You're No Tony Blair
The man who will succeed Prime Minister Blair, Gordon Brown, intends to "fight" the war on terror very differently. According to this piece, he's going to separate Britain from the United States, and, as the article puts it, "place Britain's national interest above the special relationship with Washington."
It will be interesting to see how this works out. Chances are that Winston Churchill, architect of the "special relationship," wouldn't be pleased. As he noted in his famous "Sinews of Peace" (Iron Curtain) speech:
Neither the sure prevention of war, nor the continuous rise of world organization will be gained without what I have called the fraternal association of the English-speaking peoples. This means a special relationship between the British Commonwealth and Empire and the United States of America. Ladies and gentlemen, this is no time for generality, and I will venture to the precise. Fraternal association requires not only the growing friendship and mutual understanding between our two vast but kindred systems of society, but the continuance of the intimate relations between our military advisers, leading to common study of potential dangers, the similarity of weapons and manuals of instructions . . .
In his infinite wisdom, this is the type of arrangement that Gordon Brown proposes to rework. With naivete that would be amusing if it weren't so dangerous, Brown thinks that the struggle against worldwide Islamofascist terror can be won through "cultural" means, such as -- in his assessment -- those used by the West in the 1940's and 1950's.
Of course, he conveniently overlooks armed conflicts like the Korean War. What's more, he apparently isn't mindful of the fact that -- unlike the Soviets -- the Islamofascist terrorists have little interest in saving their own lives (or those of their children). How, exactly, invitations to share tea and crumpets are going to do the trick with zealots like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad still remains unclear.
At least the Australians remain stalwart.
It will be interesting to see how this works out. Chances are that Winston Churchill, architect of the "special relationship," wouldn't be pleased. As he noted in his famous "Sinews of Peace" (Iron Curtain) speech:
Neither the sure prevention of war, nor the continuous rise of world organization will be gained without what I have called the fraternal association of the English-speaking peoples. This means a special relationship between the British Commonwealth and Empire and the United States of America. Ladies and gentlemen, this is no time for generality, and I will venture to the precise. Fraternal association requires not only the growing friendship and mutual understanding between our two vast but kindred systems of society, but the continuance of the intimate relations between our military advisers, leading to common study of potential dangers, the similarity of weapons and manuals of instructions . . .
In his infinite wisdom, this is the type of arrangement that Gordon Brown proposes to rework. With naivete that would be amusing if it weren't so dangerous, Brown thinks that the struggle against worldwide Islamofascist terror can be won through "cultural" means, such as -- in his assessment -- those used by the West in the 1940's and 1950's.
Of course, he conveniently overlooks armed conflicts like the Korean War. What's more, he apparently isn't mindful of the fact that -- unlike the Soviets -- the Islamofascist terrorists have little interest in saving their own lives (or those of their children). How, exactly, invitations to share tea and crumpets are going to do the trick with zealots like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad still remains unclear.
At least the Australians remain stalwart.
posted by LadybugUSA at 8:59 PM
3 Comments:
I am one of the Australians that opposed the invasion of Iraq and I am bitterly disappointed in our prime minister, John Howard, for doing this.
Like America, Australia has also turned against the war. Most Aussies no longer believe that Iraq was a threat when we invaded.
This is impacting on the polls - some time this year there will be a general election and chances are that our conservative government will be voted out of office.
One major difference is the amount of Australian troops in Iraq. Compared to the US and the UK, the Australian military presence is small and in less violent areas. Consequently, only one Australian soldier has died so far, and that was probably due to an accident. As a result, Howard has not had to pay the political price of dead soldiers in the way that George Bush has.
Moreover, Australia's economy is performing well: GDP is expanding, unemployment is now on par with the US, and the conservative government has managed to completely erase public debt through sound fiscal policy. These will stand the conservatives in good stead when the election comes.
Gordon Brown continues a tradition of wishful thinking by left wing politicians. Blair seemed to be more realistic. In Australia there is wishful thinking by left wing politicians. Time will tell whether voters want realism or wishful thinking.
Someone should give Mr. Brown a copy of Melanie Phillips' book, Londonistan, hope that he will read it and understand that UK is already well on its way toward internal disaster. Better yet, someone should send a copy to every U. S. Member of Congress and, apparently, every U. S. State Department employee in the hope that they will learn from UK's errors and avoid the same consequences here.
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