Sunday 10 March 2013

Speak Now


Two years ago, Syria was an imperfect but reasonably happy place. Most people got on with their neighbours, went to work, raised their children and – almost uniquely in the Middle East – there was harmony among rival religious groups.

Now it is a war-ravaged hell, in which blameless people have been bankrupted, had their homes destroyed and been forced to become refugees. The red-eyed monster of religious hatred has been awakened and stalks the streets and villages doing dreadful crimes, which will of course be avenged with new crimes. 

We, that is to say the British Government, helped to achieve this filthy thing. I suspect we did it because we expect some sort of favours in return from the fanatical despots who run Saudi Arabia, and who hate the Damascus government for being the wrong sort of Muslims. 

Now the abject William Hague plans to make it even worse by stepping up our supplies to the rebels. Mr Hague’s pitiful performance in government is so hard to bear precisely because he is an intelligent and informed person who ought to know better.

But once again, are there no MPs willing to defy the official line, to say that, however bad the Assad government may be, war and chaos are worse for the Syrian people, and that we cannot possibly claim to be the friends of freedom in the Arab world if we ally ourselves with the Saudis? 

Speak now, please, before it grows any worse.

Here's to a Commons vote immediately.

9 comments:

  1. Hear, hear!

    Only UKIP oppose all of these neocon wars.

    Labour took part in more neocon wars during its 13 years in power, than any other British Government in history.

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  2. Well, no, the SLP did, what is now TUSC did, the Liberal Party did, Respect actually emerged at all by doing so, the Greens did, the SNP did, and Plaid Cymru did.

    What is more, Respect, the Greens, the SNP and Plaid Cymru are all in the House of Commons. UKIP, by contrast, is in the same position as the SLP, or TUSC, or the Liberal Party.

    UKIP is therefore properly entitled to as much attention as each of those is. But not to any more than that. And certainly not to anything like as much as Respect, the Greens, the SNP or Plaid Cymru. Not if Parliament means anything at all.

    Oh, and UKIP might take up this anti-neocon position with its own nearest thing to a supportive newspaper, The Commentator, which is effectively an in-house publication both of UKIP and of the Henry Jackson Society.

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  3. You know what I meant, Dave. None of the three Parliamentary parties oppose these neocon wars-but their biggest political rival does.

    UKIP is entitled to more attention than those you list, because those parties are only popular in their local constituencies-UKIP consistently ranks higher than any of those parties 9and the Lib Dems).

    Respect doesn't exist on a national scale-it's popular only in the few Muslim-dominated towns where Goerge "God knows who is a Muslim" stands for election.

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  4. I did know what you meant, and that was why you were wrong.

    "Biggest rival"? Never won a seat, no matter how propitious the circumstances: Buckingham, Rotherham, Eastleigh. Far fewer Councillors than the Greens, too.

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  5. Biggest rival because it consistently ranks higher than the Lib Dems in national polls.

    The Greens and Respect etc don't command anything like that kind of national support.

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  6. You faith in opinion polls (ask Peter Hitchens about most of them) is as touching as your contempt for Parliament is total.

    Entitled based on opinion poll ratings? Instead of election results? If that were not so juvenile and illiterate, then it would a kind of treason.

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  7. Being popular in one constituency versus national popular support?

    It's no contest.

    When was the last time the Greens got nearly three milion votes, as UKIP did at the Euro elections last time?

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  8. When did UKIP last win a Commons seat? That is how we do it, here in the UK in UKIP.

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  9. We all know who should be there to do this speaking.

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