Those who allege that Italian tanks have 5 gears (four of them reverse) will be happy to add another target to their range. The highly-successful soccer team Inter Milan has cancelled a tour of England, despite being scheduled to play only one their four matches in London. Their weasel words explaining why (respect for events that "touch the sensitivity of everyone") will fool no-one. In fact, even Red Ken has seen through them, saying, "The terrorists I am sure will be celebrating their decision."

The terrorist attack in Egypt is obviously horrible -- current toll: at least 65 dead, more than 200 wounded -- and it's starting to look worse than the massacre at Luxor eight years ago. But violence such as this, as bad as it is, may have the good effect of causing the Arab world to become more serious about terrorism. As with Luxor, many of these latest casualties are tourists--and tourists are an enormous boon to the Egyptian economy. How many will want to travel there now? Speaking for myself, Egypt is very high on the list of places I would like to visit in my life. But if you gave me a free airline ticket and a wad of Egyptian pounds this morning, I probably wouldn't go.

- posted by Don Porges @ 7/23/2005 05:06:00 PM |