“The new imperialism which will for ever be linked to the names Bush and Blair has taken just five years to hit the buffers of popular opposition and moral ignominy. Imperialism has moved from the realm of political jargon to be the central issue of our time - and is seen as such everywhere beyond the ramparts of the neoconservative-New Labour alliance. In Iraq, the great testing ground for "liberal interventionism", the pitch of resistance to the armies of occupation, along with the failure of a parade of hand-picked premiers to deliver even a facade of stability, is, according to the New York Times, leading George Bush to consider abandoning his "democratic" experiment in favour of, presumably, a dictatorship. In Afghanistan, to which British troops were rushed nearly five years after regime change was imposed, the Karzai government is floundering in epic levels of corruption. […] And despite Blair's determined green light to Israel's attack on Lebanon, the "long, strong arm of the US" in the region - as the Israeli commentator Sima Kadmon describes his country - has had to retreat with its objectives unmet. No one seems to be rushing to pick up the white man's burden there either.” Andrew Murray, chair of the Stop the War Coalition
“When does a UN-mandated peacekeeping force become an imperialist army of occupation? […]For Andrew the democratically elected government of Afghanistan does not deserve support because the country still suffers from corruption and human rights violations, but by that logic the UN should also pull out of most Africa. […]But trying to reduce the complexity of every individual conflict to a simple question of "whose side are you on" contributes little - although Andrew's claim that Hizbullah is now backed by "the Latin American left", did at least make me laugh. […]both the "anti-imperialists" and the "liberal hawks" share a similar disregard for those on the receiving end of humanitarian crises if they do not fit within their own particular ideological framework. But Andrew's analysis is worse than the "politics of the guilt-trip". It is lazy, simplistic and stupid.” Conor Foley.
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