Rather horrifying news reaches me from old FCO buddies. Instructions are starting to go out for the first time to British embassies in EU states, telling them to begin discreet lobbying for Tony Blair to be appointed as the first permanent President of the European Union. The post is created by the Lisbon Treaty on which the Irish are being forced to vote repeatedly until they get the answer right.
Horrifyingly, it appears that Blair may well be able to get a majority of EU member governments prepared to support him. That is despite his record as Bush’s poodle in launching illegal war, as one of the chief architects of the banking bubble economic disaster, and as the Middle East Peace Envoy who held the ring for Israel’s murderous assaults on Lebanon and Gaza.
My whole political life I have supported the EU. I was born close enough to the Second World War to understand its most fundamental negotiation, and I have seen the economic and cultural benefits it has brought. But at the same time I have been horrified by its bureaucracy, corruption and the gaping democratic deficit in its structures.
For anyone to occupy the position of President without a popular election would be very, very wrong. But Tony Blair? It is simply an appalling thought.
There are two factors which EU states should take into consideration.
The Irish Factor. The Irish are even less likely to vote for the Lisbon Treaty if they realise that it means they get Tony Blair as President.
British membership. To appoint Tony Blair as EU President will be a massive boost to anti-EU feeling in the UK. I personally pledge to campaign actively to leave the EU if this arch war criminal becomes President – and I will not be alone.
The Conservative, Lib Dem, SNP and Plaid Cymru parties should make plain that the Blair candidacy does not have all-party support in the UK. New Labour are arguing that Blair will command support in the White House. If that’s the criteria, let’s have an Irishman.
Seems like murder really does pay!
Craig
I am really surprised you didn’t know about this months ago.There has been a campaign on for Blair to become EU President and trading going on amongst leaders off EU countries for this to be so.The USA is all for it.Sarkozy was against it at first but now seems to be supporting Blair to be EU President…
http://tinyurl.com/ckbmog
Don’t hold your breath that the tories will try and stop Blair they think he is great,always have.Many in the tory party think he is the best leader they never had.
Now we know why preparations are being made for catholics to become the British monarch.
One day he’ll ask to be Pope. The fisherman will throw the magic turbot back in the sea and he will go back to nothing again.
George
What is new is that the British government is now officially supporting and lobbying for the idea. They weren’t before – indeed many thought Brown would veto it. Having to sit in meetings chaired by Blair again! But Gordon has now, after long delay, given the go-ahead for the official lobbying to start. Of course there has been a great deal of behind the scenes stuff before.
Brown was in fact the only person who had a definite veto, as the EU would not suppoer a candidate without the support of his own government.
Blair is a neo-con, of course. But the admiration for him among Tories is by no means universal, and they remain pretty tribal.
Craig
As George Dutton says, this is old news.
The only consolation is that the Irish may well vote “no” again to the Lisbon treaty. I certainly hope so, and that the prospect of President Blair helps them do so!
I also hope the Tories will make it clear he’d be unacceptable as a candidate, but fear George is right on that too.
We are all being treated with contempt, as ever, by the ruling clique.
Look at what’s happening over Turkey and EU membership. Turkey should never be allowed even to be a candidate to join the EU, not because it’s Muslim but because only a tiny part of it is in Europe. Its eastern border is 300 miles east of Moscow. Morocco has a better claim to join, as it is much closer and has a border with the EU (Ceuta and Melilla).
Craig
If Gordon Brown is really supporting Blair, presumably this can only mean that he now accepts that he’s not going to be around as PM when Blair is in position!
I wonder what sinecure is being prepared for Gordon, after June next year?
Auntie Beeb has received her marching orders, too. On Radio 3 later this week, Joan Bakewell’s silly radio programme, ‘Belief’, will feature Blair, ‘who was a committed Christian throughout his premiership’, according to the blurb.
And this morning I got to hear the execrable Cheri Blair on Radio 4 pratting on about something or other.
They’re like the goddamn Clintons; we can’t get rid of them.
‘It’s simply an appalling thought.’
I’d go further: it’s the very stuff of nightmares.
If this comes to pass, I too shall be signing the Craig Murray Get-Us-Out-Now! pledge.
Quite apart from the destruction of the democratic process and all the off-stage fancy footwork, disturbing yet credible rumours of TB’s emperor’s-new-clothes grasp on reality are beginning to circulate in the mainstream media.
This has all the hallmarks of a most monumental – epic even – cock up. Guaranteed tenure for generations of historians to pick over the bones of whatever’s left of Europe and its once wonderful plethora of exuberant cultures.
Craig I did a wee post on the article in the Independent early this morning. I had no idea the ‘upping’ of his fight had rolled out as far the embassies. Hope you don’t mind if I put an update note referring my readers to you here.
There’s a credible online petition against Blair’s candidacy that’s been running for over 12 months now – 27,600 sigs to date – more needed: http://tinyurl.com/38hqej
Plus very apt flag image that sums the whole thing up here: http://tinyurl.com/dbjvdz
Craig
Yoy may (or may not) have noticed that I have pretty much given up posting comments here. That’s because whenever a url is included, the comment is held for moderation and, as often as not, doesn’t appear at all. I had tried to post the url
This time I tried to post the url for a credible petition against his candidacy that already has over 27,000 signatures but, unless the comment is successfully ‘moderated’ you’ll have to find it yourselves.
Also it is surely not beyond the wit of whoever does your techie stuff to enable PROPER url’s for registered users.
“What is new is that the British government is now officially supporting and lobbying for the idea. They weren’t before”
Craig
Sorry,misunderstood.
All I can say on this matter is Brown knows which side of the his bread is buttered.Don’t forget he HATES Mandelson (who doesn’t)got him back pretty damn quick when he needed too.Brown will have been told he will be looked after.There again he might well have been told that if he hadn’t supported Blair…get my drift.
Is it true that you have to be a Roman Catholic to become EU President?
If so, what a strange coincidence!
I feel like emigrating to New Zealand…
:-((
@sabrateche – wondered where you’d gotten to! This is strange though as I’ve posted several URL posts (using the URL field) without moderation. Maybe you’d have more luck if you put them in the body of the comment, as George D does?
@all: I’ve obviously been sleeping in a barn, as I wasn’t aware of the story. But the analysis from Craig is excellent as ever, and I get increasingly frustrated that in general I can’t get this sort of writing in a mainstream newspaper. But, as per past discussions here, that this is the case should not come as a surprise, I suppose.
Blair is merely a puppet of powerful hidden forces. Whether he is made EU president or not, the powerful Zionist lobby and their capitalist lackeys will always be calling the shots.
The very idea, that a man of Blair’s questionable character, with his bloody history, and capacity for mendacity, should become the president of Europe, is a nightmare.
What Blair is, if anything, is a fanatically loyal servant of the most conservative, and aggressive elements in the United States. He is an appallingly bad European, and has done enormous damage to the concept of Europe, undermining it from within. He is an American Tojan Horse.
In the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, all over Europe there was massive opposition and millions taking to the streets in protest against war. This is stark contrast to the attitudes expressed in 1914. But, instead of Britain joining and strengthening this continent-wide movement, Blair chose to follow his imperial masters in Washington and betray his own people and their interests. He is, in essence, a traitor, and should have been tried as one.
Like the new Danish, Nato General Secretary, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Blair’s loyalty is first and foremost to the United States, not Europe; and both men, are, of course, arch-warcriminals, and professional liars of the worst type.
I think it’s telling, that two such important posts, filled by such men, with such split-loyalities, is a sign of the times. There are forces in the United States that wish to undermine the European Union, and especially the idea of an alternative model, and the threat of the Euro to the Dollar’s position as a reseve currancy. But all that is another, far larger, story.
Obama’s gross interference in European affairs, with his continual reference to Iran and terrorism as a greater threat to Europe than the United States, and his repeated support for Turkish memembership of the European Union, which is frankly none of his business, shows just how arrogant he is, and how seriously he takes his role as the new caesar of the western empire.
Hi Craig,
“criterion” is the greek singular.
You hate me now, don’t you? 😉
Stephen
Sabretache
The petition link is
http://www.stopblair.eu
Click to view the comments. Most are derogatory. Many times he is referred to as a ‘war criminal’.
Jon
I’ve always assumed the form url field was for one’s own site – silly me eh? So you should now get to the petition by clicking on my sig below.
The problem I referred to above is that whenever I put more than one url in the regular text (even though it is not possible to put a link-enabled url there), a polite message about comment moderation results but as often as not, the comment disappears completely – VERY irritating it is too.
‘Click to view the comments. Most are derogatory. Many times he is referred to as a ‘war criminal’.’
War criminals are usually referred to as war criminals.
So what are the odds he will surface here next month?
ww.grreporter.info/statiaen.phpmysid=1823&t=16
Blair, not Bashir should be in the dock at the Hague for murdering millions of Afghans, Iraqis and Palestinians.
Perhaps some litigation should be started against Blair which would block his candidacy for president.
@sabretache – yes, I think that is it’s purpose. But I don’t think it matters too much. If you have multiple URLs, I’d suggest several posts with a comment in each. It’s to fox spammers, who often have several URLs in their ads.
@Jaded – sadly, war criminals are usually referred to as “President” or “Prime Minister”, at least in mainstream discourse.
I’ve just posted a link to the petition on anticant’s arena:
http://antarena.blogspot.com/2009/04/say-no-to-tony-blair-as-eu-president_07.html
I rather hope that the attachment of the Blair imprimatur to the EU will shake people out their apathy towards this monster. The disgraces of corruption, troughing on the tax payer and anti-democracy that we fret about in the UK are writ large – very large indeed – in the EU. How many drones are there like the Kinnocks, sucking millions a year from it?
Antagonism to the EU tends to be the province of the right – I’ve no idea why. It seems corporatist from top to bottom with excellent potential for fascism – the Tories should love it.
“I personally pledge to campaign actively to leave the EU if this arch war criminal becomes President”
Good. I used to be very pro-EU but no longer. Those tories who split their party on the issue – arguing that it undermined our sovereignty – were right. The EU is an undemocratic and dictatorial monstrosity. It introduces laws that have a profound effect on our lives and we know nothing about it. It is one of stepping stones to a form of world government run by shadowy, unelected bankers. Of course Blair wants a piece of the action.
I’m seriously considering voting UKIP next time. Not only as a protest vote but also because, behind their distasteful jingoism, theirs is a rather sensible policy and one that none of the main parties now offers.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Bilderberg_attendees
Just in case anyone wasn’t aware of this. I don’t think there is too much doubt that if they want Blair as EU President he will be EU President.
“This is stark contrast to the attitudes expressed in 1914”
writerman
Stick around on this site for awhile you will see that in many ways things have not changed.Just click on any pictures they will enlarge…
http://tinyurl.com/3b87h4
Sabretache
I presumed you were on holiday! Don’t leave us again.
Clive and Tim are going to be moving this thing to a whole new software soon. This blog got bigger than anticipated.