‘Global Britain’ cannot lead itself out of dire straits, let alone Asia
- Only a former Australian PM could get away with an article in a country with its health service on brink of collapse and poverty taking heavy toll
The National Health Service, the closest thing Britain has to a national religion, is on the brink of collapse. The country’s national power grid is falling apart this winter, with blackouts being reported as voluntary power turn-offs by households. Seriously, families are being paid by the state not to use energy, which is more expensive.
Meanwhile, the British economy is in worse shape than most Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries.
A BBC headline warns “thousands of firms” face going bust this year because of the fallouts from Brexit.
But amid all the doom and gloom, the conservative daily The Telegraph runs a big commentary celebrating “Global Britain” as, the writer claims, the post-Brexit nation “has become a military leader in the East”. What?
The average British pundit may be too weary and sensible to write such a provocative op-ed at this time. So it makes sense that it was actually penned by none other than Tony Abbott, a former prime minister of Australia.
“It is easy to be so consumed by day-to-day international events that you miss a major development,” he wrote. “Some days ago, one such development occurred. A treaty, signed at the Tower of London, allowing British forces to be stationed in Japan, and vice versa, marks a new phase in the re-emergence of Global Britain.”
His basic argument, if I paraphrase correctly, is that all the Anglo-American nations of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance must band together to flood the South China Sea, and even the whole region, with their military hardware to deter China.
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As he quoted Edmund Burke: “When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.”
Technically, though, none of these “white men” countries are even physically in Asia proper.
Yet, they are so keen, at least on Abbott’s telling, to protect Asians and preserve peace in the region that they should all line themselves up for a Mexican stand-off with China.
As a matter of common sense, wouldn’t such a face-off among the world’s most powerful countries armed to the teeth create a far more dangerous environment that could potentially lead to war, whether accidentally or not?
Clearly, Abbott is not too far off from the thinking of the current leaders of the Five Eyes. New Zealand just has a new prime minister who looks set to be less “peace-loving” than Jacinda Ardern.
Perhaps the Western leaders may care to consult other Asian regional leaders – in whose name they are supposed to be preparing to fight – besides the Japanese.
Most countries in Asia are actually scared out of their wits. Why? Because if any conflagration goes up, it’s their countries that will go up in smoke, not the Five Eyes. It’s rhetoric like Abbott’s that makes countries such as Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia and South Korea nervous as they try to play both sides and moderate their belligerence.
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If a British politician had written all that grandiosity like Abbott about the UK at this time, he or she would rightly be seen as delusional. They would likely be accused of trying to distract the British public from domestic collapses, no? Since it’s the Australian Abbott, though, one supposes that’s OK for the Telegraph to run it.
But seriously, “Global Britain”, a leftover tagline from the era of David Cameron when he was sharing a few pints at a pub with Xi Jinping in Buckinghamshire!? Where has Abbott been the past couple of years?
Or perhaps he is just too clever by half. The more allies such as Japan and Britain contribute their military to the region, the less Australia will have to cough up.
However, economically and politically, Britain may be too far gone to take up the military slack. But then, it may yet seek military adventure in the Far East to rekindle a bit of the old imperial fire and distract the British public from its dire straits.
