Ex-London Mayor Says Time to Cut Policy Ties

It’s time for the UK to have an independent foreign policy and stop being a cheerleader for Washington, says former London mayor, Ken Livingstone. But politicians know that posing a threat to US interests may end badly for you, he told RT.

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“Ever since the end of the WW1 Britain and America have intervened all of the Middle East to control the flow of oil. It's been the center of their economy. They put up completely corrupt regimes, they overthrew democratically elected ones, like in Iran in 1953. We've just had a hundred years of Western intervention. And the tragedy is, when you look at the loss of life and what it cost us, we would have been better off if we paid an honest price for the oil, having the Arab countries sell it themselves."

  RT

Just what I keep saying: we'd come out ahead if we just bought the oil. However, that would mean we were not in control of the oil, and we really need to be, because if we don’t control the oil, we can’t control who gets it, and that means loss of control of other countries by means of regulating the flow of oil. No, definitely the loss of life and cost are worth it to the US elites and corporations running the show.

Livingstone believes that if a UK Prime Minster stands up to represent Britain’s interests and “not just be a cheerleader for the United States,” there will be huge public support, as people are overwhelmingly opposed to any more involvement in America's wars in the Middle East.

They won’t do it. And why?

"Everyone coming out from the political system knows: if you pose a threat to the American interest, you might be destabilized, there might be a smear campaign or you might even have a nasty accident. An awful lot of people who challenge American interest seem to die..."

What’s more, he said that all the main newspapers and media outlets in Britain are owned by a few billionaires and give unwavering support to America’s interests despite the loss of “thousands of British lives.”

Not to mention the reporters.

Livingstone said the tragic irony is that the rise of the Islamic State and Islamic extremism in general stems from the Western policies in the last decades.

"This is the tragedy of the last 30-40 years. When we had this growth of extremism in the Muslim world it was actually broadly funded by the Saudi-Arabians and the Americans so that Russia would be drawn into war in Afghanistan. If you actually look at the records, the CIA went to see Jimmy Carter in his office in the White House in the summer of '79. They said: if you fund these fundamentalist Muslims, Russia will have to intervene, it'll become new Vietnam. And they fell into that trap.”

And now look who’s getting their hands on oil in Syria…someone we can’t bully.