Forced Perspective

By comparison with the cleansing of Gaza and Lebanon, and possibly also with the economic achievements of the Persian Crusade, Tsar Vladimir's ongoing war crime in Ukraine remains a model of fair play and humane restraint. Hence few will be surprised that the jury at the sixty-first Venice Biennale has made an exhibition of itself over Russia's participation in the festival. The jury resigned after the European Commission stated its intention to cut off funding and the Italian culture ministry sent in a team of interrogators, because Russia had turned up again after missing the last couple and had been permitted a pavilion, provoking squeals of moral indignation all round. By contrast, the participation of the Righteous State and its arbiter of taste, the Kingdom of the Trumpster, has thus far been greeted with artistic equanimity.