The Empire Strikes Back!

Yesterday's edition of the Guardian online had an interesting blog about the all new Henry Jackson Society.

The society has been set up as a "forum" (read neo-conservative think tank) to discuss Britain's role in this new terror-stricken world of ours. The introduction to the society on their web-site runs as follows:

"The Henry Jackson Society is a non-profit organisation that seeks to promote the following principles: that liberal democracy should be spread across the world; that as the world’s most powerful democracies, the United States and the European Union – under British leadership – must shape the world more actively by intervention and example; that such leadership requires political will, a commitment to universal human rights and the maintenance of a strong military with global expeditionary reach; and that too few of our leaders in Britain and the rest of Europe today are ready to play a role in the world that matches our strength and responsibilities."

One of their statement of principles states that the society "supports a 'forward strategy' to assist those countries that are not yet liberal and democratic to become so. This would involve the full spectrum of our 'carrot' capacities, be they diplomatic, economic, cultural or political, but also, when necessary, those 'sticks' of the military domain."

The sheer arrogance of the language used would be laughable were there not so many "distinguished" names signed up to the statement of principles. The image of the rest of the world as a dumb beast to be cajoled and coerced into submission to an American and British world view smacks of the kind of imperialist language used by the
Project for a New American Century.

A quick glance at the New American Century's statement of principles, written in 1997, and you can see how closely related they are to the principles of the Henry Jackson Society, if not more worrying because of the political clout wielded by the american signatories. All the usual suspects are there, Dick Cheney, Jeb Bush, the "end of history" man Francis Fukuyama, Scooter Libby, Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz. Even Dan Quayle got in on the action. You can get the gist of what they have to say in the following line taken from their statement of principles: "We aim to make the case and rally support for American global leadership".

As mentioned in the Guardian blog, one of the Henry Jackson Society's patrons is Whitehouse advisor Richard Perle, another leading light in neo-conservative circles and instrumental in persuading Bush to go to war.

Amongst those joining him in the British boys club are politicians such as Michael Ancram the shadow secretary of defence, David Willets, shadow secretary of state for trade and industry and even Nobel Peace Prize winner David Trimble.

The Times is well represented with assistant editor Gerard Baker and columnists Oliver Kamm and Stephen Pollard all signing up. Oliver has published articles such as the delightfuly titled "It's No Time to Ban the Bomb: Britain Needs Nuclear Weapons" and "Help, I'm a Pro-War leftie" on the site.

A couple of members of the Defence Manufacturers Association are on the list, including the always eager (to cash in on misery) Beaver ltd. (Their chirpy web-site offers "High Quality, up-to-date government and market intelligence for the defence, aerospace and homeland security industries." )There are also a couple of British military commanders amongst the others.

And what would any list of Neo-Conservatives be without the addition of a revisionist historian to give a weighty nostalgia to the whole affair. Step forward Andrew Roberts. He's one of the new breed of less-dusty looking televsion historians that pop up on Channel 4 and BBC these days.

It actually surprises me that Niall Ferguson's name isn't there. I'm sure some of you remember the popular British documentary series "Empire", with its rose-tinted re-imagining of the British Empire's historical legacy. His book "Collossus" apparently argues that America should take the lessons of Victorian Britain on board and accept its destiny.
Publisher's weekly described the book in this way. "Criticism of the U.S. government's imperialist tendencies has become nearly ubiquitous since the invasion of Iraq began nearly a year ago, but Ferguson would like America to embrace its imperial character."

Would he now. What really needs to be made is a different set of documentaries altogether, about the real historical impact of colonialism upon the world (a look at what was under the boot). Somehow I can't see Channel4 or the BBC making one though. Much safer to blow bubbles. More on that prick later.