No, there won't always be an England

Saith Austin Bay:

The London bombing, instead of producing a new crop of Zapatero appeasniks, may prove to be a sea-change in the information [war]. Time will tell.

He precedes this with all manner of evidence. Still, I don't believe him. Let's remember that on September 12^th 2001, a lot of us looked around and thought there was some clarity on the subject in the United States, on both sides of the aisle. By the following spring, most Democrats had reverted to form (those of us who didn't revert are mostly calling ourselves "Republicans" now). And the UK is a lot farther gone than we are.

Here's a prediction: What little clarity they have now, will evaporate in the next six or eight months at the latest. And it's only a little clarity, to begin with: They're talking about ID cards (?!), letting the police arrest more people, and so on. What it adds up to is battening down the hatches at home. That's nice, I guess, assuming there's any sense in further whittling away the few civil liberties they've got left. But are they more, or less, committed to establishing reasonably sane governments in Iraq and Afghanistan? Are they less, or more, committed to funding Hamas? I'm betting on zero for two there. I'm betting that internationally, they'll lick the boot and hope it'll keep them safe at home.

Oh, and they just criminalized criticism of Islam. It's beyond me how anybody could be optimistic about the UK.