United Kingdom: Global Position
Lord Marlesford Excerpts(2 weeks, 5 days ago)
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Lord Marlesford (Con)
My Lords, I thank my noble friend Lord Howell for his debate. I apologise to the House for being slow in getting to my seat.
The kaleidoscopic view of the world today resembles that observed by Alice—probably more through the looking-glass than in wonderland. The 28 February scenes in the Oval Office suggested a bid by President Trump, vying with President Putin, for a role as one of the characters. The weakening of democracy in so many countries, and its absence in many others, increases the risk of anarchy—which is, by definition, unstable and so permits, and indeed promotes, alternative forms of rule.
The Second World War resulted in the resounding defeat of fascism. The subsequent founding of the United Nations sought to banish fascism for all time. Article 2.4 of the UN charter calls on all UN states to refrain
“from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state”.
That could not be clearer. Yet today, fascism has re-emerged and is a growing threat to world peace, security and prosperity. Putin’s Russia not only ticks every box—tyranny, brutality, intolerance and territorial expansion—but, by its ruthless diplomacy, has managed to convert and expand the BRICS group of countries into an anti-western alliance.
Perhaps the greatest threat from fascism now comes from political Islam. I emphasise that political Islam is not part of the religion of Islam. Political Islam has attempted to highjack the theology of Islam to support its own ideology. This ideology originated in the 18th century as Wahhabism, a reform movement. It was relaunched in 1928 with the formation of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, the first act of which was to kill the Egyptian Prime Minister. It attempted to kill Nasser, and in 1981 it assassinated President Anwar Sadat after he had attempted to make peace with Israel.
Since that time, the Muslim Brotherhood has acted as the political front for many violent organisations. A turning point was the unexpected launch of the Islamic State—ISIS—in April 2014. Formed from the Iraqi franchise of al-Qaeda, it rejects national borders and has declared its ultimate aim as the creation of a worldwide caliphate. The ideology and presence of the Islamic State is expanding widely and rapidly, especially in sub-Saharan African. The nature of the fascist lifestyle that it seeks to impose is demonstrated daily for those who live under the Taliban in Afghanistan.
It is crucial that we understand, and pay the cost of resisting, the twin threats of fascism led by President Putin and by political Islam. The UK, with our long history as a world leader and as one of the P5 members of the UN Security Council, has a crucial role to play.