Must Read- "We should not trot along obediently as the ever-loyal poodle …

[malaise]

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/29/no-10-curses-but-empire-is-over
<snip>
Last night in the Commons a great switch was thrown in the national psyche and nothing may ever be quite the same again. This is not a left-right shift, but a long-delayed acceptance that Britain is less powerful and poorer than it was, weary of wars and no longer proud to punch above its weight. No more pretending, no more posturing.

Next week Rule Britannia will belt out loud as ever at the Proms in that partly ironic parade of cheerful patriotism. But the great game is over. Poor David Cameron has been the one left stranded when the music stopped, still singing as everyone else falls silent. From Number 10 came effing and blinding at Ed Miliband, calling him, as reported in the Times, a "f****** c*** and a copper-bottomed s***". But it wasn't Labour, it was Cameron's whole country who had changed while he wasn't looking. Cue last-minute key change in Downing Street's unconditional promise to the US, but he's still out of tune with a country that doesn't want to go to war.

As the true meaning of end of empire sinks in, great questions follow. Why continue to spend more than comparable countries on defence? Why do we (and France) still squat in UN security council seats? What is the point of Trident, dependent entirely on the closest allegiance to America?

Labour's determination to make strict conditions on legality and objectives is what you would expect under a leader whose first act was to repudiate Iraq. Behind him sit benches of MPs bitterly regretting their vote for that war. Let Dame Tessa Jowell, one-time passionate Blairite, stand as bellwether for that sore lesson: she has been re-reading her verbatim notes of the cast-iron but false assurances ministers were given back in 2003. For many who were there, as for Miliband who was not, this is the chance to show that solemn lessons have been learned. Contrary to charges of cheap opportunism, this hasn't been easy for Miliband, wrenching his close links with Obama's Democrats. Labour's left always had an anti-American reflex, but not Ed Miliband's entourage.
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[KittyWampus]

1. I hope 2 things. We don't attack Syria in the near future. And that decision doesn't come back

to haunt us.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. That same realization will come to the US someday

The empire part

[malaise]

4. We can hope

The one constant history lesson is that empires self destruct. Cruelty for self interest, greed, lies and inconsistencies lead to rot.

[n2doc]

3. Bonus points for Tony Blair dig n/t

[malaise]

5. +1,000

What I loved this week is that the war criminal of a poodle crawled out to support an attack.

[Supersedeas]

6. the poodles are multiplying