The image we foolishly try to ignore

THIS picture of an assassin moments after his crime must be one of the most striking and memorable photographs ever taken. It shows an act of terror – the murder by an Islamist fanatic of Andrei Karlov, the Russian ambassador to Turkey.

The man who took it, Burhan Özbilici, was rightly honoured for it last week. He had no idea the killer would not turn on him.

But, unlike other pictures of terror outrages, this one has somehow not been used very much.

I think this is because of the crazy wave of anti-Russian feeling which many in the media and in politics have been stoking. Most people now believe, falsely in my view, that Russia is an aggressive power which deliberately targets civilians in war.

And so we do not disapprove quite as much as we should of this particular murder, because its victim was a Russian. Well, I do.

Russia is, in fact, our ally against this sort of fanaticism. That is why Mr Karlov died. We should realise this before we are drawn into a foolish and dangerous conflict with Moscow.