I have taken my eye off the ball a bit lately, but, some (former diplomat?) chap on the ITV News managed a little speech summarising a theme that has cropped up once or twice. It is an excellent example of how to link just about anything on Brexit.
The illusion peddled by Brexiteers, especially Boris, was that Britain would be able to pursue a new course in international affairs to regain its place as a great power, in alliance with the USA. The Taliban takeover, with Biden's decision to withdraw, has shown the folly of this vision. Thus Brexit was a wrong move.
As many posts in this blog show, the concern for Britain's influence on world affairs was actually a big theme in Remain -- leaving the EU would threaten it and leave us isolated; Brexiteers were Little Englanders.That the dreadful blunders and miscalculations that led to the events in Afghanistan could have been traced mainly to a vote at a referendum in 2016 is ridiculous. Staying in the EU would hardly have made any difference -- EU spokespersons seem to have confined themselves to the usual pious hopes for peace and reconciliation.
Boris might well have blundered in his policy toward Afghanistan but his actions pale into insignificance compared to his predecessors, especially the seriously deluded and still pro-EU Tony Blair
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