Oslo

Whilst nothing is certain at this stage, it seems as though the massacre in Norway was perpetrated by an extreme nationalist, Anders Breivit.

While a movement or political grouping shouldn'tbe discredited simply because someone like Ander Behring Breivit expressed admiration for or approval of them this will inevitably happen to some extent. His obsessions seem to have been immigration, Islam and multiculturalism. I hope very much that this does not make it harder to point out the flaws and failings in any of those subjects, althoug it will.

The one aspect of his online writings which I do hope become discreditiable after this is his tendency to believe that the other side is engaged in some kind of plot to destroy civilisation. In Brevit's world immigration to Europe wasn't being encouraged because the left believed that it would benefit both Europe and the immigrants but  because they hated in Europe and were determined to destroy it.

It is perfectly legitimate to argue that policies will have catastrophic results but believing that your opponents are actively trying to destroy civilisation is usually paranoid nonsense and is not going to lead to anything good.

Vote For Me Peasants.

Like most people I am glued to the Canadian election which will deliver pretty much the same result as the last few.

Even so the hilarious implosion of the Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff is fun to behold. Essentially he lived his entire adult life outside of Canada until he swanned in a few years ago to be anointed Liberal leader and PM in waiting. Footage of him describing himself in those years as "an American" (despite having denied doing so) is destroying his campaign.

Ignatieff is best known here as one of the talking heads who used to appear on chin stroking fests like the Late Show so he is sort of the equivalent of Tom Paulin or Johann Hari.

As you can imagine Canadians aren't impressed.

The only parallel I can think of is the Australian monarchy referendum in which similar celebrity intellectuals- Germaine Greer, Geoffrey Robinson etc- flew in to tell Australians that they shouldn't be ruled by people with no connection to Australia and then flew out.

In short Ignatieff is probably a perfectly nice man, but to have picked him as leader suggests that despite the many protestations to the contrary intellectuals really don't get the notion of patriotism.

No Demos = No Democracy.

This is a version of a comment I originally posted at Iain Dale's site about the chaos that is breaking out in Kenya at the moment, and the more general democratic failures in Africa.

One of the main problems that Africa has is a lack of nation states. Almost every country is an amalgam of several different and distinct ethnic groups which encourages politicians to pander to ethnic prejudices and encourages voters to overlook massive corruption as long as their local politician can divide some of the spoils to his own ethnic group.

Be honest, if the EU ever becomes a country and controlled most of the continents public sector revenues wouldn't you be more inclined to overlook a corrupt British politician if he brought home some of the wealth than you would if a current politician did so?

Botswana is an exception to the rule in that it is basically a nation state (there are small minority groups but they aren't numerous). Botswana is also prosperous and stable in spite of a sever Aids epidemic and I don't believe that this is a coincidence.

Update: Julia in the comments points out this map over at Laban's blog which illustrates the point about the ethnic mish mash that is Kenya:

Russian To Judgement.

There used to be a joke in the old USSR that Estonia was the biggest nation on earth because it's coast was on the Baltic, its capital in Moscow and its population in Siberia. The country lost its independence during World War Two when it was annexed by the Soviet Union so understandably they aren't particularly happy with the Red Army and are keen to remove traces of its legacy like great big Red Army shrines in the middle of their capital. Given that Estonian hostility to the USSR stems from the destruction of their independence the behaviour of Russia has been undiplomatic at best, with senior Russian figures declaring that it not a domestic affair of Estonia. Russian nationalists still feel that the former USSR and Eastern Bloc is part of some mythical sphere of influence which entitles them to over rule the democratic wishes of their neighbours. This is a feeling that is clearly being stoked by Putin and his supporter to bolster his domestic appeal.

What makes it even more insulting is Russia's risible claims that the Red Army were an anti fascist force who liberated Europe and that dismantling their monuments is therefore pro Nazi. In fact the annexation of Estonia was part of the Nazi Soviet pact originally, so the chutzpah is breathtaking.