Blair tackled over his Nato allies

I think it was a lively PM's Question time today, as a war between David Cameron and Tony Blair was battled out. Insults were fired between the two leaders like missiles.

Blair told Cameron as far his own policy making went, he was still "In the kindergarten".Cameron hit back fiercely by asking Blair where his Nato allies are.

This is an interesting question highlighted by Cameron. Whilst UK troops are re-deployed in Afghanistan WHERE are troops from allied countries? I feel that if they are not deployed into areas of Afghanistan shortly, Blair will be urgently need to re-think some foreign policy issues. Arguably though, he does appear to be currently protesting at the lack of other nato soldiers in Afghanistan.

But so far there seems to be little gained from his calls for alliance.

I think this may mark the end of his powers of influence regarding Nato countries, as do many of critics of Blair's foreign policies . I don't think we can realistically expect a diplomatic response from France, Germany or Italy as they seem unshakably firm in their positions to avoid becoming integrated into the recent deployments.

I think there are obvious reasons for this. 9/11 has impacted upon the foreign policies of every allied and non-allied country. This has led to wide-spread condemnation of the war in Iraq, which in my opinion has made other countries fearful of becoming involved in conflict associated with the so-called 'war on terror'. This view has particularly grown since the July 7th London tube bombings which I think seems likely to be a symptom of Britain's involvement in Iraq.

However, are these countries doing the right thing by refusing to deploy troops to Afghanistan I wonder?
A note to readers of my blog: please feel free to discuss this issue.