Putin killed my puppy

The Putin haters are having a field day with the Litvinenko inquiry in London.

No one in London is safe from the Kremlin...

Indeed! Thousands of high-living Russian expats can't go to the grocery without constantly looking over their shoulders, because Putin's evil minions are EVERYWHERE!

In this particular case it's Yuri Felshtinsky sounding the alarm. Felshtinsky once wrote a book claiming Putin was a pedophile, thereby upping the ante on those mining the anti-Putin genre with tales of Putin's 40 billions or 400 billions squirreled away in secret Swiss bank accounts.

Or maybe it was 4 trillions...

It's a perennial favorite in the West, the anti-Putin trope.

Putin's perfidy...

Putin's aggression...

Those so-called punk-rockers Pussy Riot have milked the anti-Putin meme so skillfully they even got to share a stage with Madonna for a precious few moments!

Alas, all the hysteria doesn't seem to be making much of an impression in Russia. According to this recent story in the Washington Post, Putin's approval ratings are close to 90% among the folks he was elected by.

No wonder Cameron et al want us to hate him!

Brits taking for-profit justice to the next level

I'd always thought the bare-knuckle capitalists south of the border were the world leaders in profiting from the incarceration of the less fortunate. The visionary leadership of corporations like Wackenhut and CCA, combined with an all-out war on America's black underclass (more often known by its politically correct handle, "The War on Drugs") has made it socially acceptable to wring a profit from the confinement of others.

But it looks like the Brits are leading the way in taking this repugnant practice to the next level. Until this morning, I had no idea that Her Majesty's justice ministry has a "commercial arm!"

Who knew?

What better way to boost government revenues than by exporting the Ministry of Justice's expertise in the care and feeding of the delinquent?

Makes sense when you think about it. Instead of farming out inmate management to the private sector, make the Ministry itself a profit centre!

I'm just surprised the Americans didn't think of it first, what with their substantially greater experience in imprisoning vast swathes of their population!

And what better place to start than in Saudi Arabia. No pesky human-rights whinge-bags dogging your every step, because that lot is already locked up!

Sounds like easy money! Top marks to the Cameron crew on this one!

World leaders converge on Paris in search of photo-ops

Charlie Hebdo is obviously much more loved in death than in life. In life, they were consistently harassed by the French state. In death, they are lionized by the French state.

And far beyond! These champions of freedom of expression have inspired a solidarity march in Paris tomorrow, that has virtually every leader in the free world clamouring to climb aboard the bandwagon!
Merkel, Cameron, Poroshenko... yes, ALL the leaders of the free world, and apparently every member of the Israeli Knesset to boot!

Thus far Canada has missed the boat on this one, designating Public Safety Minister Steve Blaney, a non-entity, to represent the country. But that was before news came out that all the top-echelon Likud crowd would be in attendance, which may yet cause a change of plans in Ottawa.

This is truly a heart-warming rally in support of freedom of speech!

But while our hearts are warm and our eyes are misty, let's not forget that as recently as last summer, the nation that now parades itself as the very womb of "freedom of expression," criminalized protest against Israel's invasion of Gaza.

Ah, but life is awash with ironies, is it not?

Democracy rears its ugly head...

Pity David Cameron.

The Brit PM had such a boner for justice and the rule of law that he was ready to let the cruise missiles fly a couple of days ago.

But, just as it was all coming together, just as Cameron was on the verge of earning his spurs... his glory train gets derailed by a parliamentary vote!

That's got to hurt...