Diary

The yearning for liberty is eternal

31 December, 2009

According to a report in the Times today, the captive Peter Moore, who is still thankfully alive, was seized and held by Iran some two and a half years ago. If true, it is just one more ugly manifestation of the Islamic Republic's war with the West. It is yet another reason to distrust the country's mullahs who proclaim their peaceful intentions yet engage in primitive barbarism.

And it is another powerful incentive for the West to lionize the brave Iranian moderates who champion change in their country. Reports reaching the West indicate that Tehran has employed a ruthless and bloody crackdown on its dissidents. Dozens have been killed, injured and raped, many more imprisoned and tortured. The brutality is shocking yet, for a tyrannical Islamist theocracy, hardly surprising.

In a way, it is fitting that this should be our last memory of the 'Nougties.' For this was a decade which will forever be scarred by the events of September 11th when radical Islam's war with the West took on a new dimension. It was a decade when religious fanaticism and the ideology of jihad was brought to our own doorstep. Worse, it was a decade when the bien pensant chattering classes tried to convince us that 'our' sins were responsible for the Islamist violence, ignoring completely the hateful ideology at its heart.

Yet this might also be remembered as a decade when people across the world yearned to be free of autocratic government. There was the people's resistance to Syrian occupation in Lebanon, the struggle for women's rights in Afghanistan, the pro-democracy movement in Burma and Tibet, the desperate struggle for rights in Mugabe's Zimbabwe and now Iran's Green pro democracy movement. For every person who marches in the streets, there are many more who use the internet to disseminate their hatred of oppression.

As a new decade approaches, let us all stand with all these brave souls who risk their lives in the pursuit of liberty and happiness.

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Terror in the skies

27 December, 2009

The latest terror bomb plot teaches us that we must avoid complacency. Many voices still proclaim that Al Qaeda is a busted flush and that the threat from radical Islam has been overplayed for political reasons.

But the interception of a jihadi who was intent on destroying an airliner bound for Detroit spared us a mass casualty attack on a devastating scale. Hundreds of people would have been killed or injured if Umar Abdulmutallab’s device had exploded, an event that would have sparked fears of another 9/11. Given the perilous state of the world economy, such fears (grounded or not) would have had a devastating effect on confidence worldwide.

There are clearly some embarrassing questions for the British government, many centering on Abdulmutallab’s period of study as a mechanical engineer in London. For years, Washington has voiced suspicions that Britain has become a recruiting ground for Islamic terror.

These suspicions have been given credibility by the presence of so many Islamist radicals in this country, Abu Qatada among them, and this latest incident will not help. MI5 will need to investigate the circumstances under which Abdulmutallab was radicalised and whether he appeared on their list of potential terrorist suspects.

But this case also highlights grave weaknesses in America’s counter terror systems. Despite Abdulmutallab appearing on a US terrorism database, he was still allowed to fly into the country with impunity. Apparently he was not deemed an immediate threat. Clearly something is wrong if an individual can enter a country when one of its own agencies deems him to be a serious threat.

Abdulmutallab started his travels at Lagos, whose airport had been given the all clear by the US Transportation Security Administration. But if this assessment was wrong, one wonders how many other airports would be given a similar but unwarranted clean bill of health.

As a new decade approaches, we are reminded that the enemies of the West remain determined to inflict harm on innocent civilians. Our intelligence agencies are often the last line of defence in preventing atrocities. For all our sakes, let us hope that they learn from their mistakes here.

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Britain’s twisted justice system

21 December, 2009

On this festive day, I would like to wish all my readers a very happy Christmas!

Judging by the torrent of newspaper coverage, there is clearly a vast amount of sympathy for Munir Hussain, the Muslim businessman who fought back against a burglar, only to land a prison sentence for his efforts. This appears to be yet another case of twisted justice: an innocent victim of crime goes to prison while his attacker goes free, free no doubt to commit more crimes. Yet this is not how the judge chose to see this case. These are his words:

‘If persons were permitted to take the law into their own hands and inflict their own instant and violent punishment on an apprehended offender rather than letting justice take its course, then the rule of law and our system of criminal justice, which are the hallmarks of a civilised society, would collapse.’

The problem with this argument is what it presupposes, namely that justice always does take its course. We know that plenty of burglars escape prison sentences, even serial offenders like Walid Salem. Endless headlines point to the fact that violent offenders are often let off with fines and cautions, rather than tougher sentences. And that is when the police actually bother to investigate burglaries, rather than write them off as unsolvable.

Given that the majority of burglaries do not result in a just conclusion, namely with burglars ending up incarcerated, can one not argue that the rule of law has already broken down? The system of criminal justice is surely ineffective if people like Salem feel they can forever escape the consequences of their actions.

But there is a second problem with the judge’s words, indeed with the law as it stands. The law says that a man may use ‘reasonable’ force to defend himself from a burglar but no more. In this case the judge deemed Hussain’s actions to involve a level of gratuitous violence that was uncivilised. Hussain did indeed inflict a very serious level of violence on Salem with a cricket bat, leaving the criminal with brain injuries.

But what must have been going through Hussain’s mind at the time of this beating? He had just been trussed up by a serial thug who was threatening extreme violence against his family. Hussain was hardly in a position to trawl through a checklist of ‘reasonable’ actions that would satisfy a court. Given the violent circumstances of the burglary, Hussain’s actions at the time were surely understandable and ought to have merited a non custodial sentence at most. The burglar should have been sent to jail instead. By incarcerating the victim rather than the criminal, the criminal justice system has been perverted beyond recognition.

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The JFS ruling

16 December, 2009

The Jewish Free School (JFS) ruling, which could have immense repercussions for Britain’s faith schools, is undoubtedly damaging for British Jews. The effect of the Supreme Court’s decision, which upholds one made weeks earlier by the Court of Appeal, is that any Jewish school which seeks to uphold religious criteria for entrance will fall foul of racial discrimination legislation. That is because today’s sinister ruling implies that to define a Jew in terms of matrilineal descent or conversion, which is orthodoxy’s guiding principle for Jewish identity, is itself a form of racial discrimination.

Instead Jews must be defined in terms of some presumed religious practice for the purpose of being allowed into a Jewish faith school. In essence a court has now taken upon itself the task of defining Jewry itself, effectively overturning the right of that religious community to settle such disputes itself. This is of course completely contrary to the dictates of a liberal society. Jews should be able to answer for themselves the question ‘Who is a Jew?’ without recourse to secular courts.

But the guiding lights of British orthodoxy should also be hanging their heads in shame. For this case would hardly have been brought were it not for the controversial admission policies of JFS in recent years. Remember that the original case revolved around a number of children who were denied the right to enter the school even though they were practising Jews living in Jewish households.

The problem was not their identity but that of their mother who converted to Judaism in Israel. This conversion was not recognised by Britain’s orthodox establishment (which has its own arcane rules on this matter) and it was to these authorities that JFS deferred in this decision. Thus the school rejected the pupils even though, in every other respect, they were clearly living a Jewish life according to orthodox precepts. Compromise and common sense were clearly required to avert the baleful consequences that have now descended upon us. Sadly they are qualities that, in Britain at least, are so often in short supply.

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What are our courts up to?

15 December, 2009

What on earth are our courts up to issuing an arrest warrant against Israel's former foreign secretary, Tsipi Livni? It has emerged that a London court issued the warrant against Livni for alleged war crimes committed during the 2009 Gaza conflict, only to then rescind it when it emerged that she was not actually in the UK. She then had to cancel her planned visit to London as a result.

This absurd decision whereby radical pro Palestinian elements can effectively hijack the law for their own ends, shows just how twisted the human rights industry has become. For a serving politician to cancel her scheduled arrangements because of the fear of arrest is simply unconscionable. Still, for the sake of balance, I am sure we can expect a similar warrant for the arrest of Colonel Gaddafi when he next lands in London. Tongue firmly in cheek.

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More Iranian double dealing

14 December, 2009

If you needed final confirmation of just how duplicitous Iran has been over its nuclear weapons programme, read this devastating report in the Times here. The paper has obtained intelligence documents showing how Iran has been busy working on a final component for a nuclear weapon. I quote directly:

‘The notes, from Iran’s most sensitive military nuclear project, describe a four-year plan to test a neutron initiator, the component of a nuclear bomb that triggers an explosion. Foreign intelligence agencies date them to early 2007, four years after Iran was thought to have suspended its weapons programme. An Asian intelligence source last week confirmed to The Times that his country also believed that weapons work was being carried out as recently as 2007 — specifically, work on a neutron initiator.’

‘The technical document describes the use of a neutron source, uranium deuteride, which independent experts confirm has no possible civilian or military use other than in a nuclear weapon. Uranium deuteride is the material used in Pakistan’s bomb, from where Iran obtained its blueprint.’

In one sense, we have already amassed enough indications that Iran’s nuclear programme is for purely military purposes, in direct violation of the nuclear non proliferation treaty. The country has built secret nuclear facilities in at least three places, an enrichment facility at Natanz, a secret facility at Qom and a heavy water facility at Arak. Its nuclear programme is under the control of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, hardly necessary for a purely ‘civilian’ programme while the entire nuclear programme has been covert for decades.

So this latest ‘smoking gun’ is hardly the sole casus belli against the Islamic Republic; plenty of others already exist. But if confirmed, and it is being analysed by various intelligence agencies, it provides further proof of Iranian double dealing and deception, and of how the feckless Western diplomacy of recent years has been a dismal failure. It also represents the single greatest indictment of the 2007 NIE report.

The final word goes to Mark Fitzpatrick of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, said: “The most shattering conclusion is that, if this was an effort that began in 2007, it could be a casus belli. If Iran is working on weapons, it means there is no diplomatic solution.”

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Labour's financial class war

10 December, 2009

Poor old Mr. Darling. How he must have anticipated those headlines about bashing the bankers and soaking the rich. He must have hoped that his ridiculous one off tax on banks would be the centrepiece of his pre (election) budget report to the nation. Instead he has been lambasted for his tax grab on the middle classes and his cynical attempt to shore up his core vote. How the gods of fate are smiling on the Tories!

The truth is that the one off 50% tax on banks paying over £25,000 in bonuses will do little to assuage public anger. It will scarcely make a dent in the long term wealth of investment bankers who will cushion the blow, or find banks cushioning the blow for them. But it will (together with the new 50p tax rate) send out a message that the City is no longer the world's prime environment for financial activity. Expect bankers in New York and Zurich to take more calls from the City as a result of this punitive piece of class warfare.

As for class warfare, Darling offered obvious pre election bribes to his core constituents with offers to increase child benefit entitlements and additional real spending on health and education. But as the Institute for Fiscal Studies observes, these benefits will only have to be clawed back the following year. And we know that over the course of the next Parliament, big cuts are needed across the public sector, whichever party is in power.

The true message that Labour has tried to conceal all along is that the next decade will be one of grave austerity. Tax rises for years to come, pay freezes in the public sector, spending cuts in every department, growing inflationary pressures and less disposable income all round. We've had the (illusory) years of plenty. Now the long famine begins.

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Why the Copenhagen summit deserves to fail

7 December, 2009

Right now world leaders are meeting in Copenhagen for what promises to be a great global climate fest. They are hopeful of a new Kyoto type deal that will effectively decarbonise the world economy in order to tackle rampant climate change. The Copenhagen summit should all inspire us with hope – the hope that it will prove to be a monumental failure.

To say this is to invite the usual pejorative rejoinders: that you are the equivalent of an ignorant flat earther, an immoral human being who cares little for the suffering of the Third World; in short, a climate ‘denier.’ Sadly this shows how science has become sullied by ideology. So strong are the vested interests, so deep is the emotional commitment to this issue that rational debate has ceased altogether.

As a non scientist, I reject both the extreme alarmism of the ‘believers’ and the wrong headed position of the sceptics. It seems clear, even to the sceptical camp, that global warming has occurred, though not apparently in the last nine years.

This latter fact was worrying minds at the Climate Change Unit in East Anglia, to the point where some scientists were tampering with the evidence. The scientific consensus also tells us that man has contributed to this warming, though the extent of this contribution remains an open question. Many eminent scientists dispute the idea that high concentrations of CO2 are responsible for global warming and their voices should be heard too.

But if man made global warming is real, why should anyone want the Copenhagen summit to fail? Surely on an issue this pressing, with so many lives at stake, any global deal is worth pursuing.

Well the simple answer is that global decarbonisation, the goal of most world leaders, will prove incredibly difficult to achieve as well as enormously expensive. The leaders of developing countries do not believe that they should jeopardise their countries’ economic development by reducing CO2 emissions.

Millions of people are being lifted out of poverty by carbon based technologies, especially in India and China. The zeal of Western First World leaders to reduce emissions is not universal. Achieving a global deal under these circumstances will prove very hard.

The cost might be prohibitive too. In an article in last week’s Spectator, the renowned environmentalist, Bjorn Lomborg, wrote that: ‘A high CO2 tax starting at $68 could reduce world economic output by a staggering 13 per cent in 2100 – the equivalent of $40 trillion a year…50 times the expected damage of global warming.’ If he is even half right, this sum is truly incredible.

Worse, after spending nearly one trillion dollars each year for the best part of the next century, temperature increases would be reined in by just one tenth of a degree Celsius, according to a lead researcher at the IPCC. And the effects of all this cost would be minimal in the short term because the half life of atmospheric carbon dioxide is 100 years.

A better solution to man made global warming lies in adaptation. Man has a long history of adapting to his environment and coping with the great challenges of nature. Think about how we were about to overcome the threat of mass starvation, polio, the plague, syphilis and a multitude of disasters. Do the IPCC’s computer models take into account the possibility of a man made technological breakthrough on climate change?

Fortunately there are some very innovative approaches about how to adapt to global warming: they come under the term ‘geo-engineering.’ One of the ideas being currently touted is to build a ‘Stratoshield’ which would pump sulphur dioxide into the stratosphere to cool the earth’s surface.

In an article called ‘The geo-engineering option,’ published in March 2009, the Council on Foreign Relations estimated that just one kilogram of well placed sulphur in the stratosphere ‘would roughly offset the warming effect of several hundred thousand kilograms of carbon dioxide.’ The cost would not be in the trillions of dollars but in the hundreds of millions, and the effects would be more immediate.

You and I have little idea whether these ideas would work. But they are surely worth considering, given that their costs are vastly lower and their effects more immediate than the proposals under discussion at Copenhagen. If an unhealthy consensus muzzles the voices of moderate sceptics, we will all be losers.

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Obama's failed strategy in Afghanistan

4 December, 2009

Earlier this week President Obama had a golden chance to prove his doubters wrong by offering a robust policy on Afghanistan. Had he succeeded he would have silenced his critics who have rounded on him for his naivety and inexperience. But he failed to deliver on this most urgent question.

Certainly his promise of an additional 30,000 troops was welcome, despite it coming after many months of prevarication and uncertainty. He understood the mission itself when he stated that Al Qaeda could not be allowed to return to Afghanistan and that a resurgent Taleban would endanger neighbouring Pakistan,a nuclear Islamic state.

But in setting out a clear timetable for withdrawal, he undid all his previous good work. By stating that US troops would begin to leave Afghanistan in the middle of 2011, he effectively gifted the Taleban a great opportunity to regroup in the future. Listening to this speech, these hardened Islamists must have been delighted, knowing that their survival for another 18 months would guarantee them another chance for victory against Western forces.

Obama's supporters would argue that a timetable was essential to put pressure on the corrupt Karzai government. They would also argue that US troops could hardly be expected to stay in the country forever; public opinion would never stand for it.

Both propositions are correct but they also miss a vital point. An exit strategy is only worthwhile if you leave in place the ingredients for success. In other words, troops should not be withdrawn unless the Afghan government has much wider popular backing and when the country's security forces are properly trained to see off a determined insurgency. According to the British military high command, this may not be until 2014. This three year discrepancy between the US and the UK is deeply worrying and can only bode ill.

Yet Obama seems desperate to extricate himself from his predecessor's war. He is pandering to a changing public mood rather than seeking to lead public opinion. If his premature exit strategy leaves Afghanistan secure, the US public will laud his gamble. But if the country goes the way of Vietnam in 1975, the verdict of history will be much less forgiving.

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The Greatest Briton

2 December, 2009

Great news. The Greatest Briton: Essays on Winston Churchill's life and political philosophy is now out and available to the public. The product of 5 years work, the book offers a series of some 60 essays on various aspects of Churchill's public career, helping to dispel many myths and misconceptions that have grown up over the years. Arranged chronologically, the essays also explore questions related to his political philosophy. I have reproduced the publisher's press release that has gone out to various sections of the media:

After several decades of historical revisionism, Winston Churchill remains one of the most controversial figures in modern history. Critics allege he was a diehard imperialist and warmonger, a bitter opponent of the working classes and a maverick opportunist with an insatiable appetite for power. Despite his record as ‘the man who won the war’, he is often accused of being a war criminal.

This book sets out to correct the historical record in a stimulating collection of essays. Arranged in chronological order to show his life in the context of 20th century world history, these essays are both detailed and analytical while still highly accessible to a general audience. Each one answers a specific historical question about Churchill through a critical examination of the literature and existing historical record.

The author believes that Churchill deserves to be remembered as much for his domestic policy as his wartime achievements. Of particular interest is an evaluation of his role in introducing old age pensions and unemployment benefits for the very poorest in Edwardian Britain. This, some historians argue, made the difference between a Russian-type revolution and the continued evolution of democracy at the end of the First World War.

While attention is given to Churchill’s prodigious political accomplishments, the book also shows how he anticipated many important debates facing the world today.A final chapter examines his political philosophy, which is revealed to be more consistent than many imagine.

SHEPHEARD-WALWYN (PUBLISHERS) LTD 107 Parkway House, Sheen Lane London SW14 8LS Tel: 020 8241 5927 Email: books@shepheard-walwyn.co.uk Website: www.shepheard-walwyn.co.uktop

An act of piracy

2 December, 2009

There is nothing surprising about Iran's latest act of international defiance. Fearing that it now faces an international coalition united against its nuclear programme (somewhat fanciful given the strident opposition of Russia and China to sanctions), and boosted by its paranoid perception of world affairs, Iran has lashed out with force.

The 5 sailors who were captured last week by the Revolutionary Guards are simply pawns in Iran's dastardly game of power politics with the West. They will be used as diplomatic leverage while Iran battles with its critics over the coming weeks. The Revolutionary guards, don't forget, control Iran's illicit nuclear programme and wield huge power in the country. So it is a reasonable bet that these five individuals won't be leaving Iran too quickly - or without some price in return.

But no one should be under any illusion about how to describe Iran's behaviour. As in 2007 with the capture of 15 Royal Navy personnel, this was a crime carried out at sea by the long arm of Iranian terror, and against a group of innocents. There used to be a word for this kind of thing that is surely appropriate now: that word is piracy.

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December Entries

• The yearning for liberty is eternal
• Terror in the skies
• Britain’s twisted justice system
• The JFS ruling
• What are our courts up to?
• More Iranian double dealing
• Labour's financial class war
• Why the Copenhagen summit deserves to fail
• Obama's failed strategy in Afghanistan
• The Greatest Briton
• An act of piracy

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