Maggie's Farm

I had thought the George Smiley novels brilliant, deeply informative, and deeply moving. But I went off Le Carre during the run-up to the Iraqi war. I didn't mind that he was against American and British involvement, because lots of people were, for various reasons, and some of them I respected. But his reasoning was not that solid. I read an extended interview, and then could read back his cynicism into his novels, especially the ones after Smiley. It has poisoned me on him ever since, as greater knowledge of an artist often does.

His thoughts were
1) Just don't do anything in the Middle East, it's a mess with no solutions - which I agree with, except for
1A) Including the Israelis, who are as bad as everyone else. That is emphatically not true. Whether we should be involved on their behalf is a legitimate debate, but they are not as bad as everyone else by any sane measure.
2) The Americans are cowboys, and all decent people don't like them.
3) The Western nations really aren't any more moral than their enemies.

It must be sad to get to that point. I am sure it is the result of real knowledge while he was in The Service, of contemptible people and contemptible acts which decent people would indeed wish to ignore and pretend did not happen on our behalf. The spy game compromises even the best of us, and it is fair to accuse us all of turning a blind eye.

But in the end, the comparisons between the actions of the Anglosphere, even at its worst, and those who have opposed it are not worth discussing for more than a minute. The cynical and compromised George Smiley, no longer sure he believes in the West at all, is still a hundred times more moral than Karla.