A couple of things have provoked the title to this post. First, there was a small report in The Mail that there was to be something of an exposure of the late, unlamented (well, unlamented by me!) Ralph Miliband, the ultra-Marxist father of the Miliband brothers. It will come in the form of some of his hitherto unpublished writings and in them it exposes with gleaming clarity his utter detestation of Britain, the country that provided him and his father with refuge. Hatred of one's own country is not exactly rare, one only has to think of Philby et al, and if one is, so to speak, an adopted 'outsider' then the hatred can be explicable - ask any young Muslim on his way to Syria! Even so, given the number of exceedingly rare (look around the world and see how many you can count!) political, social and legal virtues to be enjoyed in these islands as a result of everything that has flowed since Magna Carta, it is a sign of blinkered stupidity to positively hate this country - bits of it, yes; all of it, no!
The second prod I received was more specific to my title in that it concerns president Obama, himself. A nasty, bitter, three-way row has broken out between the White House, Israel and the Congress now under Republican leadership. It has been clear for some years that in foreign policy, as in domestic policy, Obama and his regime are sickened by America's history and that they are determined to uproot everything that has gone before. Thus, Israel, almost Uncle Sam's adopted child since its inception, has been cast forth into the wilderness. Of course, it has its faults and it has made its mistakes but on the whole you would expect a beleaguered democratic state fighting for its very existence in a sea of hateful, undemocratic, Islamic enemies to be assured of general American support. Well, not from this President and this Democratic party!
The current events are these: John Boehner, the Republican House Chairman, upset the White House by unilaterally inviting Netanyahu to address the Congress. Obama had a hissy fit because he was not consulted and anyway he detests Netanyahu, so he let it be known that the Israeli PM would not be invited to enjoy one of Michelle's healthy-diet dinners! Then the White House leaked a confidential report purporting to show that the head of Mossad had told some American Senators privately that, in contradiction to his own PM, he was not in favour of imposing further sanctions on Iran as a means of getting them to cut a deal on their nuclear programme. This 'story' has now been rapidly withdrawn and denied but Jonathon Tobin at Commentary suggests that there may be internal Israeli politics at play as well as the fun and games in Washington.
Even so, it is now clear beyond argument that if you are an old-style democracy under pressure you should not expect immediate tea and sympathy from the current White House. On the other hand, if you are a murderous, fanatical, anti-western, Islamist state then President Obama will hold your hand and comfort you. I am ashamed but forced to admit that in this creepy, unnatural courtship, Obama is aided and abetted by 'Dim Dave' who, presumably with White House encouragement, interfered in internal American politics by personally ringing several Congressmen to persuade them to follow their President's bidding - just as he was!
So that, in a micrcosm, is the bright, shiny, new American foreign policy - fuck your friends and suck your enemies!
