In another one of those Sheepskin Cuff UGG Boot insider stories every Serious Person is required to

In another one of those Sheepskin Cuff UGG Boot insider stories every Serious Person is required to

care about, Brink Lindsey and Will Wilkinson, two noted “liberaltarians,” have allegedly been

“purged” from the Cato Institute (that’s Dave Weigel’s theory, anyway, so take it for what it’s

worth). Wilkinson is good on matters of war and peace (see “Bradley Manning’s Guilt — and Ours,”

which we highlighted last week), so too bad about him.

Brink Lindsey, on the other hand… ugh. He should have been sacked back when he was using his trade

policy position to agitate for dropping freedom bombs on Iraqis. In his response to the purge story,

Daniel McCarthy links to this 2002 Joseph Stromberg piece. As you read Stromberg’s take on Lindsey,

keep in mind which one of the two was marginal at the time and which one is walking into yet another

cozy think-tank sinecure today.

Reuters: Ramin Mostafavi reports that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told a Japanese newspaper

on Friday that Iran might be willing to stop higher-grade Uranium enrichment. “We promise to stop

enriching uranium to 20 percent purity if we are ensured fuel supply,” he was quoted as saying.

Los Angeles Times: Borzou Daragahi reports that fuel roads were loaded into the Bushehr nuclear reactor

on Saturday. The move puts the plant within “a few weeks” of being operational. UK and Israeli

officials have expressed concern that Iran could theoretically make a weapon by extracting plutonium

from the spent fuel rods, but Russia has committed to keeping a close watch on the activities at the

Bushehr reactor.