The law of the jungle, 21st century style

By JOHN ARMSTRONG

Whether or not Helen Clark stated or implied the US and Britain would "live to regret" a return to the "law of the jungle" in international relations, one thing is clear.

The Prime Minister has not returned from Europe to once more be easy meat for Opposition parties to feast on when Parliament resumes this afternoon.

National and Act have said she has further harmed New Zealand's interests by again criticising the US and Britain in a weekend interview with British newspaper the Guardian.

Her crime was to repeat her warning that the US and UK have created a dangerous precedent by invading Iraq without a United Nations' mandate.

The Opposition thus sniffs another opportunity to ping the Prime Minister in Parliament following her earlier apology to the Americans for saying there would not have been a war had Al Gore been in the White House. For that indiscretion, she was forced to eat a week's worth of humble pie during the pre-Easter sitting.

Yesterday a more tiger-like Helen Clark served notice there was not going to be a similar sequel this week. Moving firmly on to the front foot, she snarled at New Zealand media for suffering from "colonial cringe".

What she had told the Guardian had already been stated by her many times before her trip to Europe.

"Yet it is not news until it appears in a British newspaper," she complained.

Wielding a transcript of the interview, she stressed she had never used the phrases "law of the jungle" or "live to regret". There had been no "warning".

The whole thing was a media beat-up.

Not so. In the interview, she did talk about going "back to the jungle". And, as Opposition parties noted, she was seen to be criticising the British Government while it was hosting her visit. Moreover, for the first time she singled out China, a major trading partner, as having the military clout to one day exploit the precedent set by the US and Britain.

At stake is the Prime Minister's judgment. By questioning Helen Clark's speak-it-like-it-is diplomacy, the Opposition is extracting as much as it can from a minor clanger to try to erode public confidence in her.

That is its job. That is the law of the jungle.

Herald Feature: Iraq