Aleksey Nikolskyi/Sputnik via AP Russian President Vladimir Putin meeting meeting with representatives of international sports organizations taking part in the International Sports Forum on October 11, 2016. J eremy Corbyn, the grim, controversial, and recently re-elected leader of Britain's Labour Party, rejects the idea of protesting outside Russia's embassy in London against that country's brutal bombing of Syria. “The focus on Russian atrocities or Syrian army atrocities,” said a Corbyn aide this week, distracts attention from “very large scale civilian casualties as a result of the U.S.-led coalition bombing.” In case this is a bit obtuse, let's go over to Britain's Stop the War coalition, which Corbyn chaired before he was elected Labour leader. In a radio interview, current vice-chairman Chris Nineham said that protesting Russian atrocities would increase “hysteria and jingoism.” The way to end the Syria conflict, he said, was to “oppose the West.” In another words, when we say...

AP Photo/Ariel Schalit Jewish settlers march during a demonstration against the proposed decision to evacuate a West Bank outpost in the Ulpana neighborhood, in the West Bank settlement of Beit El near the Palestinians city of Ramallah, Monday, June 4, 2012. I overheard the conversation on a home-buyers' tour of West Bank settlements. No, I was not thinking of buying anything. It was May 1992, a few weeks before the Israeli election in which Yitzhak Rabin was expected—correctly—to defeat Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir. In a bid to preserve its policies, Shamir's government was trying to sell every house available in the settlements, at incredibly low prices. Big newspaper ads announced free bus tours to see the offerings. I decided to slip onto a bus, listen, and watch. At one stop, a young guy posed a question to the guide. “What if they give it all back?” he demanded. He had his arm around his wife, who looked even younger and was noticeably pregnant. They were the definition of...