Just observing, or sharing my opinion, that the man who jails or assassinates his political opponents, equips and bankrolls rogue states and terrorist armies, cuts off Eastern Europe’s gas in a harsh winter if they don’t pay unfavourable prices, killed Poland’s leaders, blackmailed Belarus and annexed north Georgia - just what we know of that springs to mind - again has the world clucking about something that was months in the making, in broad daylight, and which is now over. They think it is brinksmanship. He knows Crimea is his. America and Europe look like a bunch of weak idiots. I think that is what they are. He has been doing this for years and long after Obama, Merkel, Cameron et al have moved on Russia will still be growing its Federation with the finesse of a sledgehammer, with impunity.

They can say what they like now. Putin has done it again. The apathy was breathtaking.

Some previews on Sam Sallon’s YouTube.

Even more awesomely, you can get the album here.

Global BBC Poll Shows Obama Preferred Candidate

A BBC World Service opinion poll has found sharply higher overseas approval ratings for US President Barack Obama than Republican challenger Mitt Romney.

An average of 50% favoured Mr Obama, with 9% for Mr Romney, in the survey of 21,797 people in 21 countries.

Full Article

Tonight and tomorrow are the Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur, when Jews, including many who are not religious, set aside all other business to fast and seek forgiveness from one another and from God. One of the most beautiful and sombre prayers in the service, that will be recited communally a number of times at the end of a list of transgressions and pleas for mercy, is Avinu Malkeinu, a request for grace and kindness.

Even as a secular Jew, atoning and making upstanding commitments as part of the community is a humbling tradition too worthy to pass up. This haunting melody, usually sung en-masse, brings back years of soul-searching and inspires me to get serious for a minute.

blogs.telegraph.co.uk

From Saturday’s Daily Telegraph

Was Anders Breivik an internet troll? I’m sorry if that seems a flippant question to ask about a man who killed dozens of Norwegian teenagers, but you can’t read his 1,500-page “manifesto” without being struck by how thoroughly he trawled the web. Whatever the explanation for his murderous actions, this was definitely a brain warped by the blogosphere.

For readers unfamiliar with blogs, I should explain what I mean by “troll”. The word can be used to describe two types of commenters who write underneath published posts. There are simple-minded folk with jokey nicknames who fling insults at each other for hours at a stretch, amusing no one but themselves. My own blog is infested with them. Honestly, I sometimes wish they would crawl away and die. Then there are the pyjama-clad pseudonymous obsessives whose fingers are calloused from rattling out the truth about the “EUSSR”, BBC bias, Big Pharma, Zionists, Islam etc.

These trolls aren’t confined to the far Left or the far Right: some of the most noxious internet bores turn out to be Liberal Democrats. It’s true that, on the whole, their views tend to be controversial, but the essence of their trolling is their rhetorical style: in particular, an insistence that they know the truth about everything. All they really have in common – apart from an aversion to deodorant – is hysterical omniscience.

Speaking as someone who hates the way the mainstream media suck up to radical Muslims, I find it frustrating that websites devoted to monitoring Islamism are dominated by trolls and writers who play up to them. I don’t trust a word that the BBC tells me about “the religion of peace” – but equally, I can’t trust either the articles or the comments on the Gates of Vienna or Jihad Watch websites…

Contd.

If Thompson’s implication is that certain blogs and media are so poisoning discussion of serious issues that it is hard to know where to turn for rel

From today’s big EPL fixture, Manchester United vs Manchester City.