First, the campaigning political journalist Nick Cohen decided to lay into Lonely Planet for their supposedly expedient politics.
So I wrote this response, explaining why Cohen is wrong.
Next stop: Michael C. Moynihan for this desperately muddled libertarian froth. Jason Clampet already had a go.
Wish me luck. Better still, anyone else like to step in?
UPDATES (24/08/2012):
UPDATE 1: My response to Nick Cohen was up less than 48 hours before he came back with this even more specious piece, attacking me for a lack of principle – prompting a sharp put-down from a uniquely well-informed observer here.
UPDATE 2: As for Michael Moynihan, he seems to have been making things up. Lonely Planet responded to him directly here, prompting the editors who originally published his piece to issue an end-note correction here. But, like a libertarian dog with an ideological bone, Moynihan then launched into a lengthy, and eye-stretchingly tedious, attempt at a rebuttal here. Enjoy it.