Like a grenade tossed into quiet waters, last week's Twitter article definitely fired up a couple of folks up over on techPresident, Jon Pincus in particular. Check out the full thread at tPrez (thanks to Micah for jumping in while I was looking the other way!); the comment I left is below...

Sorry to miss the fun!

Hey guys, I've been off earning a living the last few days and dropped off the grid (had designs due this morning, which I'm fixin' to pack off to the client). Jon, when someone doesn't reply, they're not always slapping you in the face â€" sometimes they're just off taking care of their own business.

To the basic point â€" neither you nor I was in Moldova. I don't know what happened there. You don't know what happened there. All we know is what people tell us â€" and we don't really know who they are and what their motives are (unless you have a web of known, close and trusted Moldovan sources that you haven't told us about).

I don't always agree with Ann Applebaum's columns, but she IS an experienced journalist with contacts all through Eastern Europe, and I'm inclined to give some credence to her reporting. If she's wrong, then I'm off base on the specifics of this case. Oh well; won't be the first time â€" if I got worried every time I was wrong about something, I'd be cowering under the bed all day. As for the broader point about political actors on the internet stage not always being whom they appear to be, can that possibly NOT be true? Just think Wal-Mart and the trouble THEY got into for sock-puppetry.

And as for the title, guess what â€" writers pick titles that sing or that sell, and in this case it did both. I'm sorry if it offended anyone (though so far no one other than you seems to actually be offended, and I think it's mighty kind of you pick up that cross for the Moldovan rebels), but if I were worried every time somebody got offended by something I said, I'd be right back under that bed. Last time I checked, the role of the writer (or the artist) WAS to upset the applecart...

- cpd