Would you have Seamus Milne for lunch?

In the spirit of the slightly cannibalistic Purim this year, I would like to offer you a three course meal cooked chiefly using Seamus Milne, the Guardian's own Stalinist. So, without further ado:

Appetizer

Cooked by Norm:

If there's an anti-democratic organization or movement anywhere, an individual dictator or a tyrannical regime, then it's a safer than safe bet, because it's a certainty, that somewhere or other a commentator on the Western left (verkrappt section) will be telling you that the said organization or movement, dictator or regime, isn't as bad as all that. And it's a near certainty that one of the somewheres he or she will be telling you this is in the Guardian. You don't need three guesses, you need only one; it's Seumas Milne.

Garnish offered by Jams.

Main course

Main ingredient: St. Seumas and his article This is no ripping yarn, but a murder to fan more conflict.

This is not a ripping yarn indeed, so be warned, it's another long anti-Israeli rant by Seamus Milne. Thankfully, fisking of the article was made conveniently easy by the author, who started it with the following sentence:

Imagine for a moment what the reaction would be if ­Iranian ­intelligence was almost ­unversally believed to have ­assassinated a leader of one of the organisations fighting the Tehran government in a western-friendly state.

Imagine indeed. Actually, why should you bother stressing your overworked imagination: here comes a report by IHRDC - Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, on Iran’s state sponsored campaign of political assassinations abroad that says, among other things:

The regime’s campaign can be traced to nearly twenty countries around the world, from neighboring Pakistan and Iraq, to far-flung locations such as France, the Philippines and the United States. Victims specifically addressed in the two previous reports are but a sampling of the more than one hundred and sixty dissidents who dared challenge the clerical establishment’s grip on the country.

Do you read what I do: "a sampling of the more than one hundred and sixty dissidents"? Do you think Seumas M. would notice the difference between a political opponent, let alone 160 political opponents (to start with), and a confessed and proud killer? Nah...

I could provide a lot of (free) garnish, such as Iran's direct and indirect responsibility for terrorist acts all over the world, direct and indirect support - financial and military - of countless terrorist and fundamentalist gangs, but I think this dish doesn't need any of that. Tasty enough as it is. So, to

Dessert

It will be a bit muddy, but I hope you will enjoy the taste:

But muddying the waters was a statement from Dubai police on Wednesday that two of the people accused of belonging to the hit team departed by boat for Iran shortly after the murder – as unlikely a destination for a Mossad assassin as one could imagine.

Bon Appetit!

Cheeses, digestive and cigar not included in the price of the meal.

Now, lunch being served, may the sweaty chef straighten his back, look around and say (re St. Seumas): "What a f.....g* moron!"?

*Cause of Meryl, and all them rules...

Cross-posted on Yourish.com