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The Prospective Foreign Policy of a Corbyn Government and Its U.S. National Security Implications

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The Prospective Foreign Policy of a Corbyn Government and Its U.S. National Security Implications SEPTEMBER 2019 The Prospective Foreign Policy of a Corbyn Government and its U.S. National Security Implications DR. AZEEM IBRAHIM © 2019 Hudson Institute, Inc. All rights reserved. For more information about obtaining additional copies of this or other Hudson Institute publications, please visit Hudson’s website, www.hudson.org. ABOUT HUDSON INSTITUTE Hudson Institute is a research organization promoting American leadership and global engagement for a secure, free, and prosperous future. Founded in 1961 by strategist Herman Kahn, Hudson Institute challenges conventional thinking and helps manage strategic transitions to the future through interdisciplinary studies in defense, international relations, economics, health care, technology, culture, and law. Hudson seeks to guide public policy makers and global leaders in government and business through a vigorous program of publications, conferences, policy briefings and recommendations. Visit www.hudson.org for more information. HUDSON INSTITUTE 1201 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Fourth Floor Washington, D.C. 20004 P: 202.974.2400 [email protected] www.hudson.org Cover: A flag supporting Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn flies with Big Ben in the background during the “Not One Day More” march at Parliament Square on July 1, 2017 in London, England. (Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images) SEPTEMBER 2019 The Prospective Foreign Policy of a Corbyn Government and its U.S. National Security Implications DR. AZEEM IBRAHIM AUTHOR Dr. Azeem Ibrahim is a Research Professor at the Strategic Studies Policy, Chicago Tribune, LA Times and Newsweek. He is also the Institute, U.S. Army War College and member of the Board of author of “The Rohingyas: Inside Myanmar’s Hidden Genocide” Directors at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (Hurst 2016) and “Radical Origins: Why We Are Losing the War and Political Violence at the Department of War Studies at Kings Against Islamic Extremism” (Pegasus 2017). College London University. He received his PhD from the University of Cambridge after which he completed fellowships at the universities Outside academia, Dr. Ibrahim has been a reservist in the IV of Oxford, Harvard and Yale. Battalion Parachute Regiment and an award-winning entrepreneur. He was ranked as a Top 100 Global Thinker by the European Social Dr. Ibrahim has published hundreds of articles in the likes of The Think Tank in 2010 and named a Young Global Leader by the World New York Times, The Washington Post, The Daily Telegraph, Foreign Economic Forum. 4 | HUDSON INSTITUTE TABLE OF CONTENTS Author 4 Foreword by Rt. Hon. Sir Malcolm Rifkind 6 Acronyms and Names 7 Executive Summary 9 Introduction 11 Models and Practice of International Relations 13 Corbyn’s International Relations Framework and Its Pro-Soviet Influences 13 Traditional Models and Universal Human Rights 14 Intellectual Strands behind Corbyn’s Model 15 From the Labour Left 15 From the Communist Party of Great Britain 15 From the “New Left” 16 From Eurocommunism 16 Corbyn’s Political Actions across Various Regions 17 Bosnia 17 Kosovo 18 Syria 18 Iran and Saudi Arabia 19 Russia 20 Venezuela 21 Scotland & Northern Ireland 22 Nuclear Weapons 22 Multinational Institutions: The European Union and NATO 23 Implications for the U.S. 24 Relations with the Republican and Democratic Parties 25 NATO 25 Security 25 Israel and Anti-Semitism 25 Summary 27 References 30 Endnotes 35 FOREWORD BY RT. HON. SIR MALCOLM RIFKIND Dr. Azeem Ibrahim has developed a well-deserved reputation as It is also highly unlikely that any Corbyn-led government would have a thoughtful analyst of the threats and challenges facing modern a majority in the House of Commons, and it would thus need the society. support of at least some opposition MPs to win votes in Parliament. His study of Jeremy Corbyn’s foreign policy beliefs and prejudices will However, President Trump has shown how much can be done add to that reputation and deserves to be read by all those interested simply by a combination of tweets, speeches, and executive orders. in, and concerned by, contemporary political developments in the That is how he has pursued much of his policy on international trade, United Kingdom. Dr. Ibrahim not only offers his own views and on climate change, on China, and on Russia. conclusions but backs them up with copious factual extracts from Corbyn’s own statements, speeches, and actions over many years, Corbyn as prime minister would have little of the global power of during a time when he must have had little expectation of taking a US president, but serious damage he could do. His speeches leadership of the Labour Party and being seen as a potential prime and statements would be reported throughout the world and bring minister. comfort to unpleasant regimes in Moscow, Caracas, Tehran, and Beijing. He could also weaken the UK’s impressive intelligence Dr. Ibrahim demonstrates how Corbyn’s worldview is warped and agencies by depriving them of funds and ordering them to change lacks any ethical foundation. He provides numerous illustrations their investigative priorities. indicating that Corbyn has no belief in universal human rights and is prepared to excuse atrocities and persecution if they are carried Azeem Ibrahim has a distinguished academic background. His out by governments he approves of, such as Maduro’s Venezuela or report should be read in the White House and the State Department Putin’s Russia. and in other capitals. Hopefully, it will be read in the United Kingdom as well and help ensure that Corbyn is never entrusted with power. He concludes that Corbyn, if he were to obtain power, would do grave damage not only to the United Kingdom and the West but Sir Malcolm Rifkind was a Minister at the UK Foreign Office from to the cause of democracy and liberal values throughout the world. 1982-86. He then served as Defense Secretary from 1992-95 and as Foreign Secretary from 1995-97. From 2010-15 he served as Dr. Ibrahim acknowledges that if Corbyn became the UK’s prime Chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee, with oversight minister there would be serious limits on his power to deliver of the UK’s intelligence agencies. the kind of foreign policy he believes in. A substantial majority of Labour members of Parliament would disagree with any attempt to He is a Visiting Professor at the Department of War Studies, Kings take Britain out of NATO and would not share any enthusiasm for College, London. tolerating the Kremlin’s aggression in Ukraine. 6 | HUDSON INSTITUTE ACRONYMS AND NAMES The information below provides a short list of individuals and groups INDIVIDUALS mentioned in the paper who may not be immediately recognizable to readers. Name Robin Cook Labour foreign secretary from 1997 to 2001 ACRONYMS and leader of the House of Commons until 2003. Tried to introduce the concept of an Initials Title “ethical” foreign policy with an emphasis on AAM Anti-Apartheid Movement human rights. Resigned over opposition to the invasion of Iraq in 2003. CND Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament Tony Benn A leading left-wing politician in the British CPB Communist Party of Britain (successor to the CPGB) Labour Party in the 1970s and 1980s. His CPGB Communist Party of Great Britain supporters were often called Bennites. EC European Community Seumas Milne Jeremy Corbyn’s spokesman and influential advisor. Previously a member of the hard- EEC European Economic Community line, pro-Soviet elements in the CPGB and EU European Union has a long record of supporting Russian IRA Irish Republican Army president Vladimir Putin’s actions, both within the former Soviet Union and more KLA Kosovo Liberation Army widely. NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization Len McCluskey Leader of the British trade union Unite. Very OPCW Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons influential over Corbyn, not least as Unite provides most of the funding for Corbyn’s PCE Communist Party of Spain private office and has provided him with a PCI Italian Communist Party number of policy advisors who previously SDLP Social Democratic and Labour Party worked for the union. SNP Scottish National Party John Pilger Australian journalist who made his reputation exposing the crimes of the Khymer Rouge StWC Stop the War Coalition in Cambodia. Now writes predictably anti- SWP Socialist Workers Party Western, anti-“imperialist” articles, often cited by Corbyn in support of his positions. THE PROSPECTIVE FOREIGN POLICY OF A CORBYN GOVERNMENT | 7 POLITICAL MOVEMENTS AND GROUPS Name Summary The Tribune Group A left-wing grouping in the British Labour Party, important from the early 1960s to the early 1980s, which lost influence after that. New Left An umbrella term for a wide spread of left-wing groups that emerged in the 1960s. Most had concerns about the USSR and tended to make anti-imperialism their core policy. Some were openly Trotskyist in their politics, others more eclectic. Eurocommunism The policy developed in the 1970s by the Italian and Spanish Communist Parties, which became very critical of the USSR and adopted a focus on universal human rights. Both parties backed opposition movements within the Warsaw Pact states. Scottish National Party Now a broadly left-of-center party that argues for Scotland to be independent of the UK. On other electoral issues it has similar policies to the Labour Party, so the two are effectively competing for the same segment of the Scottish electorate, leading to strained relations between them. Social Democratic and Labour Party The Northern Irish sister party of the Labour Party. Notionally supports the nonviolent unification of Ireland, and its MPs used to sit with (and vote for) the Labour Party in the UK House of Commons. It competes with Sinn Féin for the vote of the Catholic nationalist communities in Northern Ireland. Sinn Féin The political wing of the Irish Republican Army (IRA).
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