Segacs's World I Know

Posts Tagged ‘tony blair’

Pieter at Peaktalk links to the latest news from the UK, where Tony Blair is fending off the leadership challenge from Gordon Brown as long as he can manage it.

Pieter’s not impressed and, as he rightly points out, the situation mirrors that of the Canadian Liberals a little too closely:

Many have pointed to the analogy with Canada where a defiant and successful ten-year stint in office was not sufficient for Jean Chrétien to ward off the coup by his former finance minister, Paul Martin. What is telling is that Martin’s successful attempt to dislodge Chrétien – who like Blair had long outlived his popularity – was not based on any justifiable policy difference or other quantifiable ideological rift, but on the simple logic that it was Martin’s turn. Not the greatest rationale for seeking the highest office in the land, and we have all witnessed the incredible mess that ensued as it became painfully clear that the absence of any sound content turned Martin’s tenure at Sussex Drive into an utterly forgettable one. It was a power grab for power’s sake, nothing more and nothing less.

It is too early to tell whether Brown’s move into Downing Street will yield the same sorry spectacle, but given the relatively late stage of Labour’s tenure and the strength of a resurgent conservative opposition, it may not be a very pretty one.

What is it with these finance ministers and their sense of entitlement, anyway?

Since I’ve never missed an opportunity to quote the West Wing, why start now? Here’s a quote from season four, shortly after Bartlet is re-elected for his second term, when Josh finds out that Vice-President Hoynes is already lining up precinct captains for the next election:

Josh: We got [Hoynes] on the ticket by convincing him it’s not his turn. We kept him out of the center ring ’cause it wasn’t his turn, and now…

Toby: There aren’t any turns.

When did Canada, the US or the UK turn into Cuba or North Korea? We’ve got politicians getting elected because of who their fathers were (*ahem* Dubya), politicians assuming it’s their “turn”, and power being handed over as though it was someone’s to hand.

Memo to the British Labour Party: Pieter’s right. The Canadian Liberals haven’t recovered from the Chrétien-Martin fiasco, and surely there’s a warning in there somewhere for you as well.

Via Damian Penny, this disgusting tidbit:

Advisers appointed by Tony Blair after the London bombings are proposing to scrap the Jewish Holocaust Memorial Day because it is regarded as offensive to Muslims. They want to replace it with a Genocide Day that would recognise the mass murder of Muslims in Palestine, Chechnya and Bosnia as well as people of other faiths.

[ . . . ]

The committees argue that the special status of Holocaust Memorial Day fuels extremists’ sense of alienation because it “excludes” Muslims.

[ . . . ]

Ibrahim Hewitt, chairman of the charity Interpal, said: “There are 500 Palestinian towns and villages that have been wiped out over the years. That’s pretty genocidal to me.”

I’d call it chutzpah of the worst kind, but that would be an insult… to the term.

Tony Blair is claiming that the world stands behind him in standing firm against terror. And for a few hours, at least, there will be a wave of sympathy. But Tommy Schnurmacher predicted that this wave wouldn’t last long. He noted the wave of anti-Americanism among the understanably terrified British population, and predicted that very quickly the tide would turn and people would start blaming Bush and Blair.

He didn’t have to wait long. Only thirty seconds later, Egbert Gay – who can always be counted on to disagree with Tommy on pretty much everything – started insisting that we view the attacks in a “global context”.

Well, I don’t have to tell anyone what that means.

In the meantime, we can always count on the idiots at Indymedia for conspiracy theories; within minutes of the news, there were comments over on their site blaming the CIA, MI5, and the Israeli Mossad for the attacks.

Blair says the terrorists won’t succeed. I sadly suspect they may have succeeded already.

It looks like today’s UK election will put Tony Blair’s Labour back into power, according to the latest polling data.

My friends in England have their gripes about Blair, but on the international front he’s been reasonably solid. I’m sure this election will be anti-climactic and not much will change.

Hey, anyone but George Galloway, I say.

Update: As predicted, Blair won a third straight majority, albeit a slightly reduced one. The bad news is that George Galloway also won his seat, narrowly upsetting Labour candidate Oona King thanks to his virulently antisemitic tirades that appealed to many in his constituency.

Tony Blair is in Israel holding meetings this week with Israeli and Palestinian leaders (separately, of course):

The centerpiece of Blair’s visit is his initiative for a conference in London focused on strengthening the new Palestinian leadership. Sharon said Tuesday that Israel will support the conference but will not attend. He said the conference is meant to influence the promotion of reforms in the PA, and to consolidate support for a sweeping plan to rehabilitate Gaza and the Palestinian economy.

Analysts are saying that Blair sees an opportunity with Arafat’s death and is trying to capitalize on it.

Blair sees an opportunity alright… but it has nothing to do with helping the Palestinians, and everything to do with his own political career.

Ever since Blair cast his lot with Bush by joining the campaign in Iraq, his political stock among Europeans and a good number of Britons has plummeted. The Israeli-Palestinian issue is his pet project to try to score back some brownie points.

And while he seems to be proceeding cautiously for the moment, I can’t help but think that Blair is wading into waters that are much too deep for him. I only hope the Israeli people don’t pay the price.

Belgium has dramatically restricted its war crimes law, finally realizing that it was being abused for political purposes:

The original 1993 law allowed Belgian courts to hear war crimes cases regardless of where the crimes allegedly occurred or the nationalities of those involved. However, relations with Washington were strained after complaints were filed against Mr. Bush, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Colin Powell and others because of the war in Iraq.

[ . . . ]

The revised law drops the “universal jurisdiction” claim of the 1993 original version, which also resulted in politically embarrassing complaints against British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

The new law allows cases to be brought only if the victim or suspect is a Belgian citizen or long-term resident at the time of the alleged crime. It also guarantees diplomatic immunity for world leaders and other government officials visiting Belgium.

Belgium’s law may have been well-intentioned at first, but unfortunately it became a venue for the world’s worst despots to file complaints against anyone they didn’t like. Belgium has done the sensible thing here, for once.

Bush and Blair said that the United Nations should play a “vital role” in post-war Iraq:

“We are of course agreed… that there will be a vital role for the United Nations in the reconstruction of Iraq,” Blair said after holding talks with Bush.

Bush used the same words, before spelling out their vision for the two remaining stages after U.S and British forces take administrative control in the immediate aftermath of war.

Analysts are saying that these promises are likely to anger many U.N. countries, especially in Europe, since Bush and Blair only see their role in a humanitarian capacity, as opposed to promising them the wider powers of administration and interim rule.

But shouldn’t they be happy about this? I mean, this lets them off the hook, doesn’t it? All that whining about “imperialism” and “colonialism” – surely they wouldn’t want to take part in what they find so distasteful. Most of Europe gladly let the U.S. and Britain do their dirty work for them so they could keep their hands clean. (Canada has been, too, but that’s besides the point). So why wouldn’t they want to stick to humanitarian aid, while letting the U.S. and Britain sort out the post-war politics and security? That way, U.S. could continue to be the convenient scapegoat it has been all along through this crisis.

Simply put, countries such as France and Belgium feel left out of the party. Before the war started they were absolutely opposed, but now that Chirac’s buddy Saddam shows absolutely no sign of being able to survive this thing, they’ve changed their colours. This isn’t exactly a surprise – everyone predicted it. And Bush and Blair are likely to go along with it at least somewhat in order to gain “legitimacy” in the eyes of the world, and to try to begin to heal the giant rift that has erupted within the United Nations.

Good editorial in the London Times:

There has not been, despite what some critics charge, an unseemly rush to war on the part of the United States and the United Kingdom. Six months have passed since George W. Bush first went to the United Nations, five months since he acquired the political authority from Congress to deal with Iraq and well over four months since the UN Security Council backed Resolution 1441 and provided Saddam Hussein with his final, final chance.

[ . . . ]

Now that British forces have been committed, the country should and almost certainly will rally around them. The Prime Minister deserves the support of all political parties. The peace may prove harder to win than the war, but war will still be a difficult endeavour. It rarely proceeds precisely as planned. Ulysses Grant, the general who took charge of the Union army after its rout at Fredricksburg, eventually received Lee’s and the South’s final surrender at Appomattox with the words: “The war is over — the rebels are our countrymen again.” His respectful tone was such that it prevented his men from cheering the defeat of their opponents. Mr Bush and Mr Blair must welcome the people of Iraq back into the civilised world in exactly the same spirit.

Worth reading.