Miliband hits the foreign policy spot

My suspicion that David Miliband was clearly a cut above the rest dates back to his implicit rejection of New Labour, invoking instead social democrats and radical liberals. These being easily my two favourite leftist traditions that got my mouth watering and his stance on the latest Israeli atrocities have been about as good as could be expected from a mainstream politician.

Today, though, he seals the deal by renouncing the ‘War on Terror’. Overdue?

Quite probably, but better five days before the Texas thugs departs the Oval Office than any time after. But it was his rather striking argument that cemented my affection.
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Spurious ways to justify Israel’s behaviour

As a denizen of the blogopolis I’ve found the pro-Israel comments offered, from the blogs I tend to avoid and on most of the ones I try not to, intriguing. Although there have doubtless been some hamfisted arguments made “pro-Palestine” the loyalist Zionist commenteers seem to have collectively tried to take things a bridge too far, and lost all semblance of rational coherence. The facts have changed but their opinions remain firm.

This is not a tendency I am alone in noting, on this site Dave Osler stated: “Even its strongest supporters must be finding it difficult to mount a positive case.” and it is this I will explore today.
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The Strange Death of Anti-War England

It hardly needs restating that the British pro-war coalition (a mixture of the most loathsome and internecine members of the left, along with a few gullible sops such as Johann Hari and, of course, the usual jingoist rightists) has shrunk and collapsed. Support for the war has tanked heavily over the past few years, and reduced into a pale shadow of the former polarity that left the country so heavily divided, that Radio 1 denied Hot Hot Heat’s best song the coverage it deserved due to its title and chorus being a reference to “Bandages”.

Anti-war sentiment, meanwhile, has swollen. The increasing crescendo of dissent was easily the largest single factor in driving Blair from office and without this ultimate, unforgivable betrayal there is little doubt that Labour would be in a far better position than their current predicament. Had Michael Howard opposed the War, there’s a sliver of a chance that he would be Prime Minister today, but it is unquestionable that Labour would have taken an even greater pounding. continue reading… »