Monday, March 21, 2011

Cameron Fails the Palmerston Test!

Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish is on the money as usual, although I think he under-states the genuine difficulty faced by Barack Obama. Sullivan has been blogging consistently against intervention in Libya, and here uses a historical parallel with Palmerston's refusal to take action to support the put-upon Hungarians in 1848. Sullivan uses Obama as the contemporary foil, but it works as well with the current holder of Palmerston's former office. Cameron has decided not to resist the pull of interventionism. Palmerston, the successful practitioner of 'gunboat diplomacy', did. Palmerston's historical reputation is assured. It'll be a while before the verdict on Cameron can start to be formed!

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The retreat of liberalism goes on

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