Starmer opposed the Iraq War in 2003 but on Ukraine he’s not so sure
Keir Starmer has reaffirmed Labour’s commitment to NATO pointing out that Ernie Bevin Labour Foreign Secretary in the Attlee Government signed the founding statement in 1949. Starmer is right that Labour’s commitment to NATO has remained but has left out some other bits of history.
NATO was a US backed Cold War alliance designed to face off against the Moscow backed Warsaw Pact. This it did until 1989 when the Soviet Union ended. Starmer claims it maintained peace in Europe (as did the Warsaw Pact). This was done by outsourcing military conflicts elsewhere in the world- Vietnam being the most obvious place.
Since 1989 there has been no Communist ‘menace’ to oppose so what is NATO doing. Essentially there is a battle between rival world powers for economic purposes. After 1989 the US saw the chance to increase its influence in Eastern Europe. More recently Russia, seeing the US consumed in domestic crisis has sought to do the reverse.
What interest does Britain have in this? Little one might think except the country is aligned with the US.
Starmer has written in the Guardian backing NATO and attacking the Stop the War Coalition and Jeremy Corbyn. It’s a classic Cold War two camps argument. Starmer is in the US camp and claims STWC is in the Russian one. It has pointed out that it isn’t. Its focus is on stopping murderous imperial wars.
Starmer once understood this and wrote in the Guardian in 2003 when he was a human rights lawyer that the Iraq War was likely to be illegal. Even as recently as last year he was noting the need to win back Labour voters alienated by Iraq.
Now he is clearly prepared to back a war in Ukraine and to use classic Cold War arguments that even Blair kept clear of
Lindsey German on Starmer & war
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