Shahar Pe'er, Israeli tennis player

It’s a shame to see a young person deprived of the opportunity to pursue her career in the fullest sense.

So there’s a natural inclination, for just a moment, to feel sympathy for Shahar Pe’er, recently refused a visa to enter Dubai to compete in an international tennis competition.

But the moment soon passes. Reason demands a comprehensive boycott of Apartheid Israel, following the well-established tradition of boycotting Apartheid South Africa in sports events during the 1970s and 1980s.

The sports boycott may not have been the primary cause of the transformation of the rogue, nuclear-armed State of South Africa into unified democratic governance. But it was a demoralizing blow to segregationalist, but very sports-oriented, South African culture. It showed that a united world was unwilling to play games over Apartheid any longer. Few argue, in hindsight, that it was not an effective and worthwhile boycott.

The same principle applies now to Israel. Israel is not identical to South Africa. In many respects it is worse.  But the cases are a close historical parallel – and the world should be clear, this time as last: no playing games with Apartheid.

Dubai has shown great leadership. Governments and sports authorities of countries such as the USA, Britain and Australia may be less inclined to follow. They will come under heavy pressure from the Israel Lobby and doubtless include Zionists within their ranks.

The enterprising folk who put ‘Sock and Awe’ together in a day have hit the jackpot. Assuming the hit counter is accurate, they’re about to clock twenty million successful shoe-hits on an electronic George Bush

Sock and Awe Scorecard

That’s a lot of therapy for a lot of people.

Sock & Awe National Scoreboard

Sock and Awe also keeps a tally on hits by nationality. Here’s the great news for Australia! We’re in third place. That’s a strong showing. We Australians are flinging above our weight.

As expected, Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are doing well. France is in second place.

Which country is on target for Gold?

None other than the USA itself!

I’d like to see a Russian version, in which Putin picks up the hapless Bush and tosses his flailing torso into a pit of depleted uranium.

Who gets all the email addresses trawled from the SockandAwe.com website?

It’s a good question. Suspicious minds may suspect a CIA black op – and stranger things have happened.

But compiling lists of George Bush’s opponents, which used to be a manageable task, is becoming rather pointless.

By December 2008, even the average self-respecting CIA agent thinks Bush sucks.

UPDATE: The day brings a flurry of new shoe-throwing games and related web paraphernalia. A page on the Wired blog is trying to keep track.

Dog lovers around the world are in shock over remarks by shoe-throwing journalist Muntadhar al-Zaidi, a reporter for Baghdadiya Television.

Mr Bush ducked both shoes. Even so, this incident has made  al-Zaidi an instant hero for at least nine tenths of the world’s population.

A dot.com dog

“I welcome Mr al-Zaidi to the ranks of world celebrity” a spokesman for a famous dot.com dog said today. “Too bad he missed. That’s why I always go for the ankles.”

“Even so, there’s no need to insult Man’s Oldest Friend by gratuitous comparisons with a mass murderer.”

In related news, moves are afoot to introduce War Criminal Shoe-Throwing as a new Olympic sport, beginning in 2012.

Olympic Organisers estimate that over a billion competitors will vie for a chance to hurl a couple of boots at Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

“That should kick-start the British economy” said a spokeperson for the forthcoming London Games.