Between Us and the Devil

There are a few things in the news in recent days which should give us pause to consider the meaning of, 'moral courage'.  In no particular order.....

At last, an entity of considerable substance, Google, has  appeared to take a stand against Chinese censorship in general, and, in particular, alleged cyber-attacks by China-linked entities against Google servers in the US and against other US technology companies.  For too long, Governments and the private sector have been too willing to turn a blind eye in China for fear of compromising their position in the perceived lucrative Chinese market.  Now Google has said it will cease censoring its search results in China and is prepared to withdraw from the market.  It seems from reports in the media that the two original founders of Google, Brin and Page, have been influential in Google's latest moves; they allegedly have always been personally troubled by Google's earlier agreement to censor its results in China.  Whether driven by moral imperatives or otherwise, Google's stand is refreshing and important, and it is to be hoped that others follow their lead.

Microsoft, in the persons of Gates and Ballmer, have been rather churlish in their reaction to Google's announcement.  They have both apparently said that many countries have questionable laws and practices.  About Google's stance, Gates told the New York Times that, "They’ve done nothing and gotten a lot of credit for it".  Gates went on, “Now, if Google ever chooses to pull out of the United States, then I’d give them credit.”  Google has 66% of the US search market, Microsoft has 11%; enough said.  Gates's remarks show that there is an important difference between 'intelligence' and common sense - I have always felt that the latter is far more valuable than the former.

China lies at the epicentre of the world's counterfeiting industry and has elevated the stealing of intellectual property into what amounts to national policy.  (Microsoft, more than many companies has suffered lost revenues as a result.)  Underlying such property theft is a broken moral compass, and reflects a deeper malaise in Chinese Government thinking, whether it be IPR, the environment or human rights.  If allowed to go unchecked, unchallenged, and unaltered, we will all reap the whirlwind later.  Go Google.

Two of the UK Government's former and most senior legal officers in the Foreign Office have told the Chilcot enquiry this week that they had advised Jack Straw, former Foreign Secretary, that an invasion of Iraq without a second UN resolution (which was never passed) would be illegal.  One of these officers subsequently resigned from Government as a result of the invasion.  Evidently, Mr Straw (name and nature it seems), ignored their advice - a classic example of the 'barrack room lawyer'.  Earlier, in Mr Straw's testimony to the enquiry, he said that supporting the war was the most difficult political decision of his life.  Apparently, giving up his ministerial privileges (and expenses) and taking a moral stance against an illegal war, was even more difficult.  Mr Straw is now the UK's Justice Minister.....a cruel joke worthy of a Monty Python sketch.

The Guardian has reported this week that the medical records of the late David Kelly, the former UK weapons inspector and expert on Iraq's WMDs or lack thereof, were sealed by Lord Hutton for 70 years.  Hutton is infamous for presiding over the Hutton Enquiry (Whitewash) into Kelly's demise.  It is alleged that Mr Kelly killed himself by slashing his wrists.  According to the Guardian a group of eminent  medical experts are seeking Kelly's medical records and the autopsy results in order to conduct a formal re-examination of the causes of his death.  Evidently, there are few if any medical experts who believe the suicide verdict, in fact, many experts say that it is infeasible that Mr Kelly took his own life.  There may now be a legal challenge as to the basis for Hutton's inexplicable decision to seal the records.  Let us hope that moral rectitude wins out over legal and political expediency and that the real causes of Mr Kelly's sudden death are finally determined.

All of the above are examples of individuals who have 'broken ranks' and stepped forward, against the prevailing current, to say, wait, something is wrong here, and we have to speak out and stop it.

My picture today is a panorama of the tip of Manhattan Island, where once stood proudly those fallen Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre.  What brought them down were individuals driven by hatred and a philosophy devoid of basic humanity; they were destroyed by individuals with no moral compass.  Our individual humanity, and our sense of right and wrong, are all that stands between us and the devil.  As Edmund Burke is alleged to have written, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing".