"The international community humiliated"
In Tony Blair's interview today with Jeremy Paxman for the BBC, Iraq came up again. I thought I'd heard every line Blair had on this one (something along the lines of "tough choices and difficult decisions" (that you really wouldn't understand) came up as usual) but today we had a new one. If Britain had decided not to go to war, it would have "left the international community humiliated and Saddam [Hussein] emboldened."
Quite a statement! We're back to the Kosovo argument now, where what is really at stake is not "security" but "credibility". However, in the case of Kosovo, at least NATO was involved, even if some members were less keen than others. In the case of Iraq, the term "international community" in this context can only refer to those who invaded Iraq - i.e. the global hegemon and its "junior partner," along with such formiddable players on the world stage as Poland.
Where does a "credible" "international community," or global hegemon, leave us? My view would be that it leaves us up the creek without a paddle, so to speak. There is no doubt that the credibility of the "international community" (if you define it as the US government and whoever agrees with it, rather than defining it as most of the people in the world) has been strengthened by the war in Iraq. The US is now in a position to ensure, for example, that European (especially Russian) oil companies don't get too many big ideas about investing in Iran. They'll get their slice of the pie, but only if they demonstrate that they know their place.
Governments in South America (which the US regards as naturally its own exclusive domain - this is why the threat of communist subversion in Cuba or Nicaragua generates prophecies of doom) have continued to learn lessons from Iraq's mistakes - Hugo Chavez will probably avoid another US-backed coup attempt (the last one was 2002 for those who missed it) but he'll need to ensure he doesn't upset the investors. Argentina are being pulled in to line too, as I mentioned on Monday.
Sometimes slips of the tongue reveal more about what drives foreign policy than the speaker might hope. At least he's stopped using the word "liberation" to describe what has become of life in Iraq.
Quite a statement! We're back to the Kosovo argument now, where what is really at stake is not "security" but "credibility". However, in the case of Kosovo, at least NATO was involved, even if some members were less keen than others. In the case of Iraq, the term "international community" in this context can only refer to those who invaded Iraq - i.e. the global hegemon and its "junior partner," along with such formiddable players on the world stage as Poland.
Where does a "credible" "international community," or global hegemon, leave us? My view would be that it leaves us up the creek without a paddle, so to speak. There is no doubt that the credibility of the "international community" (if you define it as the US government and whoever agrees with it, rather than defining it as most of the people in the world) has been strengthened by the war in Iraq. The US is now in a position to ensure, for example, that European (especially Russian) oil companies don't get too many big ideas about investing in Iran. They'll get their slice of the pie, but only if they demonstrate that they know their place.
Governments in South America (which the US regards as naturally its own exclusive domain - this is why the threat of communist subversion in Cuba or Nicaragua generates prophecies of doom) have continued to learn lessons from Iraq's mistakes - Hugo Chavez will probably avoid another US-backed coup attempt (the last one was 2002 for those who missed it) but he'll need to ensure he doesn't upset the investors. Argentina are being pulled in to line too, as I mentioned on Monday.
Sometimes slips of the tongue reveal more about what drives foreign policy than the speaker might hope. At least he's stopped using the word "liberation" to describe what has become of life in Iraq.
posted by UK plc at 10:55 PM
1 Comments:
Great post. America is becoming a dictatorship. Look for the American military tour to continue this summer in Iran. Just my little prediction. Oh yeah and speaking of life in Iraq-Have you read this blog?:
http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/
It's the best "slice of life" Iraqi blog out there in my humble opinion.
Keep up the great work!!!
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