Hard-Headed Internationalism

The Glorious Successor has finally come up with a brand name for his continuation of the Vicar's foreign policy, apparently because he is "trying to draw a distinction between what some", presumably journalists and other creatures of little memory, "regard as the former prime minister's idealism, especially his faith in the healing powers of democracy, and economic renewal". Gordon wishes to be seen as harder than Tony, who has probably only helped to kill a few hundred thousand people. Gordon's brand of international aggression is called "hard-headed internationalism". It is hard-headed because the international community of Britain, the US and Israel "now rightly recognise our responsibility to protect behind borders where there are crimes against humanity", as in Saudi Arabia. Still, "if we are to honour that responsibility to protect we urgently need a new framework to assist reconstruction". The thinking, if I may so flatter it, seems to be that if we rebuild the little brown people's homes for them after the initial shock and awe, they might be less inclined to support those who are trying to kick us out of the countries where we have so generously, if hard-headedly, intervened. Gordon suggested "a standby civilian force including police and judiciary who can be deployed to rebuild civilian societies". This certainly has potential. Recalcitrant jurists who come down on the wrong side of the argument between legal propriety and political expediency, or policemen who are too much inclined to ask questions first and shoot later, might learn a salutory lesson or two if they were suddenly dispatched to the Third World with orders to rebuild a civilian society. Gordon also reassured the international community that he has "no truck with anti-Americanism in Britain or elsewhere in Europe" and that "our ties with America founded on values we share constitute our most important bilateral relationship". In what may be seen as an example of the sharedness of British and American values, particularly the sense of humour, he noted that "progress in the Middle East would require a roadmap for economic reconstruction" once the demolition is complete, and recommended that the American-run World Bank "should become a bank for the environment".