October 29, 2007
YOU'VE COME TO THE WRONG SHIP FOR rEALISM, BROTHER:
Putting British interests first sounds so radical (Iain Martin, 10/29/07, Daily Telegraph)
[F]or surprisingly long stretches of our post-war history there was broad consensus about how we should deal with the single largest menace of the age, the Soviet Union. Labour Right-wingers shared the Atlanticist outlook of mainstream Conservatives until that unofficial pact was shattered by the lunacy of the Left in the 1980s.Since the West's victory in 1990, the British have lacked a shared world view or sense of what the limits of our capabilities are. It helps explain why many of us were attracted to the simplicity of the Blair doctrine after September 11. [...]
If [David] Cameron, who voted for the war despite some doubts, talks of replacing Blair's "liberal interventionism" with liberal conservatism. Western values and interests need to be defended but we should be much less starry-eyed and evangelical than Blair. A national interest test should be applied before we act abroad, he said — and if this sounds anything like a departure, it only shows how we lost sight of that basic truth under Blair.
The complexities of human nature make Cameron sceptical of "grand utopian schemes" to remake the world. His is a call for a new realism.
Everyone recognizes that America doesn't do realism, but Mr. Martin is kidding himself if he thinks England does. Were it Realist it would have had sense enough to stay out of WWI, WWII and the Cold War, none of which served its national interest.