Is the UK actually beginning to realise that it is no longer a world power?
Have 285 MPs noticed that Britain no longer rules a quarter of the world and no longer
has the power or Influence to dominate the other three quarters?
Are our political leaders beginning to understand that here, in the 21st century, Britain’s
Imperial strength and reputation are merely dreams?
Is it becoming apparent that this is a new century and a new world? One where we must
build a reputation through trade and support across the world instead of simply relying
on our place in Europe and as a military bully.
Is our Government beginning to notice that the tens of thousands of people killed by British
intervention and the hundreds of thousands made homeless or left refugees are not living
happy successful lives thanks to our intervention?
Year started Year ended Where
1991 1991 Gulf War, Liberation of Kuwait
1992 1996 Bosnia
1997
1998 1998 Iraq, operation Desert Fox bombing
1999 1999 Kosovo
2000 2002 Sierra Leone Civil War
2001 Ongoing Afghanistan
2003 2009 Iraq
2011 2011 Libya
Notice anything?
Since 1991 the only year where our armed forces have not been getting shot t or
shooting at someone was 1997.
In 22 years we have had one whole year without being in someone else’s war.
The shouting, the pleading, the endless repeats of dead children and the constant chanting of bomb
them now is over. The undecideds have made up their minds and the NO’s to the left won by, well
a nose.
Britain will not be starting a war with the Middle East just now.
This doesn’t mean that the matter will not be raised again. In the US Kerry is on every news channel
counting dead children, the UK press is full of stories about napalm now and elder statesmen are
solemnly saying how ashamed they feel that Britain is turning its back on evil.
The events in Syria are terrible. Both sides commit atrocity after atrocity. There are no good guys fighting
in Syria, every group has done evil deeds. Both sides are reported to have used gas but no one says a word
about the UN reporting the rebels as the most likely source of recent gas attacks. No one says a word
when churches are burned, when Christians are murdered or driven from their homes, when Kurds are
murdered of driven from their homes.
This is a sectarian war, a religious war. Shia against Sunni. Each side hates the other with a passion,
bombing one side will do nothing to stop the violence. Overthrowing Assad will simply make the violence
one sided as the Sunni take control and exterminate everyone else as they are doing now.
Adding more weapons will not help, bombs, missiles, these will not help. Adding more dead bodies to the
pile will not help.
We cannot end violence with more violence. We cannot stop hatred by creating more hatred. We cannot
force people to like each other. War comes from war, peace comes from peace.
Usurping the overall authority of the UN security council will not help, in fact having three of the permanent
five as good as say the security council is pointless so we will ignore it will destroy whatever credibility and
influence it has left. Setting a precedent that can then be used by Russia or China to start attacking other
nations because we made the legal case that it is OK to do so will not help.
What will help, what will stop the violence? To be honest I do not know. How do we get them to stop
hating each other when they have a thousand years of hatred behind them? How do we stop them
killing when neither side holds any regard for human life?
If the US, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey stop providing weapons to the Free Syrian Army and the
Jihadists can we then persuade Russia to also stop adding more weapons to the conflict.
Syria is a fake country, set up by the colonial powers. It was once divided between the religious groups, c
an we make this happen again. What can we do to separate the warring sides?
Saudi Arabia has enough influence to stop the Jihadists, Russia has enough influence to hold back Assad.
Neither is willing to do so. How do we persuade those nations to step in and create peace where we
cannot?
Will better education work? Will ending hunger, poverty, inequality or injustice help and if so how do we
end them in a foreign country when we cannot even end them in our own country?
Wiser men than me are hopefully thinking these thoughts.
While I do not know how to make it stop I do know how to make the situation worse and that is to take
sides, expand the fighting, bomb one side and arm the other and dramatically increase the bloodshed.
Today Britain will not be launching missiles at one of the oldest cities on Earth destroying buildings that
date from the beginnings of our civilisation.
Tomorrow Britain will not be responsible for children growing up to hate us because we killed their
fathers or mothers or sisters or brothers.
The day after that Britain will not have the front pages of its more jingoistic newspapers gleefully
counting how many missiles fired and how many targets hit while ignoring the death toll being caused.
But then a funny thing happened.
France is stepping forward to do all these things and more.
FRANCE!
Kerry is proclaiming them the oldest ally of the US and staunch friends. Everywhere talking heads
proclaim the special relationship is dead. The French have taken our place. The poodle has stepped
up where the bulldog feared to tread.
Have the French not noticed that they are even further from their Imperial days than we are from ours.
Have they not noticed that their country is next to fall beneath the all crushing Euro disaster.
Or is this a desperate attempt by the cheese eating surrender monkeys to reclaim ancient glory or to
distract the population with a nice little war. Nothing like invading some other country to turn the attention
of the peasants away from the economy.
French newspapers are calling us the Tea Drinking Surrender monkeys.
Well given that for the first time in 200 years a British government has been stopped from going to a
foreign country and murdering the locals by an act of Democracy I really don’t care what the French call
us.
We are not surrendering our democratic right to say no to war.
We are not surrendering ourselves to a knee jerk demand to spill blood because of one act out of some
many equally evil acts.
We are not surrendering our right to refuse to blindly follow the call of our government to launch attacks
on a sovereign nation just because of some half baked legal authority that is hidden from even our MPs.
But we do drink Tea.