June 2002 Vol.5, No. 5 Contents by Melvin Rhodes by Darris McNeely by Darris McNeely by Cecil E. Maranville  Book Review: Statecraft by Margaret Thatcher by John Ross Schroeder  by Darris McNeely, John Ross Schroeder and Jim Tuck This Is the Way...Making Sense in a Senseless Neighborhood by Robin Webber Book Review: Statecraft by Margaret Thatcher A review of Margaret Thatcher's new book, Statecraft, published by Harper and Collins, London, 2002. by John Ross Schroeder D edicated to President Ronald Reagan (whose administration ran from 1981 to 1989), a new book by former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (who governed Britain from 1979 to 1990) is mainly a panoramic assessment of world conditions from a political, economic and military point of view. Although this new work covers elements of America, Russia, Asia and the Middle East, this review concentrates on the European theater. According to some of what one reads in the European press, continental leaders "believe they are moving beyond power into a self-contained world of laws and rules and transnational negotiation and cooperation. Europe itself has entered a post-historical paradise, the realization of Immanuel Kant's 'perpetual peace'" (Robert Kagan, "Different Philosophies of Power," International Herald Tribune, May 27, 2002). Many European politicians do not fully share President Bush's view of Iraq, Iran and the Middle East in general. For instance, "The Europeans think that Iraq's Saddam Hussein is a containable menace. They say he is like a dozen other Middle Eastern despots who have seen their day and gone...In any case the Iraq threat scenarios are unserious...Iran seems to most West Europeans a state on its way back to occupying a normal place in international society...Iran finances Islamic groups conducting anti-Israel terrorism, but so does Washington's ally Saudi Arabia. Neither Iraq or Iran seem to the Europeans to present problems that another war would solve" (William Pfaff, "Not About to Change Their Minds," ibid., May 27, 2002). Mrs. Thatcher does not share these dovish views and is in near full agreement with President Bush's views on the global threat of Islamic and other forms of terrorism and the rogue states that sponsor it. Gaining a glimpse of Armageddon In Baroness Thatcher's analysis of the pre-Sept. 11 world, "We heard more and more about human rights, less and less about national security. We spent more on welfare, less on defence (British spelling throughout). We allowed our intelligence efforts to slacken. We hoped--and many more liberal-minded politicians encouraged us to hope--that within the global village, there were only to be found good neighbours. Few of us were tactless enough to mention that what makes good neighbours is often good fences." What Margaret Thatcher clearly recognized was that Sept. 11 stripped away some of the illusions that gripped the minds of so many leaders. In fact she said, "It is (still) a world of risk, of conflict and of latent violence." She further stated that by means of last September's tragedy, "we gained a glimpse of Armageddon." Summing up the lessons to be drawn from that fateful day in September, Mrs. Thatcher wrote: "In short the world had never ceased to be dangerous. But the West had ceased to be vigilant. Surely that is the most important lesson of this tragedy, and we must learn from it if our civilisation is to survive" (Statecraft, previous quotes from p. xxv). Later in Statecraft she reinforced these views in her analysis of a humanly devised "New World Order." The former prime minister wrote: "But anyone who really believes that a 'new order' of any kind is going to replace the disorderly conduct of human affairs, particularly the affairs of nations, is likely to be severely disappointed, and others with him" (p. 29). At this juncture we go from the general to the more specific. Vignettes From Statecraft In 1999 alone there were civil wars of one kind or another taking place in 19 countries around the world. Attempts to suppress national differences or to amalgamate different nations with distinct traditions into artificial states are very likely to fail, perhaps bloodily. In Britain we know how much we owe to America. We understand how close our countries are. America's closest allies, particularly her allies in the English-speaking world, must regard America's mission as encompassing their own. The Bolshevik Revolution can be seen in retrospect to have been a reversion to the most odious kind of age-old tyranny, supplemented by the technological apparatus of totalitarianism. Russia has always had a unique capacity to surprise. Every prediction about it should be hedged around with qualifications if whoever makes them would be secure from embarrassment. Asia is the largest continent, comprising a third of all dry land, and containing more than half the world's population. Its importance is growing and will, I am sure, continue to grow. Formal conversations with Chinese dignitaries are always uncomfortable. This is because the chairs are arranged next to each other, so that you have to turn at an angle to speak. You can, therefore, never look one another straight in the eye. North Korea is a classic rogue state--a doctrinaire dictatorship controlling a closed society, at once oppressive and aggressive, armed to the teeth with conventional weapons, and anxious to develop and export weapons of mass destruction. There appears to many to be a close connection between Islamic extremism and terrorist violence. Osama bin Laden's obscene punctuation of his threats against the West with invocations of the Divinity reinforces that impression. Thatcher and the euro Baroness Thatcher has very little time for the European single currency. She states her views in the clearest language. "The European single currency is bound to fail, economically, politically and indeed socially, though the timing, occasion and full consequences are all necessarily still unclear" (p. 354). However, Prime Minister Tony Blair and his present administration are sold on the euro and would like to join up in the near future--possibly as early as near the end of the year, or in 2003. According to The Guardian, "Tony Blair unleashed another bout of euro-speculation last night when he acknowledged the decision on the euro is getting 'close' and said to stay out would be a 'betrayal'" (May 16, 2002). The Economist adds that "the chances of a referendum on euro-entry taking place are greater than most people believe, and growing" (May 18, 2002). Margaret Thatcher's views are the polar opposite of the present Labour government. She writes: "Abolition of the pound in favour of the euro would constitute a major loss of Britain's power to govern herself (her sovereignty) and thus an unacceptable blow to democracy. The alleged economic benefits of the euro are either non-existent, or trivial, or can be achieved by other means. The economic disadvantages are substantially greater for Britain even than for the other European countries. Britain should not contemplate giving up the pound" (Statecraft, p. 388). Views on a European superstate For many years Baroness Thatcher has consistently warned against allowing a European superstate to emerge. Statecraft contains no departure from these strongly stated views. However, she concedes that "it seems very likely that the drive for a United States of Europe, a European superstate, is now unstoppable" (emphasis added). Then she adds a little later: "The momentum is just too strong." Mrs. Thatcher carefully explains her view that, unlike the United States, "Europe is not based on a common language, culture and values." Instead, by contrast, "Europe is the result of plans. It is in fact, a classic utopian project, a monument to the vanity of intellectuals, a programme whose inevitable destiny is failure; only the scale of the final damage done is in doubt" (all quotes in this section, p. 359). Certainly in a long-term sense, this assessment resembles the Bible's. In its ultimate expression of a core 10-nation entity, this end-time union is likened in Scripture to "iron mixed with miry clay." It will not last all that long. However, a great deal of damage to humanity can be done in a very short time. Hitler's Third Reich lasted only 12 years (1933 to 1945), but the damage inflicted on the world is still being measured. Many millions were killed and European Jewry was almost wiped out, along with extended suffering and near starvation among those who survived--particularly in the defeated nations, but even in Britain, whose post-war economic woes lasted several years. Summing up In conclusion, though Margaret Thatcher could be pragmatic and a very practical politician when day-to-day realities required it, she always understood that "in the age of democracy, the pursuit of statecraft without regard to moral principles is all but impossible, and it makes little sense for even the most hard-nosed politician to ignore this fact" (p. xxi). No matter how evil this present age becomes (Galatians 1:4), ultimately it is still a world of cause and effect, right and wrong, good and evil, truth and error. God has made it so. wnp Send any comments / changes regarding this page to webmaster@churchofgodtwincities.org © 2002-2022 United Church of God, an International Association