The ambassador's last stand

I've just watched the BBC programme The Ambassador's Last Stand. If I'd found out about it earlier I'd probably have urged you all to watch it, but as I didn't I'll just have to hope that some of you watched it anyway, because it was really really good.

The programme was about Craig Murray; I'm guessing most of you won't know who he is, so here's a quick summary. (If you're really lazy, go here for a quicker one.) Craig Murray used to be the British ambassador to Uzbekistan, and he spent a lot of his time kicking up a fuss about the regime's use of torture (even if you don't recognise the guy's name, you might remember hearing something about the Uzbeki government boiling dissidents alive; it's not the kind of thing you forget, really, is it?) He brought this to the attention of the British government, who were using information obtained under torture from the Uzbeki secret police, assuming that once they realised what was going on they'd change the policy.

Instead, they did the decent thing and got Craig Murray suspended on no less than eighteen trumped-up charges. Although they were all later disproved, in the end he was forced to resign anyway after a systematic campaign to undermine him by the Foreign Office. Now, having had his career destroyed because he stood up for what was right, Murray was understandably pissed off. So he decided to stand against Jack Straw in the general election. The Ambassador's Last Stand followed his campaign; of course, he didn't win, but he managed to garner a few thousand votes and drive around in a Green Goddess sounding off about the government quite a lot.

Okay, so maybe that wasn't all that brief, but it was important. Anyway, for me this whole thing is deeply depressing on two counts:

1. Our government seemingly has no regard for human rights whatsoever. I remember it being reported last year that evidence obtained by torture had been ruled to be alright as long as it wasn't British people doing the torturing. But of course, the government is still strongly opposed to torture in all its forms. The sheer hypocrisy of it all just makes me want to throw things at other things (particularly cabinet ministers). In case you didn't know, Uzbekistan is a major ally in the war on terror, which is why, like America, it gets away with doing whatever the hell it likes to political dissidents and the government turns a blind eye. The more astute among you might have noticed a huge and horrible irony there.

2. The way politics and diplomacy really works is deeply, deeply scary. All this stuff about the Foreign Office desperately trying to come up with ways to shut Craig Murray up, no matter how fraudulent they might be, is very reminiscent of a brilliant John Le Carre book I once read called The Constant Gardener. The corruption, the lies, the way the establishment tries to get rid of people who speak out against injustice... I'm aware that I sound like a far-out conspiracy theorist just saying all this stuff, and that's why it scares me even more that it's all true. People don't want to believe that this is how our democracy works, but all the evidence suggests it is.

To be honest, I think America and Britain need to take a good look at themselves before they can claim the gun-toting moral high ground against supposed 'rogue states'. Well, we all knew that already, I suppose. I'm aware this is nothing new, but I just felt the need to vent at length about the soul-crushing rubbishness of the global order. It eases the frustration of sitting around feeling helpless a tiny bit. Lordy, sometimes I feel like I'm living in a George Orwell novel. Sigh.

Right, those of you who managed to wade this far through my rantings shall be rewarded with this link, which takes you to a groovy song about the Craig Murray debacle. I promise I'm not joking.

(Oh, by the way, I'm back from Europe.)