British minister dreams of kidnapping Putin, by Martin Jay

How do you come to a “legal” agreement with a man who believes he is the law? From Martin Jay at strategic-culture.org:

Trump’s move on Venezuela does little to assure Moscow that any deal rooted in international law can be trusted.

To understand how the adage “the bigger you are, the harder you fall” applies to Britain – once a global power whose unique brand of diplomacy was considered the world’s best – consider the rank stupidity of a flippant comment from John Healey, which recently reminded us just how low Britain has sunk on the world stage.

Following the U.S. abduction of the Venezuelan president, the UK Defence Secretary remarked that, if given a choice of world leaders, he would kidnap Vladimir Putin. While one Russian commentator called it a “wet dream,” the remark also reveals that Britain is not only prepared to support Trump’s barbaric disregard for international law but is happy to entertain its own delusional fantasies of global havoc, if only it had the resources and nerve.

Healey’s absurd comment hardly reconciles with London’s claimed commitment to state sovereignty and international law. Worse, it sets dangerous precedents.

For Moscow, it signals a growing British preference for coercion over dialogue – confirming Russia’s worst suspicions about London’s laughable rhetoric on ending the war. Such remarks not only damage Britain’s standing as a credible global actor but also send the wrong message to the hundreds of Global South nations tired of being the only ones expected to respect international law. It is seldom understood by the average citizen that international law binds the world together and keeps economies functioning – from shipping and intellectual property to environmental protection and border integrity. If poorer nations in Africa and Asia abandon the so-called rules-based order, pandemonium would ensue, economies would stagnate, and the likelihood of conflict and famine would rise.

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