The Euston Alliance Manifesto - A British Neo-Conservative View of Foreign Policy

Apparently a new democratic progressive alliance was launched today - under the name of the Euston Alliance. Essentially the self styled, so called Muscular Left have drawn up a British PNAC manifesto.

There is stuff in there I agree with, stuff almost everyone will agree with, but the manifesto when it comes to Foreign policy is essentially a cut out and keep version of our governments justification for our actions abroad since 2001, with repeated barbs and slurs against anyone who hasn't gone along with the programme.

I'm sure many of the signatories would jump up and down at that suggestion, but looking at the people who have signed up, and the constant justification of the principles of US UK foreign and domestic [anti terror] policy and position, it is hard to escape the conclusion it is little more than a clamour for more of the same. This despite the statement in the elaborations that "The founding supporters of this statement took different views on the military intervention in Iraq, both for and against."

I deliberately haven't cherry picked the bits I objected to, you should go read the whole thing [pdf] itself.

Personally, I found the mix of truisms, blithe statements of principle and obvious blatant fusing of these with sideswipes at anyone who disputes the, well, Blairite Foreign policy agenda and our Labour Government's view on how to fight terrorism eerily familiar.

The authors take a principled stand against those who would revise history - "we emphasize the duty which genuine democrats must have to respect for the historical truth."
Whilst completely ignoring the evidence of recent history in their analysis of where we are, how we move forward, and by definition who they envisage taking us there.

Is there anything in there that couldn't find a place in a Blair or Brown Manifesto? I don't think there can be much in there that either one of them hasn't said in recent years. The problem is, actions speak louder than manifestos.