Planes Falling and Failing

Alitalia is said to be 20 days away from liquidation. Russian planes meanwhile fell out of the sky nearly simultaneously.

Will Italy go back to state control over the airline? Maybe. And the Russians, for their part, are acting more reasonably than might be expected, given this accident's similarity to al-Qaeda's typical modis operandi.

In other news, Sistani's back, calling for a march on Najaf. Will he push for Sadr's removal from Najaf, or some other equally embarrasing punishment? I'm not certain that Sistani can be counted on to do much, though I have read in the past about his desire to silence Sadr, whom he views as a hothead.

Cheney essentially came out in support of gay marriage, at least as a state's rights issue.

And Margaret Thatcher's son, Sir Mark, has been arrested over his role as the alleged financier and logistics man behind the Equitorial Guinea coup. It's a very strange story that makes sense in Africa, where rules are made to be broken.