The strange use of jawbones

In the wealthiest museum of the world, Getty, there is a remarkable work by the Dutch painter, Salomon de Bray, of Samson the strongman, holding the jawbone of an ass with which he supposedly killed a thousand Philistines.

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This is the story of how the Philistines are killing us now, without many of us even noticing it.

'Jawboning' has now become a verb, meaning talking or persuading in order to gain an advantage.

Strangely, it has evolved to mean something sinister. It means wrongly using official power to influence private action. Most clearly, when an authority forces the press to follow the official line. Or to keep a discreet silence when it should speak out.

We all cry hoarse about democracy but how we practice it varies wildly. Every country has elections to anoint the leaders; every country has a parliament (in the US, it has the erotic name of Congress) to make laws; and every country has courts to make sure the laws are obeyed by everyone.

How then Navalny, a law-abiding patriot, can be jailed the moment he enters Russia and kept jailed and eventually killed without a fair trial? How come Erdogan, a supposedly progressive leader of Turkey and a NATO stalwart, can purge the military and civil service of all but yes-men? Why do hundreds rot in prisons in Hungary, Belarus and India for the flimsiest charge of 'anti-state' activity?