Martin Kettle has an interesting article about the Euston Manifesto in the Guardian.
"It is also time that both sides looked the question of the United States more fully in the eye. America is not the problem; on that the manifesto is right. But the Bush administration unquestionably is. The pro-war school, both among the authors and in the British government, never properly acknowledges the historic rupture represented by Bush. But it would not have been like this if Al Gore had won in 2000."
Bizarre. Is Al Gore really the messiah, and the American people chose to spurn him? Unlikely, he was a less than effective politician who didn't command a majority in the US and was rightly rejected.
The Bush administration represents a very important departure in US politics. It will be seen as the point at which the US actually began to play a role in the world. Legions of administrations had previously peeked at the wider world from behind net curtains, only coming out after the neighbours had spent time hammering on the door demanding that they come out and help sort out the rowdies from down the road.
The world needs a strong US. There are problems that we've allowed to develop for decades and which we've only just started to address. Hiding within our own borders isn't enough any more. It's time for dictators and rogue states to be afraid, very afraid.
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