Fast Takes: Libs deep denial on Islamist evil, punish Putin, not Russians and other commentary

“As the world marked the 25th anniversary of 9/11,” mainstream-media outlets pivoted “away from the apocalyptic Islamist atrocity itself to hand-wring about the ‘backlash’ supposedly suffered by Muslims in its wake,” grumbles Spiked’s Tom Slater.“Liberal elites have been struggling” to reframe 9/11 “for a quarter of a century now.” This apologism “suggests that Islamists’ efforts to slaughter their way to paradise” pales in comparison to “the supposed horrors of ‘American imperialism’.” This reflects a “depressingly common refrain heard on the left after 9/11” suggesting America “had it coming.” “The ‘won’t someone please think of the Muslims?’ reflex” is “suicidal” in its “refusal to take Islamist barbarism seriously” and to acknowledge that “Western life is under attack.”“Contrasting news from Ottawa and Strasbourg” regarding Russia was the “latest reminder” of how “misaligned Western policies toward Russia” have often been since the start of the Ukraine war, notes Vladimir Kara-Murza at The Washington Post.

Kremlin “insiders” in Canada are newly unsanctioned, while the European Court of Human Rights “summarily dismissed hundreds of applications from Russian citizens” whose “rights have been violated” by Moscow.And “blanket bans” on entry by Russian citizens “often target Russians who oppose dictatorship and war.” The West “should focus on expanding and strengthening Western sanctions against the Kremlin” and “continue engagement and dialogue with Russian society,” much of which is “is increasingly — and evidently — turning against the regime and the war.”OpenAI just hired “three heavy-hitter lobbyists who can help it appeal to both sides of the aisle,” reports The American Prospect’s Dylan Gyauch-Lewis — two “hired away from fellow tech giants Amazon and Meta” plus “Jessica Schumer, who is leaving her post directing Amazon’s public p...