Consider: Mr Biden, how do you defend the use of American weapons in Israel’s mass murder of Palestinian civilians? ‘Israel has the right to defend itself. Our relationship is unshakeable.’ Mr Biden, how do you defend the evident failure of a bleed-Russia-white strategy in Ukraine? ‘We will do it for as long as it takes.’ Mr Blinken, how do you defend the confiscation of Russian state assets to pay for the war in Ukraine? ‘We believe in the rules-based international order.’ Mr Modi, how do you defend the growing use of violence against Muslims and other minorities in your country? [silence] Mr Sunak, how do you defend the scheme to traffic asylum seekers to Central Africa? ‘I will stop the boats.’ Ms von der Leyen, how do you defend the physical abuse and humiliation of refugees and other migrants who attempt to enter the EU? ‘We support the principle of subsidiarity.’ Mr Xi, how do you defend the state’s persecution of the people of Xinjiang, Hong Kong, etc ? ‘We oppose all forms of splittism.’ And so on. These are not examples of effective dissembling but of a failure of imagination and, in some instances, common sense. Sometimes they do worse by ‘doing violence to the language’. The last thing they do is inspire trust and faith in the character of the speaker. For something better and different, try this: Talleyrand is free today. But if you enjoyed this post, you can tell Talleyrand that their writing is valuable by pledging a future subscription. You won't be charged unless they enable payments. © 2023 Talleyrand |