John
Bew suggests that "Britain will have to pick carefully those issues" of American
policy with which it disagrees, because of the "stakes being so high" currently
(The eclipse of the west, 27th January, 2017). Yet, if Britain is to act, as
Bernie Saunders hopes, as the US`s "moral conscience", she must protest
vociferously when Trump`s policies cross our red lines, as they have already
done, and doubtlessly will continue to do. The very fact that May embarrassingly
"bumped herself up the queue" to get to the White House displays a
deal-at-all-costs mentality, illustrated quite clearly by her initial refusal to
condemn Trump`s refugee ban, which incidentally, omitted people from countries
where Trump has business interests!
With her crass remarks about how "opposites attract", and holding hands, May
betrayed all the millions who marched against Trump. Yes, the "choice facing
Britain might be stark", but Bew is wrong to suggest there "is no choice at
all": either we adopt policies with a distinct moral compass, which entail a
principled stance against the likes of Trump, or we lose all credibility in the
world, and rely on arms deals and tax haven status for our existence. Let`s
start with parliament banning Trump`s state visit!
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