Gordon Brown Is Right

Gordon Brown is being criticised by Tory MP Greg Hands for not having met with Vladimir Putin yet. Hands contrasts this with Tony Blair who met Putin almost as soon as the latter took office and points to this piece by David Hughes in the Telegraph which claims:

His early courtship of Putin paid handsome dividends the two men got on famously thereafter.

Well that's nice to know, but the purpose of diplomacy isn't to ensure a friendly personal relationship between leaders, but to advance and protect our country's interests. Under the Blair Putin relationship the Russian government felt secure enough to practice nuclear terrorism in London. (Not to mention the unpleasant stuff it committed within it's own borders)

Compared to this I'd say Gordon Brown's approach is much the better approach.

Alexander Litveninko Murder, Russian Diplomats Expelled.

Given the substance that was used to murder Alexander Litvinenko, it looks almost certain that the Russian government was at the very least complicit in the crime, although the Daily Telegraph might be blaming Conrad Black, and from an ethical point of view the expulsion of 4 Russian diplomats is certainly justified. That doesn't mean that it is a good idea though, I've been saying for several months that the Russian government seems intent on creating a siege mentality* to justify further erosions of liberty at home. In theory Vladimir Putin has to stand down at the end of next year, a looming foreign policy crisis could be enough to provide a pretext to extend Putin's time in office. Obviously Litvinenko cannot simply been forgotten but it would seem prudent to pursue the suspects without giving Putin an excuse to whine about being victimised,

* For instance the Estonian statue furore, or the missile defence row or the disruption of gas exports etc.