The news from the Lebanon border is grim but entirely predictable. Hezbollah, that perennial thorn in the side of Israeli security, has once again decided to rattle its sabre. And what does His Majesty's Government do?
It scrambles, it flutters, it dispatches diplomats like Victorian missionaries to a pagan tribe. One wonders if the Foreign Office has consulted a history book lately. The pattern is ancient: a non-state actor, buoyed by ideological fervour and Iranian patronage, challenges a regional power.
The regional power responds with disproportionate force. The international community wrings its hands. And Britain?
Britain plays the role of the well-meaning but utterly ineffectual nanny. This is not diplomacy. This is a farce.
The modern British diplomat, armed with a smartphone and a degree in Peace Studies, believes he can negotiate with men who see compromise as weakness. Hezbollah does not want stability. It wants victory.
And the only language it respects is the language of power. Until London realises that soft power without hard backing is merely empty chatter, we will continue to see these tragicomic crises unfold. The lesson of the Fall of Rome is that decadent empires do not negotiate with barbarians; they collapse.
Britain, take note.
