Russia’s PM Putin and President Medvedev have been hosting groups of Western journalists, to quite good effect from the Russian point of view. Even if some of the language used by Putin might have been a bit … overvivid. A tendency also visible these days in the robust style of Russian […]
"If someone truly understands how to create menace and uncertainty and mistrust, then how to exploit and magnify the presence of these disconcerting elements, the loop can be vicious, a terribly destructive force, virtually unstoppable in causing panic and confusion and — Boyd’s phrase is best — ‘unraveling the competition.’ […]
Clinton strategist Mark Penn: I think here the media is on very dangerous ground. I think that when you see them going through every single expense report that Governor Palin ever filed, if they don’t do that for all four of the candidates, they’re on very dangerous ground. I think […]
So many examples, so little time. Try this one. An EU Embassy in London wants to move away from its expensive and old-fashioned practice of employing only people from its home country for every job (ie to have a mixture of ‘home-based’ staff and ‘locally employed’ staff’). It approaches the […]
Help! The US media are being manipulated! By Sarah Palin! And they are getting cross about it. But how convincing is their fury? Not very: When Howie claims he’s getting really really mad, I wonder if he realizes he sounds like Elmer Fudd warning Bugs Bunny "You’re making me vewy […]
Craig Murray is having more problems getting his views published, this time on various important African issues. He complains at great length that various concerns expressed by his lawyers and publishers about passages in his new book amount to ‘censorship’ and a massive suppression of free speech: … under this country’s […]
I am off to London to seek my fortune, as it appears that people with fortunes are selfishly loath to share them with me. Back on Saturday.
It makes little sense to fly an aircraft half-empty, or play to empty concert-hall seats. But how to deal with the information management problem of filling those seats as the start deadline looms? Maybe like this?
A good piece about Stalinist persecution of a fine scientist whose views were ideologically inconvenient. And the long-term disaster this brought to Russia.
Sometimes being an Ambassador is excruciatingly painful. Back in 2006 the marvellous Croatian Ambassador in Warsaw Nebojsa Koharovic hosted a group of us to watch Croatia play England. I was given a front-row seat as Ambassadorial Guest of Honour. It was not going well, with Croatia a goal up. Then […]
