And the influence spreads

As another part of intensified measures supposedly making us more secure, the US is pressuring other nations to place armed marshals on board international flights coming here. The idea is not going over very well in a number of quarters.

The New York Times says that Portugal, Sweden, Denmark, South Africa, and Thailand all flatly oppose the idea, regarding it as potentially chaotic and dangerous.

British pilots are only reluctantly accepting it while demanding, says CNN,

"a protocol - a gold standard - as to how they will be deployed," said Jim McAuslan, general security of the British Airline Pilots' Association.

"We are seeking an agreement along the lines of the one we already have with Virgin and which we are currently negotiating with British Airways."

The agreement would include the pilot being told that an armed marshal was aboard and making it clear as a matter of policy that the pilot and flight crew are in charge of the plane, not the marshal.

Meanwhile, Thomas Cook Airlines ruled out using marshals in any circumstances, saying a flight would be canceled rather than carry an armed marshal, and South African Airways said if they are given a terror alert they will ground a flight to the United States rather than put air marshals on their jets.

So much for dispelling any notion of Americans as being trigger-happy.