On Friday night I interrupted my viewing of the England match to see the start of a chilling news programme which would leave me awake until the early hours of the morning.
A bitter and dire situation has unfolded on the land of Marianne and it will cast a shadow over Europe, a shadow made up of extremism, hatred and twisted, evil faith. As I stand a few days after the awful shadow looms, as the spears are sharpened and the belt of security is tightened across the Western World we must all try and sit around the table and sort all of this out.
The Assad regime in Syria is a disgusting, backward dictatorship but the circumstances of the world have now forced our hand, we need not back Assad but we are forced into a corner now, ISIS is inside Europe, we must push on and remove their power at the source, in Syria and the Middle East
Promising signs at the G20 have shown Mr Cameron sat alongside Mr Putin, I have no affection for this man but need I remind you that we allied with Stalin to beat Hitler? That we are happy to stand alongside Saudi Arabia and recently recommended them for a human rights seat at the UN? I'm not saying we should have no morality internationally but diplomacy is often more difficult than 'this is evil so we won't support it' or even 'this is good so we will support it'. Right now our path is clear, all of the big players want ISIS gone and currently chipping away separately is not hitting them hard enough. The concentrated might of NATO and Russia would destroy their apparatus quicker than the current situation could ever hope to. As unwise as it may appear at face value we have to get rid of this threat, and we have to do it now. The Russians, NATO and all of our key allies are behind it, everyone seems to be. In response to the foul Islamic State it is vital that the world unites against this evil, you cannot negotiate with these people and even if we could would we want to?
War is hell, we all know this and it must be avoided wherever possible, I agree with this very strongly as a man of peace who sees violence as the last resort, yet the last resort we have reached... Innocent people will die, Assad will stay but that is how war works and many will lose even if they survive. Right now we have a greater call, a call to remove an evil that knows no bounds, with no international allies there is no reason for ISIS to march to the drum of anyone but itself. If we allow it to continue London, Moscow, Marseille, Madrid and Washington may see more blood spilled.
The values of Marianne were built on the blood of the upper classes, the American Revolution allowed colonialists to build a nation on slave labor and Trafalgar allowed the British to choke the worlds resources in the name of Britannia for another 100 years. History is built on blood, the decision we face now is not What will the world think if we back Assad? rather the question is What will the world think if we do not destroy ISIS?
Finally I must point out that the Egypt disaster may not have been ISIS (I don't know, no one does) but it was a foul act that seems likely to be the act of similar extremists, today I weep not just with Marianne but with Mother Russia too.
The Assad regime in Syria is a disgusting, backward dictatorship but the circumstances of the world have now forced our hand, we need not back Assad but we are forced into a corner now, ISIS is inside Europe, we must push on and remove their power at the source, in Syria and the Middle East
Promising signs at the G20 have shown Mr Cameron sat alongside Mr Putin, I have no affection for this man but need I remind you that we allied with Stalin to beat Hitler? That we are happy to stand alongside Saudi Arabia and recently recommended them for a human rights seat at the UN? I'm not saying we should have no morality internationally but diplomacy is often more difficult than 'this is evil so we won't support it' or even 'this is good so we will support it'. Right now our path is clear, all of the big players want ISIS gone and currently chipping away separately is not hitting them hard enough. The concentrated might of NATO and Russia would destroy their apparatus quicker than the current situation could ever hope to. As unwise as it may appear at face value we have to get rid of this threat, and we have to do it now. The Russians, NATO and all of our key allies are behind it, everyone seems to be. In response to the foul Islamic State it is vital that the world unites against this evil, you cannot negotiate with these people and even if we could would we want to?
War is hell, we all know this and it must be avoided wherever possible, I agree with this very strongly as a man of peace who sees violence as the last resort, yet the last resort we have reached... Innocent people will die, Assad will stay but that is how war works and many will lose even if they survive. Right now we have a greater call, a call to remove an evil that knows no bounds, with no international allies there is no reason for ISIS to march to the drum of anyone but itself. If we allow it to continue London, Moscow, Marseille, Madrid and Washington may see more blood spilled.
The values of Marianne were built on the blood of the upper classes, the American Revolution allowed colonialists to build a nation on slave labor and Trafalgar allowed the British to choke the worlds resources in the name of Britannia for another 100 years. History is built on blood, the decision we face now is not What will the world think if we back Assad? rather the question is What will the world think if we do not destroy ISIS?
Finally I must point out that the Egypt disaster may not have been ISIS (I don't know, no one does) but it was a foul act that seems likely to be the act of similar extremists, today I weep not just with Marianne but with Mother Russia too.
