4 hours ago
4
Thank you, Nesrine Malik, for articulating so lucidly the righteous anger that so many of us feel for the way in which most of the world’s leaders have simply shrugged their shoulders and abdicated any responsibility for challenging the bloody actions of Israel or the incendiary interventions of the US (Western leaders call for diplomacy, but they won’t stop this war – they refuse to even name its cause, 23 June).
Those of us who still cling to a belief that the actions of democratic countries should be driven by adherence to and promotion of fundamental humanitarian principles have looked on in despair at the impotence of world leaders, which has at times verged on complicity in Israel’s and the US’s actions.
We have already seen the spread of more rightwing regimes coming to power, as a growing number of western governments and political parties are being rejected at the ballot box for pursuing domestic policies and priorities that no longer reflect those of their electorate. If those more centrist governments that still remain sidestep the established checks and balances, and fail to use these to challenge those regimes that commit atrocities and break international laws, then the world indeed risks hurtling into the void of which Malik warns.
Peter Riddle
Wirksworth, Derbyshire
It was a huge relief to read Nesrine Malik’s review of the war on Iran initiated by Benjamin Netanyahu, and joined by Donald Trump, and of the predictably feeble response by European leaders. It seems to have been assumed by them that the two aggressors are within their rights to have carried out the attacks, notwithstanding the terrible violence that Netanyahu has been carrying out and the lack of evidence that Iran had started to manufacture nuclear weapons.
They also seem to ignore the fact that Israel has its own (rarely mentioned) nuclear weapons and that Netanyahu has already demonstrated his own willingness to commit genocide. As the print headline on the editorial in the same issue explains so eloquently, “Trump has chosen war at Israel’s behest. The world is likely to pay a steep price” (The Guardian view on Trump bombing Iran: an illegal and reckless act, 23 June).
Diana Francis
Bath
Nesrine Malik’s article is another description of something that most Guardian readers must already be aware of. The question that everyone from political leaders to the mainstream media seems to avoid is why. Why do western government policies range from supine to positively supportive of Israel’s behaviour?
The contemporary version of Israel has captured western governments and mainstream public discourse to a point where it seems no one can risk asking why and how this has happened. As a lifelong liberal, egalitarian and anti-racist, I feel tainted even by stating the obvious and asking those simple questions. It is frighteningly easy to be labelled reactionary and antisemitic.
Michael Moore
Buxton, Derbyshire
Nesrine Malik is correct. We are being led by the “managers of western hegemony” – not political thinkers working for a better world, but inept managers leading us “into a void” of despondency. It requires spiritual and philosophical change to extricate ourselves, not self-serving managers.
Richard Ashwell
Wolverhampton
