"Protected by the very people he vilifies," Teribus? So that's what those 700 US bases in 100-odd countries is all about. Let's hope Mr Pinter is duly grateful. But my guess is he'd be perfectly happy to take his chances in a world where the western democracies constrained themselves to behave with common decency.

By the way, Teribus, here's an interesting sentence from news.bbc.co.uk today: Mikhail Kasyanov's biggest problem is not pressure from the Kremlin. It is public disillusionment with democracy. Former Russian PM Kasyanov is now trying to mount an electoral challenge against Putin's hardline tactics, complaining that democracy has been almost abandoned. But he can expect little popular support because for millions of Russians democracy has meant economic collapse in the wake of rampant capitalism; grinding poverty, and a handful of fatcat gangsters making themselves disgustingly rich in the style of Rumsfeld or Cheney.