Thread by @shaunjlawson

There is, incidentally, a common thread in the responses to what I've said about Rachael's comments, and on Hamas.

If your whole world view is that imperialism or capitalism is the root of literally all the world's problems, you won't take kindly to nuance.

Because that world view demands taking sides. It sees everything through 'oppressors' v 'oppressed'. But it's so fixated with our - the West's - role in that that it systematically ignores the role of the rest of the world. Which is huge.

So in, for example, Venezuela, Maduro is painted as 'the oppressed' - when to his people, he's actually the oppressor.

In Syria, Assad is painted as 'the oppressed' - when to huge numbers of his people, he's actually the oppressor.

In Cuba, Castro was painted as 'the oppressed' - when to many of his people, he was actually the oppressor.

It doesn't make me a fan of US foreign policy when I say: I'd like to die peacefully in my sleep like Fidel Castro. Not screaming in terror like one of his victims.

In Iraq, Saddam Hussein was painted as 'the oppressed' - when he was a quite horrific oppressor. It's just that our intervention made things even worse. Much worse in terms of the broader region.

You know how so many Arab and anti-Western tyrants and demagogues have survived over the years? It's by blaming the West - the US and Israel, especially - for all their people's problems. While siphoning off all their nation's resources for themselves.

Western foreign policy? It's absolutely atrocious. It's immoral, it's murderous, it's full of double standards, it treats Saudi Arabia and Israel as friends and Iran as an enemy based on purest expediency.

Yet the policies of Arab states aren't any better.

The policies of Russia aren't any better. The policies of China aren't any better... and as China rises, we'll know about it, believe me.

So much of the left is about being idealistic about human nature. Thinking that we CAN all get along in peace and harmony.

And I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that per se. I am saying that if you take such a zero sum world view - West bad, West's enemies good, always, without fail - you'll neither understand any of the complexities involved nor make the remotest positive difference.

For the record, it was not a world view taken by the VERY pro-Western postwar Labour government, which even took us into war in Korea. That government knew what side its bread was buttered on. Christ knows how people would've viewed it had Twitter been around back then.

It doesn't make me an apologist for the Iraq war, which was an utter disaster, when I highlight how horrific Saddam Hussein and his family were.

It doesn't make me an apologist for the horrendous Israeli government when I highlight how horrific Hamas are.

And it doesn't make me an apologist for 'the CIA' or '1973' when I highlight how horrific Maduro is.

What it makes me is a humanist. Who cares about all people and wants justice for all people regardless of who their oppressors happen to be.

That humanism means that just as Guantanemo Bay disgusts me, or Abu Ghraib disgusts me, or the normalisation of Islamophobia everywhere disgusts me, the behaviour of Assad, Saddam, Erdogan, Hamas, and scores of other Arab and Muslim tyrants disgusts me too.

That humanism means that just as weaponisation of antisemitism disgusts me, and the behaviour of the Israeli government disgusts me, actual antisemitism and constant apologia for a group which murders Israelis and Palestinians alike also disgusts me.

It's not difficult! It only is if you view the entire world as left v right, imperialist v anti-imperialist. It only is if you ignore that, long after independence across Africa, corruption continues under so many disgraceful leaders; as does tribalism and lack of civil society.

It only is if you ignore that, two centuries after independence across South America, massive corruption continues here under leaders who think they're entitled royalty, and ignore that they're actually public servants heading a republic, accountable to their people.

It only is if you ignore that after thousands of years fighting and killing each other, Europe finally found a peaceful way forward after the war. First the Western half of it did; then eventually, the whole of it did.

It only is if you completely ignore the unbelievable levels of tribalism and sectarianism in the Middle East: the enemy of my enemy is my enemy.

And it only is if you ignore that after being nuked - twice! - Japan recovered and became a peaceful great power.

Or that after enduring a horrifically bloody civil war, South Korea recovered and became a thriving, increasingly global player.

Or that after suffering one of the worst wars in modern history, Vietnam recovered and is very much thriving too now.

Who helped Japan recover? The US. Who helped Europe recover? The US. Who helped Korea recover? The US. Who helped our own country recover? The US. But I thought the US was always bad in all circumstances? 🤔

And no, that doesn't make me a US apologist either. The problem with US foreign policy now is it's forgotten what made it great in the first place. And as with all countries on the face of the Earth, it's a mixture of good and bad.

Good and bad. Light and dark. Love and hate. That's human nature. That's what the societies and nation states built by humans everywhere represent. Which include Israel and Palestine: which have good and bad in both.

If we know all this - if we know there's shades of grey in almost everything - why do we pretend otherwise in politics or international relations? Do we think they're somehow immune from real life or something?

They're not. Politics is life.

And in life, everything in moderation (which is why peace is so critical); nothing in excess (which is why both the Israeli government AND Hamas should be condemned), is ultimately the only way forwards.