Postmodern liberalism

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Chris Proctor

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Iran just schooled Trump in the art of the deal. It turns out he may not be that different from his predecessors after all. Apparently, Trump also lacks the staying power and the grit to do what is needed. In the West these days victory is a dirty word. The West Has Lost the Will to Win. That’s Not Something Israel Can Afford! When you are thanked for your actions by terrorists that slaughter Jews, and brutalise, exploit and sacrifice their own people, you probably need to rethink. I wrote the article just over a year ago. The new deal with Iran is just more of the same and, I suspect, will cost the West dearly in the years ahead. Iran has schooled Trump in the art of the deal. The regime survives. The ayatollahs remain in power in name, but the more radical IRGC is increasingly calling the shots, which bodes ill for both the region and the wider world. Iran has discovered the leverage it holds through the Strait of Hormuz, and you can be certain, will exploit it to the full. Bottom line... Survive long enough, drag negotiations out long enough and eventually Western resolve gives way to impatience and the search for a quick fix. Impressive military successes are squandered as Trump blinks and proves no different to those who came before him. He simply lacks the staying power and the grit to do what it takes to achieve victory. Another superficial deal is signed. The key issues remain unresolved. The Islamic regime will continue to run rings around its adversaries at the negotiating table, as it shores up its position in the region, perhaps emerging even stronger than before, more determined than ever to achieve nuclear capability. Israel is left in an awkward and dangerous position. Hams remains, Hezbollah remains, as does the Islamic regime. They were all hit hard and were on the ropes. This deal hands them a stay of execution and the opportunity to lick their wounds, rebuild, regroup and continue their genocidal campaign, not just against Israel, but against America and the West. Iran’s neighbours will now feel less safe, and rightly so. The immediate losers, however, are the people of Iran, who came onto the streets in the face of terrible danger, made enormous sacrifices and dared to hope that their nightmare of almost half a century may finally be coming to an end. Yet, once more, the US and the West has abandoned them, as it caved to the Islamic regime. After all the talk of unprecedented pressure on Tehran, after all the claims of reshaping the Middle East and imposing a new regional order, Trump is sending a clear and dangerous message to the world. The West no longer has the stomach for the fight. It has lost the will to win. Sadly, this article remains all too true… Victory in war.... The West used to understand the concept. It meant defeating your enemies, not containing them, not “managing the conflict”. It meant neutralising the threat decisively, so it could never return. Victory was essential. As the West languishes in moral confusion, today, victory, the very notion is seen as somewhat vulgar, immoral, oppressive, wrong. It belongs in a colonial past. In its place, we have long drawn-out conflicts, fought without resolve, ended without resolution. These wars have inevitably ended in failure disguised as restraint, defeat dressed up as diplomacy, where dangerous adversaries are left standing, undefeated, bloodied, perhaps badly. Yet free to regroup, rebuild, and return. Our modern-day foes are patient. They believe time is on their side. They think long term, in decades, not news, or election cycles. They are ideologues, for whom the cause is everything, built to endure far longer than any Western democratic attention spans. They don’t need to win in the traditional sense. For them, every ceasefire is a concession, and an opportunity, every withdrawal claimed as a “victory”. Every victory, a powerful message to their peers and supporters, mostly lost on, or conveniently ignored by the West. Victory vs Appeasement Lest we forget, without victory, the free world as we know it wouldn’t exist. The defeat of Nazism, fascism, and totalitarianism was not negotiated. It was only achieved through uncompromising, and often brutal struggle, until victory. Without it, there would be no liberal democracies, no civil rights, no tolerance, no open societies to moralise from, that the West enjoys today. History taught us the cost of appeasement, that it only emboldened tyrants, with disastrous consequences. When your enemy views compromise as weakness, when it clearly signals its intention to utterly destroy you and your way of life, there is nothing to negotiate. Nobody talked about proportionality or restraint when fighting the Nazis. The Allies understood something we’ve since forgotten. You don’t reason with those who want to annihilate you. You defeat them. Today, the West seems incapable of grasping that concept. Demands on Israel And so, to Israel’s war in Gaza, and six other fronts, that has dragged on for far too long. The UK, France, and Canada, three nations that once defined the free world, have threatened Israel with “concrete steps” (whatever that means) unless it halts its war (of defence and necessity) against Hamas in Gaza. The UK has frozen free trade talks with Israel. The EU is reviewing its cooperation deal with the Jewish State. They demand Israel provide humanitarian aid to Gaza, despite knowing that Hamas steals and stockpiles the aid. The UN, which is wholly compromised in Gaza, has rejected an Israeli proposal for the distribution of aid that would go straight to ordinary Gazans, cutting Hamas out of the picture and denying them a crucial hold over ordinary Gazans Apparently, we are living in a post-victory West, where the new Western doctrine appears to be that genocidal terror, while perhaps “distasteful”, can be rationalised and even forgiven, whereas victory for a country defending itself from such terror, will not be tolerated! Wars Without Wins Let’s look at four of the West’s military “achievements” since 1945, a trail of blood, money, and futility. Korean War (1950–1953): Over 40,000 coalition troops killed, including 36,574 Americans, 1,106 Brits, 900 Turks, and 516 Canadians. Civilian deaths: 1.5 to 2 million. The result? A nuclear-armed North Korea run by a third-generation dictator. Vietnam War (1964–1975): Over 64,000 coalition deaths, including 58,220 Americans and 5,099 South Koreans. Civilian deaths: more than 2 million. The result? U.S. withdrawal. Communist victory. Re-education camps. Executions. Over time Vietnam changed markedly, and is now an active member of the family of nations Iraq War (2003–2011): 4,800 coalition troops killed (4,492 Americans, 179 Brits). Civilian deaths: between 187,000 and 211,000, according to Iraq Body Count. Some estimates, like PLOS Medicine, place total war-related deaths at over 460,000. Result? A broken state and a breeding ground for ISIS. Afghanistan War (2001–2021): 3,500 coalition deaths (2,448 Americans, 457 Brits, 158 Canadians). Civilian deaths: at least 46,319 — possibly more. Result? A botched and embarrassing withdrawal, and the Taliban back in power, more oppressive than ever. Four wars. Trillions spent. Hundreds of thousands of dead. Not a single enduring victory. The pattern is clear. Western powers know how to start wars. They even know how to fight them. But they have neither the resolve nor the staying power, to finish the job. Israel is a Different Story Altogether There’s one fundamental difference between those conflicts and Israel’s wars. The US, UK, Canada, and France fought their military campaigns far from home in distant lands. Israel is fighting on its front porch, to protect its citizens under direct threat from enemy attack. How different would these Western countries see things if the battle was on their home territory. It’s been eighty years. They have forgotten the horror and the fear. For them war is fought in some else’s country by other people’s children. It’s pretty much ignored, unless you have a family member or friend directly involved. In Israel it is a totally different story. First off, everyone is involved. The cost of failure isn’t geopolitical embarrassment or a critical op-ed in The Guardian. Failure to achieve victory means another October 7th, more slaughtered children, more raped women, more burned families, more hostages dragged into Gaza’s underground dungeons. Walking away, retreat is not an option. Israel cannot “de-escalate” its way to safety. No sane nation would accept living next to a terror organisation that vows to repeat such massacres again and again until Israel is eradicated and all Jews are dead. Yet that is precisely what the West is demanding of the Jewish State. But as ex Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir stated, “If we have to have a choice between being dead and pitied, and being alive with a bad image, we’d rather be alive and have the bad image.” Moral Posturing in Place of Principle What makes this moment particularly obscene is the dismissive nature the West seems to have towards the events of October 7th. The, “that was then, this is now” attitude, where the impact of the slaughter, comes with a macabre “sell by date”. Over 1,200 men, women, and children were butchered. Some in their beds, some at a music festival. Others, including whole families with toddlers and infants, bound tortured and burned alive. In Israel everything has changed forever, for everyone. When taken as a percentage of population, October 7th amounts to the largest most brutal terror attack in modern history. For comparison, if taken as a percentage of the population, the 1200 victims slaughtered in Israel would equate to... 8,333 victims slaughtered in the UK or 8,293 victims slaughtered in France or 4,969 victims slaughtered in Canada. One can only imagine the response of our three Western nations in the face of such a brutal attack on their own citizens in their own territory. And yet, from the moment Israel responded in a war that was forced upon it, the Jewish State has been treated as the aggressor, not the victim. Not withstanding the initial horror and short lived protestations of support, rather than standing unequivocally with Israel, the West soon responded with moral posturing, calls for “proportionality,” “restraint,” and “humanitarian pauses”, all of which provided succour and military advantage to Hamas. The long planned, well funded, well executed anti-Israel campaigns, marches and encampments, had the desired effect. The Lie of “Genocide” and “Starvation as a Strategy” The accusations of genocide, ethnic cleansing, and “starvation as strategy of war” are a result of carefully constructed false narratives and propaganda. They are a gross moral inversion, making a mockery of international law and justice. First off, the concept of “proportionality” which comes up often, is not about matching body counts. It’s not a numbers game. In the laws of armed conflict, proportionality refers to whether the military advantage gained, outweighs the expected harm to non-combatants/innocent civilians. Moreover, international humanitarian law is based on conduct, not outcome. Such elements are key to understanding this war. Israel’s goal is to destroy Hamas and rescue its hostages. These are wholly legitimate, proportionate, and indeed obligatory aims for the government of Israel. Genocide is the intentional destruction of a nation or an ethnic group. Intent is key. Israel’s war is not aimed at ordinary Palestinians. Israel’s aim is to destroy Hamas, at the very least its military capabilities and ability to rule in Gaza. The IDF has gone to extraordinary measures to minimise civilian casualties. Israel repeatedly warns civilians to evacuate. It uses leaflets, makes phone calls, sends texts, "roof-knocking" techniques and more, to avoid unnecessary harm to non-combatants. According to a host of independent military experts, in the history of modern urban warfare, no army has done more to mitigate civilian casualties than the IDF. From prior warnings to surgical strikes, the Israeli military’s protocols are, in the words of Ex Deputy Supreme Commander of NATO Forces in Europe, General Sir John McColl, “as strong as ours.” Chair of Urban Warfare Studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point, Colonel John Spencer, suggests that the IDF goes further than any other military to minimise civilian casualties, in the most complex urban theatre in history. At the same time, this war is being fought against an enemy intent on maximising its own civilian casualties. Hamas openly glorifies martyrdom, calls the sacrifice of ordinary Gazans “necessary”, forces civilians to remain in combat zones, and even shoots them if they try to leave. Hamas uses civilian buildings, hospitals, schools, mosques and homes for terror bases, launch pads for rockets and terror attacks rendering them legitimate military targets under international law, further endangering its civilian population, including medical and aid workers. As for starvation... For months, aid flowed into Gaza in quantities that far exceeded the recommended minimum calorie intake. The problem wasn’t supply. It was theft. Hamas intercepted and looted the aid, horded it or sold it at exorbitant prices. In March 2025, Israel halted aid claiming Hamas refused a ceasefire-for-hostages deal. For nearly two months, no aid entered, not because Israel wanted civilians to suffer, but because Hamas were using aid convoys to control Gaza and as their greatest source of funding. Despite this, and due to international pressure, Israel has now resumed deliveries of aid. As of May 2025, aid is entering Gaza again, albeit under tighter controls. The idea that Israel is orchestrating a famine is another false narrative, peddled by Hamas, its supporters and enablers, to demonise Israel in the international media. What If the World Had Acted Differently? Let’s indulge in a hypothetical. What if the world had responded differently to October 7th, with clarity and courage? What if every Western leader had unequivocally condemned Hamas and the massacre? If instead of statements, like “October 7th didn’t happen in a vacuum”, the UN had immediately denounced the attack and demanded immediate release of all hostages. It would also have helped if UN Women had immediately recognised the brutal mass rapes and sexual violence of that day. It took them six months to acknowledge these atrocities. What if the West had sanctioned Qatar for bankrolling Hamas, and immediately arrested all Hamas leaders in their five-star residences in Doha? What if they had made it clear to Israel, not only that it had the right to respond, but offered full their full support in achieving victory against the terrorists? This war would likely already be over. Hamas would have surrendered or been destroyed. Ordinary Gazans, also victims of Hamas, would have been free from the oppressive regime, able to rebuild their lives, with hope for a better future. The hostages would all have been released, and Israel could rest easy knowing its war aims had been achieved and that the border with Gaza was finally secure. But no, the West chose to preach to the victim, not the perpetrators. It wavered on hostage demands. It treated Hamas not as a radical terrorist organisation, but as a legitimate party with which to negotiated. And the result, we know all too well. Prolonged war, more civilian suffering, along with the emboldening of every terrorist group from Tehran to London. A Big Thank You That Should Worry Us All And for their statement, threatening Israel, the UK, Canada, and France received a big “thank you” from Hamas. Although, when a radical Islamic terrorist group is applauding your position, you desperately need to consult your moral compass, as you are way off course! If you can't see that, you are headed straight over the cliff, into the abyss. And these three countries are getting pretty close to the edge. Just look at their domestic situations. To add insult to injury, while condemning and threatening Israel, as it battles radical Islam, President Macron in France embraces the leader of the new Syrian regime, Ahmed al-Sharaa, previously known as ISIS and Al Qaeda leader, Abu Mohammad al-Julani, with a $10m price on his head. No longer apparently, a new name, a trimmed beard and an expensive suit, means that Western leaders are now courting his radical Islamist regime, even as it continues to slaughter the Alawite and Druze minorities in Syria. This will end badly! The Cost of Capitulation The message being sent is crystal clear. If you murder, rape, kidnap, and hide behind civilians, fear not. Be assured the West will pressure your victims to stop fighting. The West will save your ass. This is not just about Gaza. Across the globe, radical Islamic ideologues and jihadist groups, Hezbollah, The Houthis, Iran, Boko Haram and others are all watching, taking notes. And they like what they see! Israel is being told to end the war, pack up and leave Gaza, allowing Hamas to remain in power, seriously damaged perhaps, yet, still alive, still defiant, ready to rebuild in order to perpetrate the next October 7th. In what universe does that make any sense whatsoever? Israel Must be Allowed to Win (if it can) Instead of threatening Israel with “concrete steps,” why not take the necessary steps against Hamas, against its sponsors and enablers. Take meaningful and tangible steps to force Hamas to release the hostages and lay down arms. The war would cease immediately. Better late than never. Take strong steps against the lies and propaganda that delegitimise and demonise the Jewish State and incite Jew hatred in your countries. In case you hadn’t noticed, these false narratives and racist chants, ultimately threaten to erode the fabric of Western democracies and way of life? Victory can be brutal, horrible, and cruel, with tragic consequences for far too many. War offends our humanity, liberal sensitivities, our sense of justice and more. But there are times when victory is essential. Now is such a time. Whether the UK, France & Canada like it or not, Israel’s war is their war, it is the West’s war. Israel is at the spear head, on the front lines, and must be allowed to win!

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