Much has been made today of Tony Blair's apparent nod to soft power in his World Affairs Council speech in LA:
This is not just about security or military tactics. It is about hearts and minds about inspiring people, persuading them, showing them what our values at their best stand for.
But persuade them of what? Immediately preceeding this oft-quoted statement, he gave his analysis of the Lebanon situation:
I, and any halfway sentient human being, regards the loss of civilian life in Lebanon as unacceptable, grieves for that nation, is sickened by its plight and wants the war to stop now. But just for a moment, put yourself in Israel's place. It has a crisis in Gaza, sparked by the kidnap of a solider by Hamas. Suddenly, without warning, Hizbollah who have been continuing to operate in Southern Lebanon for two years in defiance of UN Resolution 1559, cross the UN blue line, kill eight Israeli soldiers and kidnap two more. They then fire rockets indiscriminately at the civilian population in Northern Israel.
Hizbollah gets their weapons from Iran. Iran are now also financing militant elements in Hamas. Iran's President has called for Israel to be "wiped off the map". And he's trying to acquire a nuclear weapon. Just to complete the picture, Israel's main neighbour along its eastern flank is Syria who support Hizbollah and house the hardline leaders of Hamas.
It's not exactly a situation conducive to a feeling of security is it?
In case you're wondering, he didn't pause to look at it from anyone else's perspective. He didn't say:
Since Hamas were elected, Israel has been killing civilians virtually daily, testing Hamas's 18 month long ceasefire. Their patience did eventually snap, but rather than targeting civilians, they captured military personnel. Israel bombarded Gaza as a result killing scores more civilians. With no one intervening to stop them, Hizbullah acted in taking more military prisoners. Israel is now killing hundreds of civilians as a result.
We certainly didn't hear this:
Let's look at it from the Palestinian's perspective for a moment. Europeans came over to their country, engaged in terrorism, and succeeded in establishing their own state in 1948. From then till today, millions of Palestinians live as refugees in bantustans. For decades they have waited for the interntional community to find a solution to their plight. In 1967, Israel went over the UN green line and remain there till today, threatening to keep yet more land permanantly.
Contrary to media reports, I didn't find anything new in the speech. Lots of talk of "Moderate, Mainstream Islam" and "Reactionary Islam" (his capitalisation), but no definition of either. Despite this:
“... naturally, we should support, nurture, build strong alliances with all those in the Middle East who are on the modernising path.”
Who are these people? Who does the PM see as the "good Muslims", the ones he likes?
More: BSSC and very comprehensively at Nether-World. Also see BlairWatch
"Good Muslims" are people like Aayan Hirsi Magan, Wafa Sultan and the Saudi royal family.
Posted by: Perla Zhemchuzhina | 06 August 2006 at 12:19 AM