I find it ironical that Google, who bowed to the totalitarian control of China, is concerned about a MS/Yahoo! monopoly. To me, Google would have more credibility if they chose to not do business in China.

"It's about preserving the underlying principles of the Internet: openness and innovation."

Actually I think to Google it's about making a buck, and making sure the buck stops at Mountain View, not Redmond.

Given that most folks think that the merger would be a failure, it's strange that Google would put out something that sounds positively scared.

Google's reaction should be a confident, "Bring it on"

maybe this is what they want them to think, that they are scared so that they do this merger.

It's useless to read/analyse something you don't know who wrote it because it's impossible to understand the motives.

Sure, the merger (like most) will probably fail. But why not increase the chances of failure even further with a little PR and regulatory FUD against the combination?

if Microsoft acquires Yahoo and ignores the users interest, then this is only going to benefit innovation.

and complaining who? Google who has almost a monopoly on search.