Crossing The Red Sea

As the Sack of Hudaydah begins, British Officers are in the control room of the Saudi bombing of Yemen, the biggest humanitarian catastrophe in the world today. They have been, and they are, training the Saudis in and for the war in Yemen. 

And of course, the Saudis are the power behind Jaysh al-Islam, the Army of Islam, "our" side in Syria. The Syrian Arab Army, it should be added, reflects the Syrian population in being 80 per cent Sunni Muslim. Syria's is not a sectarian war. It is a war between those who value the immemorially pluralist Syria, and those, organised and funded from outside, who want to destroy it in favour of something else entirely.

The supply of British arms to Saudi Arabia needs to be brought back to the floor of the House of Commons as a matter of the utmost urgency. The rather good Labour Chief Whip ought to publish in advance the list of MPs with leave of absence. For anyone else, abstention this time ought to mean deselection in due season, and universal moral revulsion with immediate effect. No such person ought to be re-elected. Therefore, no such person ought to be reselected.

At least in view of the continuing failure of Labour to pursue this course of action, who will do so? My crowdfunding page has been taken down without my knowledge or consent. But you can still email davidaslindsay@hotmail.com instead, and that address accepts PayPal.

Although Iran is nowhere near as bad as Saudi Arabia, this is not about "supporting Iran". Again I say that a deputation of British politicians needs to board a plane to Tehran, unannounced, with their smartphones in their hands so that one of them might tweet immediately before landing that they would not be leaving without Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Abbas Edelat.

But they won't. They haven't yet, and they won't. Tulip Siddiq hasn't yet, and she won't. Emily Thornberry hasn't yet, and she won't. Sadiq Khan hasn't yet, and he won't. Jeremy Corbyn hasn't yet, and he won't. The Chosen One hasn't yet, and she won't.

In which case, who will? My crowdfunding page has been taken down without my knowledge or consent. But you can still email davidaslindsay@hotmail.com instead, and that address accepts PayPal.