Good things here

If you want to read good arguments about the morality of capitalism (let's face it, the only political system that spreads wealth fairly widely) then you might like to have a look at this book. The Morality of Capitalism is free to download and my friend Tom Palmer (another cat-lover) wrote the introduction as well as a couple of chapters.

Silent majority is much liked as long as it stays silent

Many moons ago I recall having an exchange of letters in the columns of a newspaper (cannot recall which one) with someone who asserted that Fidel Castro was immensely popular in Cuba for all the things he had done for the people of that country. Without going too deeply into the question of what had he done exactly, I asked why Comrade Castro, if he knows how popular he is, had never put that to the test by calling a free election. There was no reply.

Far it be from me to suggest that the EU and its members are in the same position as the unfortunate Cubans have been for the last sixty-plus years but one cannot help wondering where employees of the European Commission get their political understanding from.

According to Johannes Laitenberger, head of cabinet to the European Commission president, the commission has more allies in its bid to re-assume control of the eurozone debt crisis - currently managed in a piecemeal fashion by member states - than is apparent at first sight.

"The first and best ally that we have in all of this is the silent majority who too often is drowned out by a very vocal minority of sceptics and critics but which is much more solid than we care to think," Laitenberger said Tuesday (4 October) at an event organised by the European Policy Centre.

"I am very confident that there are enough people, enough institutions, enough forces, that can be mobilised. You sense that the tide is turning. Many people who at the beginning of the discussion did not raise their voices are more forceful, more decisive and saying more clearly what needs to be done."

There is, as it happens, no evidence for any of this though I have no doubt plenty of institutions, particularly those that are part of the European project one way or another, will support the calls for a single economic governance.

Of course, the great advantage of a silent majority is that one can attribute any opinion to it under the sun. The only condition is that it should remain silent and that can be achieved by making sure that nothing important is ever put to the vote.

I wonder ...

The news that Sarah Palin has decided not to run for the Republican Party's candidacy is not exactly a surprise though somewhat more so than Prime Minister Putin's decision to take on the mantle of presidency in Russia. (OK, that's a joke. I am not comparing the two and please don't send comments telling me that there is no difference between them.)

She is most definitely not retiring from politics but intends to continue her somewhat anomalous but perfectly understandable position of being the most outspoken promoter of small government, free trade and low taxation. So far so good. Undoubtedly many people will try to interpret her decision and the explanation she gave Mark Levin (she has learnt her lesson about unfriendly reporters).

Via Instapundit we come to an interesting article on American Thinker, which calls the decision the right one and the performance pitch-perfect

Last night, Sarah Palin's statement -- and her breaking news interview with Mark Levin -- stressed some extremely important ideas. As such, her not running might well be among the least important topics she touched on. Yes, I know that's the news that everybody was waiting for -- but what interested me most was what Palin said about her vision for America and how she said it. It was crafted very intentionally --and it was simply pitch-perfect.

Palin spoke of ideas and priorities. These were above and beyond what particular position she -- or anyone else -- might play in our arena of ideas. That she's still very much in the arena -- and planning on making a difference -- is obvious.

So, what have we here? That rare bird, a politician to whom future of country matters more than her own immediate career? A politician who is playing a deep and, so far, successful game? Either way, she is not the ditz-headed moron that the MSM and the left (but I repeat myself) like to portray but then we knew that.

A good summary of where we are on the Politkovskaya case

Yesterday, Der Spiegel had two long depressing articles about Russia. I blogged about one (Putin and his teddy bear changing places) but the other one is equally important. It is a summary of where we are on the Politkovskaya case and it does not constitute happy reading (does anything about Russia?)

Five years after the murder of the investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya in Moscow, the identities of the presumed killers are now known. A picture is emerging of a web of intrigue involving the Chechen mafia, shadowy intelligence agents and a corrupt police officer with a gambling addiction.

The journalists try to unravel all the different strands in Chechnya and Russia but wonder whether any of the big shots (if I may use that word in this context) will receive the sort of punishment they deserve.

After his arrest in August 2007, Lieutenant Colonel Ryaguzov admitted that he had obtained the journalist's home address from an intelligence database for a middleman. He later revoked his statement. He was released and is still on the FSB's payroll today.

In a country with an independent judiciary and a vital democracy, ties between the criminal underworld and law enforcement agencies would have led to hearings before parliamentary subcommittees, public protests and high-level resignations. In Russia, however, even many investigative journalists and most opposition politicians are too afraid to speak out about the Politkovskaya murder.

Thanks to the research done by Novaya Gazeta, the case is now being revisited in a second trial. It is clear that a single killer could not have been behind the murder. It was too carefully and professionally prepared for that. It is unclear, however, who exactly hired whom. Did Russian intelligence agents hire the Chechen mafia, or did the mafia hire the intelligence agents? The identity of the person who ordered the killing also remains a mystery.

The Chechen trail peters out in Achkhoy-Martan, where a poster sings the praises of the autocratic Kadyrov. Politkovskaya had accused him of committing torture and murder. In 2006, she called him a "coward armed to the teeth."

No one seems eager to examine the possible connections between Kadyrov's men and the mafia group in Achkhoy-Martan, which prepared the murder together with Lieutenant Colonel Pavlyuchenkov. Even Novaya Gazeta isn't sending its Caucasus expects to Chechnya anymore to look into the case. "Since my mother died, Chechnya has been a blank spot on the map," says Politkovskaya's son Ilya. "No one dares to report from there anymore."

No, this is not the Soviet Union, let alone its Stalinist manifestation, but the system is now considerably worse than the Tsarist autocracy was, certainly in the nineteenth and early twentieth century.

This is also very funny

A reader has sent me a link to the list of demands from the Occupy Wall Street mob. Incoherent to the point of complete insanity. Even the ridiculous demands of the sixties had more brainwork behind them.

Mark Daniel, the author, among other books of an entertaining history of UKIP has cut across discussions as to whether this bilge was sub-Marxism or moronic Marxism with the word Lennonism. These idiots, he said, get their notions from the songs of a drug-crazed pop-star's writings. A word that needs to be used more often.

Commentary thinks this could be a disaster for the Democrats in a way that the Tea Party was supposed to be for the GOP but was not.

Another trade war with Canada?

The Wall Street Journal reports

The European Union's executive body will propose that oil extracted from sands should be treated as dirtier than conventional oil, a move that will inflame a spat with Canada, a major producer of oil from sands, an EU official familiar with the matter said Tuesday.

The European Commission, which has executive powers within the EU, agreed Monday to set a higher value for carbon-dioxide emissions from tar sands compared with crude oil extracted from conventional wells, the official told The Wall Street Journal.

This would discourage the use of oil from sands in Europe, where companies have an obligation to cut their CO2 emissions by 2020. To do so they will have to use the cleanest fuels.

Monday's decision is likely to deepen the EU's dispute with Canada, which is negotiating a free trade agreement with the bloc and says such a provision discriminates against one of its key exports.

Is this a random decision to ensure that European countries use oil from the Middle East in preference to oil from Canada? Just asking. Glenn Reynolds asks even more bluntly: "I wonder which Arabs bribed which officials?"

Was Medvedev ever a reformer?

Did he ever intend to implement the various liberal and constitutional ideas he spoke of or was he always merely a seat-warmer for Putin? A long article in Der Spiegel, which is very well worth reading, thinks the latter. This blog does not disagree. The outlook for Russia is poor.