Thread by @OzKaterji

There are two major problems with presenting Corbyn’s foreign policy as progressive and popular. The first being that his foreign policy demonstrably wasn’t progressive, the second being that his foreign policy demonstrably wasn’t popular.

While Iraqi Yazidis were facing genocide on Mt Sinjar, Corbyn was busy opposing the air campaign that saved their lives. A campaign that was *overwhelmingly* supported by the electorate. No, Corbyn was never “demonised” over this, his supporters don’t even concede he was wrong.

You can disagree with me all you want, but the strength of the polling at the time, even to extend air strikes into Syria, is irrefutable. He got it wrong both morally and politically. You can't learn lessons in politics if you refuse to analyse the evidence in front of you.

Skripal and ISIS are major examples of where Corbyn got it wrong and the public noticed. Corbyn also denied mass graves in Kosovo and invited a member of the Assad regime to parliament to deny chemical weapons attacks. These are times he got it wrong & the public didn't notice.

The reality is that, outside of Hamas/Hezbollah/IRA, and some occasional lines about Venezuela, the mainstream press never bothered to really scrutinise Corbyn's foreign policy history. Far from demonisation, he got off lightly, which is an astonishing thing to say in context.

Here is Corbyn sitting down with the Assad regime's Mother Agnes, who was in London to deny her regime's responsibility for chemical weapons attacks. I never saw this asked about on Newsnight or on the front page of the Telegraph. It should have been. He got off lightly.

The incident above was important enough for Owen Jones to pull out of a Stop The War Coalition event in protest at her inclusion, yet was never important enough for a single question to be asked about it to either of them during his tenure as leader.

Honestly I spend too much of my time worrying about what the foreign policy platform of the country's main opposition party is, but I really have spent years dedicated to this topic, because I passionately believe in a progressive & human rights focused FP thecritic.co.uk/issues/april-2…