Boys will be boys…

Western foreign policy is all over the place. And Cameron’s is no better.

If you’ve been to the website Arret sur images, or God forbid, simply read the Guardian this morning, you’ll be aware that a full-on chat between Nicolas Sarkozy and Barack Obama occurred at the G20 (on November 3rd). Due to an error among the Elysee technicians, three minutes of the chat went over loud and clear to some assembled journalists. They were all then asked to sign a secrecy document about the incident (that is agreed form under these circumstances) which of course had no effect, and yesterday the event popped up on the internet.

During the exchange, Sarko allegedly tells the President that he “can’t stand” Netanyahu (a lot of Israelis have the same problem) and he thinks him “a liar”. Obama responds in kind, saying “It’s OK for you, I have to deal with him every day”. However, as is normal with the mainstream media these days, the item is treated as an oddity. I have yet to find any article analysing the significance of all this, although I’d imagine several Mossad agents have been working on it ever since. (No doubt the Israelis bugged the room anyway).

The Slog does find the exchange highly significant. In terms of character assessment, it is in the me-me-me-me nature of these two political minnows that the anxieties of a bloke whose country is surrounded by those bent upon its destruction is seen as needy because he goes on about it quite a bit. As for Sarkozy, he is no judge of anything – so if he he thinks Netanyahu a liar, then the chances are the Israeli PM is (1) not very good at it or (2) does it with another more subtle agenda in mind. There is a third possibility – that the Israeli leader isn’t a liar – but he is a politician in desperate straits, and I have thus discounted that.

I’m rather more worried about Obama’s attitude, to be honest. Very often what people say casually is far more important as a clue to their feelings….as anyone who has conducted focus groups will tell you. The vibes that come loud and clear from Barack Obama’s remarks in this tidbit are that he doesn’t care a fig about Israel. This only confirms me in my belief that Britain and Israel are natural allies, because he doesn’t care a fig about us either.

I understand from Washington sources that the Pentagon doesn’t ‘get’ Obama’s foreign policy, but their mistake lies in thinking he’s interested. He has an excellent Secretary of State (who should be President, not him) but she does, I think, occasionally have to accept that her boss sees ‘abroad’ as a chore. This is why President No 44 will never be a statesman. Gossips in Brussels assure me that Obama was several beats behind the music when he arrived in Paris last week – a shocking state of affairs when you consider that, at any day, the States could catch a serious cold from the Eurozone disaster.

The conservatives in America may well have a field day with this one; it all depends on whether they’re paying close attention, these events having taken place beyond the US. But frankly, Miliband should be in at Cameron too on the same subject.

I’m told that Obama and Cameron get on well together, and the more I learn about both men, the more it make sense. They are as one (and wrong) about what to do to solve the EU debt crisis; they are equivocal about Israel; they both pretty much make it up as they go along; and neither of them ever say anything publicly except for effect. They are classic examples of the old advice, “Be sincere – even if you don’t mean it”.

To say that Camerlot has a flawed foreign policy is actually to be rather rude about policies. He clings to a Special Relationship that hasn’t been special for decades, and is irrelevant to our geopolitical future. He makes silly, ignorant speeches about Turkey, and now finds himself (surprise surprise) stuck outside the decision-tent of the EU, but saddled with the bill for all the occupants’ mistakes. He utters naive bollocks about Arab Springs, engages in a pointless Libyan adventure, and leads wagon trains to India in expectation of a warm welcome for British business. What he got instead was a lot of complaints about our ‘racist’ immigration policy.

The Ed Miller Band should be striking up a chorus of complaint about the idiocies and likely ramifications of Camerlot foreign policy. Not to do so is a missed opportunity. Apart from anything else, I suspect very few voters anywhere have the remotest idea what it is, beyond blind devotion to the EU and yet more equivocation about Israel…so some elucidation would be helpful. But Dave’s euro nowhereland is an open goal, while a sharp turn away from the US and towards Asia would be some clear ground between the two Parties. It would also play well with the Statist Labour Left of whom Ed is such a creature anyway. But there I go again, giving the Party of Ed Balls and Harriet Harman advice. I’m obviously very bored indeed at the moment.