The shadow of Iraq is hanging over the government and the Labour Party. Just as Tony Blair twisted and ducked around international law to avoid breaking with George W Bush over the illegal invasion in 2003, so today’s government is repeating the crime.
Neither Keir Starmer nor Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper — usually so quick to denounce others for alleged or actual breaches of global legality — have felt able to pronounce on whether Donald Trump’s military assault on Venezuela falls within international law.
The whole world knows the answer — an armed assault for the purposes of kidnapping the president, followed by a unilateral declaration that the US will ‘run’ Venezuela for the purposes of extracting its oil on profitable terms, constitute multiple violations of the United Nations Charter.
Yet such is Starmer’s fear of upsetting the mercurial despot in the White House that he dare not say what he knows to be true. As many Labour MPs pointed out in Commons exchanges, this position itself undermines the legality the government claims to cleave to, and leaves countries across the world more unsafe.
Starmer and Cooper have likewise been silent on the threats made by Trump to Colombia, Cuba and Mexico. They have opposed the suggestion that Greenland could be next on Washington’s target list, not because an attack on the territory would be any more or less legal than the assault on Venezuela, but because it is under Danish sovereignty.
A conflict would therefore fatally disrupt NATO, the member states of which have, in the Starmer worldview, greater sovereign rights than nations elsewhere. It would also prejudice Starmer’s own obsession, prolonging the Ukraine war for as long as possible, a nefarious project which depends on Trump’s engagement.
So once again we have a Labour government, loud in its notional commitment to international law, casting its purported principles aside in favour of staying close to US imperialism.
A difference is that more of the labour movement, and at an earlier stage, is coming out in opposition to this policy than happened during the build-up to the Iraq aggression, now universally recognised as a disaster.
The TUC has shown an excellent lead. The general council statement made all the key points, stating that Trump’s action was “a clear breach of international law, the UN Charter, and of Venezuela’s sovereignty” and condemning “any attempt to control Venezuela’s natural and strategic resources.”
It also criticised the threats made against other countries while pointing out that “as a permanent member of the UN security council the UK has a duty to protect international law. We call on the UK government to condemn this blatant violation of international law and to make clear that the UN charter applies to all member states consistently.”
Most major trade unions have also issued similar powerful condemnations, Unison being the latest.
In addition, very few Labour MPs could be found in the Commons on Monday night prepared to give Starmer and Cooper their unequivocal backing. It is clear that they are unpersuaded by the assertion that the government prioritises international law while being unable to call out its blatant and egregious violation.
This wave of opposition must now be built on, in concert with the solidarity and anti-war movements challenging Starmer over Venezuela and preparing to oppose further Trumpian and British-backed aggression.
It should deepen its understanding of the darkening world situation, with NATO leaders openly talking of imminent war and beggaring their countries to fund a vast arms build-up.
There is no more important issue than defeating rampant imperialism, and the labour movement must take the lead. There can be no repetition of 2003.
Source: The Morning Star