Damascus gas attack - who did it and how will the west spin it ?

[Barbirollians]

It's always good to investigate sources: Dan Hodges has quit the Labour party over the Syria vote, says the Telegraph story. Elsewhere we read in the same paper: "Dan Hodges is a Blairite cuckoo in the Miliband nest." No surprise there then. A Blairite has left Miliband's Labour party.



Perhaps. The dilemma is what to do, and whether it should be done at this point. Even the US didn't plunge straight in to the war to defeat Adolf, certainly not 'in 1939'. Arguably their timing could be improved?

Dan Hodges was plainly in the wrong party - he has far more in common with Cameron Tories than Labour . He won't be missed.

Even his mother never agrees with him !

[ahinton]

That sums up nicely my feelings about Lord Ashdown. A former soldier in the Special Boat Service, and from a military family, his politics seem to be based on the proposition that Britain is a subset of the British Armed forces.

Paddy, making Britain Big is not necessarily making Britain Better, for its ownself or for the world in general. I'm sure we have a few lessons to learn from the Chinese in this respect.

That's always the impression that he's given me - one that seems to be alarmingly dependent upon militarism of one kind or another as an enforcer of policy and even something of which to be proud and to which to aspire; like the proposed anti-gay legislation in Russia that's been discussed elsewhere here, his stance as best I understand it seems to me to represent a backward step that's as deeply unwelcome and unhelpful as it is embarrassing.

[ahinton]

Ashdown seems to think that Britain's respect in the world is based on its governments' preparedness to kill people with missiles.

He does indeed, except that I'd be wary of describing his attitude as having resulted from "thinking".

I would go so far as to say that the majority of people in the world would take the opposite view.

Indeed - as they should - and, if such an attitude held sway, the entire militaristic ambitions of individuals and governments would begin to collapse in favour of something for more beneficial to humanity. Ashdown now claims to be ashamed of his country, in apparent disregard or concern for just how many of its citizens might feel even more ashamed of him and with far better reason.

[Mr Pee]

He does indeed, except that I'd be wary of describing his attitude as having resulted from "thinking".

Unbelievable.

[ahinton]

Unbelievable.

Much warmer this time; I would certainly describe Ashdown's attitude as that!

[Resurrection Man]

Unbelievable.

'Supercilious' was the phrase that came to my mind when I read it.

[Tony Halstead]

it

what exactly?

[Mr Pee]

what exactly?

ahintons ridiculous,unbelievable, and supercilious post.

[ahinton]

'Supercilious' was the phrase that came to my mind when I read it.

Whether Ashdown's expressions on this issue are more or less unbelievable than supercilious is presumably in the eye of the beholder and it's not for me to assess the comparison, frankly, since what is more important is that it's simply not in tune with what the majority of the electorate are said to believe about the matter and, be that right or wrong, it's still not in tune with the vote concerned; either way, Ashdown's "sentiments" seem to have found little favour which, under the circumstances of so complex a situation as the current one in Syria, is hardly surprising.

[ahinton]

ahintons ridiculous,unbelievable, and supercilious post.

"Ridiculous", "unbelievable" and "supercilious" to and/or by whom, on what specific grounds and with what and whose reliable corroborative evidence, pray? Oh, and, as the absent apostrophe in "ahintons" isn't a grocer's example, you needn't be embarrassed to include it in the appropriate place (assuming that you know where that would be)...

Anyway, as I've implied above, Ashdowns to Ashdowns, dust to dust...

[Mr Pee]

"Ridiculous", "unbelievable" and "supercilious" to and/or by whom, on what specific grounds and with what and whose reliable corroborative evidence, pray? Oh, and, as the absent apostrophe in "ahintons" isn't a grocer's example, you needn't be embarrassed to include it in the appropriate place (assuming that you know where that would be)...

Anyway, as I've iimpled above, Ashdowns to Ashdowns, dust to dust...

I don't know where you've implied that final sentence or indeed what on earth you mean by it.

Anyway, moving on, I just think it ridiculous, unbelievable and, as RM said, supercilious that you would dismiss the view of an experienced and knowledgeable figure such as Lord Ashdown simply because he takes an opposing view. Of course he has thought about it. He has just come to a different view, and one which deserves respect even if you disagree.

[Mr Pee]

Oh, and, as the absent apostrophe in "ahintons" isn't a grocer's example, you needn't be embarrassed to include it in the appropriate place (assuming that you know where that would be)...

ahinton's. There. Is that better?

You picked me up on another minor typo a while ago, a trait that is rather pompous and tiresome. We all make mistakes occasionally:-

Anyway, as I've iimpled above

Even you.

[MrGongGong]

Oh look ..........

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/britain-sold-nerve-gas-chemicals-2242520

what a surprise

[ahinton]

I don't know where you've implied that final sentence or indeed what on earth you mean by it.

Not my problem, Mr Pee.

Anyway, moving on,

Really?(!)...

I just think it ridiculous, unbelievable and, as RM said, supercilious that you would dismiss the view of an experienced and knowledgeable figure such as Lord Ashdown simply because he takes an opposing view. Of course he has thought about it. He has just come to a different view, and one which deserves respect even if you disagree.

It is not even so much that I merely "disagree" with his expressed views on this particular issue but that, as I and othes have noted; his entire demeanour comes across as being of the obsessively swashbuckling kind that all too often conveys a distinct impression that - perhaps because of his background - the moment a problem becomes sufficiently serious, military input is required. In other words, his entire ethos (of one could call it that) is vastly over-dependent upon militarist attitudes.

[ahinton]

ahinton's. There. Is that better?

You picked me up on another minor typo a while ago, a trait that is rather pompous and tiresome. We all make mistakes occasionally:-

Even you.

Did I ever suggest otherwise? As to "pompous and tiresome", I do accept that this is something on which your posts sometimes identify you as a notable authority, Mr Pee...