Blog 2023 Malcolm Blair-Robinson

Paying for Torture

Once George W. Bush went public with his concept that water boarding was not torture (in spite of the fact that the U.S prosecuted Japanese after WWII for just such a crime) the moral high ground of the War on Terror, already in contention, was entirely lost. How America ever got itself a government that threw overboard all the values upon which it is founded, including flying suspects to countries where torture is legal to be interrogated and setting up a prison camp on Cuban soil outside the jurisdiction of the U.S. Constitution, will be wondered at for generations to come. It will be seen as a moral low point;  America’s tackiest hour.

The Labour government was perhaps caught unawares and did not think such things could happen. Or maybe Blair was so in thrall to his own deluded messianic crusade and that anything was allowed to pass. The coming enquiry may tell, or it may not. In any event the Coalition was wise to get shot of it all. For once money has been well spent, though for those whose jobs are going or whose welfare is cut, it will be a bitter pill to swallow. Blair’s legacy is one of the most catastrophic ever to be inflicted upon the British people.

The Euro, Sovereignty and Ireland

The Irish government (as well as the Irish people)  is anxious not to go cap in hand to Europe for a crisis loan, declaring that at present it has no need of funds. Everybody else worries that when it does need money it will not be able to get it from the market, except on ruinous terms, if at all. So the problem which may occur next year has been brought forward to now, putting Portugal, Spain and once again Greece, at risk. There is everywhere talk of contagion. Moreover European leaders have become theatrical in their warnings that if the Euro falls, so does Europe. No small wonder capital markets are spooked. Nevertheless there is some truth in what is being said.

Ireland fears that to take a Euroloan will be to diminish its sovereignty. This is utter rubbish.  Its sovereignty went the day it joined the Euro. This is because it is impossible to have a currency without a government and joining the Euro meant going in with eyes open to that signal fact. Some joined, maybe most, with their eyes shut. Britain did not join for this very reason.

Of course for a long time the ship sailed on in calm seas and all on board partied and made merry. Then came a storm. A truly terrible storm, the like of which none had seen before. To steer the ship in such weather requires not only an enthusiastic crew, but a Captain with fellow officers who know what to do and take charge.

Leaving metaphor and returning to money, this is when the government takes charge of its currency. The problem with the Eurozone is that there is no government. There are all manner of institutions and various Presidents, but none has the power to act unless all the sovereign governments agree. This fluid form of leadership is wholly incompatible with currency control. To beef it up is wholly incompatible with national sovereignty.

The facts are very simple. The Euro is a Federal Currency. All those in it are de facto part of a Federal Europe, whatever illusions of their politicians and whatever misleading propaganda has been tossed at their people. The question now is this. Do the Eurozone countries recognise the reality of their limited sovereignty and ensure that robust and powerful federal economic management is installed, or do the countries retain the power to do as they want?

If they choose to go their own way, the Euro will fail and the warnings from Merkel and others will prove prescient. Europe itself will not fail. The dream of a federal Europe will.  The outcome will be closer to the model preferred by the British. Sovereign countries working together in a single market in which several currencies compete. This might be better for Britain. It would not be better for the rest of Europe. Ireland will have to fall in line.