First things first: Shaquille O’Neal is on Twitter and if you’re not following him, you’re missing out.

Second thing: that piece I referenced writing on Thanksgiving was published yesterday. It was an attempt to put together some changing developments in South Asia and contend that they might add up to an early flash point for Obama. I’m getting beaten up in comments because, it seems, people read the headline — "Obama’s First Test?" — and concluded I was blaming Obama for the Mumbai attacks. Good times. But one person asked me why I didn’t write a piece that called this a test for Bush, who, after all, is still president. I replied:

I don’t know how many times I can write the "Bush: Still A Catastrophe & A Douchebag" story, and to be frank, I’m looking forward to Jan. 20 for many reasons, but among them is the fact that I’ll no longer have to.

But I don’t know. This might be a situation where I don’t see things the way readers do. I read that suggestion and it seemed to cash out to writing a story about an irrelevant man. But there’s something worth writing about how U.S. policy contributed to the atmosphere that led to the deterioration of South Asia.  (Though I gather the commenter’s point was, "Isn’t Bush an asshole and aren’t the Mumbai bombings his fault, really?")

Meanwhile, I see via Josh that one of the points referenced in the piece — the ISI chief helping India with the investigation — is no longer operative. Prima facie suspicious. And surprisingly incompetent! Why float the idea of your cooperation and then rescind it, knowing that such an act will appear like a tacit admission that you don’t know if you’re actually responsible for the killing spree? I suppose an alternative explanation is that’s just gangster, but ISI doesn’t seem to play the game quite that way, either.