As a general rule, blogging is pretty ephemeral stuff - here today and gone today. The blogospheric firestorm regarding George Galloway's banning (including yours truly) barely skims the surface of the underlying intellectual, political and historical controversies that give rise to gorgeous George's momentary notoriety. On his blog at the Times of London the blogger Oliver Kamm - while denouncing Kenney's decision - points out that in his response Galloway compares himself to Paul Robeson: "This is a small point but one worth noting. It relates to the story that George Galloway has been banned from entering Canada. The Canadian Government is entitled to decide who may visit the country, but it's a bad move to keep Galloway out, in the same way that it was wrong for the British Government to deny entry recently to the inflammatory Dutch MP Geert Wilders. But note Galloway's comment in The Guardian about his banning. He concludes: 'More than half a century ago Paul Robeson, one of the greatest men who ever lived, was forbidden to enter Canada not by Ottawa but by Washington, which had taken away his passport.' " Kamm then goes on to reprise Robeson's dicey espousal of the Soviet Union during the worst of the Stalinist period. He concludes: "Galloway is not a fool, and he will certainly be familiar with this history. His judgement of Robeson is fully consistent with his stated views: 'If you are asking did I support the Soviet Union, yes I did. Yes, I did support the Soviet Union, and I think the disappearance of the Soviet Union is the biggest catastrophe of my life.' As I say, it's worth noting this and placing it in the context of Galloway's political stances. There's a tendency among commentators to assume that Galloway, for all his bombast and rhetorical excess, is a colourful character who adds to the quality of public life. The truth is much darker." Yesterday I wrote that I found Galloway "entertaining" if ultimately ineffectual in the persuasive arts. And while Kamm's reservations give me pause, I'm left a little cold by his vague accusations by association. Conflating support for the Soviet Union with the worst of its excesses seems a little over the top. There's plenty of ammunition to counter Galloway without lumping him in with the worst of the worst.