Blog 2023 Malcolm Blair-Robinson

Americans must ask themselves three questions.

Why was it necessary to shoot an unarmed man in the course of apprehending him for a minor robbery?

Why was it necessary to shoot him six times? 

And what would they be saying if all this was happening, not in their own country, but Putin’s Russia?

In the rest of the world where conflict is everywhere causing human misery, many must envy America at peace. The sad thing is that it is not, and maybe never has been, at peace with itself. Perhaps a moment of reflection among Americans of good intention, which is almost all of them, will suggest the time has come to pay less attention to what everybody else is doing and more to finally healing the wounds within its own society which have festered for far to long. It is a delicate and challenging project from which it is easy to recoil. But it must be done. Moreover it will be done. Anything in the end can be done because you are America. Can do is what you are.

For just one day a free copy of the original Kindle of this explosive Nazi era novel of drama and treachery, with clickable chapters and page numbers in a conventional book format for easy navigation. Click on the image to download free.

After one or two nervous moments, not to mention the debacle  by the overpaid and spoiled footballers whose humiliating performance in Brazil shocked the country, England sport has had a golden summer. Top of the medals table at the Commonwealth Games, Winners of the Ladies Rugby World Cup, triumphant over India in the cricket Test series and part of the Team GB which has come top of the European Athletics Championships. Good for England and good for Britain; which includes Northern Ireland and Rory McIlroy who is winning everything.

There are two kinds of foreign policy, proactive and reactive. Proactive is when a country controls its own policy; reactive is when it is tossed about by events. This blog does not need to specify the mess in which the UK now finds itself. There is also within the proactive option the strategic view and the tactical action. For many years UK and Western foreign policy has been flawed in these two elements, leading to the greatest string of military and diplomatic failures since World War I. Armed interventions in Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan have led to eventual collapse and fragmentation of the states involved; that in Afghanistan will begin to gather pace when NATO quits. Backing disparate and disunited rebel groups in Syria has not only failed to topple Assad, but it has led to the rise of IS.

The Islamic State is now top of the in-tray of every Western leader and Arab ruler; also it causes anxiety in Tehran, Ankara and Moscow. The problem becomes compounded by the fact that Arab states allied to the West are the ones funding IS and in order to check the never ending advance of this new phenomenon on the map, the West and the Arab rulers ( including those who fund it and are now frightened by their creation) will need to walk in step with both Tehran and Moscow. Meanwhile Egypt is allied with Israel in its confrontation with Hamas, which though Sunni, is supported by Iran.

The geopolitics of the Middle East, expected to develop into a happy bunch of pluralist democracies following the Arab Spring, has done nothing of the kind. Indeed it now resembles a house ransacked by burglars; chaos everywhere. To get back to some form of normality can now be the only strategic objective of policy and nothing less will end the appalling suffering and atrocities now engulfing civilian populations in all sectors. First it is necessary to make a list of all the states which remain intact and under coherent government. They are Jordan, Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States, Turkey and yes, Israel. All are meddlars of one sort and another and all have played a part in creating the pickle now threatening everyone. To control this debacle all become de-facto allies of each other and all are then allies of the West. A more realistic look at state borders will be essential to sort everything out.

And the West has to recognise that it needs its old ally from Napoleonic times, WWI and WWII; Russia. A positive sign is the meeting between the foreign ministers of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France to try and find a way forward in eastern Ukraine. Some progress is reported. It is also interesting to note who was not there. The lights of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office need to burn 24/7. Never before has it been so wrong.  About everything.