David Lammy – Britain’s Foreign Secretary. Confirmation about the lows to the which the country has sunk, has this to say at the G20:
Innocent Ukrainians enduring bombardment night after night from Odessa to Zaphorizhya, the hostages still cruelly held underground by Hamas, 16 months old on from the trauma of October the 7th, and the Palestinian civilians driven from their homes in Gaza and the West Bank
and
And finally, in Ukraine, the only just and lasting peace will be a peace that is consistent with the UN Charter, and we want that as soon as possible.
You know, mature countries learn from their colonial failures and their wars, and Europeans have had much to learn over the generations and the centuries.
But I’m afraid to say that Russia has learned nothing.
I listened carefully to Minister Lavrov intervention just now he’s, of course, left his seat, hoping to hear some readiness to respect Ukraine’s sovereignty.
I was hoping to hear some sympathy for the innocent victims of the aggression.
I was hoping to hear some readiness to seek a durable peace.
What I heard was the logic of imperialism dressed up as a realpolitik, and I say to you all, we should not be surprised, but neither should we be fooled.
We are at a crucial juncture in this conflict, and Russia faces a test.
If Putin is serious about a lasting peace, it means finding a way forward which respects Ukraine’s sovereignty and the UN Charter which provides credible security guarantees, and which rejects Tsarist imperialism, and Britain is ready to listen.
But we expect to hear more than the Russian gentleman’s tired fabrications.
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Despite the deaths of 45,000 – probably far more – people in Gaza – including thousands and thousands of children, despite several major, respected, NGOs calling it as genocide, despite a provisional ruling of a case to answer for genocide at the ICJ, despite many UN agencies assessing Israel has having been on a rampage of war crimes in Gaza, Lammy still makes sure he is on record as sounding more concerned about the few dozen Israeli hostages than any Palestinians in Gaza. The carefully crafted “civilians being driven from their homes” should fool no one. The speech writers asked themselves “how can we say something against Israel so we can look balanced but at the same time avoid any criticism of Israel at all”? This is what they came up with. Because, in war, civilians are always driven from their homes. So by saying this all they are doing is lamenting an inevitable side-effect of war. There is no criticism of Israel. In short Lammy at the G20 is aligning the UK with a massive war crime binge by Israel and almost certainly genocide. (And don’t lets forget the hundreds of children shot dead before and after October 7 in the West Bank).
This is the context for what he no doubt styles in his mind a “dressing down” of Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s Foreign Minister. Turning to the “Tsarist imperialist” line; is this the best he can do? I think Lammy fancies himself a little bit of a historian. But simply saying “Tsarist imperialism” doesn’t mean that it is. Has Lammy ever argued his case for why he thinks that Russia’s foreign policy is driven by “Tsarist imperialism”? I ask – because I can’t imagine how such a case could be argued. As John Mearsheimer says; where is the evidence? Why did no one in the West say this was a problem before 22 February 2022? Did Putin really wake up on 22 February 2022 and think, “Oh, wouldn’t it be nice if we could have the Russian Empire back, take over all of Ukraine, Georgia, a big chunk of Poland and the Baltic states and parts of Central Asia as well? Let’s start with Ukraine and then… maybe Poland.” Does Putin have the means to make this alleged dream come true? Obviously – not remotely. So, Putin is not only an imperialist but totally mad? John Mearsheimer’s point is this; you can look through the historical record and find plenty of evidence, especially from 2008 when NATO decided to bring Ukraine and Georgia into the organisation at some point, that the burning issue for the Russian leadership was NATO expansion. Not a word before 2022 about restoring the Russian Empire. (At this point the proponents of “Russian imperialism” have to support the idea that there was a massive multi-year conspiracy by all sections of the Russian elite, involving hundreds of people, to talk about NATO as a cover for secretly planning to restore the Russian Empire). Even amongst ordinary people in Russia I have frequently found people expressing distaste for NATO and US militarism near their borders, but, never, until long after the war started anything which could sound remotely like people dreaming of restoring the Russian Empire. Since the special military operation (never intended and not, even now) to be a full-scale invasion, (the numbers simply weren’t enough) has turned into a prolonged war, due to US and European arms support, a discourse has emerged about “historical Russian lands” in Eastern Ukraine. But those who want to make the case of an “imperialist” driver for the war need to show that this discourse was active before the war. In order to establish “imperialism” they would also need to show that the ambitions extend beyond Ukraine and that behind military actions indeed lies such a rationale: “wouldn’t it be nice if we could have our Empire back”. They can’t do any of these things. They would also need to explain why Putin has said and continues to say that Russia has no objection to Ukraine joining the EU. If Putin was indeed recreating the Tsarist Empire he would not say this. Even, on the face of it, the proposition that the Kremlin is fighting a difficult and costly war simply because Putin has some sort of whim to recreate the Russian Empire of 120 years ago is outlandish. The reality, apparent to anyone who is paying the slightest attention to policy-making in Russia on all questions, (not just Foreign Policy) would note that it is based on careful analysis and is extremely cautious. For example; this is how they have managed their economy as acknowledged by international bodies and experts. It is clear Lammy has no idea at all what is going on in Russia. He is just making up a story about “Tsarist imperialism”, because it sounds good and has a nice ring to it. This is the level we are at. There is not even any desire to understand things as they are. Possibly, there is no longer even any conception that truth is something other than the latest narrative we cook up.
Notes