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Posts Tagged ‘Foreign Policy’

Although I might find what happens in other Countries objectionable, it has often occurred to me that the constant bitching about what happens in China, Burma, Iran and many others is little short of hypocritical In the sense that coming from the Western countries, it assumes that there is only “one way” that things should be done, “Our Way” which is total nonsense.

Today the 53 year old Akmal Shaikh, a British citizen was executed by the Chinese for trying to smuggle 4 Kilos of Heroin into China 2 years ago which is fair enough 50g is enough in most Far Eastern Countries to face the Death Penalty. Drugs are a problem there and the penalties are commiserate, just because you are a Westerner does not excuse you for breaking their Laws, you get the same sentence as a Chinese person would, it is their Country. When in Rome…

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I believe that it is becoming increasingly clear that the UK would be far better off outside of the EU however, even David Cameron has convinced his most die-hard anti EU party members, it is not a burning issue for the majority of the British electorate because like most EU citizens, they don’t see it as having much impact on their daily lives even though, it may.

In addition and historically, the British electorate instinctively distrust “clever, intellectual” politicians or those who wrap themselves in the Union Flag so, trying to get the EU as a central political issue that would engage the electorate is a highly fraught task. However, help may well be at hand in the unlikely shape of Nicholas Sarkozy, the French President, “Vive Le President !”

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There was an interesting article written by a former soldier in the Independent calling on the public to have a vote on going to war or not: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/crispin-black-voters-must-decide-when-we-go-to-war-1830423.html

However it is nonsense because if Parliament is in thrall to the Executive, which given the rise of the “Career Politician” it is, we need to look at the Separation of Powers and a strengthening of the role of the MP and Parliamentary Committees as a check on the Executive and, other sanctions the electorate can directly impose on sitting MPs if they fail in their duties not, specific decisions.

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Although not my favourite Candidate for the US Presidency, the choice of the American electorate was Barack Obama and I admire his efforts over Healthcare Reform, he is right and I am sure he will be judged so over time. I personally don’t care too much for his style because to my mind he is far too laid back and often seems somewhat disconnected and right now over Afghanistan, this is very dangerous.

The biggest single problem currently is not whether the Americans send in more troops or just how many if they do, it is President Obama’s dithering over the matter and Karl W Eikenberry, a former General and now American Ambassador to Kabul, with his leaked communication advising against further reinforcements, really doesn’t help anyone whether they are in favour of getting troops out or, of hanging on in there. The advice given to parents about not arguing in front of the kids, comes to mind, the White House seems to be in total disarray.

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Although I don’t always comment and likely sometimes comment too much to stuff on the web but, an article by Dominic Lawson on Afghanistan in the Independent and the reader’s comments that followed, did make me stop and think for awhile about the predicament we are in currently. /www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/dominic-lawson/dominic-lawson-the-only-options-are-to-double-up-in-afghanistan-or-leave-1817739.html

Combined with Remembrance Sunday, the nasty little Sun inspired row on Brown’s handwriting and 6 British Soldiers bodies being repatriated today, the concentration of most people is on the “particular and specific” which is understandable. However and without wishing to be an “Armchair General”, we must also have an awareness of the broader picture too in deciding policy and as citizens, supporting that policy.

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Today being Remembrance Sunday and the sad news that we have suffered the 200^th casualty since operations started in 2001 with the fall of the Taliban. Although British casualties were light up until 2006 when the then Defence Secretary John Reid announced a significant troop deployment to Helmand Province, they have accelerated since and will no doubt continue to do so.

Should we, will we leave Afghanistan ? The answer of course is Yes but not in the immediate future and certainly not within the year. President Obama is obviously struggling with this one on many levels and frankly the withdrawal plan will be initiated by the US not so much because of military but rather with “political and prestige” reasons uppermost, these are not trivial considerations.

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On the Indy comments section, one chap wrote in that because we are in recession and the EU are our “principle trading partners” plus we need additional EU “combat troops” to win in Afghanistan, that we should be nice to the EU which is a totally silly concept but he did end with a good quote: Voltaire on his death bed who said when asked to denounce the works of the devil ” This is no time to make enemies”.

The problem of course is that this is a NATO Operation and the support from France, Germany and many other EU countries, has been pretty poor, to say the least.

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I suppose that it was predictable of the Media for David Cameron to be attacked for dropping the promise of a Referendum on the Lisbon Treaty as it has now been ratified. If he had stuck with it, they would have attacked him for doing that too !

A typical bit of moronic reporting came from the Independent under the headline: “Fork Tongued Tories” – http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-forkedtongued-tories-1814808.html

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Today the colourless Chris Bryant wrote a piece in the Independent saying how Cameron would come unstuck over the EU and so on. Clearly a rather desperate bit of pre election campaigning where because Labour has nothing to boast about after 12 years of misrule, “attack” is the only choice. http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/chris-bryant-cameron-will-come-unstuck-on-eu-fudge-1812756.html

A good example being: “That has meant three million extra jobs and annual exports of £370bn.” It would not require a genius, Labour Ministers hardly comply with that requirement anyway, to take one look at our trade deficit with the EU to realise that they need us more than we need them. It is likely that +6 million EU jobs rely on us being part of this mess.

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