Ukraine & Russia- Who got us into this foreign policy mess?

Ukraine and Russia- Who got us into this Foreign Policy mess?

Anthony Webber

When Russia started its “special military operation” at the end of February 2022, there was initially a lot of sympathy in the UK for the plight of Ukraine.

A lot of this was due to the British sense of siding with who is perceived to be the underdog.

However, most people did not know about the history of this far away area and did not understand that this issue had been building up for some years.

Although problems had been growing , it was after Viktor Yamukovych was democratically elected President of Ukraine and subsequently removed from power in 2014, that the situation worsened. There were allegations that the CIA had been behind this coup and that the UK government had colluded with it.

There followed the election of a man whose native tongue was Russian and who did not speak the Ukraine language, and whose campaign platform was one of peace.

It is ironic that he- Zelensky- ended up being a very warlike President of Ukraine, and under his rule, hundreds of thousands of young Ukrainians have died and been injured in a conflict where he refuses to engage in peace talks, except on his terms. It is further ironic because this attitude seems to be very influenced by certain countries such as the USA and the UK.

In fact, Zelensky had been due to make a peace deal with Russia a year ago last April, but the then UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, flew over to Ukraine and persuaded him with billions, arms, and aid, not to do so. What authority he had to make this immense financial and foreign policy commitment is a question still not answered.

Who authorised the UK’s own “Special Military Operation in Ukraine?”

The UK government moved from initial condemnation of Russia’s actions to sanctions against Russia very quickly. It was almost as though these actions were pre-planned.

This speedily became a proxy war and then one in which the UK launched its own form of special military operation. This has involved the expenditure of billions of taxpayer’s monies on expensive weaponry supplied to Ukraine, the provision of military strategic planning and intelligence, and even special forces in Ukraine itself. Added to this has been the training of thousands of Ukrainian troops and now the setting up a Flying School to train Ukrainian combat pilots. The money has been found for these expensive commitments yet other very serious requirements for public money in the UK are told that there is no money available. The UK government has put the UK in this position with absolutely no mandate of the British people. Certainly the Defence needs of the UK have been made secondary to those of the Ukraine.

No Opposition Scrutiny and no Select Committee Scrutiny!

They have gotten away with this so far because the so called “Opposition” have blindly supported these policies and have not asked the questions they should have asked.

What is even worse is that the Select Committees of the House of Commons, who should be calling the government and key Departments to account, are just not doing it.

The Scrutiny Committees are not scrutinising and not doing their job. It is disastrous for our system of Parliamentary democracy.

There is a repeat of what happened with the covid-19 “pandemic,” when over £400 bn of public money was expended, most of which was entirely questionable, but was not questioned.

The “calling the government to account” for its actions is a vital part of our democratic system, but it has been virtually non- existent!

What we are experiencing is a deficit in democracy.

This is worsened because the government, who controlled and manipulated the media during the covid era, are continuing to do the same regarding their Ukraine and Russia policies.

We thus do not have free speech and free debate when it comes to those.

If we had had more freedom, we would not have succumbed to the mess the government made of the covid policies.

We must regain free speech and free media

It is essential to regain our freedoms to debate policies on Ukraine and Russia, otherwise, the government will make another very costly policy mistake, which the country will not be able to recover from.

There is a very important petition to sign to bring about the free, open, and transparent debate which is so very much needed on the government’s Ukraine and Russia policies:

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/629895

The extreme lengths the government is prepared to go to in order to suppress debate only show how frightened they are of having such a debate.

The Parliamentary Petitions Committee is independent of the government. Over 10,000 signatures secure a government response. Also, the Committee has relaxed its 100,000 signatures for securing a debate and there have now been some Petitions which have been given one when they have simply gone over the 10,000 level.

 

Why a debate is necessary.

World reputational damage caused to the UK

 

The Ukraine and Russia policies of the government have caused immense suffering to the British public in many different ways.

A lot of this is detailed in the wording of the petition.

However, what has also happened, which the government seems to not have been prepared for, is that these policies have caused problems with the UK’s Foreign Affairs, especially in terms of reputational damage.

The named calling by senior UK politicians and others of Russia and Russian politicians has been seen as undiplomatic and immature by the large block of non- aligned nations in the world.

The reckless way the UK government has pursued the interests of one side ( Ukraine) in this conflict, has been seen as blindly supporting the USA government, to the detriment of its own interests.

The facts are that is a minority of world nations who are sanctioning Russia. Seven eights of the world’s population live in countries which are not.

This is because they are acting in their national interests, whereas the UK government is not.

The bullying by the USA and UK governments of other governments to support their sanctions and policies against Russia, has been seen as unacceptable.

The new grouping the world, BRICS, which started with Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, now has a long list of countries who have applied for membership.

Democratic Russia, which in the era of Reagan and Thatcher, was moving closer to the “West,” is now moving closer to communist China.

The power of the dollar and pound sterling is diminishing.

Russia has been barely affected by sanctions, whereas they have detrimentally affected the UK and the other European countries which have used them.

One of the problems for the UK has been the long list of Foreign Secretaries in the role over the past few years, and not having a person of astuteness and stature in the job.

In contrast it is seen that Russia has Lavrov who is both experienced and accomplished.

The UK government has lost so much respect in the wider world outside the EU, USA and key NATO countries.

 

Afghanistan sell-out caused reputational damage to the UK

The UK government’s influence in the world is fast diminishing. This is simply because the government has not been acting in the UK’s interests for some time now.

This situation has worsened since the UK government went along with the USA government’s “deal” with the Taliban, abandoning millions of Afghans to tyrannical rule, with no democracy, human rights or even education for women. The Afghan withdrawal caused immense damage to the reputation of the UK, which will take a lot of effort to recover from.

Non -aligned nations gaze in incredulity when they see the UK government pour billions of weapons into Ukraine (into the façade of democracy there), yet they were not prepared to stand by freedom and democracy in Afghanistan! No wonder Afghanistan is also a subject the government does not want discussed!

Poor political and public servant leadership

Many years, the UK used to have Foreign Policy which well thought out and was always in the UK’s national interests.

If there was an inadequate politician at the helm, then that was made up for by the quality of the senior foreign office officials.

Now it appears the UK has poor political leadership on foreign affairs, but it is not balanced by having capable officials to give appropriate advice to them to ensure that disastrous decisions are not made.

This is a very unsatisfactory situation as the UK cannot realistically continue an effective course with both poor captaincy and senior crew.

It must be put right.

The possibility of corruption cannot be ignored

In that endeavour, it is important to realise that as other countries experience corruption with their politicians and senior civil servants, that it is entirely possible that foreign policy decisions could be influenced by bribery and corruption. There must be more checking and more accountability of foreign policy decisions, therefore.

It is a patriotic public duty to insist that there is democracy and accountability and that the UK’s interests and those of its citizens are made paramount.

Anyone who acts differently to this has to have their motives and credibility questioned.

Anthony Webber

Independent Political Commentator

anthonywebber@cwgsy.net