Weekend reading

* Iraqi election results are in. Juan Cole has an early reaction.

* While it doesn't get adequate attention, even here, violence continues to plague Iraq. Here's a look back on the past week from UPI's Martin Sieff.

* In the LRB, Ed Harriman looks at the corruption endemic to the American occupation of Iraq -- wonderfully phrased by some as a "reconstruction gap." The essay is a follow-up to Harriman's July piece in the same pages.

* In a cogent Tom Dispatch essay, John Brown relates the GWOT to America's ongoing efforts to clear and expand the "frontier."

* Lookee here: Iran's getting a bit frisky with its assets. Start the timer: I'm sure some yahoo will be branding this "economic terrorism" soon enough. Also, check some simple, rational thoughts on Iran from Charley Reese.

* After this, I thought Niall Ferguson couldn't shame himself much more. How wrong I was.

* Another high profile mine accident in West Virginia. Go figure.

* Google's been in the news a lot lately, mostly because of the government's efforts to get at internet search databases. The LRB has an essay on the history of Google this week, as well.

* Yet another good interview with Chomsky, here. Coincidentally, Noam made his way over to Ireland and is in the process of delivering a series of lectures. Watch or listen to some of them here. He also gave the prestigious 2006 Amnesty Lecture, which you can download here. In particular, the AI talk was excellent. He gets extra kudos for bringing up this long forgotten story, which typifies the "war on terror" rather well.

* Salon has an interesting review of Eric Foner's latest book, Forever Free: The Story of Emancipation and Reconstruction. Aside: Foner is one of the greatest living US historians and, if you're looking for a very elegant survey of American history, his The Story of American Freedom is probably the best one out there.