2022-08-20
UK foreign policy has long made very little sense if regarded dispassionately - is it there to boost the interests of the UK, or is it there to create peace and fairness in the world?
Or some other objective(s)?
Noah Carl writing in the Daily Sceptic points up the glaring inconsistencies in UK Foreign policy, which treats Russia as Big Baddy (because it's fighting in a neighbouring country) and Saudi Arabia as a Great Goody (although it has been bombing and fighting in neighbouring Yemen for years).
Indeed, our determined reluctance to even consider that a negotiated peace in the Ukraine might be advantageous and should be pursued speaks volumes.
Now, this is undoubtedly a bit simplistic, but it's also true and longstanding (Russia has always been regarded as a potential enemy, apart from a brief interlude after the Soviet Union collapsed and before Vladimir Putin came to power - hence the steady expansion of NATO eastwards after the reunification of Germany that has done nothing to calm Russian apprehensions).
And it is true that post-war Russia and the Warsaw Pact did pose a military threat, but that threat more or less collapsed with the collapse of the Soviet Union.
So how long must we continue the pretence that Russia is still the Big Bad Russia of old?
And what are the real objectives of UK foreign policy?
"Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?"
So what are the fruits?
War, death, destruction, pollution, instability, uncertainty, human tragedy, a blizzard of misinformation propaganda and refugees, and big profits for arms manufacturers.
Are we in the UK any safer because of these wars?
No. We are at growing risk of retaliation from Russia, which does have the capability (unlike the Yemenis). That they have not yet so retaliated is a measure of their restraint, but if provocations on Russia using western supplied and financed weaponry continue to increase, that restraint will likely be short-lived.
And our own sanctions ensure we will certainly be colder, poorer, and hungrier, and more of us will join the ranks of the destitute. After the hugely damaging Covid measures, inflicted by this same government, we need this like a hole in the head.
We don't make friends and project "soft power" by making war when we could be making peace.
Nor do we mount a credible defence of our country by elevating diversity above ability. Yes applicants from diverse backgrounds (including white British!) are indeed to be encouraged and welcomed, but only ability should lead to appointment and promotion.
And governments ought not to get re-elected by repressing and impoverishing their populations, so we need to ask - why is there no significant political party campaigning on people-positive policies?
We become prosperous by working and trading together, not by insulting and sanctioning each other and brawling over stupidities.
We the British need to create a positive form of government that actually works for our own good. An honest government of the people, by the people, and for the people.
There is much to do.
