This blog has always been riled by the idiotic pronouncements of the UK Defence Secretary Michael Fallon. His latest two border on the irrational. The newest is his assertion that Jeremy Corbyn is a bigger threat to the Falklands than Argentina, because the Labour leader suggested that Britain should try and reach a reasonable accommodation with her. So we should. This never ending stand off does nobody any good, least of all the islanders. I remember supporting the use of force to take the islands back after the ill judged invasion by the doomed military junta, but on the condition that having proved to them that such disagreements could not be solved by brute force, we sit down and talk and reach a settlement. We never did. If Corbyn does get the opportunity it will be well worth the try.
A couple of days ago we had the accusation that Russia was deliberately bombing civilians in Syria. Such is the nature of the combat, the variety of enemies and their entanglement among civilians that mishaps are inevitable and both the Americans and the British have had problems in Iraq and Afghanistan in the past. But to go on and accuse Putin of war crimes is way over the top and entirely counter productive in the current struggle to pause the fighting and bring respite to the suffering. As for bombing civilians, perhaps Mr Fallon could spare a moment to explain Bomber Command’s Area Bombing campaign in WWII, in particular the Hamburg fire storm in which the RAF killed over 40,000 civilians, mostly women and children, in a single night. That was not by mistake. It was on purpose, as a matter of policy and approved at the highest level.