I'm finding reading the news pretty interesting these days, which is a new development for me. I think there are two main contributing factors for this phenomonon:

1. Bloglines is really cool.
2. Stuff's happening.

Take this article about internet controls. Having just written a series of knowledge base articles on DNS, this was particularly interesting to me. And then there's this one about the WTO. I especially like the part in that one (it's written from the EU's perspective) where "the European Commission...is still hopeful of reaching an agreement with global trade partners despite obstacles from the US." It just seems to me that the EU is increasingly setting itself in opposition to and competition with the US. And not a "friendly game of horse in the driveway" competition. This is a "Cain vs Abel" kind of competition--the kind that's fueled by a deap-seated hatred.

The EU still has a long way to go. It's government is a messy, very unwieldy bureaucracy. Right now it's mainly about economics. But now some of the leadership is starting to push for more political unity as well. First economy, then government to direct the economy, next is a military force to defend the government. This article shows that the groundwork is already being laid for "battle groups" acting "in the EU's name." Still a long way to go, but it's on its way up. And the US is on its way down.

It all makes for some interesting reading over my morning oatmeal, which has gotten cold while I typed all this.