From my email outbox, once more

This time, on the subject of online discussion  of Israel/Palestine, and the alleged excessive, obsessive concern ....

"The thing is, how many well-educated middle class English speakers are active in the American and European press who are prepared to defend the Chechen occupation? One side causes the other. Here's a thought experiment. Pretend that I only care about three things in the world - Burma, Chechnya and Palestine. Pretend also, that I care a hundred times more about Burma and Chechnya than I do about Palestine. Pretend also that I am confined to my house and all I do all day is argue on the internet. How much time am I going to spend arguing about Israel/Palestine, compared to Burman and Chechnya?

Answer; I am going to spend much more time on I/P. Because (this is the important bit) - this is the only subject on which I will find someone to argue with. Unless I speak Russian or Burmese, I am not going to be able to find someone to address my polemics to on my real topics of interest. But Israel has loads of people who are prepared to do apologetics for war crimes in English, on prominently available websites. A similar phenomenon accounts for the massively greater salience of Zimbabwe compared to much worse places in Africa.

There is no different standard. It's the same standard; it's just that if you go around condemning abuses in Yemen then you can get your excoriation done in five minutes flat and get on with the day, whereas if you get into an argument about Palestine then you can kiss the morning goodbye.

Personally I am more than anything else outraged by the behaviour of Idriss Deby's regime in Chad. It is a phenomenal time saver."