Opium War
There was an interesting exchange between Sir Peter Tapsell and Gordon Brown during yesterday’s Prime Minister’s Questions. Naturally, Tapsell was only ever going to get no answer at all.
Tapsell asked, “Are we to understand that the Right Honourable Gentleman’s bleak message to the country is that for many years to come, at Prime Minister’s Questions, he and his successors will be paying mournful tribute to the gallant men and women who in the previous week have been killed in Afghanistan, fighting an unwinnable, and deeply unpopular war, when it is widely understood that the Taliban are not international terrorists, who are now mostly … and the international terrorists are now mostly trained in Pakistan, Iraq and Britain.”
Brown responded, “Let me invite the Honourable Gentleman to join, eh, the Defence Secretary in a visit to Afghanistan, to see for himself. As a result of what has happened, the Taliban have been removed from power, 40 nations are contributing 50,000 troops, and as a result of what we have done, there were no girls in education in Afghanistan at all, now there are 2 million in education, and I would hope he will take up the invitation.”
Ah, but Mr Brown, that’s not quite the whole story, is it? For some reason, you seem to have failed to mention when questioned that as a result of what has happened, opium production, which had dropped from 3,656 tonnes to 74 tonnes between 2000 and 2001, has risen to record levels (6100 tonnes in 2006, 8,200 tonnes in 2007).
Rather than stopping poppy growing and promoting sustainable sources of income for the farmers (can anyone say “global food crisis?”), British troops are there promoting and protecting poppy production.
What is the nature of the war in Afghanistan, Mr Brown? Is it a war on terrorists, or is it an Opium War?
Is there any difference between the Britain of the 18th and 19th centuries and today? Then the British East India company was the British Empire, with a bigger, better equipped army than the British army, and control of the intelligence services. Lord Shelburne and his successors simply nationalised it. Today, it’s been privatised again, with whole swathes of the Ministry of Defence sold off to private interests like Carlile. With their better equipped private armies not only providing so-called VIP security, but running covert operations answerable to no-one, Britain is again the centre of operations for these interests. And just as the British East India company ran the opium trade from the mid 18th century onwards, British based private interests run it today, fully supported by the British Government.
So, Mr Brown, does your invitation to Sir Peter Tapsell include a tour of the poppy fields?
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On the 28th June 2008, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime released their 2008 report. They say, “Afghanistan had a record opium harvest in 2007: as a consequence, the world’s illegal opium production almost doubled since 2005. However, the problem is much localized. Most cultivation (80 per cent) took place in 5 southern provinces, which are the most unstable. This is twice as much supply than demand but it is not clear where it is going. A “heroin tsunami” is starting to wash up on shores of Europe, which is seeing a fall in heroin prices on the street. ” The full report can be downloaded as a pdf.