George Galloway for Empire!
September 19th, 2006 by andy
George Galloway has come out of the woodwork in support of one of the world’s last empires.
In this particular case, he supports Morocco, who annexed Western Sahara in 1976.
“I am for Morocco’s position (on the Sahara issue), and I always have been”, he said, stressing he is against “the balkanisation of the Arab region”.
“We should not balkanise the Arab region … I am against the partition of Morocco,” added the British deputy, affirming that “there is no room for small entities”.
A while back it looked as if the Saharawi people might get their homeland back. But then the Moroccans discovered oil.
(Hat tip: Marcus at Harry’s Place).
Joel Says
I wonder if Galloway is against autonomy in “small entities” like Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. I’m certain he’s against “small entities” like Israel. Where did he stand on East Timor? West Papua? Was he pro-Serbian hegemony during the breakup of Yugoslavia?
Sep 19th, 2006 at 6:05 pm
Andy Says
Actually, I seem to recall he was pro-Serbia during the breakup of Yugoslavia, but that’s just the kind of muppet that George is.
He was certainly against Kuwait retaining its independence in 1991, and I doubt he’d have too many problems if Luxembourg were to be annexed by one of its neighbours.
Sep 20th, 2006 at 1:25 am
Tim Newman Says
If you’re wondering if Galloway is inconsistent in his support for breakaway states, you’d be right. However, once you realise that the consistency in his politics is to be anti-US and anti-Israel regardless, and that the fate of a few small states is a secondary concern, it all becomes a lot clearer as to where Galloway is coming from when he opens his trap.
Sep 20th, 2006 at 10:20 pm
Andy Says
I’d tend to agree, Tim. He’s generally anti-UK, too. Although, in this case, I wonder if he’s made a bit of a mistake.
From what I remember, the US supported the transitional plan in W Sahara, which would have allowed for a few more years of Moroccan rule, followed be a referendum on the status of the ‘country’ in which the Saharawi get to vote. But this was seen by many as a tacit acceptance of the status quo, and continued Moroccan rule.
The problem was that all the Moroccan settlers got to vote in the referendum, too, and one doesn’t need to be a political genius to guess which way they’re going to vote…
Sep 21st, 2006 at 1:37 am
Joel Says
Well, I suppose I agree with Galloway in deploring “microentitism” but I’m not that fond of his favorite macroentities, either. So I suppose I must be a wishy-washy mesoentitist.
Sep 21st, 2006 at 3:20 am