Yeah , you’re probably right. And of course , Johnson was playing to the gallery as usual , but once we were all in , his/our support was definitely consequential.
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Regardless of what position between average and good Boris’s initial position was to Russia, I think it’s fair to say Corbyn has promised to be nothing more than a present day Neville Chamberlain. I made a mistake voting for him at the last election.
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I just found the two stories on the BBC. This was from the 22nd Feb:
Bill Browder, formerly Russia’s biggest foreign investor, arch Putin-critic, and architect of the “Magnitsky” laws said he was disappointed, describing the sanctions announced as “very tepid”.
He said the UK had the power to sanction 50 oligarchs close to Putin with money in the UK. “By not taking that decision, he’s sending a message to Putin, which is that nothing bad will happen if you do this type of stuff,” he added.
This was then on 25th Feb:
This was in just 3 days and following a NATO conference. No one changes policy that fast unless someone has had words.
I agree that since then the response has been much better.
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I suspect Corbyn would have been rapidly removed in a similar manner to how Chamberlain eventually was.
It’s also entirely possible that he just saw which way the wind was blowing. What’s beyond doubt is that he acted out of any sense of altruism.
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Given his penchant for cozying up to terrorists, he’d probably have veered towards getting into bed with Putin
He’s got a massive blind spot like a lot of “socialists” for Russia for some reason. Even though modern day Russia is a fascist state.
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The technical term is “tankies”.
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I love how Corbyn gets criticised for being too close to Russia, while the Tory’s get a pass for being up to their tits is Russian money.
I think the issue here is that one is exhibiting behaviour that is contrary to what their supposed principles are, while the other is exhibiting behaviour that confirms their principles or lack thereof.
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Peter Oborne wrote an article about that last year:
https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/russia-ukraine-war-jeremy-corbyn-right-putin-oligarchs
I think the argument on here is more to do with Corbyn’s pacifism.I suppose a more accurate equivalent would be with George Lansbury who resigned as the Labour party became more pro-interventionist.
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Whataboutism.
Appreciated the article, opened my eyes a little.
However, as noted in the article, at the very least, on negotiating an end to the war, I think the Stop The War Coalition (and Corbyn by extension) have gotten it quite wrong. Russia’s actions since have quite clearly demonstrated that they cannot be relied on to both negotiate in good faith and uphold their commitments.
That said, the article describes him as a “failed politician”. My impression is that he did more than anybody else in recent times to revive the popularity of renationalisation?
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Possibly, but he failed to get in a position where he could enact those policies. I suppose it is a success to get that back on the agenda.
Then again, his broadband policy was widely ridiculed but this is something that economists advising the government had been advocating for years - at least government intervention into market failure. I’m not sure that many had suggested running broadband like the public road system.
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Does that make his point wrong though?
That’s it for me.
The part that irks me from the article you linked is:
For the Tories and the Labour establishment, mocking Corbyn distracts from their own long-lived collaboration with Vladimir Putin and his oligarchs.
I’m ready and willing to get embarrassed by asking this, but what connections between Labour and Oligarchs/Putin? I can find a donation to Labour from a British man who made money in Russia, Gordon Brown giving and being paid for a speech in Russia in 2012, but if this writer is angered by the lies being thrown Corbyn’s way, then throws in a ‘they’re all the same’ lie like this in order to paint Corbyn in a better light, then there can be little respect for him. Unless ‘collaboration’ in this context is a leader inviting a fellow leader to their country after war crimes (Blair 23 years ago).
Again, happy to take the hit if there are actual links between Labour and the upper Russian hierarchy.
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Thing is, the Tories don’t get a pass.
They’re rightfully slaughtered each and every day on social media, on the streets, and in the press.
As and when a general election is called, the people will get to make their choice.
Fair question. The Channel 4 documentary highlighted Peter Mandelson’s links with Russian oligarchs. Other than that I can only think of normal diplomatic and business relations - I can remember a delegation from Gazprom looking for a tie up with UK businesses but I don’t think there was any indication of anything untoward about that (not that I would have any idea about what went on in the meetings).
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Pretty much sums it up
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I’m delighted Corbyn won’t be standing, but I agree with the rest of it.
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