Sunni UN Human Rights chief condemns crushing of Aleppo

“The crushing of Aleppo, the immeasurably terrifying toll on its people, the bloodshed, the wanton slaughter of men, women and children, the destruction—and we are nowhere near the end of this cruel conflict,” the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, said on December 13th. “What is happening with Aleppo could repeat itself in Douma, in Raqqa, in Idlib. We cannot let this continue.”

Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, who is a Jordanian prince and heir to the iraqi throne, is vocal in criticising the Assad regime but is this because of Sunni sympathies?

And does this apply to other UN bodies, who are condemning the Syrian forces?

What Comes After Aleppo Falls?

I detest the Assad regime and hate to sound like an apologist for it, but it is a lesser evil than endless war or a chaotic Sunni regime which is unable to defend Christians. 

I so much hope that a terrible massacre does not take place in Aleppo. I don't know what is happening but I don't trust the Western media, apart from Robert Fisk (he is on good form here) and Patrick Cockburn. 

Most of the Western media paint the rebels as heroes even though many are Al Qaeda and the UN too seems to see the rebels as the good guys. They must have some geopolitical reason.

This is an article in the New York Times about how the regime treated rebels who surrendered at Homs 2 years ago. I read it with great foreboding. I dreaded an account of massacres and was very relieved to read instead:

"Mr. Assad’s forces detained hundreds of young men in the opposition who had agreed to surrender in the Old City of Homs, a centre of the uprising that was eventually bombed and starved into submission. Many were promised amnesty, only to be conscripted into the very military that had killed their families. Residents were eventually allowed to leave to other opposition areas carrying a single bag each. (Fighters could take one weapon.)"

Sounds reasonable to me. I hope nothing worse befalls the rebels of Aleppo.

But on the other hand I just do not know what is happening. An Englishman I know who lived in Syria for many years until two years ago wrote the following to me today.

The reason extremist Islamist groups exist in Syria is simply the Assad regime, there is nothing Marxist or even Baathist other than logos, Bathism and so called Arab nationalism is a cover for the regime's lack of legitimacy, it buys favours with its fellow minorities hence its limited support, of course you prefer secularism but Syria is a Muslim country and a very moderately minded one at that-in fact Muslim Syria is more moderate than Muslim Turkey Damascus is weak, is only surviving with Iran and Russia, while Assad is in power no matter its current gains it will be a breading ground for monsters such as Isis who are more than happy to feed on the mire the regime has created and cannot control, I know you have no sympathy for Syria and fear of Islam but if you think you will be safe in in your bed at night for leaving Assad in power you are mistaken. Fisk has been discredited enough times, he's a drunk and a fool who has simply dug himself in with the regime, is there some truth in his writing, often yes, nothing unknown, are the opposition exaggerating-no doubt, is the western mainstream media failing as well, yes of course, since when was the media unbiased anyway? Syrians do not want an extremist Islamist regime anymore than you do, despite who is doing most of the fighting, thousands of people took to the streets of Syria in 2011 peacefully, the vast majority of those people did not take up arms, in areas of Syria without regime or Islamist militia control civil society groups have proved capable of being exactly that, civil society.

This interesting article in the Christian Science Monitor analyses the consequences of the fall of East Aleppo and quotes a Russian journalist as saying:

“A guy from the Kremlin asked me in May, ‘Why are we not taking Aleppo?’ I said, ‘We can, but it will be a bloodbath. You have to make a serious political decision. And as the extent of that bloodbath sinks into the Sunni Muslim world, there can also be repercussions.”

If there is a bloodbath, which I pray there isn't, the short-term victory may be a long term defeat for Russia and Assad, but does the Syrian government know this?

What do we really know about what is happening in Aleppo?

The siege of Aleppo is finally about over and the rebels have been defeated.

What I want to know is: why do the non-jihadi rebels continue the war?

The people who wanted democracy and freedom have surely realised by now that this is not on offer. I imagine there are much more visceral reasons for fighting like tribalism and religion.

It is clear we are being given an inaccurate account of events in Aleppo. There were no independent journalists in rebel-held areas.


What do we know about Aleppo? That there has been a terrible carnage, as in wars there always is. In England Tory politicians, Labour politicians, the right-of-centre Telegraph and the left-of centre Guardian want us to believe that the defeat of the rebels is a tragedy. I find it repellent that most people who have strong views on Syria are not interested in Syria as such. 

Some love Israel, fear Iran and so oppose Assad. Some hate Israel and so support Assad. My Ukrainian Catholic priest friend understandably loathes Putin and so opposes Assad, even though the local Catholics back him.


Some of the British left side automatically with Russia and against America and Israel. More of the left assume the West should intervene to stop Russia, as do Hillary Clinton, George Osborne, William Hague and British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson. They have learnt nothing from overthrowing Saddam and Gaddafi.

Many Syrians in Western Aleppo are delighted that the rebels are defeated. Two Englishmen I know, who know the country well, tell me most Syrians, at least until two years ago, sympathised with the rebels. Lots of Syrian refugees, though, certainly back the regime. My Syrian Christian friends think the only alternative to a regime victory is endless chaos. Nuns in Aleppo are ecstatic that the rebel menace is gone.


The people of rebel held Eastern Aleppo were offered free passage by the government last month but chose to stay in the besieged half of the city. I wondered if they were in fact being held hostage by the rebels but an Aleppan friend (now in Bucharest) told me that they were free to go but stay because their homes and livelihoods are in Eastern Aleppo. I asked: how does life go on there? She said: nobody knows, but if they left they wouldn't be able to make a living.


For years the part of Aleppo loyal to the government was besieged by the rebels, though the siege was incomplete as the government side held the airport. The press in Western world did not invite us to sympathise with the people loyal to the government when they were besieged.


This is something I found on Facebook set to public. I don't know this man, who is an English parson (Anglican priest) nor do I vouch for his accuracy, but I thought it worth sharing. 

A profoundly moving and emotional day spent visiting parts of the Old City of Aleppo that were only cleared of terrorists yesterday. The Old City was occupied in 2012, and some of the most important historical sites in the world were deliberately destroyed by them. (Most of the civilians in the area fled shortly after the occupation.) The extent of the damage is due to Street fighting amongst terrorist factions; fighting with the Syrian Army; and deliberate destruction by the 'rebels' of historic sites. We were the first foreigners to visit the Ommayad Mosque, which was only made accessible today. (The picture of the soldier shows him carrying a Nusra flag that was found in the mosque.) We walked through the ancient soukh which used to be one of the most beautiful in the world, and which I have visited several times with groups and with my family in happier times. In 2013, the 'rebels' set fire to it (contrary to western reports that the government bombed it - there is no evidence of bombing in the soukh itself). We also visited the Citadel, which thank goodness is largely undamaged. The combination of yesterday's meetings with civilians from East Aleppo, and today's walk around the Old City left me close to tears. After the moving experience last evening of seeing thousands of Syrians in the streets celebrating the liberation of the city, and the unverified reports being spouted in Britain by the mainstream media when none of them are here on the ground listening to the people, but believing terrorist sources that have consistently lied - whilst not reporting on the witness of thousands of refugees from East Aleppo that consistently refute media narratives - I am feeling deeply angry. I say to the desk-bound media and political so-called 'experts' in London and Washington: Get off your arrogant, self-righteous, well-paid backsides, and come and listen to the people, and see the reality for yourselves. I am going to post a selection of pictures in different posts. ( I may not have time to post them for some hours) But as you view the posts, consider what a diverse, plural 'democracy' that the West's Al-qaeda so-called 'moderate' friends seem so keen to establish.

Here is something by someone called Jan Oberg from Facebook:

Have been to Eastern Aleppo for 5 hours, occasional shootings and Russians in the air.The destruction is worse than I had ever believed - having seen Sarajevo, Mostar and Vukovar.
And the big destruction is not from the air but street fighting - all facades destroyed but few whole buildings flattened.
And not one of many I talked with had seen White Helmets whereas the city today is filled with the red Syrian Arab Red Crescent whom I talked with at length.
People are happy beyond words to have been freed from Al Nushra's and other "moderate" forces' tyranny since 2012.No one on earth deserves what these people have been exposed to. No one!

Mahomet/Muhammed in hell in Bologna

I have been very busy and am terribly behind with the blog. I have not written my crystalline insights on the Romanian election result nor an account of my trip to Bologna for the Romanian holiday last week. November 30 is now a public holiday in Romania in addition to the National Day, December 1, so everyone took Friday, December 2 off.

Romania has now decreed another new public holiday next year - Tuesday, January 24. The people in charge of Romania do seem to lack common sense.

Bologna with its long colonnades, like paintings by Chirico, is lovely and reminds one of the time when Europe was civilised, but I was also reminded of what American historian Jeremy Friedman said to me when we found ourselves sharing a compartment in a night train from Bucharest to Belgrade. He said that, unlike big American and Chinese cities, all European cities seemed to him museums, except for London.

A certain number African beggars were in the street. My instinct was to give them money but I reluctantly stopped myself doing so because I reflected that this is a sort of invasion. Actually, not a sort of invasion, an invasion. They are not fleeing war but poverty.

Bologna is famed in Italy for very good food more than churches, but it has some fine ones. I was saddened to think that these great churches were built for the Tridentine Mass and its predecessors and are used to celebrate a very different kind of liturgy, an almost Protestant one. We admire the buildings, but without the liturgy the buildings lack their heart.

The great sight in Bologna is not the cathedral but St. Petronius's Basilica. And the best thing in it is the Chapel of the Three Magi. Here are my pictures of the wonderful wall painting.

The PSD is back

Exit polls say the PSD, in effect the descendent of the Romanian Communist party, won 45% of the parliamentary vote yesterday.

I remember what a diplomat told me when the PSDR won in 2000. 'It's not the ministers or the secretaries of state. It's the men in the brown crinoline suits. They're back.'

The people who wore brown crinoline suits are old now but the old guard is back and the government of technocrats are out. However the astonishing arrests of important figures for corruption by the Anti-Corruption Authority (DNA) will, I presume, continue. 

Quotations of the Day

Very good lines by A A Gill who has just died, too young, of cancer, which could have been treated but not on the NHS. 

It reminds me of Evelyn Waugh's remark: "We are all born American. We die French."

Joanna Lumley: "Love everyone you meet from the moment you meet them. Most people will be lovely and love you back, and you can achieve the most wonderful things. But get rid of any of the bastards that let you down."

Tim Ferriss: "If you want the story of your life to be a happy one, edit your life frequently and ruthlessly."

Russians used dirty tricks to help Trump win - move along, nothing to see

The CIA is said to assume the Russians hacked the emails of Hillary Clinton's staff to help Donald Trump. There is only circumstantial evidence and the FBI is said not to be impressed by it. It's only Obama inspired leaks at present, but I am told CIA do think the Russians hacked the Democrats and I assume the CIA is right. 

But, though an interesting story, so what?

The Russians didn't hack the voting machines or register fake voters. They released emails that Hillary wanted kept private and caused her some embarrassment, though not really that much. Her dream, we learnt, is a borderless Western hemisphere, fuelled by 'green energy'. No big surprise there, though an excellent reason to vote against her.

No, this does not mean rerunning the election, people, or that the result is invalid.

The Obama administration interfered in the Israeli election and in the British referendum campaign, both times without getting what they wanted. Obama's interference won Leave many votes, a Readers' Digest poll has shown. The US spent $5 billion in Ukraine trying to undermine the government there, according to Mrs. Victoria Nuland, the Under - Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasia. The Americans did get the result they wanted that time and then a lot of results they did no want.

As for foreign influence, there were a lot of donations from foreign governments to the Clinton Foundation. Democrats fought to keep secret the emails which mentioned these payments.

My manor - Bucharest on a sunny warm December Sunday

Kissinger advises Trump

Before I came to live in Romania I understood world affairs better. Has Obama been a foreign policy disaster without my noticing? 

Niall Ferguson, unlike me, supported invading Iraq but I think he argues this persuasively in this article entitled Donald Trump’s New World Order in The American Interest. Perhaps I have given Obama a free pass because he has been very much better than his predecessor.

As Niall Ferguson points out, on Obama's watch terrorism has surged worldwide. Brexit is a failure for Obama. He encouraged Mrs. Merkel to take in migrants. His administration encouraged the coup in Kiev but did not expect the resulting Russian invasion. He drew red lines in Syria without taking State Department advice and then did nothing when Assad crossed them, a humiliation though he was right not to topple Assad.

On the other hand I think infuriating both Netanyahu and the Saudi King means Obama must have been doing something right. He tried to move away from being the world's policeman, exactly the thing which people are scared Donald Trump might do and what in 2000 people feared George W. Bush would do (if only!)

The article quotes interesting advice for President-elect Trump from Dr Kissinger, whose biography Ferguson is writing. Dr. Kissinger advises him to do a deal with Putin over Ukraine, avoid conflict with China and arrange a Bosnian-style cantonised Syria.

And Dr Kissinger says he should treat Brexit as an opportunity to steer the continental Europeans away from bureaucratic introspection and back to strategic responsibility.

“They’re talking about tactical matters while they’re in the process of giving up the essence of . . . what they’ve represented throughout history.”

That's very true. Europe is going through a period of decadence, though Great Britain is not.

Niall Ferguson provides this quotation from Theodore Roosevelt that was new to me and aptly illustrates the conservative and liberal approaches to foreign policy.

Trump’s foreign policy genius and the future of Islam in Europe

Retired General James 'Mad Dog' Mattis, according to an interesting piece by blogger Peter Risdon, has been advising Donald Trump for years. 

Mad Dog (not so mad) fears Russian weakness, not Russian strength, in the medium term. He is right. 

The biggest danger by far to the world is, as I realised in 1989 as the Cold War ended, nuclear terrorism. A chaotic Russia full of nuclear weapons is a vast threat, bigger than the threat from the Soviet Union. 

But in 1989 it never occurred to me that terrorists would happily explode nuclear weapons, rather than use them for blackmail. Now we know they would. 

This is why Donald Trump wants better relations with Russia, not because he admires Mr Putin's authoritarianism.

Mr. Mattis, says Peter, holds the USA responsible for the invasion of Ukraine,

by starting a process of slow outreach to the country without any provision at all for the inevitable Russian response. Start the outreach by all means, if you’re ready to handle the response. But what does the flaccid, impotent cry of “Putin is nasty” achieve when you’re not willing to confront him?

That puts it well. The US and the EU were playing with fire and Ukraine got badly burnt. 

We were absolutely right to want Ukraine to become democratic, prosperous and part of our camp, but were seeing things in two-dimensional terms, as liberals (whether Gladstonian or Clintonian) do. We were assuming that national self-determination and international boundaries would be respected by countries that were bound by treaty to do so. 

Putin saw things in three dimensional terms, as conservatives, Marxists and street thugs do. He is a mixture of all three. In three dimensional terms, the overthrow of the

Patrick Cockburn: The only alternative to Assad is Isis or Nusra

Click here for an interesting article in The independent by Patrick Cockburn who says

Though Putin is much demonised in the West, the enthusiasm of Western governments to get rid of Assad has ebbed steadily, as it became clear that the only alternative to him was Isis or Nusra.

Why then did Hillary Clinton say eight weeks ago that toppling Assad was her top priority? I suppose it doesn't matter now, but why is regime change British government policy?

Assad and his government are guilty of unspeakable cruelty, as is Russia, but so are Isis and Nusra. At least with Assad Christians will remain in Syria. Without the regime all will flee.

The left-wing papers today deplore Western leaders going soft on Vladimir Putin, but they do not criticise the Syrian rebels or the Saudi intervention in Yemen. 

They should deplore Theresa May, who knows almost nothing about world affairs, humiliating (symbolically emasculating) the Foreign Secretary for saying the Saudis were conducting proxy wars in Syria and Iraq. A schoolboy knows that this is true. A war is going on in Syria and Iraq between the Sunni and Shia powers, Russia backing the Shias and the US, Britain and France siding hesitantly with the Sunnis.

I am interested that Patrick Cockburn also says that the US are closely involved in the fighting to take Mosul and in helping the Kurds against Turkey.

Democrats aren't afraid Trump will be terrible but that he'll succeed

Democrats aren't afraid Donald Trump will be a terrible President but that he'll succeed. 

Not succeed in their terms, but in his. If he does so he will change the zeitgeist and the limits of acceptable discourse. In fact whether he succeeds (let's measure it by winning reelection handsomely, though at 74 he might be better advised to be a one term president) or even if he fails badly, his election has changed things hugely. For Democrats (apart from the ones who voted for Mr. Trump) it's a case of never glad confident morning again.

So far, judging by his appointments, this looks like it might be a very good administration. I am pleased that the President-elect took a call from the Taiwanese leader. And like the fuss by Democrats who fear this will arouse Chinese wrath. So what? 

Tea with Neagu Djuvara on my birthday

A nice birthday present was being invited to tea by Neagu Djuvara, the 100-year old Romanian historian and thinker.

I was pleased that my Romanian was good enough to understand pretty much every word he said. He welcomes Trump's election - Trump is the sort of 'primitive peasant' who is needed, 'a bull', rather than Hillary, who is 'too harmless'.

But he does not think Russia a threat to Romania - it's simply Romanians' habit to think Russia a danger. The real danger is Muslim immigration and the inevitable Muslim conquest of Europe.

He slightly offended the woman friend I brought with me, whom he seemed to enjoy, by saying she was was 'too intellectual for a woman'. She was not offended on behalf of her sex but because he might have meant she was not attractive. I saw yet again the unbridgeable chasm that separates Romanian from British thinking. 

I think he was flirting, but with 100 year-old savants it's not easy to tell.

It's simply a question

Defence experts are convinced that defeating ISIS in Syria and Iraq will disperse an Islamist diaspora that will wreak havoc in Europe, In that case, why don't we forget about destroying ISIS in the Middle East?

Morally disgusting people praise Castro

Before the Castro tributes, the last time left-wingers were so funny was when Marchais, Yasser Arafat and the others welcomed the Moscow coup in 1991.

But it's not just the left. The BBC are kinder to Castro than they were to Lady Thatcher when she died:

“His critics accused him of being a dictator.”

The Lord Mayor of Dublin has opened a Book of Condolence for Fidel Castro to allow the people of Dublin to "pay their own respects", which is reminiscent of Eamonn de Valera signing the book of condolences in the German Embassy in 1945 on the death of Hitler.

Americans disapprove of it but owe their country's existence to colonialism

It's strange that Americans owe their country's existence to colonialism but are so prejudiced against it.

Other people's colonialism, that is. They have their own colonial empire. Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Alaska, various islands, Cuba and the Philippines in the past, Europe west of Russia.

All the USA east of the original 13 colonies is the result of American colonialism, I suppose. Including the lands taken from Mexico, that the Mexicans are now reoccupying.

AJP Taylor, the greatest 20th century British historian said: 

“If the Germans had succeeded in exterminating their Slav neighbors as the Anglo-Saxons in North America succeeded in exterminating the Indians, the effect would have been what it has been on the Americans: the Germans would have become advocates of brotherly love and international reconciliation."

Juncker, Hollande and Corbyn praise Castro, Trump rejoices

European Commission - Statement

Statement by President Juncker on the passing away of Fidel Castro

Brussels, 26 November 2016

Fidel Castro was one of the historic figures of the past century and the embodiment of the Cuban Revolution. With the death of Fidel Castro, the world has lost a man who was a hero for many. He changed the course of his country and his influence reached far beyond. Fidel Castro remains one of the revolutionary figures of the 20th century. His legacy will be judged by history. 

I convey my condolences to the Cuban President Raúl Castro and his family and to the people of Cuba

He has not so far gone as far as Eamonn De Valera who signed the book of condolence at the German embassy on Adolf Hitler's death.  

French President Francois Hollande has mourned the loss the "towering" former Cuban leader Fidel Castro, while noting concerns over human rights under his regime.

British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn hailed Fidel Castro as a “champion of social justice”, following the announcement of the former Cuban leader’s death, admitted there were “flaws” in the revolutionary leader’s long rule over the Caribbean island, but praised him as a “huge figure of modern history”.

Mr Corbyn said: 

“Fidel Castro’s death marks the passing of a huge figure of modern history, national independence and 20th century socialism. From building a world class health and education system, to Cuba’s record of international solidarity abroad, Castro’s achievements were many.For all his flaws, Castro’s support for Angola played a crucial role in bringing an end to Apartheid in South Africa, and he will be remembered both as an internationalist and a champion of social justice.”

They all sound much more enthusiastic about Castro than about Donald Trump and much politer. 

The kind words for Castro remind me of Tony Benn signing the book of condolence at the Chinese Embassy on Mao's death. Benn said in his diary that he was “a great admirer of Mao", though he "made mistakes, because everybody does”.

Gap in the Curtain

I'm thinking about The Gap in the Curtain, a novel I once read by John Buchan, about a professor at a house party who enables guests to have a glimpse of a copy of The Times published one year in the future. Had I had a glimpse of today's paper 18 months ago and seen Donald Trump was US President-elect, Britain was leaving the EU. Angela Merkel had invited millions of migrants without papers into Germany and JEREMY CORBYN was Leader of the Labour Party I'd have fallen about laughing and known the professor was a howling fraud.

"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."

I doubt if we can trust the figures for war dead in Syria. They are said to be between 301,781 (very precise) and 470,000.




When I was in Hama in 2006 I was told by my guide that 60,000 died there in the uprising by the Muslim Brotherhood in 1982. I see the number usually reported is 30,000. Sharmine Narwani in the Guardian in 2013 estimated it at 2,000.




Bill Clinton in 1999, said in fighting in Bosnia Croatia and Kosovo around 250,000 had died. Now people say 130,000.

Thoughts of the Day

[Mr. Renzi's] defeat has not made the eventual break-up of the euro more certain, because that is coming anyway. It has simply made it more obvious. William Hague

Niall FergusonVerified account‏@nfergus

Niall Ferguson Retweeted Milken Institute

EU failures: 1 Monetary union 2 Foreign policy (MENA, Ukraine) 3 Migration policy 4 Radical Islam policy. EU deserved Brexit.

 

Refer to law lords as enemies of the people, and you're a fascist. Refer to ordinary people as a racist, moronic mob whose bovine idiocy has plunged the world into mayhem, and you're a liberal. 2016, you are drunk, time for bed. Brendan O'Neill




“Populism” is a scare word meant to delegitimize rebellions against political establishments and mainstream elites. It draws together under the same big, scary tent parties and causes that have a little in common otherwise. There is no “populist” ideology that unites these various dissidents the way Marxist ideology united international socialists for more than a century. John O'Sullivan

Thought of the Day

Fidel Castro has finally died

Fidel Castro has finally died. Many (most?) in Cuba are rejoicing secretly. But many are mourning, I imagine.

I used to think it interesting that Mao, Franco and Tito were still alive. That's a while back. "Eheu fugaces!' (I was very precociously interested in history as a very young boy.)

Donne said "Any man's death diminishes me" but Castro's not so much. Yet, oddly, there is always a slight sadness at the end of any era, even an evil one, though his era does not die with him. A number of people I met in Cuba liked him. Of course people were in tears when Stalin died.

In Miami, they are celebrating wildly in the streets.

Castro reminds me of the Communist turned Catholic Dorothy Day's remark

"Becoming a saint is the revolution." 

In 1960, she praised Fidel Castro's "promise of social justice" and that year she travelled to Cuba and reported her experiences in a four-part series in the Catholic Worker. In the first of these, she wrote: 

"I am most of all interested in the religious life of the people and so must not be on the side of a regime that favors the extirpation of religion. On the other hand, when that regime is bending all its efforts to make a good life for the people, a naturally good life (on which grace can build) one cannot help but be in favor of the measures taken." 

A number of other Catholics, like Graham Greene, admired Castro. But his ideas, predictably, failed Cuba, except for the poorest 10%. They were better off than they would have been in a free country.

There were signs that in his last years Castro took an interest in the Catholicism that he rejected in his youth. When he met Pope Francis the Cuban asked him to send him some books to answer questions that he had. I hope that, like Gustav Husak the Czech dictator, he made a deathbed conversion. He had become friendly with a Bolivian friar before his death.

Praising Castro never went out of fashion in the West (or in the Third World). I remember Arthur Scargill being asked by Michael Parkinson where socialism had worked and his reply 'Cuba'. But things changed when Michael Frayn reported that Cuba was throwing homosexuals into gaol. This was much worse in they eyes of the left than having political dissidents put in gaol. 

The purpose of a nation is to exclude people

The purpose of a nation, like any other club, or like any house or dwelling, is to exclude people. This is its raison d'être. Discuss.

Excluding others is one important purpose of states, rather than countries, I suppose. I am not sure countries or nations should have purposes. I rather think they shouldn't.

Trump defeated the Democrats and the Republicans

Donald Trump's victory was a defeat not just for the Democrats but also for the Republicans. 'Compassionate conservative' George W Bush was a high spending liberal at home and abroad followed a typically Democrat foreign policy, in the tradition of LBJ, Kennedy, FDR and Wilson. He was pro-immigration and pro-amnesty. Had he campaigned in 2000 on a policy of deporting illegals and reducing immigration he would have won enough blue-collar votes to have won the popular vote irrespective of hanging chads. But he regards such ideas as immoral, as the Republican establishment even now does too.

The Tea Party was much more small state than Donald Trump but it was an important forerunner of Trump's success and a sign of popular disaffection with both parties. Before the Tea Party there were Ross Perot and Pat Buchanan.


Liberals should regret having defeated Mitt Romney in 2012. For them it was a Pyrrhic victory.

Kevin Myers in the Sunday Times

"The underlying problem is that, for liberals, reality is defined by their emotions. If something makes them feel good, it must be right. Overthrowing Muammar Gadaffi felt good; and look at the calamitous result. Trying to overthrow Bashar al-Assad also felt good; one US strike recently killed 80 Syrian soldiers. Yet no liberal outcry followed this attack on the Muslim troops of a sovereign government.


As for Trump and the Mexican border, there could be more than 20m illegals in America. Such huge population-transfers cannot continue indefinitely without enormous social consequences. You might argue that walls don’t work, but some do; hence the drop in cross-border suicide attacks in Israel. The iron curtain was ugly, yes, but functioned for 45 years. And as for Trump’s attitude to Islamic mass immigration, answer this question honestly. If Ireland were to admit 10,000 unscreened immigrants of one ethno-religious group, state your order of preference: Orthodox Ethiopians, Nigerian Catholics, Somali Muslims, Burmese Buddhists, Egyptian Copts."