In no particular order

The news is a bit thicker than usual this week. These stories broke through the mass into my consciousness.....in no particular order.

The iPhone 3G appears to have problems. Dropped calls (3% vs the normal 1%) and choppy Internet (as the devices swap frequently between low and high speed access) are the main issues, it appears. Fingers are pointing at Infineon Technologies' 3G chips. But Infineon says they work just fine in other phones and cites Samsung as an example.

Whatever. I'm glad I didn't go for one.

For the last few days, I've also had Georgia on my mind. Where the heck did THAT come from? I'm trying to make sense of it. I can see some long running threads amid the mess.

Russia (Putin) has grown tired of Bush-lead America following a "me first, screw you" approach to almost every aspect of foreign policy. 'Might makes right' wears thin over time. The EU and NATO are encroaching on Russian borders and Russia is frozen out of closer relations with the rapidly growing 'United States of Europe'. But thanks for all the oil and gas. The US continues to set up its missile shield setting up on Russia's doorstep in Poland, Turkey and elsewhere (supposedly directed at "rogue" states) despite Russia's vehement opposition. Then, the president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, tried to assert control in break-away South Ossetia immediately after US-funded joint military exercises began last month in Georgia. Those exercises were matched at the time by a Russian anti-terrorist operation on the other side of the border.

Georgia wants to join NATO. Hard to imagine Russia letting that happen.

Who is the US 'saving'? Georgia is nominally a democracy. No need to fight for 'freedum-n-dumocrasee' there. South Ossetia has a large Russian population and doesn't want to be part of Georgia. They've made that fairly clear. Russia compares it to Kosovo in that respect, which the West assisted in seceding from rump-Yugoslavia, though it would not be fair to compare Saakashvili to Serbia's now-dead former leader, Slobodan Milosevic.

Looks to me like some (unnecessary) brinksmanship going on and Russia either took the bait (October Surpise!) or called US President George Bush and Georgian President Saakashvili's bluff.

Either way, the US elections would have to feature in the overall calculations somewhere....especially on the American side. One of the key tools Bush has for helping out Republican nominee, John McCain is the ability to stir up trouble as a background for McCain to posture in front of. Democrat contender, Barack Obama has sensibly spoken of a more moderate and co-operative approach to foreign policy. What better way to make him look soft than to go around the world stirring up trouble making it look like talking isn't an option? Meanwhile.....real people die. Bush couldn't give a rat's arse about that, as his record clearly shows. For its part, Russia will be betting the US and EU don't want their oil and gas supplies disrupted by a wider war and anyway the US is busy with all the other endless wars it has underway.

I'm sure it will get worse before it gets better. Obama is still ahead in the polls. It's a risky strategy. The Republicans are already in trouble with many voters for starting stupid wars and waing Everests of tax money. Intensifying the apparent stupidity heading into an election could backfire. Though many Americans are suckers for some flag-waving war-mongerig and might go with it no matter how stupid it is. After all, they backed the invasion of Iraq on he evidential equivalent of the smell of an oily rag.

The Beijing Olympics are on. There was never any doubt in my mind that China would put on one hell of a show. The intelligence, energy and creativity of China are enormous and a set piece like the Olympics is the perfect platform to display all of the above. Virtually every person I know of Chinese nationality or extraction is bursting with pride - and rightly so. Having said that, I'm either working all day, spending time with the family, walking the dog or reading and thinking or sleeping, so haven't seen more than a couple of minutes worth of coverage here and there, now and again. Much like the last Olympics and the several before that. Not being one to spend endless hours in fromt of the tube watching anything (let alone sport) the O-rings aren't getting much of a look in.

The last time I sat and spent hours watching an Olympics was in 1976 in Montreal, where I had a friend attending as an alternate. He won gold in the heavyweight class in Edmonton in 1978 at the Commonwealth Games. He was to be the primary competitor in 1980, but the Soviets invaded Afghanistan to forestall muslim extremists taking control of the place and almost every Western country boycotted the Moscow Olympics....and my friend was very disappointed. He'd spent most of a decade preparing for that day. He left Canada after winning gold in the heavyweight plus class at the Commonwealth Games in Brisbane in 1982 and still doesn't live there full time even now. Last time I spoke to him, he was spending about half the year in Beijing and half in Vancouver and has done for over 20 years. His experience at the hands of cynical political interests sort of ruined the Olympics for me. It's even worse now we know the US funded those muslim extremists in Afghanistan in the first place and Canada was suckered into supporting a boycott regarding a war the US had played a part in provoking. Another one.