Labour to lose by-election

I bet Labour are not looking forward to this by-election one little bit:

Friends and family of John MacDougall will be mourning his loss after a two year struggle against asbestos-related lung cancer.

Among them is Gordon Brown – a Parliamentary neighbour who had known him for three decades and who visited him in hospital this week. So it will be all the more galling that political calculation will, sooner or later, have to intrude on personal tragedy. Following Mr MacDougall’s funeral, Labour strategists will have to decide when to call a by-election to elect a new MP. Early indications from Labour sources is that the by-election will not be called before October.

Note that the SNP overturned a bigger Labour majority in Glasgow East just under a month ago.

Miliband says no to “ex-Soviet space”

British foreign secretary David Miliband says that Russia is trying to carve out a sphere of influence in the former Soviet republics:

UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband has warned Russia against hankering after a Soviet past in its border disputes. He told the BBC Russia had been trying to assert the concept of “ex-Soviet space”, which was “not acceptable”. Russia had adopted a 19th Century approach and “blatant aggression” in Georgia, when it should be asserting itself economically, he said.

I agree with Miliband. The question is, how to rein in the bear? Earlier this year, Georgia had been denied NATO membership, and Russia probably interpreted this as meaning the West wouldn’t intervene if Russia invaded (indeed it would be hard to interprete it any other way, since the whole point of NATO membership is that the West will intervene if a member is invaded).

So, if the West wants to signal that it doesn’t agree to Russia having control over the Caucasus, Ukraine or Moldova, the obviously way would be to offer them NATO membership. Furthermore, the West should point out that it is only doing this because of Russia’s actions in Georgia.

God’s will, my arse

Martin Kelly isn’t impressed by my previous post on eugenics:

What gets me about all such discussion is the lack of humility of those who put forward such absurd suggestions. They do not realise that they are where they are in life, or that they have what they have, only through the operation of a power greater than their own. To take upon oneself the power to decide who shall have children and who shall not is to take upon oneself the power of God; it is swimming into very deep waters, from which the only escape may be repentance.

If it is God’s will that there will be an adult underclass, there will be an adult underclass. If it God’s will that those who govern are godless, and seek human rather than divine solutions, it will be so. These choices are His to make, not ours; and by inserting ourselves into His processes by interfering in the processes by which life comes into the world, we mock him and invite His vengeance.

And I suppose that if it’s God’s will that people die of horrible diseases, then that’s just God’s will and we shouldn’t do anything about it — no hospitals, no medicines, no medical research, etc. The sick people will just have to suffer, because hey that’s God’s will, and God’s in a bad mood today and wants to watch people suffer, ain’t that right Martin?

Stratfor on the South Ossetia War

Stratfor has a good summary of the Souith Ossetia War, and an analysis of why Russia behaved as it did. (Via Three Kings)