It just doesn’t end, and even I have ‘Iraq fatigue’ some days. With various factions lined up to contest Kirkuk – I’m writing this on 15 October – the tension in the office is similar to that from all the way back in June 2014, when The Shit Hawks of ISIS were raging through the region. But to things rather more evergreen, and nothing has lasted the seasons of the last couple of years more vociferously coniferous than fake news, whether it be the deflective Twitterings of the sun downing Trump, or the more sinister state-organised shit posting of Russia, it’s something of a thing. Something else that’s a thing is extending a welcoming hand and a beer or two’s worth of advice to newbies in town. With no international flights in or out at the moment, there aren’t many about, but I did get a request to give a chap a soft landing, and of course I agreed. He sent me a polite email overnight, maybe a bit heavy on detail and questions, but that wasn’t the problem. The problem is that he makes his coin through RT, formerly Russia Today. Even before last year’s election / referendum interfering, before the current indiscriminate bombing of civilians on behalf of Assad’s poisonous regime – don’t forget, the greatest mass murder in my neighbour’s conflict is at the hands of the Syrian government – RT had all the credibility Nigel Farage’s cobbler. RT is Kremlin funded. It’s a propaganda outfit. There is no reason to break bread with this guy, sometimes a thing has its limit.