And I know in particular how much the Iran conflict is affecting ASEAN partners. You are feeling as much as anyone across the world the daily impact on your economies and the living standards of your citizens, as well indeed as the impact on seafarers from many ASEAN nations.
We too in the UK in our own way are feeling the effects of the conflict, on families and businesses in the impacts on the cost of living.
We very much welcome the MoU reached in June between the US and Iran and the US condemns in the strongest terms the unjustified attacks by Iran since then on shipping and indeed on our Gulf partners.
As a government I assure you we will work intensely with others to seek to deescalate this conflict and find a diplomatic way forward which is in all of our interests. That must include reopening the Strait of Hormuz and upholding the fundamental principle of freedom of navigation, a principle that the maritime nations around the table know better than anyone, is so important.
And the bit "on Russian aggression", which is really about support for Ukraine:
As a government we will also continue to stand with Ukraine. In such a world, collaboration matters as they defend themselves against Russia’s unprovoked and premeditated aggression. Aggression that is not just a test of Ukrainian resilience, but of our collective resolve.
I appreciate the edit, but I’m still unclear on how the post is cherry-picking to make its point. My reading of the original post is that it acknowledged statements made in support of the MoU with Iran and in support of Ukraine, but took issue with what wasn’t mentioned or discussed in the speech (i.e., mentioning the MoU with Iran without mentioning the US and Israel’s illegal war against Iran, and mentioning Russian aggression toward Ukraine without applying those same principles to Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian land).
I think the original post’s intent was to highlight how this new PM isn’t really doing anything new when it comes to pushing back on the reliance on ‘realpolitik’ as a defense for not calling out bad actions by allies. Smacks a bit of hypocrisy to me too.
I think the main thing to take home from this is that it's just a generic speech given to a southeast Asian trade group, it's not really something that highlights policy or action in Europe or the Middle East. The post is reading too much into it, when the point of the speech was international relations with countries in a completely different region of the world.
My edit points out that the point of the speech was to assure international relations with southeast Asian countries, you're reading far too much into it if you're focusing on Iran, Israel, Palestine, Ukraine or Russia.
Does not mean no time, but that it will not be the focus so most of the energy and time will be on domestic matters. He might make some changes, not being as friendly to Isreal is probably what will happen. But he isn’t going to suddenly change 180 to what has been policy for the last 2 years.
IWhat I’m trying to get at is that if you expect him to cancel arms deals with Isreal and provide aid to Gaza, then you will be disappointed.
16 Comments
Flax_vert@feddit.uk · 9 pts · 39d
You were expecting changes???
Tweak@feddit.uk · 7 pts · 39d
In this post, a user cherrypicks parts of a speech to push a specific agenda.
Edit: The full speech: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/foreign-secretarys-remarks-at-asean-foreign-ministers-meeting-in-manila which was given to the ASEAN international forum (an international relations group for 11 Asian countries eg Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam).
The bits on Iran:
And the bit "on Russian aggression", which is really about support for Ukraine:
lmdnw@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 39d
How so?
Tweak@feddit.uk · 3 pts · 39d
Provided an edit, wasn't quick enough lol
lmdnw@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 39d
I appreciate the edit, but I’m still unclear on how the post is cherry-picking to make its point. My reading of the original post is that it acknowledged statements made in support of the MoU with Iran and in support of Ukraine, but took issue with what wasn’t mentioned or discussed in the speech (i.e., mentioning the MoU with Iran without mentioning the US and Israel’s illegal war against Iran, and mentioning Russian aggression toward Ukraine without applying those same principles to Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian land).
I think the original post’s intent was to highlight how this new PM isn’t really doing anything new when it comes to pushing back on the reliance on ‘realpolitik’ as a defense for not calling out bad actions by allies. Smacks a bit of hypocrisy to me too.
Tweak@feddit.uk · 1 pts · 37d
I think the main thing to take home from this is that it's just a generic speech given to a southeast Asian trade group, it's not really something that highlights policy or action in Europe or the Middle East. The post is reading too much into it, when the point of the speech was international relations with countries in a completely different region of the world.
geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 39d
Your edit literally proves the point of what DeclassifiedUK said?
Tweak@feddit.uk · 1 pts · 37d
My edit points out that the point of the speech was to assure international relations with southeast Asian countries, you're reading far too much into it if you're focusing on Iran, Israel, Palestine, Ukraine or Russia.
geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml · 1 pts · 39d
Declassified UK, now known as "a user"
Tweak@feddit.uk · 1 pts · 39d
You're the user, but yes Declassified UK is the one who misrepresented the whole thing. Per my edit above.
At least their post included a link to the speech, so readers could decide for themselves.
DrCake@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 39d
Did anyone expect foreign policy changes? Burnham has only really talked about domestic policies which seems to be his focus.
geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 39d
He said Starmer made large mistakes on foreign policy but sure just blatantly lie.
DrCake@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 39d
He’s also signalled he will spend much less time on foreign affairs compared to Starmer. That to me does not mean the mistakes will be undone
geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 39d
So you're saying he said he's intentionally going to keep making the same mistakes?
And do you think a PM can just decide to "not deal with foreign policy" or something? That's not how any of this works.
DrCake@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 39d
Does not mean no time, but that it will not be the focus so most of the energy and time will be on domestic matters. He might make some changes, not being as friendly to Isreal is probably what will happen. But he isn’t going to suddenly change 180 to what has been policy for the last 2 years.
IWhat I’m trying to get at is that if you expect him to cancel arms deals with Isreal and provide aid to Gaza, then you will be disappointed.
melsaskca@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 39d
He's no countryman. He's a cabal man.