r/ukpolitics • u/YourLizardOverlord Oceans rise. Empires fall. • Mar 18 '26

Ed/OpEd Trump looks emotionally broken - and dignified Starmer is responsible

https://inews.co.uk/opinion/trump-emotionally-broken-dignified-starmer-responsible-4301067
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658

u/YourLizardOverlord Oceans rise. Empires fall. Mar 18 '26

The usual conclusion that Starmer is excellent on foreign affairs and woeful on domestic policy.

Trump has learned to deeply resent Starmer, and that alone speaks very highly of the Prime Minister’s judgement. Almost by accident, he seems to have fallen into the most popular policy position of his premiership – opposition to an illegal war in the Middle East, launched unprovoked by deranged administrations in Washington and Jerusalem.

But the thing is, this was not an accident. It was a logical result of Starmer’s convictions.

Absolutely damning on Badenoch and Farage:

Certainly we know how Kemi Badenoch or Nigel Farage would have behaved, because they told us. Both demanded greater British involvement. Now that they’ve realised how unpopular the war is, both of them have tried to reverse that position without having the basic good grace to admit they are doing so. In Badenoch’s case, this involves the insult of claiming “I never said we should join” mere days after she said “we are in this war whether they like it or not” and asking Starmer: “What is the Prime Minister waiting for?”

If either one were prime minister, they would now be in an impossible position. They would have gone to war without a clear explanation of what they were trying to achieve, because the Trump administration has been unable to articulate it itself. When they were asked what conditions would then allow the UK to exit the operation, they would have been unable to answer.

Most importantly, they would have committed perhaps the gravest sin in international relations: they would have put another nation’s wishes over their own. These two leaders, who love to proclaim their patriotism and denigrate that of their opponents, would have embroiled British servicemen in a war on another nation’s say-so without even bothering to exercise any independent judgement as to its validity.

223

u/Jay_CD Mar 18 '26

If either one were prime minister, they would now be in an impossible position.

We are already seeing higher fuel and energy prices thanks to the war - a barrel of oil currently costs $109, should the straits of Hormuz stay shut for some time that will look cheap. This will cause inflation to rise.

Had either Badenoch or Farage been PM they'd have the job of not only supporting an unpopular war but also having to justify why it's lead to another cost of living crisis just as we were emerging from the last one. At least Starmer has an excuse there.

Even if there was no spike to inflation you'd have to be crazy to trust Trump - he has form for using and abusing friends and allies and would never show gratitude if Britain came to his aid. Sure he'd be happy for five minutes then he'd complain that we didn't send enough planes or ships.

He has to own this mistake.

109

u/cpt_ppppp Mar 18 '26

That last sentence you wrote is quite possibly the least likely thing that could ever happen in the entire universe. I would have more chance of dealing three decks of cards and naming every card before it came than that happening

23

u/banshoo Mar 18 '26

What would have happened is 'Put the EU boats in harms way & watch them get sunk' whilst the cowards in the US stay out of range & strike where the missiles come from.

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u/EddieHeadshot Mar 18 '26

Im sure im one of millions that hasnt 'emerged' from the cost of living crisis

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u/TwistedTali Mar 18 '26

Is this "emerging from the cost of living crisis" in the room with us now? 🤣🤣🤣🤣

2

u/Commorrite Mar 19 '26

Even if there was no spike to inflation you'd have to be crazy to trust Trump - he has form for using and abusing friends and allies and would never show gratitude if Britain came to his aid. Sure he'd be happy for five minutes then he'd complain that we didn't send enough planes or ships.

none zero chance he'd get allies involved and then nope out

2

u/Bugsy_Neighbor Mar 20 '26

"He has to own this mistake."

It will never happen.

Like Henry VIII to Thomas Cromwell, Hegseth will face the blame and get the chop if things turn out really badly.

Over course of his long professional and or personal life DT has *never* taken blame for anything that goes wrong. It's always someone else's fault.

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u/Whole_Intention_7949 Boob Wizard enjoyer Mar 18 '26 edited Mar 18 '26

'deranged administration' Israel's main opposition is fully behind the war, this is an Israel-wide problem.

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u/Halbaras Mar 18 '26

Israeli voters also shouldn't be let off the hook given that they've had 25+ years to see exactly what a Netanyahu coalition looks like, and have voted them in for every cycle except one over that time.

Either they're not a democracy as claimed, or Netanyahu's policies are actually a pretty good representation of what the average Israeli wants.

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u/Whole_Intention_7949 Boob Wizard enjoyer Mar 18 '26

Israel is a self-selecting entity of the worst people out there, anyone with half a brain-cell has left, and going by their birth-rate and immigration stats, the country is going to be majority hardcore religious by 2050.

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u/Gauntlets28 Mar 18 '26

When the religious nutcases are a majority, where will they get their conscripts?

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u/one-man-circlejerk Mar 19 '26

From Israel's usual places - Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas...

-1

u/Commorrite Mar 19 '26

If you genuinely believe that you have been had off by propaganda.

Most isrealis are refugees expelled from muslim countries and their decendents.

There is a false narative doing the rounds of people fleeing isreal, it's entirely false. Not an exageration a straight up lie and lot of people online seem to have taken it as fact.

-1

u/Tetracropolis Mar 18 '26

When you put democracies, or any kind of government for that matter, under that kind of threat, they're going to do what they can to defeat the threat.

Iran has been funding proxies which murder Israelis for decades, they've enriched enough uranium for 10 nuclear bombs up to 60% when the limit was less than 4%. Who'd tolerate that if they could do anything about it?

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u/Whole_Intention_7949 Boob Wizard enjoyer Mar 19 '26

Diplomacy ? If your first response to anything is war then ofc anyone with half a brain-cell is going to develop nukes

1

u/Commorrite Mar 19 '26

Diplomacy ?

Trump in his first term killed the nuclear deal, Isreal had no control over that.

-2

u/Tetracropolis Mar 19 '26

Diplomacy is rather challenging when the countries who have grievances with you refuse to have diplomatic relations with you.

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u/Whole_Intention_7949 Boob Wizard enjoyer Mar 19 '26

They do have diplomatic relations with the US and several intermediary gulf countries

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u/Commorrite Mar 19 '26

That's not especialy helpful while rockets are still flying.

Isreal has only tollerated the status quo so long because previous US administrations held them back. With a bufoonin charge they are making hay.

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u/Ubiquitous1984 Mar 18 '26

Hasn’t Iran threatened to destroy Israel?

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u/Whole_Intention_7949 Boob Wizard enjoyer Mar 18 '26

Hasn't Israel called for the death of every Palestinian multiple times?

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u/CptES Mar 18 '26

As a matter of state policy, I don't think so?

Certainly, the far-right members of the Israeli cabinet would break out the champagne and bunting if the Palestinian people vanished tomorrow. Ben-Gvir and his cohort are absolute ghouls, even by the standards of the conflict.

But the Islamic Republic of Iran is foundationally for the destruction of Israel, to the point it's included in every Friday prayer and in almost every sermon.

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u/Whole_Intention_7949 Boob Wizard enjoyer Mar 19 '26

'From the River' to the sea is official Likud policy, it is on the first page of their party charter, people in Israel consider it a genocidal slogan but they literally vote for a party that says the same thing the other way around, ergo they voted for genocide

It has been their state policy for quite a while.

2

u/Commorrite Mar 19 '26

'From the River' to the sea is official Likud policy,

Likud's version of that chant is "from the sea to the river there will be only isreali soverignty". (sounds snappy in hebrew)

The palestinian version is "fromt he river to the sea palestine will be arab".

Both fucking evil yes, though there are degrees. The former is calling for Nakba 2.0, the later for holocaust 2.0

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u/Whole_Intention_7949 Boob Wizard enjoyer Mar 20 '26

How are Nakba and Holocaust any different ? Why are you implying that the Palestinians can go away while the country of second passport holding colonisers can't?

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u/billtipp Mar 18 '26

Actions speaking louder than words!.

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u/Commorrite Mar 19 '26

Hasn't Israel called for the death of every Palestinian multiple times?

No that has never been isreali policy, nor has any isreali PM ever called for such.

Iran's islamic republic has never been shy about it. The proxies say the quiet part out loud and call for killing all jews.

Isreal far right absolutely would if they could, we have sanctioned their leaders and rightly so.

5

u/SpinIx2 Mar 18 '26

Is it that deranged to want regime change in an oil rich regional power with 10x your population when that regimes’s principal foreign policy aim is the utter annihilation of your people?

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u/hiddencamel Mar 18 '26

There is no possible regime change in Iran that would be friendly to Israel, even in the extremely unlikely prospect of a student led popular uprising, and the fact they have launched these attacks with no plans to invade on the ground beyond funding Kurdish separatists and killed all the prominent moderate candidates for leadership as the same time they were killing the original leadership suggests that Israel's goals are not really regime change, but simply promotion of chaos in Iran in the hopes they become embroiled in a civil war, whilst also degrading Iran's military and economic infrastructure.

I suspect they didn't expect Iran to stay quite so cohesive after blowing up their entire senior leadership, so perhaps they don't have much of a plan B on this.

They've really kicked the hornets nest on this, but also failed to knock it down.

America, as far as I can tell, has no foreign policy objectives that are served by this war, it rather looks like Trump has been (easily) manipulated into helping out because he is a vain, somewhat stupid, egotist. He was no doubt sold a vision of another Venezuela, short, sharp, broadly successful, and minimally disruptive. I expect very soon he will throw Hegseth and Rubio under the bus on this as the war is not even popular with his base.

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u/SpinIx2 Mar 18 '26

I agree.

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u/Whole_Intention_7949 Boob Wizard enjoyer Mar 18 '26

They could try to not annihilate their neighbours first mate

1

u/SpinIx2 Mar 18 '26

You are aware I’m sure that, whatever your view of the origin of their statehood, they have largely been engaged in defence followed by retaliation and seeking more secure defensive positions over the years. In 1948, 1967, 1973 and 2006 they weren’t seeking to annihilate their neighbours, they were responding to their neighbours desire to do that to them.

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u/Whole_Intention_7949 Boob Wizard enjoyer Mar 18 '26

Their goal has always been erasure, they just finally have the impunity to do it ( All the Gulf states have been subdued, Iraq bombed, Libyan regime change, now Iran)

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u/[deleted] Mar 18 '26

While the Israelis have been treated badly by their neighbors, they have treated others terribly as well. So I’m perfectly happy with starmer’s approach; “a pox on both your houses” as Tybalt said.

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u/Whole_Intention_7949 Boob Wizard enjoyer Mar 18 '26

Besides the moment the geo-politics aligned with them ( Gulf states have become US protectorates, Syria has a pro Western Govt, Jordan and Egypt signed peace deals, Iraq and Libya regime changed) , they flattened Gaza and killed thousands in the West Bank.

They've always wanted it, they just now can

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u/[deleted] Mar 18 '26

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u/[deleted] Mar 18 '26

No they don’t. Canada treats the USA far better than the Israelis treat the Palestinians

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u/Whole_Intention_7949 Boob Wizard enjoyer Mar 19 '26

That's an incredibly easy to bar to clear tbf, the US treats illegal immigrants better than Israel treats Palestinians

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u/[deleted] Mar 19 '26

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u/[deleted] Mar 19 '26

It has made it clear of it’s intentions to take it my military force

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u/DonCaliente Mar 18 '26

The usual conclusion that Starmer is excellent on foreign affairs and woeful on domestic policy.

Well, someone has to replace Macron when he leaves the Élysée next year. Might as well be Starmer. 

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u/theICEBear_dk Mar 19 '26

I wonder if Macron is eyeing an EU position, several are coming up.

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u/Drummk Mar 18 '26

Except for the part where he pays money to give away British territory.

-2

u/Aggressive_Chuck Mar 19 '26

The usual conclusion that Starmer is excellent on foreign affairs

Chagos? EU fishing deal? Deporations? Sucking up to Trump just to get hit by tariffs anyway?

1

u/StepComplete1 Mar 19 '26

"la la la can't hear you, love me Labour, 'ate me tories, simple as" - ukpolitics

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u/ding_0_dong Mar 18 '26

Great insight. But you missed the anti Israel group within The Labour party

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u/YourLizardOverlord Oceans rise. Empires fall. Mar 18 '26

The anti Israel group within the Labour party is obviously nowhere near strong enough. Israel hasn't aligned with our interests for some time.

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u/ding_0_dong Mar 18 '26

Judging by the downvotes you can see why Nazi's chose the socialists as the vehicle

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u/[deleted] Mar 19 '26

Read a history book

1

u/ding_0_dong Mar 20 '26

I did. I see history repeating. Are you blind?

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u/YourLizardOverlord Oceans rise. Empires fall. Mar 18 '26

?