Bloody hell, what was that bang?
Jul. 7th, 2005 02:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
peterbirksWell, an exciting couple of days for Londoners, I think you will agree. With inspired timing, I decided to work at home today. Londoners at work, I suspect, will be less worried about being blown up than they will be about how they are going to get home.
Of course, there is much that one could write about this, but I'll just say that the most impressive speech about the affair came from Ken Livingstone in Singapore. Tony Blair was clearly deeply shaken, and I don't think that we will see as many major leaders in agreement on a single stage again in my lifetime. But Livingstone's speech was the only one that got me nodding my head in vigorous agreement. To quote single parts of it would be to reduce its impact, but the gist of it was:
people come to London from all over the world because no-one tells them how they should live their lives. You who are trying to kill us want to tell us how we should live. No matter how many Londoners you may kill, Christian or Moslem, Hindu or Jew, white or black, you cannot win, because we will never let you tell us how we should live.
As a PR person from Soho might say. Absolutely.
Of course, there is much that one could write about this, but I'll just say that the most impressive speech about the affair came from Ken Livingstone in Singapore. Tony Blair was clearly deeply shaken, and I don't think that we will see as many major leaders in agreement on a single stage again in my lifetime. But Livingstone's speech was the only one that got me nodding my head in vigorous agreement. To quote single parts of it would be to reduce its impact, but the gist of it was:
people come to London from all over the world because no-one tells them how they should live their lives. You who are trying to kill us want to tell us how we should live. No matter how many Londoners you may kill, Christian or Moslem, Hindu or Jew, white or black, you cannot win, because we will never let you tell us how we should live.
As a PR person from Soho might say. Absolutely.
Re: Wimpish Spaniards
Date: 2005-07-09 05:54 am (UTC)But it's worth bearing in mind that an overwhelming majority of Spaniards had never wanted to join the war in Iraq in the first place. Aznar defied the voters in sending troops to Iraq, and they had a right to punish him for it, even though the timing was unfortunate.
If you'd accuse them of wimpishness for wanting to stay out of the war, I don't think I agree. Spain's armed forces exist to defend Spain, and arguably its vital interests abroad. Iraq certainly isn't Spain, and I don't think it counts as a Spanish vital interest either.
If I had friends or relations among Spanish troops sent to Iraq, I guess I'd be cross with Aznar too for putting their lives at risk just so that he could sit at a table with the big boys.