One of the many morbid consequences of our post-Brexit dystopia is the way its advocates continually pretend everything is the opposite of what it actually is. So that even Truss's humiliation in Moscow is a sign that Russia 'is rattled' by the UK's ineffective diplomacy.
It's the same with everything: mediocre trade deals become dazzling coups; Covid failures become a triumph for the PM; lorry queues are evidence of 'EU bureaucracy' - every failure is dressed up as a success or a failure on someone else's part. Needless to say,
No serious country can continue to do this indefinitely. It may work domestically - for a while. But weakness, chaos, government failure, and declining power will always be visible internationally, especially to countries that want to take advantage of these factors.
Because in trade, war, and diplomacy, states pursue their own interests ruthlessly and assess their own interests according to what is actually happening and what is actually possible. We aren't doing that - the Brexit project depends on not doing it. But others are.
Russia, for example. Whatever you think of Putin and his gang - and personally I don't think much of them - they are hardened streetfighting ex-KGB men who know what power is and what weakness is. They know what they want to achieve and how they want to achieve it.
Already they have used various forms of non-military power to assist in the destabilisation of the US and 'Great' Britain. They have done this ruthlessly and astutely, playing on and exacerbating weaknesses and divisions in both countries. They know that Russian money
Now helps to keep the Tory Party afloat - the same party that is now threatening them with sanctions. They know they are dealing with bluffers, chancers, grifters, and rank amateurs. So naturally they feel able to humiliate one of its most vainglorious representatives.
And if you want to kid yourself that this actually some kind of diplomatic triumph & proof of our continued 'greatness' when what we're actually doing is distracting attention from illegal parties where the PM and his guests sang Abba songs, then fine, you can do that, and
some people will believe you. But in the 'real world' that Tories are always going on about even though so many of them seem to have little familiarity with it, geopolitics is a hard and unforgiving environment for chancers and bluff artists, and sooner or later like roadrunner,
You will run off the cliff and all the bluff and bluster and self-deception won't save you, and you WILL fall.
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