The week's news round-up

by Johnny Taronja

On Tuesday, in the columns of The Independent, Mary Dejevsky warned about interfering in the Russian-Georgian conflict, arguing that "it may seem unpalatable, but there may be times when idealism must cede to realism and big and small should be left to sort things out between themselves". A case of letting the Russian tanks roam free?

Dejevsky, however, has got a point when she highlights the complete hypocrisy of the "humanitarian intervention" doctrine: "There are practical flaws. Some countries will be judged too powerful or hostile for outside military intervention". Which means, no-one will dare lift a finger on the Russians while they were all high'n'mighty with others. When Western states timidly brandish the threat of kicking Russia out of the G8, Putin will reach out for his scissors, produce a resounding laugh and cut their oil supplies.
[picture by Steve Bell, The Guardian, 15 Aug 2008]

*****
Wake up, Britain. On Wednesday, Jim McCullough, a dad of 44, was arrested and cautioned for slapping his 13-year-old daughter who was acting ASBOnoxiously. According to the BBC, his career as a community worker with kids is now lost. We moan about teenage yobs spiralling out of control and general civic sense being squandered by parents who don't give a monkeys but then a simple parental slap is stigmatised to the point of wrecking someone's career.

*****
Still from The Independent, on Thursday Johann Hari penned a deeply thought-provoking piece about Islam, censorship and fear. "We need to stop being such cowards about Islam", he argues, adding that "[...]if a book about Christ was being dumped because fanatics in Mississippi might object, we would be enraged". But "The Jewel of Medina", a novel by Sherry Jones, was recently withdrawn and pulped. No-one wants another Salman Rushdie and that's exactly how the extremists get the upper hand. You can read Hari's piece here.

*****
Kelvin MacKenzie in The Sun. It simply pisses me off that people like him or that moron Jeremy Clarkson can become self-appointed guardians of the nation's morality. Because I'm sure that's how MacKenzie fancies himself. Ranting against taxpayers' money from the South being fed to the North of England, he wrote: "I feel disinclined to put my hand in my pocket for people who might not like me but like my money". "Why should a hospital in Guildford be short of funds and facing shutdown when the locals have plenty of the stuff? It’s unfair, illogical and electorally dangerous". But so was the money wasted on the Millennium Dome in London. And following the same logic, why should a porter in Carlisle or a nurse in Birkenhead pay for the London Olympics?