Opinion | Tony Blair, you are wrong, and you are dangerously ignorant
By Philip Yeung, a university teacher
PKY480@gmail.com
Mr. Blair, you are wrong again. You had committed the biggest blunder of your political life by throwing in your lot with the US in its Iraqi war-- on non-existent "weapons of mass destruction". This mother of all errors is a stain, irremovable for all eternity. Thereafter, your pontifications on foreign affairs can only be taken with a large pinch of salt. But apparently, you are no wiser after the war.
Your latest mistake is in amplifying the US chorus against a misperceived China "threat", counselling the West to "stand up" to China. Well, China doesn't need being stood up to. It needs being understood.
You are a lawyer by training. Evidence is the lifeblood of litigation. So, where is the smoking gun about China's ill or imperial intentions? In law, you judge someone's actions, not just by your own slippery prejudices.
The ear-splitting noise over Taiwan is coming from an insecure America, with its equally insecure allies in tow. Instead of scrupulously gathering evidence, you choose to regurgitate America's undigested propaganda.
Let's put China under the microscope.
Instead of waging foreign wars, China has been busy building stunning, sea-skimming bridges in Bangladesh, and economy-boosting highways in Africa. Yes, China has been busy---not busy warmongering, but helping others in nation-building. The US, by stark contrast, has blood on its hands--blowing up bridges, napalming forests, murdering innocent civilians. It is no longer the moral America of old.
Name one foreign war in the last 50 years that has China's name on it. You can't, because there is none. China's international behavior is saint-like. War is America's original sin. Black is white, and white is black. And you wonder why America is hated and mistrusted around the world.
The nerve-jangling noise over Taiwan comes from America driving a wedge between the island province and the mainland. Its underhanded strategy is to artfully unsettle Beijing and capitalize on unfounded fears from the Ukraine war, except China is a different animal from the Russian bear. A constant stream of US leaders and ex-leaders now flock to Taiwan to pour fuel on the fire—including Trump's former defense secretary Mark Esper, soon, supposedly, to be joined by none other than Nancy Pelosy who has built her brand on her monstrous and mindless hatred of China. These high-profile political visits serve only one purpose: to sting and rattle China into ruinous armed conflict.
Just like your ill-judged Iraqi co-adventure, your ignorance and misjudgment about China is breathtaking. You clearly haven't done your homework. Go and see China and witness the utter transformation of a once bowed and belittled nation.
I don't begrudge you the fat speaking fees from the lecture circuit. But you must offer more than rehashing tiresome US disinformation. Try weaning yourself off the habit of parroting America propaganda.
China's only "threat" is its jaw-dropping economic rise. Its "military build-up" is a direct byproduct of America's non-stop encirclement. In the face of existential threat, doesn't every nation have a duty to defend itself?
Your sycophancy to America is becoming second nature. But, in your unquestioning fidelity to America, you have missed a real threat to peace in the region: the re-militarization of Japan.
This once-evil empire had killed tens of millions of innocent civilians across Asia. Britain and its POW's were all traumatized victims of Japan's brutal invasions. There can be no peace in Asia without a disarmed Japan. That's the 24-carat truth. Now, thanks to America's fanning of China fears, the imperial ambitions of Japan are being reignited—an unrepentant aggressor that, unlike Germany, has yet to apologize for its war atrocities.
You bet on that illegal Iraqi invasion which took a million lives. When you extricated yourself militarily, you had your tail between your legs, and your good name in tatters.
By now, it is self-evident that whoever follows America into unjust foreign forays will reap a bitter harvest. Just look at Australia's shattered reputation in America's chaotic Afghan war.
You cannot redeem your reputation by, once again, foolishly enabling American aggression. Better enjoy your English afternoon tea, or wake up to Starbuck's coffee, that China's so-called "sins" are nothing but a fig leaf for America's naked desire for world domination.
I have lost faith in the wacky Western "democratically chosen" leaders, whose ranks are populated by the likes of the dangerously delusional Trump, the utterly amoral, self-seeking Boris and the mentally challenged Scott Morrison. Thankfully, all three are has-beens.
And you Mr. Blair, you could have been a great prime minister, until you decided to suck up to America in a falsely glorious war of aggression. You gambled and lost big. Shouldn't you now disqualify yourself from advising others to repeat your mistake? Or, will you ever learn?
The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.
Read more articles by Philip Yeung:
Comment