THE killing of innocent Palestinian children has to stop, and I was pleased to read that 14 of the 15 members of the UN Security Council, including the UK, agree (“US vetoes UN resolution calling for immediate ceasefire in Gaza war”, The Herald, November 21).
The US has a long and shameful history of stupid foreign policy decisions. In 1953 it orchestrated the overthrow of Mohammad Mossadegh, the democratically-elected Prime Minister of Iran. That gave the country the autocratic Shah, who reduced his people to misery. Finally, in desperation, they rebelled and invited Ayatollah Khomeini back from exile in Paris in 1979. Out of the frying pan and into the fire, and all kicked off by American and British action 26 years earlier.
In the late 1960s and early 70s, the US carpet-bombed large parts of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, killing hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians. All in furtherance of its highly questionable Domino Theory, that reunification of Vietnam would result in all of South-East Asia turning communist.
In 1973 the US assisted the coup d’etat that overthrew the democratically elected president of Chile, Salvador Allende. General Pinochet seized power and ruled ruthlessly, killing thousands of those who opposed him. Justice almost caught up with him in 1998, when he was arrested in London on charges of genocide and terrorism. Sadly, the Labour government released him in 2000 rather than extradite him to Spain.
And then of course there was Iraq in 2003. I supported British involvement in that endeavour: I was desperate to see the end of Saddam Hussein and his even more barbarous sons Uday and Qusay, and I thought the UK would be able to stop the Americans from making a complete and utter Horlicks of things. I was wrong, I underestimated the sheer stupidity of the US when it comes to foreign affairs. They thought all they had to do was destroy the Iraqi military and kick out the civilian administrators, and Iraq would somehow, magically, emerge as a stable Western-style democracy. If only it was that simple.
There is widespread concern that the US under President Trump will become isolationist, withdrawing from adventures overseas. On balance, I think a period of American withdrawal would do the world good. We might have fewer catastrophes on the scale of those listed above and it might persuade Europe, finally, to stand on its own two feet. Where that would leave the UK is anybody’s guess: a poodle in search of a master.
Doug Maughan, Dunblane.
Read more letters
- Israel is a terrorist state, bent on genocide
- Be under no illusion: Russia is out to expand its empire
Why these double standards?
THE International Criminal Court (ICC) has now issued arrest warrants for the Prime Minister and former Defence Minister of Israel for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity for their actions against Palestinians in Gaza ("ICC issues arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu, Gallant", heraldscotland, November 21).
These alleged actions are ongoing and have now spread to Lebanon (and the West Bank) and show no sign of abating.
So far, the UK Government has refused to condemn Israel for its war crimes, and despite calling for a ceasefire, continues to support the country with military material and equipment, and doubtless in other, less visible ways such as intelligence.
On the other hand, the UK Government is quite rightly forthright in its criticism of Russia in its war on Ukraine, has sanctioned numerous members of the Russian government, and is supplying Ukraine with much-needed arms and equipment to defend itself.
Why the double standards? Why does the UK continue to support one country that we know from TV news reports is responsible for mass slaughter, starvation, ethnic cleansing and destruction of vital infrastructure whilst sanctioning another that is responsible for the same?
Why are the vast majority of Labour MPs (including my own) silent on this? When will they have humanity and courage to address these unfathomable double standards by challenging their government to end all arms and material sales to Israel, to take effective action to protect civilian life in Palestine and Lebanon, and in light of the decision of the ICC to issue warrants for Benjanin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, to immediately impose sanctions on both and all others who are involved at a strategic and tactical level in Israel’s war crimes?
Don’t hold your breath for an answer.
Chris Ewing, Cairneyhill, Fife.
• THE Russian war machine has killed 622 children in its current 1,000-day war against Ukraine, a child kill rate of seven per week.
The Israeli war machine has killed 17, 400 children in its current 413-day war against Gaza, a child kill rate of 413 per week.
The Hamas attack on October 7, 2023 was a massacre. The Israeli continuous attack on the civilian population of Gaza is also a massacre, not a war.
These horrific facts alone fully justify the International Criminal Court's arrest warrants against Prime Minister Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Gallant and the leaders of Hamas, if they are still alive.
WR McCrindle, West Kilbride.
A dangerous appointment
IT is, I suggest, impossible to imagine a more bizarre and dangerous appointment by Donald Trump than that of Mike Huckabee, a Christian Zionist, to the post of US Ambassador to Israel (“Here are the people Trump has picked for key positions so far”, heraldscotland, November 15).
Mike Huckabee maintains that Palestinians must be removed from “the biblically-defined land to facilitate Christ’s return”, specifically that “the West Bank belongs to Israel, the title deed having been given by God to Abraham and to his heirs”.
In 2006, the Anglican and Lutheran Church leaders in Palestine (partners of the Church of Scotland) signed a letter with other Christian church leaders, known as the Jerusalem Declaration on Christian Zionism, which asserted that “the alliance of Christian Zionists with political leaders had led to unending cycles of violence that undermine the security of all peoples of the Middle East and the rest of the world”.
Surely even Keir Starmer, in spite of him being far too close an ally of an Israel under Benjamin Netanyahu, ought to be seriously worried at the consequences for world peace of the combination of a mentally unhinged president and influential religious extremism in both Israel and America.
John Milne, Uddingston.
The world is on the brink
ON Tuesday (November 19), with the world facing the greatest threat of nuclear war since the Cuban Crisis in 1962, the BBC News At One made the topic second item after the farmers' protest at 1.14pm; ITN was no better in the evening as it mirrored that, with the item coming on at 6.44pm.While the BBC had limited analysis, ITN's Robert Peston clearly endorsed the views of the PM at the G20 in Rio, Brazil.
Ever since the Ukraine/Russian war began, a number of Russian politicians, including Vladimir Putin, Sergei Lavrov and Dmitry Medvedev, have threatened a tactical nuclear strike.
President Biden presumably felt empowered that so many red lines have been crossed that he is now allowing Ukraine to fire a limited number of US missiles at Russia.
One month ago, ignored by most of the UK media, Russia launched a massive drill of its nuclear forces which Defence Minister Andrei Belousov explained was a rehearsal for precisely the situation President Biden is now envisaging. The drill involved ICBMs, nuclear missile submarines, TU95 nuclear bombers and Cruise missiles. Russia recently revised its nuclear doctrine and it is not bluffing.
Russia has 5,580 nuclear warheads and the world is on the brink.At the G20 summit in Brazil Sir Keir Starmer had bilateral talks with Chairman Xi . He should have urged him to be the ideal honest broker as the Chinese peace proposals remain on the table. President-elect Trump is right to condemn President's Biden's policy change as bordering on insanity.There is more than a suggestion that the current grandstanding is preparing bargaining chips for those inevitable talks, but they are playing with our very lives in the meantime.
John V Lloyd, Inverkeithing.
The naivety of Keir Starmer
THE Prime Minister displays his political naivety once again but regretfully it is on the world stage for all to see. Whilst China supports Russia in its war against Ukraine and the Head of MI5, in 2024, warned of the “epic scale” of Chinese spying against the UK, Keir Starmer cosies up to President Xi Jinping hoping to build “pragmatic and serious relationships” with China ("Starmer tells Jinping he wants ‘respectful’ relations with Beijing", The Herald, November 19). All of this just a day before the Hong Kong/China regime jails 45 of the democracy protesters, confirming (if confirmation was needed) that China will do what China wants to do and the platitudes expressed by Keir Starmer are utterly meaningless.
Putin and Xi will have quiet but very dangerous smiles on their faces.
Richard Allison, Edinburgh.
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