Over the years the open letter has become a very popular tool for the Islamists (Hizb ut-Tahrir on the veil, MCB co-ordinated August 2006 open letter to Tony Blair), and one which they utilised yet again yesterday in a crass attempt at influencing the Obama administration to base its foreign policy on how appease Islamists and thus prevent them from killing people all over the world. 

As published in today's Daily Express:

The conflict between Russia and Georgia rings some ominous bells from our collective past. The nationalist and territorial claims and counter-claims which tore apart the Balkans in the 1990s are now echoing in the Caucuses.

Like the tearing apart of the former Yugoslavia, the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1990 led to a confusion of tribal demands. Then, as now, multiple claims to the same pieces of land baffled outsiders. South Ossetians, North Ossetians, Russians, Abkhazis, Georgians – when nations break-up the attention-span of other nations is troublingly short. Who knows whose claim is greater or whose grievances are nobler?

In a welcome development, Barclays have severed its business ties with two Iranian banks who held offices in the UK.

The banks in question, Melli and Saderat, have been accused by the US of having links to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and financing terrorism respectively.