The EU sceptics, mainly in the Tory party, constantly complain about legal and regulatory interference from Brussels but you rarely hear them complaining about the fact that we no longer seem to have an independent British foreign policy, a fact which has become increasingly clear since the Ukrainian imbroglio kicked off. The more than faintly ridiculous Mr. 'Rumpey-Pumpey' seems to be setting the agenda albeit with an occasional tug on his lead by 'Empress' Merkel. Our very own Mr. William 'Slaphead' Hague marches about issuing stern reprimands in his 'ee ba goom' accent which most sensible people (and by and large those thugs in the Kremlin are very sensible) pay even less attention to than the carbon dioxide regularly expelled by Mr. John Kerry.
I have said it before but I will repeat myself - well, it's my bloody blog! - we do not have a national interest in who rules the Crimea. We have only the tiniest interest in who rules Ukraine. More important, we have no interest in worsening relations with Russia even if it is a ghastly dump run by their version of the mafia. I am obliged to Mr. Liam Halligan in this week's Spectator for correcting my hopes, expressed in an earlier post, that perhaps China might be interested in using Vlad's interesting concept of ethnic rescue take-overs by seizing a chunk of Siberia. Alas, Mr. Halligan reports that China and Russia have moved even closer during this current non-crisis which means, in my opinion, that any nations with large Chinese populations in the South China Sea area should watch out. Especially any such nations who carelessly lose several hundred Chinese citizens in one of their state-owned airlines! (Hello, Malaysia, that means you and this time you won't have the British army to help you deal with armed Chinese dissidents because, actually, old chap, we don't have one any more!)
It is worth remembering , I think, that the sign of a proud, independent nation is that it is free to use its foreign policy in pursuit of its own national interest. Today, Mr. 'Rumpy-Pumpy' does that for us with a little help from his German friends masters.
Remember in May - VOTE UKIP! I know they couldn't run a piss-up in a brewery but they can make a nuisance of themselves in Brussels and, more important, stick a bit of steel up Dave's backbone!