Soros Shows He Knows Who His Friends and Foes Are

Left-wing billionaire and Bush-hater George Soros was not content to spend millions to thwart a Bush victory in last November's presidential election

writes Insight's Kenneth R Timmermann in the New York Post (Merci à Grouik).

Now his Open Society Institute in New York is joining forces with pro-Tehran lobbying group to promote the interests and the viewpoint of the Islamic Republic of Iran …

Meanwhile, John Vinocur discusses the fading neocon ideology in Bush's second cabinet;

Mikhail Khodorkovsky writes a letter from a Russian prison;

and Elisabetta Povoledo reports that Italy's ban on smoking is getting off to a fuming start:

Regarding the "tough new law that bans smoking in public places — one of the strictest in Europe", Andrea Pinketts, a Milan-based crime writer and pro-smoking activist, said

Looking at human history, intolerance has caused more damage, even death, than smoking ever did