AND IN BRITAIN, THE DISGRACE OF LABOUR – AT 12:37 P.M. ET:   Britain has seen trauma in recent days, with the attempt by Moscow to assassinate two individuals in Britain.  London responded by clearly naming Moscow as the instigator, and by expelling Russian diplomats. 

But one British politician refused to go along – Jeremy Corbin, the far-left leader of the Labour Party, and a man who would like very much to be prime minister.  Corbin has a sordid past, although he comes across in public as just another socialist.  He is not.  He makes Lenin look like Ronald Reagan.

Corbin's behavior has caused an uproar, and may lead to his entirely deserved political demise.  From Daily Mail: 

The Labour leadership was scrambling today to limit the damage from Jeremy Corbyn's refusal to condemn Russia.

Senior frontbenchers took to the airwaves to insist they 'agree with the Prime Minister' amid fears that Mr Corbyn has appeared to be an apologist for Vladimir Putin.

The veteran left-winger was heavily criticised by MPs from all parties last week after he pointedly failed to accept that Moscow was behind the attempted murder of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury.

Mr Corbyn's spokesman inflamed the row further by arguing that the British security services might not be trustworthy enough to draw a conclusion on the involvement of Russia.  

But in an apparent attempt to shift the party's position, Mr Corbyn's cose allies John McDonnell and Baroness Chakrabarti stressed that Russia is culpable and endorsed the government's reprisals against Moscow.  

Mr McDonnell said the Salisbury incident is 'highly likely' to have been a state execution.

Appearing on ITV's Peston on Sunday, Mr McDonnell said: 'We support exactly what the Prime Minister said and we condemn Russia for this, condemn them. I believe this is a pattern of behaviour we have seen.'

The shadow chancellor said it was important to base judgements on the evidence but added: 'There's a pattern of people being murdered here, therefore it leads you to the conclusion that Putin has questions to answer because this is highly likely this could have been a state execution.'

COMMENT:  It is chilling to think that Corbyn the red might become prime minister, but I'm hopeful that the good sense of most of Britain's voters will prevent that.  I trust it's not a vain hope.

March 18, 2018