Monday 26 September 2016

What planet is Boris Johnson on?

Do you remember Lord Carrington? He was the foreign minister who resigned when the UK went to war with Argentina over the Falkland Islands in 1982. Carrington resigned as a matter of principle (remember when politicians did such things).

There was a time when Prime Ministers appointed Foreign ministers on the basis that they were competent, experienced heavyweights, who could walk into a room full of foreign politicians, some of whom don't like the UK and some of whom have large weapons of nuclear arsenals pointed at us, and you'd know they would not upset anyone or start a row or even a war through stupidity and incompetence.

Now we have Boris Johnson. I have been staggered by his inept handling of the crisis in Syria. Please correct me if I am wrong, but however nasty President Assad may be, he is no threat to the UK. He is however fighting a war against ISIS who are. I dare say I will upset many when I say this, but it should be plane to all that Assad in Syria, with Russian support, is a far less globally dangerous than an ISIS caliphate. 

The UK should get ourselves out and let Assad deal with ISIS. Of course it would be a betrayal of our allies in the moderate anti Assad groups, but the truth is we betrayed them long ago. All we are doing is prolonging their misery. We have no means to do anything to materially help them. If pulling the rug from under them is the price to be paid to get Assad and the Russians to destroy ISIS in Syria, then best pay it quickly. Russia is the only nation that seems to have the stomach to actually defeat ISIS. Assad allowed people to follow the faith of their choice. He is the best of a bad bunch. If our foreign minister is too stupid to see that, then we need a man of competence who understands pragmatism. Not a buffoon.

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