Today's bits

• Defend Joseph Stalin! No, not what you think, but solidarity with low-paid cleaners at SOAS, a university whose campus radicals prefer the chic cause of Palestine rather than the exploitation under their very noses.
• Who cares about the suffering of Palestinians in Iraq? A guest post at HP from Radically grey.
• Joel Kovel - a vicim of the Zionist lobby? Another guest post at HP, on academic politics, from the much-missed Judeosphere.
• In defense of Bernard Kouchner: Yet another HP guest post, by Andrew Murphy, defending Kouchner from Pierre Péan's allegations
• Clerical fascism: Peter Tatchell in Red Pepper on Iran [h/t Jim]
• The Marxist and libertarian cases against Hugo Chavez: new pamphlet from The Commune featuring interviews with El Libertario and Loron Goldner.
• Paranoia? Following on from the Howard Jacobson piece linked to here, George S outlines the next twelve steps for the Jews of Europe.