John Lloydfinds the Foreign Secretary adamant that Kosovo is the defining moment for the left in the 1990s, just as Spain was in the 1930s

Robin Cook, for more than three decades, has been foremost among those who oppose militarism and its consequences. But he has also spoken up persistently for those whose rights have been abused and their lives stunted by dictatorships. Now, as the Kosovo conflict moves into its sixth week, the Foreign Secretary wants to mobilise the idealism of the left in support of the war.

And in an exclusive interview with me on 27 April, to help his case he called up the most telling possible image for the international left: the Spanish civil war in the 1930s, in which many idealistic young men fought voluntarily and died.

"The left," said Cook, "saw clearly the threat to constitutional order and democracy in Spain in the 1930s [the legitimate leftist government was challenged, and ultimately overturned, by General Franco]. Serbia is in many ways the Spain of the nineties. The difference is that then the governments of the other European countries did not act - wrongly. It would have been far better if they had made a stand in Spain."

Earlier in our interview, he had said: "I am absolutely robust that we are right to be fighting this evil. There is no conflict between the traditional values of the left and being against this. What we are witnessing is the resurgence of fascism in Europe. Hitler's doctrine was, after all, built on ethnic superiority. Other ethnic minorities, apart from the Albanians, are being persecuted in Yugoslavia. We have not seen trains used to take men, women and children away from their homes since the days of Hitler and Stalin. I do not think that anyone on the left should have any reservations about fighting this evil."

I put to him the core objection: that the Nato action, by breaching the sovereignty of the Yugoslav state, called into question one of the foundations of the world order. "The argument," he replied, "of state immunity, that a state should be immune from international action , is not a left argument. It is a nationalist argument. Kofi Annan [the UN secretary-general] has himself said that human rights are the rights of people, not of nations. There have not been too many wars between states in these past two decades. But, by God, these have been a bloody two decades, with wars within states. I think it is no bad thing that the international community has at last accepted that the crisis in Kosovo has landed us in a dilemma that we have ducked for too long - what do we do when faced with a state like Serbia?"

He suggested that, as we move into the next century, we shall see a new political and philosophical dividing line. On one side will be "those who are prepared to see a more cosmopolitan world, to build partnerships and alliances and to accept others' diversity". On the other will be "those who cling institutionally to a nation state and the narrowness which can go with it, and with that a reluctance to accept the responsibilities of the world as it is becoming". Most of the left were on the first side because "they, like me, oppose racial murder". The largest resistance, in parliament, came from the right. "They are not prepared to face up to the responsibilities of the world which we inhabit."

Cook continued: "To a degree, we are seeing the internationalisation of the application of military force. If you have collectivist sympathies, it is a much more comfortable place to stand than refusing to act. To make no decision [in the case of Kosovo] would have been to make a statement. Not to have acted would have been to make us complicit. The UN did, after all, set up the International War Crimes Tribunal. Is it really going to stand by while Milosevic commits the most grotesque war crimes while refusing to let the UN in? There was a vote condemning Yugoslavia for committing war crimes in the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva; 44 countries voted for it with only one, Russia, against."

Certain of his own high moral ground, Cook is also certain of the other Nato countries - even those within them who are under much more pressure over the war than he is. The German foreign minister (and Green Party leader), Joschka Fischer, "recognises that this is fascism," says Cook. "They all recognise the evil here. Look at Serbia - it is not just the Albanians who are suffering; it is the Serbians too. Fascism affects both the victims and those who provide the perpetrators of the evil - the minority and the majority, too. It is a new experience for Germany to be acting in this way and I don't think we should be crestfallen about it. A Germany that is fighting fascism is, I think, pretty good."

Cook denied any suggestion of a split with the US. "We are playing a very valuable role as a middle pillar between the US and Europe in this; we have also been working to build a European consensus. It is the case that the US has the option of going it alone, where the countries of Europe no longer do. I think, in fact, that is a good thing, that we should be in an environment in which we work together."

But the US hasn't agreed to observe the oil embargo? "You must remember that the Americans will be part of the naval operation in the Adriatic. So I don't think there is a serious possibility of American agents providing oil. We've got an embargo from all the European countries; from all the Nato countries, which brings in five more; we are talking to the Islamic states, who are positive. By the time you've done all that, what's left? Russia. But Russia, more and more, does not want to be isolated."

Russia is, after Yugoslavia itself, the largest concern. Cook says it was on-side for much of the prewar period, recognising how reluctantly Nato went to war, making it clear, at the end of the Rambouillet talks, that it saw the Serbs as the guilty party when the talks broke down.

"Now, it is true that they oppose the Nato action. There have been a lot of pretty hard words. But for the past two weeks, the government of Russia has made it very clear that it wants to get back on board and we certainly want to get it back . . . We have much more common ground with Russia than is generally recognised."

Cook will do some personal diplomacy here, with Igor Ivanov, the Russian foreign minister, due to visit on 8 May. "I will take him up to Scotland, where he has never been," said Cook, "and entertain him in Edinburgh. Then on Sunday down here for a memorial service for veterans - then Monday, talks on Kosovo. So he's making an extended visit, and he's keeping to it."

Cook, like Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, needs to square his present policy with past positions - an exercise that always must have something of the opportunist about it, but which also tries to remould social democratic practice round present exigencies.

I ask him if he thinks the world is being remade by Kosovo. "That is blue sky," he says, "and I could be shot down from it."

For now, he has made his point: the war is just, and within the moral compass of the left.

Post your comment

Please note: you will need to login or register before you can comment on the website