COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY STEWART LEE IN THE GUARDIAN
AND REMOVED BY AN EDITOR
“Stay focused
Brexiters – Russia is not the enemy
“Better to live free
for a day in a Britain full of rogue killers than to live a thousand years as
the slaves of Brussels”
"Stay focused
Brexiters – Russia is not the enemy"
I agree strongly with the headline while some of the
author's individual arguments leave me cold.
The EU, as it operates today, is a rather sad organization,
one with great potential unrealized.
It could have been so much more, but it has failed in many
ways, from admitting far too many marginal members to taking what should have
been good steps - the introduction of the Euro - but doing them badly.
Its bottom line fault has been listening far too much to the
voices from Washington. Washington regards it in only two key ways. As a
potential future serious competitor which must be kept under its influence (and
it is effectively occupied with NATO) and as a natural ally - marrying vast
resources to powerful industry - of Russia, something it works relentlessly to
prevent.
So, weak leadership in the EU keeps things as they are. And,
of course, the US is always quietly at work to keep it that way.
It would be nice if Britain were able to extricate itself
cleanly from this poorly-run show while at the same time avoiding becoming a
51st state.
But I increasingly think that is impossible. God, look at
Theresa May doing Washington's dirty work right now. I do fear Britain will
become weaker over the long term as an “independent” state.
As an independent state, its negotiating position with
Washington only becomes poorer, and we see today a supine national government
to Washington's interests. And Washington’s demands for subservience have only
been strongly growing over the last twenty years.
During the horrific and pointless crusade in Vietnam, a
British Prime Minister, a Labour leader, was able to say “no” to Washington’s
demands for troops. During the horrific and pointless crusade in Iraq, a British
Prime Minister, also Labour, was unable to say “no.” And events in Syria have
seen Conservative Prime Ministers become completely supine in demands for a
savage war by hired terrorist proxies.
A choice isn’t easy with only one’s imagination being able
to see Britain as in any meaningful sense independent if it leaves the EU, but
with, at the same time, full recognition that the EU’s leadership and
organization are seriously flawed.
As for Russia as an enemy, well, that is, as they say a “no
brainer.”
Fifty years ago, we would all have been delighted with what
Russia actually has become - business-oriented, modern, open, democratic - but
America cannot accept any new competitor from rising. Just look at its present
activities in international trade.
It is a terrible American-induced atmosphere in Europe of
"hate Russia" and "let's prevent Russia's doing business in
Europe" that is stupid, pig-headed, and dangerous, but don't those words
exactly describe America's general behavior in the world today, in trade and
everything else?
