‘PR clown Johnson stirs up anti-Russia hysteria’

The anti-Russia rhetoric of UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and British MPs is hysterical and irresponsible, says former British diplomat William Mallinson. It’s because Russia is doing a better job to restore some stability in the Middle East, he adds.

The troubling situation in Aleppo, Syria was the subject of an emergency session of the British parliament on Tuesday, during which MPs became particularly heated.

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Boris Johnson calls for Russian Embassy protests during Syria debate

UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson used the debate in the House of Commons to accuse Russia of bombing an aid convoy in Aleppo and called for demonstrations outside the Russian embassy.

RT: As a former diplomat, are you surprised to hear something like that from the Foreign Secretary?

William Mallinson: Of course I am. This is highly hysterical. Boris Johnson, who let’s not forget, failed to become Prime Minister a few months ago is seeking even more publicity. He has chosen to jump onto the bandwagon of American electorate hysteria… Also post-Brexit, let us remember that the UK is now becoming even more a subset of US foreign military policy. It is very unfortunate and sad that even Boris Johnson, who had criticized Hillary Clinton as a “sadistic nurse in a mental hospital” not so long ago, is now jumping onto the Cold War hysteria bandwagon. He is coming across as a PR clown, not as a statesman, which is not funny for an old Etonian – Eton was once a fairly good school. He is a very clever wordsmith; he is showing great inconsistency in his previous views, with allegedly his current views. He is known to be against political correctness, but now he has jumped on the bandwagon of political correctness…

RT: We've heard a lot of harsh comments during the debate on Tuesday. Ahead of the event, former Cabinet minister Andrew Mitchell even compared Russia with Nazi Germany. What are your thoughts on that?

WM: It is hysterical, it is irresponsible, it is going back into the worst part of the past; it is surrealistic; it is no longer relevant and it is all connected to the current hysteria, because Russia is actually doing a better job than anyone else has done to regain some stability in the Middle East – it is a tough game to do that, and people died – horribly sad. That is what it is about. In the cozy little House of Commons – God bless the House of Commons – you get fanatics, as well: people who seek publicity. It is a show, I am sorry; it is just a silly show for the electorate. I hope British people don’t swallow it all like slaves.

MPs going to go to WWIII to protect Al-Nusra, Al-Qaeda, & ISIS

When Boris Johnson was a back bench MP, or as London’s mayor writing for The Spectator, he was a “relatively harmless buffoon”, said Michael Raddie, Co-Editor, BS NEWS.info. Since he has become Foreign Secretary, “he has moved into a dangerous and scary clown” whose “diplomacy is nonexistent.”

“Calling for demonstrations outside the Russian embassy, I am sure he could be a breach of the law in this country. He’s made an enemy of the Metropolitan Police, because they know that they are going to have to police this demonstration. And there will obviously be a counter demonstration – a pro-Syrian people demonstration to go along with the anti-Assad, the anti-Russian demonstration that will be held there, whenever it is held. So there will be a breach of the peace – there is no doubt about that. And Boris is the cause of it,” Raddie told RT.

Raddie recalled that in December 2015, Johnson wrote an article where he said the UK should work with Russia and the Syrian government to defeat ISIS. But now his stance has changed.

“Recently he has been made a member of the inner circle of globalists and he understands what the geopolitical game is all about. He is pressuring for regime change. He wants to see the genuine government of Syria toppled and replaced by the non-secular Jihadists, which is the chaos that we have in Libya. We don’t have to contextualize this. We can see what will happen in Syria, because it is happening today in Libya: chaos on the ground, multi factions – there is certainly no secular state left,” Raddie said.

The “glimmer of hope”, he went on, was the speech of the Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry on Tuesday, while the rhetoric from the Tory party and many Labour MPs was “truly depressing.”

“Whether they believe that or not, this is what will happen if they choose to vote the way they voted last time and choose military action above Syrian airspace. They are going to go to WWIII to protect the Al-Nusra, Al-Qaeda, and ISIS. That is effectively what they are going to do,” Raddie said.

“The only military fighting terrorism in Syria at this point in time is the Russian air force and the Syrian Arab Army. If they realistically wanted to stop terrorism in Syria and defeat ISIS, then the best that they could do is withdraw, but at least support Russia; possibly move toward the resolution from the UN, which was to allow safe passage of all the terrorists in Eastern Aleppo to leave. That is not going to happen,” he added.