One day, our government’s tolerance for autocratic and downright tyrannical leaders is going to come back and bite us, hard. One day, our foreign policy, too often motivated by simplistic antipathy towards America in particular and the liberal Western democracies in general, is going to hurt our national interests badly. It could be simple racism, but more likely, there’s a deeper psychological trauma in evidence here. Understandable though this resentment might be, it isn’t pretty, and it isn’t good for our country.

This essay by James Kirchick, first published in Azure, a Jewish publication, was picked up by the influential Wall Street Journal editorial pages. Excerpt:

That Mr. Mandela has comported himself so comfortably with dictators is more than hypocritical–it is a betrayal of the principles for which he languished twenty-seven years in prison. Yet while Mr. Mandela’s grandstanding with tyrants is regrettable, it has been far less serious than his ANC successors’ strategic and systematic support for a broadly anti-Western agenda.

Even if one takes it whence it comes and assumes only half of it is true, it sure appears we’re on the wrong side of many major issues. I’m not sure this image of our new democracy is one we ought to cultivate.

I don’t intend to turn this blog into a repository for cute kitties, but for every rule, there’s an exception to prove it. This is extraordinary, but if you cry in movies, get some tissues.

That’s not my opinion, of course. I would never argue such a daft thing. Or say this:

You can’t just rely on individuals to take responsibility for their own security. They will always be outfoxed by the bad guys.

This is the genius emerging from the UK House of Lords today, in the words of Lord Broers. Just like when your car is stolen you claim compensation from the manufacturer (don’t you?), the Lords Science and Technology Committee believes that victims of online fraud committed by criminals who exploit security holes should be compensated by the makers of the affected software.

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For lack of enthusiasm, the Segway Enthusiasts Club is “undergoing a significant transformation.” Which is one way of describing disbanding the thing.

It was once hyped as “magic sneakers” and “reinventing the wheel.” Steve Jobs called it “as significant as the development of the personal computer.” The Segway Human Transporter was supposed to be the green city transport revolution of the century. Its inventor, Dean Kamen, promised at its launch in 2001: “This new technology fills a wide gap in the current transportation continuum and gives us the power to solve many of the problems, such as urban congestion and pollution, created by rapidly growing megacities.” John Doerr, of Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, bought into it in a big way, reportedly investing $38 million in the device. According to the New York Times piece, it was largest single investment in the VC outfit’s history.

If it was “premature to call the most talked about scooter in the history of humankind a huge bust” in 2003, two years after its unveiling, surely it now ranks among the most overhyped and underperforming gadgets of all time. It costs a fortune, goes slowly, and makes even the most dashing rider (like George W. Bush, pictured top right) look naf, clumsy or both.

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