Sunday 18th August

Sometimes it seems we are taking one step forward and two steps back.  At long last the two sides in the Middle East are edging cautiously towards some sort of talks about possible talks to try to resolve the Palestinian problem.  As in the Northern Ireland Good Friday Agreement it begins with concessions on the part of the possessors (rightly or wrongly) and a release of prisoners, who are suddenly transformed from Terrorists into Freedom Fighters.  But one wonders if confidence can be built faster than new Jewish settlements, or if it will all collapse again.

In Syria we have a ruthless Government creeping towards some sort of Phyrric victory over its own unhappy people, and the world that purports to love Democracy watches an undemocratic regime snuff out hundreds of thousands of lives.

In Egypt a democratically elected Government is overthrown by a ruthless army, all in the name of democracy, of course.  And America who is the largest sponsor of the Egyptian military wrings its hands and asks for calm.  Calm?  When thousands are butchered in the streets, you call for calm – and yet you had no hesitation in going after Saddam Hussein a few years ago.  At least stop giving them money, impose sanctions even.  Let them know that this is not acceptable.

But of course we do nothing in Syria or Egypt, because if democracy were upheld then the wretched Islamists might get in again, and what we are engaged in, despite all words to the contrary is a holy crusade against the rising tide of Islam.  Just as in Gaza, we wouldn’t even recognize a democratically elected Hamas, because again, they were our enemies.

So, is the world getting any better or not?  Hard to say, but just at the moment it seems to have taken a turn for the worse.