Pat Robertson, a US TV preacher (;-) called for the assasination of Hugo Chavez, the president of Venezuela, on his 700 club TV show. This is not crazy enough on it's own. No no, he had to bring in the spectre of the pinko commies and wahhabists, accusing Chavez of turning Venezuela into "the launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism." This just defies belief really, but it's especially stupid when you consider that Robertson is head of an organisation that claims to have 2 million members in the US and was instrumental in getting Bush elected in at least one state.

After Uzbekistan's latest strike in the war on terror, the massacre of hundreds of civilians by the Uzbek army, it's becoming more apparent that western relations with Islam Karimov's regime have followed an all too familiar path. In return for almost complete silence about human rights abuses and big piles of cash the Uzbeks are hosts to not one but two western airbases, belonging to the US and Germany. Though the US one is probably closed by the time you read this. Don't worry though, the UK government is acting responsibly and just training the Uzbek army for them. The army that has received $120m from the US. Which compliments the $80m given for security forces.

Perhaps the most heinous aspect of the west's relationship with Uzbekistan is the CIA's use of the country as a torture destination for people rounded up elsewhere in the theatre of the War on Terror. Once there prisoners can expect any kind of fate, up to and including being boiled to death, as one man was in 2004.

Some commentators took the opportunity to predict Karimov's downfall following the events in May. But while our governments in the west all call for independent investigations at the same time as handing over the cash and while he still has powerful friends in Russia and China, it seems he will remain comfortable enough.

Oh, and his daughter's a madam.

Shamil Basayev emerges out of Chechnya like a primal force. From a region of such chaos, destroyed cities, horrific abuses of corrupt federals and terrible punishments exacted by rebels driven by a need for horrific revenge, he's a rock. He is a brutal, brutal man and a fascinating one. Starting out as a soldier, his real skill is for terror, he looms like a comic book supervillain, decimating the pro-Russian population of the north Caucasus and killing indiscriminately in hospitals and schools. He's an anachronism, seemingly keeping the second Chechen war going single handedly as all it's other leaders fall fowl to the steady pressure of the Russians.

But suddenly he's on TV. Channel 4 screened an interview with him in February, in the aftermath of Beslan. He responded to questions sent via middlemen. Now ABC has screened a face-to-face interview conducted by Andrei Babitsky, severely irritating the Russian government.

I find this a bit weird. He's a man who's existed in the middle of this kind of ball of chaos which is the mountains of the north Caucasus, lashing out against his enemies once in a while. He seems to have changed tack, at least temporarily, by working with the western media directly. Perhaps this is an attempt to raise his profile before another attack. He has already stated that he is planning more atrocities like Beslan.

The Russians have made a big cock up here. Their conduct in Chechnya has been abhorrent from the beginning. Stalin deported the entire nation to central asia, accusing them of collaborating with the Nazis. The first and second wars are characterised by bitter and bloody fighting, with vicious human rights abuses on both sides (organ farming, kidnapping). The Russians have not been able to paint the clear-cut picture of Chechnya as home of Basayev the terrorist they would like because they themselves are at fault also. Now Basayev is exploiting that. Despite the fact that he is a terrorist by any definition, ABC calls him a guerilla, Channel 4's epithet was " jihadi warrior, philosopher, child-killer, freedom fighter."

On a related point, I read a very interesting piece on research into patterns in suicide bombings. The conclusion: that the vast majority of suicide bombings are conducted by occupied nations against their occupiers.

Perhaps Basayev fits this trend. Perhaps he really is a freedom fighter, just not a noble or a good one, one who is ruthless and barbaric. Though I'm not sure how our image of freedom fighters got so Hollywoodised any way. He said in the Channel 4 interview that if Russian troops leave Chechnya he will stand trial and accept punishment. This has to be the craziest blackmail ever and it's not really borne out. He was pretty much responsible for restarting the war in Chechnya after an unsteady peace by invading neighbouring Dagestan.

One thing's for sure, we'll be hearing more from Basayev. Another act soon? More public demands on the Russians? The mood amongst the Russian people has scarcely changed, Chechnya is and will always be part of Russia to them. Do we simply have to wait for Basayev to fall into one of the many traps set for him until this is over?

Two excellent articles on Basayev: Wikipedia and Sobaka's dossier.

Awarded some money from my mother for no reason and from Google for helping them out with the AdWords API and having failed to show Louise a good time on the event of our 4th anniversary, I spotted an opportunity.

Last night Louise and I went to the three Michelin star-rated Restaurant Gordon Ramsey at Chelsea Hospital for dinner. For posterity, I ate:

• An hors d'oeuvre of avocado straw things (can't remember the terminology!) and potato crisps sandwiched around sour cream and truffle
• A slice of fresh olive bread and unsalted butter
• The first "surprise": a tomato mousse with sun dried tomatoes served in an egg cup, accompanied by a tiny brioche and some basil jelly (which was orange)
• A carpaccio of beef with dressed rocket salad, pear and caviar served with rosemary ciabatta
• For the main course, shoulder of lamb stuff with walnuts, served on a bed of sauteed potatoes and spinach with a wild mushroom sauce
• The second "surprise": strawberry and champagne soup with mint foam served in a tall glass with a straw
• Desert: Plum soufflé dusted with chocolate and icing sugar
• And finally, chocolates, strawberry ice cream in white chocolate, dark chocolates with passion fruit, white chocolates with apricot, mango pureé in teeny cornettos

And a single glass of a very nice if not stellar Chilean Pinot Noir.

It was sublime. Exquisite. Remarkable. So many flavours, yet each distinct. Salad dressing like fireworks, the meat melting in my mouth, the walnuts soft and not at all bitter, the strawberry and mint bursting with colour and delicate flavour. The confusion of consuming what looked for all the world like marmalade and having it taste entirely of fresh basil. Each dish decorated with two or three extra token flavours beyond what I've listed above, adding different slants to separate mouthfuls. The huge pink-fleshed plum soufflé that refused to be anything but perfect all the way through to the bottom. So much to experience. The only reason I'm blogging this really is to try and relive it vicariously, I could go on for ever.

In fact, the only down side is the effect on eating normal food. Natural stuff, a pear, some honey, still works fine, but everything prepared is like cardboard in my mouth. Flat and lifeless.

I'm not going to tell you how much it cost :-), but it was about what I'd spend in the pub in a month each. If you fancy your food, it was more than worth every penny. Unforgettable, I feel like a kid unable to wait to go again.

Nicely, there was a full-moon as well. Louise and I wondered to the river at gazed down the embankment and over the Albert bridge, fattened by the best London has to offer.

Very little panic on the streets of London.

We had expected it for ages, I remember seriously getting the fear that it was imminent about three months after Madrid. Last night and today the atmosphere I'm hearing from friends is one of "we will prevail" and such. I'm actually itching to get up into the centre of town. I've been watching from the sidelines and yet I'm so close by. If I had a bike I would go ride round Westminster, Oxford Street and Holborn today. I could borrow Louise's I guess, but it's too small. I just want to see what it's like on the streets.

I'm intrepid to say the least about what the establishment response will be. Charles Clarke has already been drawn on the ID cards debate and the threat of civil liberties reductions has already been raised. I doubt very much that people here will allow themselves to be blindsided in the way Americans were after 9/11. It's a very different aftermath though, much smaller, much calmer and coming to a population already desensitised by 9/11, Madrid, the closing of Heathrow last year, IRA bombings, the blitz and not least numerous threats from our politicians that terrorist action was imminent.

I'm just recapping here really as all this has been discussed at great length on Hype. What really furrows my brow is the portrayal of extremists as cartoon bad guys and very limited desire to try and understand what's going on here.

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Last updated at 11:32, Wednesday June 18th, 2008. All times are shown in 24-hour clock format and are BST.

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