Are we to understand ...

... that while the Europeans (elite and non-elite) have been prancing around self-righteously condemning American states who execute murderers, some European firms have been supplying the necessary drug?

Not for the first time

The news that Greece is planning to build a fence along its border with Turkey (the very idea of it ever being completed makes one fall about with laughter) has reminded Stewart Baker of Volokh Conspiracy of something even more amusing: the different ways EU spokespeople of various stripes view fences when they are proposed by the United States and by member states of the EU. He does not mention it, but a certain other fence, put up to keep out terrorists in the Middle East has also been described as being particularly evil. Not the Greek one, though. Justified but likely to be only short-term.

Why does this not surprise me?

Thanks to Powerline I find a story in the Washington Post of all newspapers: six Algerians due to be repatriated to their own country from the evil, villainous place called Guantanamo, which is according to Amnesty International, the nearest thing we have to a Gulag these days (clearly not heard of China or North Korea), have refused to do so. Yes, that's right, these people want to stay and suffer the humiliation and maltreatment they have to experience every day rather than go back to their own country where they are likely to be treated far worse.

The administration secured a significant legal victory Thursday when a federal appeals court overturned a lower court's ruling that had barred the government from repatriating one of them. The detainee had asserted that if he is returned, the Algerian government will torture him or he will be targeted by terrorist groups who will kill him if he refuses to join.

U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler had ruled that the claims of Farhi Saeed bin Mohammed, 49, who has been held at Guantanamo Bay for more than eight years, "are of great concern." She said the court must ensure that there is "real substance" behind any diplomatic assurances obtained by the administration that detainees repatriated to Algeria will be treated humanely.

Dear me. You mean there are places in the world where people are treated less humanely than in Guantanamo? You'd never believe it if you pay attention to the outcries in the media and from various tranzis. Though, to be fair, now that President Obama has decided that the urgent moral necessity is no longer there and Gitmo stays open for the time being, you hear far fewer outcries.

Out on their own

This was going to be another one of those sophisticated cultured people (on the left, naturally enough, or in Europe) versus red-neck hicks and general right-wingers but it did not work out that way. I am talking about the story of Roman Polanski's arrest in Switzerland and the discussion about whether he should be extradited to the United States whence he fled some thirty-odd years ago, to avoid punishment for his crime.

Let me remind readers of this blog, though they probably know, that his crime was the drugging and repeated rape of a 13 year old girl. He subsequently justified it by explaining that everyone really wanted to have sex with little girls. (He used a different expression.) Given that he also had an affair with the 15-year old Nastassia Kinski when he was about 50, one can assume that his tastes run in that direction.

Normally, the people who are defending him would demand that he be imprisoned, the key thrown away and, probably, castrated. But hey, Mr Polanski is an auteur, a fashionable film director so the usual suspects sprang to his defence, pleading greater sophistication than his detractors.

Well, actually, some pleaded that it was all the girl's fault anyway. It seems that in certain cases, namely when the perpetrator is a well-known film-maker, rape is the victim's fault. Especially, when the victim is a child.

Among those who are defending him are the French Minister of Culture, the Polish Foreign Minister, his wife, the well-known Washington Post journalist, most of Hollywood (though John Nolte on Big Hollywood does not think this has anything to do with Polanski's talent or achievements) and writers on Huffington Post. Anne Applebaum, the aforementioned journalist and Mrs Radek Sikorski in private life, managed to forget to mention the relationship when she wrote her article and subsequently expressed the view that clearly the 13 year old girl knew what was going on and kept saying no just to tease.

However, even on HuffPo almost all readers then some of the writers expressed their disgust with the whole saga and insisted that the law is the law for everyone. And the good news is that the French are not as "sophisticated" as the Hollywood fruitcakes think. In fact, judging by their response to the French Culture Minister's blather, they are just ordinary human beings who are also appalled by Roman Polanski's behaviour. So the politicians are backing off. Well, you would expect that, wouldn't you.

Whom can you trust to display sophistication these days? Mind you, there has been a deafening silence from the left-wing feminist organizations. Well, why would they say anything? We are not talking of the heinous crime of not aborting your Down's Syndrome child here. And, anyway, have I mentioned that he is an auteur?

Well, diddums

Bono thinks people are soooooooooooooo unfair. Fancy criticizing him of all people, the great and saintly Bono with his band for spending too much money on their tour, given their "stance on world hunger" and polluting the world (no, not with their music but their trucks and planes and other forms of transport). I do see his point. After all, he never suggested that he or his mates should be helping African countries. If he had thought of that he might have realized that well-meaning people shelling out aid that is then stolen or used to keep bloodthirsty kleptocrats in power might not be the best solution. Nor did he ever intend to comply with the rules he laid down for other people on good behaviour environmentally speaking. What do people want from him?