Succinct

If those who defend mass murderers can ever be funny, this from Oliver Kamm's site is funny:

Ball believes that Mao and Stalin have been unfairly maligned by us bourgeois commentators. He insists: "Like Mao, the negative features of [Stalin's] rule have been greatly exaggerated. The successes have been ignored."

Mr Ball immediately wrote to me under the drearily familiar heading (of which more below) "re: libellous comments concerning myself". He writes, at great length, that he is "absolutely enraged" to read my post:

You are clearly attempting to compare me to the Nazis and to David Irving-the holocaust denier whose work you discuss on your blog. It is perfectly obvious that you are only making these libellous statements against myself because you are aware I am a communist and hence will be reluctant to use capitalist courts to sue. I don't have the luxury that you posess of libelling anyone I happen to disagree with. When I make comments about living figures I have to make damn sure I can back up what I am saying rather than just publishing a pack of lies.

Before you published your libel did it ever occur to you to email me and ask me why I uphold Stalin and Mao and oppose the view they were as bad as the Nazis?