Last night the Labour Party launched a brilliant Party Political Broadcast , focusing on the Tories failure to deal with crime in this country, the unacceptable cuts to police numbers. A brilliant bit of the work by the Labour team followed up with similar messages from Jeremy Corbyn and the Front Bench team.
Also this week the party have announced some policies about pets- a popular campaign issue, that all local councillors could tell you - and important to many residents , so understandable why Labour would come out with a policy that makes it easier for tenants to keep pets in their houses and flats. But I do wonder if they consulted any Labour run authorities to ask about the problems that we often have with pets and their owners.
Good to see policies coming out and often as with the campaign on police numbers with good use of newspapers, TV and social media. But there are some topics we just seem to want to ignore.
BREXIT - I wish we would be more Pro EU, or just make our position clear - but I understand why it is difficult and not just because in the past Corbyn has been seen to be anti the EU. Many of our voters, particularly in the Midlands and the North voted to leave, if we came out pushing for a second referendum we would probably lose any hope of winning back seats like Mansfield.
However, there is no excuse for the silence on defence issues from Corbyn and his Front Bench team, again, defence is a difficult issue for Jeremy, he in the past ( and a not too distant past) has been very anti NATO, critical of both defence policy and the British Army and that is without even mentioning Northern Ireland.
But defence is a big issue, the armed Forces are facing savage cuts from this Tory Government, people are losing jobs and this country is not being protected like it should be. Defence is an Achilles heel for Corbyn, speaking up on it now may help people change their mind on if he could be a good PM - but it seems he would rather stay silent, and not upset his friends in organisations like 'Stop the War.
This is a mistake not only if he wishes to win the next General Election but if he wants to be seen as a statesmen that people respect, trust and can get things done - not just in the UK but internationally.
Cuurently over 1,000 British troops are deployed to the Baltic states to help defend them from the Russian threat, a threat that is probably more severe now than it was during most of the Cold War. British troops are still in Iraq, helping training the Iraq armed Forces and the Kurds, so they can continue the fight against ISIS. British servicemen and women are also deployed in a number of African countries, helping those countries fight back again the rise of Islamic terrorist groups.
And if that was not enough, Afghanistan is close to losing a large percentage of it's land back to Taliban control - but what do we get from Corbyn?? A policy that will allow people in flats have the right to own a dog!
I understand that his principles and his association with certain groups make talking about defence a difficult situation but if wants to lead a Labour Government into power, he needs to start talking about defence and that does not just mean criticising American foreign policy or talking about the conflicts that Tony Blair took us into.
He rightfully attacked the Tory Government for their handling of the Carillion collapse but he could have highlighted the fact that the Tories gave Carillion control of Armed Forces housing, so now soldiers, sailors and airmen are not even sure who their landlords are - they are more worried about who will fix a leaky pipe when they are away on operations rather than can they keep a pet budgie.
There is no defence for Corbyn not talking about 'defence'
Showing posts with label NATO. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NATO. Show all posts
Thursday, 15 February 2018
Sunday, 17 February 2008
Kosovo- Declares itself independent from Serbia.
Well the week’s worst kept secret happened this afternoon as Kosovo declared itself independent from Serbia. I have followed this story very closely as I spent the end of 1999 and the start of 200 in Pristina, the capital- as part of the NATO Peace keeping force.
We arrived only a few weeks after the NATO led invasion and it seemed to be a very quick transition from Serb rule to a UN/NATO led state. It seemed that the UN/NATO and the aid agencies had learnt many lessons from earlier conflicts in the Balkans and that a peaceful turnover of power to the Albanian majority could take place.
It has surprised me that it has taken 8 years to get in this position but in the main, i believe an independent Kosovo is the best solution.
But reading through the national and international press, some of the worries that I have are hardly mentioned. Much is made of Serbia and Russia not being happy and that Serbia may man some sort of blockade from the North and East (in reality this will make no great difference to Kosovo- they will just trade with Macedonia, Greece and Bulgaria and it will be Serb's who lose out on income). there is also talk of Russia recognising breakaway regions in Georgia and Rumania.
The press also mention that the remaining Serb's will not be happy- that may seem obvious, but in 2000, many of those Serbs who stayed behind- especially in the capital Pristina- were very anti the Serb nationalist Government in Belgrade. Many of those have since left and a majority of those Serbs that are left are very poor or very old, the only real area of Serb influence is in the north in the city of Mitrovica, a city where my former regiment, the Royal Green Jackets were involved policing large Albanian protest at the start of 2000.
My worry is that many of the Albanian leaders will look to increase their own territory- not so much a Greater Albania- as they have little interest in joining Albania but it is the parts of Macedonia that are inhabited by a mainly Albania population and the area where my main worry is the parts of Serbia to the direct east of Kosovo, there is a large Albanian population and right from the start of the withdrawal of the Serb Army in 1999 the Kosovo Liberation army have made raids on that part of Serbia. Many of these attacks seemed to come from the American sector where there seemed very little will of the American commanders to stop the KLA- very unlike the North east where the British put a large amount of
We arrived only a few weeks after the NATO led invasion and it seemed to be a very quick transition from Serb rule to a UN/NATO led state. It seemed that the UN/NATO and the aid agencies had learnt many lessons from earlier conflicts in the Balkans and that a peaceful turnover of power to the Albanian majority could take place.
It has surprised me that it has taken 8 years to get in this position but in the main, i believe an independent Kosovo is the best solution.
But reading through the national and international press, some of the worries that I have are hardly mentioned. Much is made of Serbia and Russia not being happy and that Serbia may man some sort of blockade from the North and East (in reality this will make no great difference to Kosovo- they will just trade with Macedonia, Greece and Bulgaria and it will be Serb's who lose out on income). there is also talk of Russia recognising breakaway regions in Georgia and Rumania.
The press also mention that the remaining Serb's will not be happy- that may seem obvious, but in 2000, many of those Serbs who stayed behind- especially in the capital Pristina- were very anti the Serb nationalist Government in Belgrade. Many of those have since left and a majority of those Serbs that are left are very poor or very old, the only real area of Serb influence is in the north in the city of Mitrovica, a city where my former regiment, the Royal Green Jackets were involved policing large Albanian protest at the start of 2000.
My worry is that many of the Albanian leaders will look to increase their own territory- not so much a Greater Albania- as they have little interest in joining Albania but it is the parts of Macedonia that are inhabited by a mainly Albania population and the area where my main worry is the parts of Serbia to the direct east of Kosovo, there is a large Albanian population and right from the start of the withdrawal of the Serb Army in 1999 the Kosovo Liberation army have made raids on that part of Serbia. Many of these attacks seemed to come from the American sector where there seemed very little will of the American commanders to stop the KLA- very unlike the North east where the British put a large amount of
resources into stopping the KLA and keeping the border area under control.
If you look at the map on the BBC News site here, and tick the box above the map to show the percentage of Albanians outside Kosovo and Albania you will see where there may be future trouble spots.
I do believe in independence for Kosovo but NATO must continue to keep a strong presence not only to help protect the Serb minority but also to stop those in the KLA (and possibly CIA!) from using this historic step today as a springboard for future land grabs from Serbia and Macedonia.
If you look at the map on the BBC News site here, and tick the box above the map to show the percentage of Albanians outside Kosovo and Albania you will see where there may be future trouble spots.
I do believe in independence for Kosovo but NATO must continue to keep a strong presence not only to help protect the Serb minority but also to stop those in the KLA (and possibly CIA!) from using this historic step today as a springboard for future land grabs from Serbia and Macedonia.
Myself in Pristina in 2000.
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