Clare Short, a former UK minister who criticized the invasion of Iraq, calls for change in the system of decisionmaking that made it easy for B'liar to push the UK into war.

Right-wing Israeli fanatics admire and defend the soldier on trial for killing a Palestinian prisoner who was lying on the ground incapacitated. They revile witnesses for testifying honestly in court.

If this is the new Israel, feh!

Corrupt members of the US congress are determined to buy an expensive ship that the Pentagon says it doesn't want.

Oslo had a lucky scrape: the International Olympic Committee made arrogant demands for holding the 2022 Olympic games there, which spurred Oslo to withdraw its bid to hold the games.

While these demands are offensive, and in some cases rather inconvenient, it is other Olympic Games policies that tend to do real and lasting harm to the people of whatever city hosts them. For instance, heavy taxes, new surveillance systems, nasty laws that interfere with human rights, and clearance of poor people.

Tyrannical countries such as Kazakhstan and China probably already have the tyrannical laws and surveillance that the IOC demands, and they probably crush the poor already as much as it is feasible to do.

Today's Olympic games and today's tyrants are made for each other.

In postmodern politics (Trump, or the UK out of the EU), supporters don't need to seriously believe the promised benefits or actions. They enjoy the pleasure of fantasizing them for a moment.

The UK referendum has had one clear, substantial benefit for homeless Britons: some housing prices in London have tumbled.

It isn't yet clear whether the effect will be widespread enough to bring rents down for working people.