Iran and the 'river'

Great story in the Chicago Tribune, by Sam Roe: U.S. Cold War gift: Iran nuclear plant. In another example of our supposed good deeds gone awry, this is a history of how Iraq got the nuke option, thanks to the U.S. government which wanted to help prop up the Shah of Iran. Good discussion, too, of the problems in Iran's nuclear program today.

Following up on the 'river of news' idea mentioned here and here, Doc Searls addresses the complaints that Dave Winer's concept is nothing new. Says Searls:

His message with River of News isn't just for geeks like us. It's for the NYTimes and BBCs of the world, as well as for bloggers whose output is frequent and texty and newsy enough to work, as Paul Kedrosky says, like a newswire. But unlike the old newswires that went from AP and UPI to newsrooms at newspapers and broadcasters (or to professionals at workstations at brokerage houses), River of News goes directly from writer to reader. In other words, its a new, phone-friendly approach to publishing.

(Added later:) Dave Winer answers the naysayers, too. Also, Denise Howell discusses legal issues related to 'rivers' on ZDNet's Lawgarithm blog.