If Trump denies the Dunns
justice, he is betraying Britain
Spectator USA,
by
Ben Sixsmith
Original Article
Posted By: StormCnter,
10/12/2019 11:35:42 AM
Donald Trump has consistently supported Britain’s departure from the European Union. ‘Countries want their own identity,” the president has said, ‘and the UK wanted its own identity.’ Indeed, Trump has been such a forceful advocate of the Leave position that he has announced that he should be called ‘MR BREXIT’. (Snip)In the first major test of his loyalty to Britain, though, the president is failing, and his failure has unpleasant implications for supporters of Brexit. This August, 19-year-old Harry Dunn was driving on motorbike in the English county of Northamptonshire when he was struck by a car that was supposedly driving on the wrong side of the road.
Reply 1 - Posted by:
DARling 10/12/2019 11:50:14 AM (No. 205473)
Diplomatic immunity exists for a reason. I would not trust a lot of Britain's government these days. They criminalize criticism of Islam but make excuses for bad behavior. I am guessing the diplomat's wife in question would have a chance of facing those who are hostile to America.
I would say the same thing if Obama was still in charge.
11 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
earlybird 10/12/2019 12:12:26 PM (No. 205489)
That headline is a bit over the top, but the Spectator is a typically Lib UK magazine with a relatively new USA version.
She had not been in the country for more than a few weeks and ended up driving on the wrong side. (For those who don’t know it, the Brits drive on the left side of the road - when there are at least two lanes, which in many areas is dicey. Narrow roads with stone and other barriers on one or even two sides. It is easy to do. Driving out of the turtle farm on Grand Cayman, I turned right - into the right lane - without even giving it a thought…
What would happen if a Brit came here and drove on the wrong side? What if they had diplomatic immunity? Does she have diplomatic immunity?
This sad incident should not be turned by the media into an international incident. This publication is quite obviously using it to grind its own political axe(s) with its over the top rhetoric.
13 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
earlybird 10/12/2019 12:15:13 PM (No. 205493)
In its About, Spectator says it is apolitical, intending to be more about entertainment for the reader:
The Spectator is more cocktail party than political party. It is the place to come if you enjoy stimulating, original and funny writing. You might disagree with half of it, but you’ll enjoy reading all of it.
Mr. Sixsmith did not get the memo.
7 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
DVC 10/12/2019 12:36:52 PM (No. 205523)
This woman killed this guy through her massive incompetence.
I spent two weeks last month driving all over southern Britain, Plymouth, London and many areas in the countryside in between. An American friend and his wife met us in Plymouth, were unwilling to drive "on the wrong side of the road", so they hired a driver, and then rode with me.
I have zero sympathy for her, she caused a death. She needs to be forced to go back. That is only right. She had nothing whatsoever to do with diplomatic activity when she killed that young man by incompetently (was she drinking?) drove in the wrong lane.
9 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
bighambone 10/12/2019 1:28:41 PM (No. 205585)
This has nothing to do with President Trump. When the British Government allowed the USA to station American diplomats in the UK long ago, the British Government granted those US diplomats a status known as diplomatic immunity, that has been common practice around the world for centuries. When an individual American diplomat is granted diplomatic immunity in the UK, that diplomat cannot now be lawfully prosecuted by the UK no matter what law they are alleged to have violated. It’s the same for UK diplomats stationed in the USA.
What the UK is now asking in this particular case is that the diplomatic immunity rules be changed after the fact, including some UK functionaries claiming that the current US Ambassador to the UK should be declared “persona non grata” thus throwing him out of the UK if the American diplomat’s spouse involved in the incident is not returned to the UK for criminal prosecution.
But common sense will tell you that the problem lies with past UK Government actions and not President Trump or the USA. Clearly a lot of UK diplomats with diplomatic immunity are stationed in a lot of lawless countries ruled by criminal despots, and the UK certainly would not want their diplomat’s diplomatic immunity cancelled, after being alleged to have committed a crime in one of those countries, with the UK diplomat then being prosecuted there.
7 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
kono 10/12/2019 1:31:22 PM (No. 205587)
The article relates what is ordinary:
‘In my experience,’ the British prime minister has said, ‘America is very, very reluctant to allow its nationals to be tried overseas, and is absolutely ruthless in enforcing the code of diplomatic immunity.’
Then it proclaims America immoral for not going against that long-established norm in this case by allowing their diplomat's wife to be extradited for trial. As part of the argument it uses the case of NBA players caught shoplifting in China, as if the diplomatic immunity part were totally irrelevant -- when that is a long honored tradition in the civilized world.
Irrational argument. Reminds me of the libs' argument against the Electoral College... ad hoc, with no regard at all for the most central component at hand.
6 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
earlybird 10/12/2019 1:34:51 PM (No. 205589)
I believe this will be worked out. For those who question her immunity, here is how it came to pass through a special deal between the UK and US governments some years ago:
Although only U.S. staff based at the London embassy normally get protection, a special deal between the United Kingdom and the United States dating to the 1990s extends that protection to those stationed at RAF Croughton, a listening and communications station in Northamptonshire.
There is no evidence she was inebriated or incompetent, She had only been in the UK a few weeks. She made a mistake (I realize that some never do that) and crested a hill in the wrong lane. That is when she hit this young man. She stayed at the scene and took responsibility.
I have driven all over the world since that time on Grand Cayman that I mentioned above. I as vacationing then and it was my first experience driving on the left. Fortunately the roadway I entered was level and I soon saw traffic coming the other way. I have driven all over the world since then, including long drives from the South to Inverness, on all kinds of highways, local streets and roads, and what amount to country lanes. You only make that mistake once. In her case, it was tragic all around.
I am not keen on the partisan media’s ramping these things up.
5 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
earlybird 10/12/2019 1:37:22 PM (No. 205594)
Re #7, sorry about the bad editing, but I meant to say that I drove the UK from South to Inverness (Scotland).
0 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
RuckusTom 10/12/2019 1:46:11 PM (No. 205602)
Terrible, irresponsible accident that left a British guy dead, and cowardly act on the part of the American woman who left the country, but the way this is written it sounds like we should consider all ties with England over and done with if this one item is not resolved. Really? For one car crash?
2 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
SavageRider 10/12/2019 1:55:57 PM (No. 205618)
What would his family like to see done to her? Money? Trial? Jail? Apology? There is only so much that can be achieved after the death. Diplomacy will work out a resolution without her having to return to Great Britain. As crass as it may seem, money may be the family’s only option for justice of some sort.
5 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
Frenesi1 10/12/2019 2:15:31 PM (No. 205640)
What country wouldn't do the same thing with their diplomat? I am sure that this has happened in our country anyway. Also, Britain was complicit in spying on Trump before he was elected President so who cares if their feelings are hurt. Theresa May was nasty to Trump until she was voted out of office.
4 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
Quigley 10/12/2019 2:23:43 PM (No. 205649)
Will the uk turn over chris steele for his role in the coup attempt?
10 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
Ming 10/12/2019 2:31:49 PM (No. 205656)
#4, I had an Aussie colleague take our diving test over about 5 or 6 times because he could never get used to driving on the right-hand side of the road. Once he finally got his license, I was always leery to get in the car with him.
3 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
Skeptical1 10/12/2019 2:51:17 PM (No. 205667)
I don't buy the idea that she has a moral obligation to do more than accept financial responsibility, and banishment from the UK. That is, assuming it was a simple driving error. If the legal system in the UK is like ours, then, I'm sorry to say, she is well advised to stay clear of it. Who knows what capricious punishment an agitated and ambitious prosecutor will go after? From their perspective they can argue that they are obligated to establish, in court, that nothing willful contributed to the accident, and maybe they would feel better if they could slap her around a little bit. But why should she accept their perspective if she doesn't have to?
4 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
DVC 10/12/2019 3:24:55 PM (No. 205696)
She made serious error and needs to accept her legal responsibility.
Diplomatic immunity is intended to keep a hostile government from unfairly using diplomats as pawns in international politics.
It was never intended to keep legitimately guilty people from being given normal justice for actual crimes.
I first drove on the left in South Africa over 15 years ago. I stop and think HARD about where I am and exactly what I should do before I pull out from parking. I have been honked at for hesitating to think before entering an unusual intersection, and I will not be pushed into being unsafe. This is literally life or death, needs to be taken seriously.
1 person likes this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
BarryNo 10/12/2019 3:26:04 PM (No. 205698)
What BS. It is tradition and common practice that a diplomat or his family can, at best, be deported. If Trump made an exception to that rule he would be opening up the US diplomatic core to every little tin-pot dictator who wants to try one of them on a trumped up charge. This is a straw man.
The woman in question is obviously protected under that umbrella. It doesn't protect her from civil suits, as far as I know, And if she were to return on her own, they could probably arrest her. But for the Media to act like Trump is giving this woman special protections they are hypocritical poltroons.
1 person likes this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
DVC 10/12/2019 4:29:31 PM (No. 205729)
She is not a real diplomat.
0 people like this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
Sam1 10/12/2019 5:39:17 PM (No. 205771)
So if we send the woman back to the Brits, does that mean they will reciprocate and send us Prince Andrew for prosecution regarding the underage girls Epstein provided to him?
0 people like this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
bighambone 10/12/2019 9:00:16 PM (No. 205882)
There is no law that requires either UK or US diplomats to have “diplomatic immunity” when serving in each other’s countries. Tomorrow those governments could agree between them to do away with diplomatic immunity. That would solve similar problems that will most certainly occur in the future.
0 people like this.
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