Alex Massie

Alex Massie

Friday

Alex Massie

No, Obama Did Not Throw Israel “Under the Bus”

President Obama's speech yesterday confirmed that the main thrust of American foreign policy in the middle east may now fairly be characterised as Obama men and Bush measures. In large part it could have been written by David Frum. Admittedly, as Frum says there's a difference between broad statements of principle and the actual, more difficult, policy decisions that might put flesh on those bones. Despite this, the conservative reaction to the speech appears utterly unhinged. As any member of the sanity-based community could appreciate, there was little in the address that significantly departed from long-standing American policy. Indeed, I think Jeffrey Goldberg is right to argue that the speech: [W]as enthusiastically pro-Israel.

Thursday

Alex Massie

Garret FitzGerald, 1926-2011

How do you measure a politician's life? By the standards of the political (or any other) breed Dr Garret FitzGerald, who died this morning, was an uncommonly decent, humane, kind individual. Partly because of that his two terms as Taoiseach were less than wholly successful. Yet their legacy has been immense and FitzGerald should be remembered as a transformational figure whose lasting impact on Irish life and society was, in many ways, greater than that of his great rival Charlie Haughey. Though each came from political families and could boast the necessary nationalist credentials, they were opposites in so many ways. Haughey the brilliant plotter and manipulator, FitzGerald the donnish intellectual. While Haughey sparkled, FitzGerald plodded.

Alex Massie

Revolution vs Results? Reform vs Retreat? Prudence vs Permanent Revolution?

Back to Ben Brogan's latest piece, headlined David Cameron has lost his zeal for the radical in favour of retreat. This seems unduly harsh. According to the Telegraph's Deputy Editor, however: Yet, as has become increasingly apparent, retreat is fast becoming the order of the day. Indeed, the gap I mentioned a few weeks ago between those who want to be radical at all costs and those who want to trim in order to win the next election is widening faster than I initially thought. The success of the Tory local election and AV campaigns, masterminded by George Osborne, has emboldened those, led by the Chancellor, who say that an outright Tory majority at the next election is in sight and nothing must be done to jeopardise that goal.

Alex Massie

David Cameron and the John McCain School of Statesmanship

In the midst of an otherwise interesting and thoughtful piece arguing that David Cameron is "retreating" from his "radical" start, Ben Brogan lobs in this astonishing paragraph: Even on issues on which he has not found such obvious consensus, Mr Cameron has shown himself willing to take risks when politics would dictate prudence. Take Libya, where he led the international debate by being among the first to urge some kind of UN-approved action against Muammar Gaddafi. Events since have largely vindicated those who cautioned against the peril of a drawn-out, costly and unsustainable entanglement. But his critics recognised the confident way the Prime Minister defied American doubts and navigated Arab suspicions to produce a consensus for intervention.

Alex Massie

Lonesome for a Lone Star Man

Hands-up if you, or anyone you know whom you'd consider even vaguely sensible, is happy with the declared field for the 2012 Republican Presidential Nomination Stakes? Quite. The case against each candidate - Romney, Pawlenty et al - is vastly stronger than the strongest case you can make for their prospects. It is not a race over-cluttered with star quality. Those that can win the nomination are unattractive; those that can't scarcely worth considering no matter how fine they may be in other respects. So it's not surprising that eyes turn to late entrants who could add some class to what is currently a pretty drab or shabby field.

Wednesday

Alex Massie

The Queen’s Speech

At the state dinner at Dublin Castle this evening is rather good. As you would expect from HMQ it says all the right things and does so modestly and without fanfare. Especially this bit: Of course, the relationship has not always been straightforward; nor has the record over the centuries been entirely benign. It is a sad and regrettable reality that through history our islands have experienced more than their fair share of heartache, turbulence and loss. These events have touched us all, many of us personally, and are a painful legacy. We can never forget those who have died or been injured, and their families. To all those who have suffered as a consequence of our troubled past I extend my sincere thoughts and deep sympathy.

Alex Massie

This Scotland Subordinate? Only to a Crying Fool.

Much of Alex Salmond's speech on the occasion of his re-election as First Minister was entirely unobjectionable and some of it was even eloquent. A shame, then, that his peroration threw all that away: A change is coming, and the people are ready. They put ambition ahead of hesitation. The process is not about endings. It is about beginnings. Whatever changes take place in our constitution, we will remain close to our neighbours. We will continue to share a landmass, a language and a wealth of experience and history with the other peoples of these islands My dearest wish is to see the countries of Scotland and England stand together as equals There is a difference between partnership and subordination. The first encourages mutual respect. The second breeds resentment.

Alex Massie

This Social Union, This Commonwealth

On reflection, perhaps I've been a little too quick to discount the historical significance of the Queen's visit to Ireland this week. Like so much else, it's a question of perspective. If you're 80 years old and a citizen of the Irish Republic, perhaps the sight of the Irish President greeting and welcoming the British monarch on equal terms would seem quietly moving and even a cause of some pride. I might think that this was what it was all about and I might see the visit as another confirmation that the Irish state has taken its rightful place in the community of nations. That's been true for many years, but this is still some hefty symbol.

Tuesday

Alex Massie

Eight Hundred Years of Oppression and Now This?

Pete is right to say there's a definite "resonance" to these pictures. Nevertheless, I suspect that British people's view of the "historic" significance of Her Majesty the Queen's visit to the Republic of Ireland is inversely proportionate to one's experience of Ireland. That is, the more time you have spent in Ireland and the better you know the country the less you are likely to swoon at the sight of a British monarch setting foot in southern Ireland.  Perhaps I'm extrapolating too much from my own experience and perhaps the over-40s think differently. But my impression strengthened, to be sure, by some of the breathless, hyperbolic BBC coverage is that many British people over-estimate how "controversial" this visit is.

Alex Massie

Slums Are A Feature of Success

Meanwhile and continuing our population theme it may be worth spending a moment on population density in the developing world too.  Commenting on this post Axstane writes: This logic tells us that Nigeria, South Africa, Mexico and Brazil are all very well off indeed since they have dramatically increasing populations. Their slums, crime rates and unemployment are all features of a healthy society?  Actually, yes they are. Apart from any other consideration, urbanisation will most probably reduce birth-rates in the developing world, not increase them. Moreover, the great migration to the city is evidence of urban success and rural failure, not the other way round.

Alex Massie

British Cities Are Not “Full”

Further to this post on population increase, it's useful to remember that despite the undoubted pressures population growth causes for public services and other facilities, it is not accurate to suggest that Britain "is full". In fact there's ample room for more people as even a cursory comparison of urban population density demonstrates. Chart? Would it be disastrous if English (and Scottish!) cities were as densely populated as Boston or Chicago (12.75)? I suggest it would not. Indeed there'd be advantages to this. But that means reappraising planning and zoning regulations and permitting developers to build up as well as out. Otherwise there's little alternative to suburban sprawl. Now sprawl is not universally a bad thing but it comes with trade-offs of its own.

Alex Massie

Shocker! Liam Fox is Right!

This, Watson, is the salient fact to be gleaned from the stramash over International Development funding. There is nothing especially wrong with aspiring* to spend 0.7% of GDP on overseas aid but it's wrong to legislate to make this a legal requirement. Wrong because government should not try to tie the hands of or otherwise control their successors. Sure, Messrs Blair and Brown may have done this to Dave and the Gang but, as even a cursory acquaintance with the Good Book should remind them, that's no excuse for doing likewise to their own descendents. Similarly, of course, putting the so-called "Military Covenant" into law is a Bad Idea.

Monday

Alex Massie

Peanut Tweeter

Pretty much my new favourite thing: Peanut Tweeter. Random tweets from around the world inserted into not-wholly-random Peanuts galleries. Weirdly cool and fun. Hurrah for the internet. Thus: And: Many more here.

Saturday

Alex Massie

Redefining the war

There are more than 100,000 American and Allied troops in Afghanistan. That is, there are more than 1,000 troops for every suspected al-Qa’eda ‘operative’. Not for the first time in Afghanistan means, ways and ends appear to be out of kilter. There are more Nato troops than are needed to combat al-Qa’eda but not enough to build a proper, ordinary country. No wonder Afghanistan has become a grimly expensive halfway house — neither wholly occupied, nor treated with a light touch. Tim Bird and Alex Marshall’s brisk, broad survey of the war is drily un- impressed by American strategy.

Friday

Alex Massie

An Increasing Population is a Good Thing. So is Immigration.

Plenty of folk seem to think otherwise. Including George Bridges who has written a very curious post for the Motherblog in which he seems most perturbed by the prospect of this happy isle's population increasing. He even suggests he's not doing his bit since Mrs Bridges is expecting their third child, presumably furthering the onrushing demographic apocalypse. Piffle. Good for Mrs Bridges and her fecund husband. Congratulations to them. May they produce this and many more little Bridges. A rising population is a feature of a healthy society, not the beginning of the end for this sceptered land. Of course an increasing population puts pressure on any number of public facilities and services, from transport to schools to housing to hospitals. But so what?

Alex Massie

The Good John McCain Surfaces

Every so often the good John McCain reappears. His recent Senate speech on torture and the hunt for Osama bin Laden is the best thing I've seen from him in lord knows how long. It deserves to be read in full but some of the highlights include: [There has been a] debate over whether the so-called, ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’ of enemy prisoners, including waterboarding, were instrumental in locating bin Laden, and whether they are necessary and justifiable means for securing valuable information that might help prevent future terrorist attacks against us and our allies and lead to the capture or killing of those who would perpetrate them.  Or are they, and should they be, prohibited by our conscience and laws as torture or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.

Thursday

Alex Massie

Obama Men & Bush Measures?

Ross Douthat and Andrew Sullivan have been debating the extent, if any, to which Barack Obama's foreign policy has broken with his predecessor's. Ross's point in his column this week is that Obama's approach is more consistent with Bush's than is generally supposed. I think that's true, though some of Andrew's criticisms of that view are plausible too. Ross responds here and Andrew has another go here during which post he writes: As for the impact of Obama on the Iranian revolution and the Arab Spring, I agree it's too facile to draw a direct linkage. History and perspective will again help. But the Cairo speech - defending democracy in the heart of the Arab world - was a breakthrough. Bush could never have done it.

Alex Massie

Who cares about immigration? (Or education?)

Who cares about immigration? In theory, everyone. It's always mentioned as the policy that exercises voters but is ignored by politicians. (Europe generally comes second in this category.) Let's see what YouGov reports. In one of their tracking polls this week they asked voters to pick the three most important issues. Chart? Fully 66% of Conservative supporters think immigration a vital issue, as do 54% of Londoners and 55% of C2DEs. Other points of interest: only 11% of Tories say Tax is one of the three most important issues, the same percentage as thinks education is in the top three. Europe is mentioned by just 9% of those polled (though by 14% of Tories). Broadly speaking, immigration is less vital and tax more important to voters under 39 than it is to those over 40.