Category: Politics

Ready for War?

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The use of chemical weapons in Syria has shocked and appalled the world, well, some parts of the world. America and Europe blame the Syrian regime, probably correctly. Something must be done! But what?

Military action seems to be the preferred option now. We are heading for war. Not ‘boots on the ground‘, you understand. We will not be putting our soldiers at risk. Just as we were not putting soldiers at risk in Iraq and Afghanistan. This will be limited. This will teach Assad a lesson. He will learn from this.

It’s a pity we never learn. There is talk of bombing, using cruise missiles from ships in the Med, keeping things at arms length. Then what? A quick burst of bombing has never solved any situation. The sad thing is that when you bomb people they rarely just sit back and wail. They usually have the timerity to shoot back.

When they shoot back there will be casualties, captured airmen, dead heroes. Once blood has been spilt there is no going back. A blood sacrafice has been made and we can not dishonour the dead by walking away and making their sacrifice all for nothing.

Remember Afghanistan? Why not just bring our troops home? Because the sacrifice of the dead would be for nothing. So what will be the point of the dead and maimed? What will we achieve? What will be the limit of our involvement?

What about the men, women and children who will be killed and maimed by our actions? Remember Iraq? Remember the ‘surgical bombing’ that cut out civilian casualties? Don’t forget the hundreds of thousands of Iraquis killed there.

And, while on the subject of Iraq, look at the state of things there now, chaos. We caused it and we left it there.

Make no mistake, the politicians find it very difficult to walk away. Syria is well armed and will not be a sitting duck. Once you go to war it takes on a life of its own. You become a prisoner of the war. Try as you might, it is very difficult to get away.

Where are we to find the resources for this action? We have cut back on the airforce – no Harriers. We have scrapped the last of our carriers and literally smashed up the almost finished Nimrods. Who do we think we are kidding?

Threatening war when we are cutting back our forces, making soldiers redundant is just a joke. Nobody is going to tremble at our threats. Better not to make them.

Time to wake up and recognise that we can not and should not go to war. That does not mean we should stand by and do nothing. We complain that we can not bring diplomatic pressure to bear because of Russia and China. Why not bring some pressure to bear on them?

China’s economy is booming because we buy the goods. We could easily stop that. Perhaps we could even make them ourselves. If we want to take action then we must see there is no easy course. Face up to the hard reality and face up to Russia and China.

In Praise of League Tables

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When I was a teacher I despised League Tables. I thought they distorted the curriculum and moved focus away from the needs of the children to the fetishes of the politicians. Today I have to reconsider.

I still think that school league tables are, at best, a distraction and, at worst, a disaster. A recent article in the Independent, however, has shown me that they can have real value in highlighting real problems.

This article

UK most unequal country in the West

shows us that we ar sliding down the league table of equality.  According to Geoffrey Lean and Graham Ball the gap between rich and poor in the Uk is as great as that in Nigeria. The poor in the UK have an overall better income than the poor in Nigeria but the gap is similar.

We come below Jamaca, Ghana, the Ivory Coast and are twice as bad as Sri Lanka or Ethiopia. That’s a depressing picture, but does it constitute a problem?

Well Michael Bruno of the World Bank believes that inequality hinders growth. Reducing inequality would boost growth. We have a government that claims to be trying to boost growth. They are simultaneously increasing inequality.

Now, either the government do not know what thy are doing and our growth is being restricted by incompetence or they are perfectly aware of the consequences and still plough ahead with policies that boost the rich and depress the poor.

Which do you think it is?

What the Coalition Sees Fit

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I read, with considerable interest, the Daily Mail account of how Joan Edwards’ bequest to the nation was , somehow, diverted into the coffers of the two parties that form our Coalition Government.

Miss Edwards lef about half a million pounds to “whichever government is in office at the date of my death for the government in their absolute discretion to use as they may think fit.” There is no mention of a political party which is in power (in contrast with the account given by party spin doctors). The executors of the will sent the money to the coalition.

What did they consider using the money for? What did they, in their absolute discretion, do with the money, the whole of her estate? They divided it between the Tories and the Lib Dems.

Presumably miss Edwards made the will before the last election and assumed that a British Government, in their ‘absolute discretion’, would put the money to good use, for the benefit of the nation they are pledged to serve. Unfortunately, that’s not the sort of government we have in power at the present time.

Critics of the government can make all sorts of arguments about the economic policies of the government, dismal as they are, or comment on their treatment of the poor. Nothing they say can condemn this shallowexcuse for a government so completely as their own actions in this matter. What sort of people are they? This sad episode exposes exactly the self-obsessed, money grabbing, untrustworthy politicians who give the profession such a bad name.

Politics in the UK has sunk to an unfathomable low today. What are people to think of anyone in politics? A dark shadow of mistrust has been cast over the whole of Westminster by a crowd of pickpockets. What do you think the chances of retrieving the money are? I don’t give it much hope.

Secrets and Lies – Bradley Manning

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Bradley Manning has been found guilty of all but one of the charges. He is not guilty of aiding an enemy. He is guilty of giving away secrets, not TOP SECRET, classified stuff.

So what did he give away and why did he do it?

He started by releasing video of U.S. Forces shooting Reuters journalists and children. That was shocking! The voice chanel as they waited for permission to shoot was really shocking. Was this what the war in the middle east was all about?

He is to be sentenced and the speculation is that he could get over one hundred years in jail. Many commentators seem to think this is too lenient. He gave away secrets, put American lives at risk, he is a bad guy!

No, that’s not really what this is about. He exposed war crimes! Any material that put lives at risk whould be TOP SECRET and he did not release anything like that. So what’s at risk then?

Bradley Manning exposed the horrors of war to the American people and the world. He exposed official lies and cynicism. He showed politics for what it is, or certainly has become, lies and deception. We pride ourselves in our democratic way of life. In a democracy we have government of the people for the people. The people decide!

How can the people decide when they do not know the truth? Keeping secrets from the enemy is sensible but when the enemy already know the secret who are whe kidding? Bradley Manning’s crime was to expose the lies and deceit perpetrated by the Pentagon and the U.S. Government on the American people ; and the rest of us.

What about his sentence? We shall soon see just how just the U.S. system is when we can compare the sentence Manning gets with the sentences given out to the perpetrators of war crimes like the Mi Lai massacre or the Abu Grade abuses.

Bradley Manning has been judged by the American military. Soon the American military will be judged by the treatment given to a whistle blower. The world awaits the sentence and waits in judgement of politicians and the military establishment in America and we wonder about our own governments? Democracy?