence” is being set up in the White House, and this was its first big test. What do you think?

I think that’s a fascinating idea.

MORE AL-QAEDA ARRESTS:

Police in Italy and Germany have arrested three North Africans suspected of recruiting Islamic suicide bombers for attacks in Iraq.

The suspected leader of the terror cell, an Algerian man known as “the Sheikh”, was arrested in Hamburg.

Algerian again. Meanwhile, in Britain:

Anti-terrorist officers are searching a second property close to the home of a suspected al-Qa’eda operative arrested yesterday.

The flat in Gloucester, near to Sajid Badat’s terraced house where explosives were found yesterday, is to undergo forensic examination. Officers executed a search warrant on the property at 1am this morning.

This is in connection with an “on going” terrorist investigation in London.

FOLLOW THE MONEY: Oliver Kamm’s attempt to find out where it went is amusing, in a sad sort of way.

MARK STEYN offers an interesting survey of the Axis of Evil’s prospects.

I’M NOT GOING TO MAKE TOO MUCH OF THIS REPORT without a bit more confirmation, but if it’s true it certainly would be revolutionary:

A small company in London, UK, claims to have developed a technique that overturns scientific dogma and could revolutionise medicine. It says it can turn ordinary blood into cells capable of regenerating damaged or diseased tissues. This could transform the treatment of everything from heart disease to Parkinson’s.

If the company, TriStem, really can do what it says, there would be no need to bother with conventional stem cells, currently one of the hottest fields of research. But its astounding claims have been met with bemusement and disbelief by mainstream researchers.

TriStem has been claiming for years that it can take a half a litre of anyone’s blood, extract the white blood cells and make them revert to a “stem-cell-like” state within hours. The cells can be turned into beating heart cells for mending hearts, nerve cells for restoring brains and so on.

The company has now finally provided proof that at least some of its claims might be true. In collaboration with independent researchers in the US, the company has used its technique to turn white blood cells into the blood-generating stem cells found in bone marrow.

I certainly hope it’s true.

DEATH OF AN AYATOLLAH: Pejman Yousefzadeh finds something to be thankful for.

NOW THIS is what I call turkeyblogging!

AMERICANS ARE IDIOTS, APPARENTLY, because we never listen to Kraftwerk.

We don’t?

UPDATE: Read this.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING:

In a stunning mission conducted under enormous secrecy, President Bush flew into Baghdad today aboard Air Force One to have dinner with United States officials and a group of astonished American troops.

His trip _ the first ever to Iraq by an American president _ had been kept a matter of absolute secrecy by the White House, which had said that he would be spending the Thanksgiving weekend at his ranch outside Crawford, Tex. . . .

The presidential historian Douglas Brinkley, appearing on CNN, called it “a perfectly executed plan” that would be “one of the major moments in his biography.” It would have provided “an incredible thrill” for the American.

Mr. Bush sneaked out of Crawford on Wednesday in an unmarked car, then flew to Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington, where a few advisers and a small number of reporters sworn to secrecy joined him. They then flew on to Baghdad International Airport, arriving around dusk.

Cool.

UPDATE: Here’s another story on the Bush visit:

“We did not charge hundreds of miles into the heart of Iraq, pay a bitter cost of casualties, defeat a ruthless dictator and liberate 25 million people only to retreat before a band of thugs and assassins,” the president said, prompting a standing ovation and cheers.

He also had a message for the people of Iraq: “The regime of Saddam Hussein is gone forever,” he said, and pledged the help of the United States and its coalition partners, saying “we will stay until the job is done. I’m confident we will succeed.”

Wearing an exercise jacket with a 1st Armored Division patch, Bush stood in a chow line and dished out sweet potatoes and corn for Thanksgiving dinner and posed with a platter of fresh-baked turkey.

Read the whole thing, as they say.

YET ANOTHER UPDATE: Michael Graham has more on his site. He asks:

WHAT CAN PRESIDENT BUSH DO IN BAGHDAD THAT SADDAM HUSSEIN CAN’T? Appear in public. If that doesn’t send a message to the Ba’athists and their would-be allies, I don’t know what does.

Heh.

MORE: Here’s a look into how the trip will be spun, and here’s the text of Bush’s speech.

STILL MORE: More reactions here.

MORE STILL: Reader Brian Morgan emails:

One of the things that people seem to overlook is that the United States has the capability to take the leader of our country (I wanted to say “Free World” – ed.) – under constant scrutiny from the world’s press – and insert him – ON A 747 NO LESS – inside Iraq, without people finding out until he was airborne en route on the return trip to the US.

Honestly, I am damn proud as an American. And happy to see our tax dollars at work.

Quagmire my ass.

It certainly speaks well for the White House’s ability to maintain operational security. And, I should note, for the ability of the few journalists who were in on the story to keep a secret, too. Meanwhile reader Greg Dougherty emails:

You missed the best part . . . Of the Fox report about Bush’s trip to Iraq:

‘Instead, Bush slipped away from his home without notice Wednesday evening with national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, both of them disguised with baseball caps. Bush told reporters that they looked like a “normal couple.”‘

The white male President and his black female National Security Advisor, looked to him just like a “normal couple”.

Imagine that 20 years ago!

Indeed. Though I’m worried that it will just provide a different storyline for “The Boondocks.”

SOMETHING TO BE THANKFUL FOR: Hossein Derakshan has announced that he’s running for a seat in the Iranian parliament.

Jeff Jarvis has more on the subject.

TURKEYBLOGGING: Blogging will be limited today; as usual, we’re having both families over, and I’m cooking two (!) legs of lamb as well as a small turkey for the traditionalists. On the other hand, the computer’s always on, so I’ll probably blog a bit.

Enjoy your thanksgiving. And Lileks — who’s planning to take next month off — has a Thanksgiving post up.

And here’s good Thanksgiving news from Sofia, Bulgaria:

Anyway, I wrote about last Thanksgiving at the Hilton, which was not my very best post, but was easily my best title for any given post. Aside from inept turkey-carving skills, their only problem then was that they had no stuffing. So I asked my aunt to sent her stuffing recipe. Then I gave it to the Hilton. Viola: Hilton is serving my aunt’s stuffing for Thanksgiving! Now that friggin’ service!

I need to visit that country.

UPDATE: Hey, even though I won’t be blogging as much as usual, but the Volunteer Tailgate Party is up, and has links to a diverse array of interesting blog posts. Enjoy ’em all — it’s like a rich and filling Thanksgiving blog-buffet!

STEFAN SHARKANSKY AND ROGER SIMON weigh in on that awful, racist, award-winning British cartoon.

AUSTIN BAY HAS A NEW COLUMN UP, addressing issues raised by Czech President Vaclav Klaus:

December 1975, and I asked myself why the heck am I here freezing in a tank? The answer: Only America could “contain” the Soviet Union. In Frankfurt, fat cat turf, American troops were dirt. In border villages, Germans who lived near the communist guard towers smiled and gave us absolutely superb beer. The residents of Muhle — a real kuhdorf — weren’t in Frankfurt’s dream world.

I admit it. In 1989, when the Berlin Wall fell, I hoped America would no longer have to “do more,” at least with tanks and rifles. That hope was a short, sweet dream.

Recently, a radio interviewer asked me how long attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq would continue. His anxiety and concern were genuine and palpable. I hated my response: This war will go on a long time, not simply in Iraq and Afghanistan, but in other sad corners on the planet. There isn’t an easier way.

That’s why I’m thankful for soldiers courageous enough to face the violence. I should have added I’m also thankful — 365 days a year, not merely on the last Thursday in November — for aid and relief workers, and diplomats who risk their lives in a long, tough struggle to build a more secure and democratic world.

As we all should be.

EUGENE VOLOKH, recently harsh, is now offended.

NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED:

WASHINGTON (AP) – A human rights activist whom the U.S. government helped free from a Chinese prison in 2001 pleaded guilty Wednesday to illegally sending $1.5 million worth of high-tech items to China.

Sigh.

THIS WEEK’S CARNIVAL OF THE VANITIES is up! Check out the wide variety of excellent blog posts from all sorts of bloggers you may have missed.

BRIAN CARNELL has reflections on parallels between post-World War II Germany and Iraq, from a German who was a schoolboy during the reconstruction period.

HARVARD WILL ALLOW MILITARY RECRUITERS ON CAMPUS:

Harvard’s president, Lawrence H. Summers, wrote in a letter last week to a Harvard Law School group that the school would not sign on to litigation challenging the policy, known as the Solomon Amendment. The school released the letter yesterday. The 1996 law allows the Pentagon to pull federal funding from law schools that limit recruiters’ access to students.

I’m opposed to the military’s gay ban, but I think that the military recruiting ban is a dumb way to oppose it.

UPDATE: James Kirchik has more observations.

FROM THE IDEAS-THAT-SUCK-LIKE-A-BILGE-PUMP DEPARTMENT: Slashdot is reporting that the MPAA and RIAA are lobbying Congress for an antitrust exemption.

I think they should be subjected to antitrust — and RICO — investigation, instead.

THE OUTSOURCING SERIES CONTINUES over at GlennReynolds.com with a post on the ethics of job exports. Meanwhile SKBubba has his own thoughts on the subject, inspired by something Wesley Clark said in the debates.

SOMETHING TO BE THANKFUL FOR: A very nice tribute to the troops.

MY NEW TECHCENTRALSTATION COLUMN IS UP, addressing the nanotechnology bill passed last week. Howard Lovy has some additional thoughts, and finds the language about “molecular self-assembly” as puzzling as I do.

WELL, THIS ISN’T A COMPLETE SURPRISE:

WASHINGTON, Nov. 25 — U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Tuesday the United States had gathered compelling evidence that an Arab news channel whose Baghdad offices were closed down was cooperating with insurgents.

Rumsfeld also said the station, Dubai-based Al Arabiya, and its competitor news channel Al Jazeera, had been summoned in advance by guerrillas to witness some of a growing number of attacks by those opposed to the U.S. occupation of Iraq.

This isn’t news to InstaPundit readers, who have seen reports from soldiers in Iraq that Al Jazeera is paying people to protest, and even to fire at U.S. troops. Then there’s the issue of Al Jazeera reporters acting as couriers for Al Qaeda.

It seems, at any rate, a bit simplistic to cast this as a simple press-freedom issue. Did we allow Nazi media to report on the liberation of North Africa?

I also don’t recall a lot of complaining when, under Clinton, we shut down pro-Milosevic TV stations in Yugoslavia. But that, I suppose, was different. Somehow.