If there had been a coup in Niger, then the West would be cheering it on, and doing a lot more than that for it. We like coups, or at the very least we come to terms with them, as we had done with the recent ones in Mali and Burkina Faso until they carried over in recent days into support for the revolution in Niger.
That is what we dislike, you see. We dislike revolutions, and this is one of those, with strong popular support due to its being aimed at ending military occupation by the old colonial power and its allies, and at ending the transfer to that power of the most valuable natural resource.
Yes, this has overthrown an elected Government, but the Western anger at that only illustrates the point, since it is hardly as if we usually cared about that where coups were concerned. And no, this has not been staged by Greenpeace or by the Salvation Army. So yes, it is going to be brutal, as it already is.
But as for the attempt to present this as a danger of increasing Islamist influence, whatever else they may be, when has either Russia or the Wagner Group been that? In the last few hours, al-Qaeda has already attacked Wagner troops as they have tried to cross the border from Mali into Niger. IS fighters have been brought into Ukraine from Syria via NATO Turkey, so Russia and Wagner are at war with al-Qaeda and the so-called Islamic State on at least three continents.
Into any of this, the insights of either British frontbench are unlikely to be profound. But when I tell you that there is going to be a hung Parliament, then you can take that to the bank. I spent the 2005 Parliament saying that it was psephologically impossible for the Heir to Blair's Conservative Party to win an overall majority. I predicted a hung Parliament on the day that the 2017 General Election was called, and I stuck to that, entirely alone, all the way up to the publication of the exit poll eight long weeks later. And on the day that Rishi Sunak became Prime Minister, I predicted that a General Election between him and Keir Starmer would result in a hung Parliament.
To strengthen families and communities by securing economic equality and international peace through the democratic political control of the means to those ends, including national and parliamentary sovereignty, we need to hold the balance of power. Owing nothing to either main party, we must be open to the better offer. There does, however, need to be a better offer. Not a lesser evil, which in any case the Labour Party is not.
Your ear to the ground never ceases to amaze me. It always checks out too, bravo!
ReplyDeleteYou are very kind. What can I say? I'm an old pro.
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