I am so committed to getting my book finished I really don’t have time or energy to blog at the moment, and realise it has been very desultory the last few weeks. I am well and happy, it is just that writing a properly researched history is incredibly intensive. I realise there is much of great interest happening in the world, but I must sometimes cut myself off from it.
This is why I don’t ask for donations for the blog…
DIARY (reminder):
His Excellency will be blairing in Florida on or about Sunday 6th.
https://www.closingthegap.co/schedule/
Along with a stellar assemblage of meta-business wonks and Niall Ferguson. Be there or be elsewhere, preferably.
At the Kissinger Lecture in the Library of Congress, Washington, yesterday, to announce that ISIS are bad mans and have supporters in Muslim communities. Who knew? Certainly not the Americans, Tony. And there’s nothing billions of bucks worth of smart ordnance won’t solve. Surgically.
http://www.itv.com/news/2015-12-04/tony-blair-delivers-speech-in-washington-on-islamist-extremism/
Cunt.
Diary:
http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/foreign-affairs-committee/news-parliament-2015/libya-blair-evidence-15-161/
The FAC will be asking Gaddafi’s little helper some interesting questions on the 11th. Hope they’re the right ones.
And in he background, Tony’s amanuenses loyally continue with the PNAC agenda.
http://tonyblairfaithfoundation.org/religion-geopolitics/commentaries/opinion/what-khameneis-letter-shares-jihadi-propaganda
Portraying Daesh’s aggressive and destabilising military invasion of Iraq and Syria as equivalent to the profile of a state considerably freer than Saudi Arabia, which remains within its internationally agreed borders, is of course essential to the furtherance of the old neocon project to extend US hegemony over the oil-rich Middle East.
I’m sorry to see Emman el-Badawy, the author of this piece, sucked into the Blair vortex. She also works for the Quilliam foundation, which is not, by contrst with the TBFF, a front for a megalomaniac psychopath. The strapline probably isn’t hers, and that’s what’s doing the work. Her own thoughts are less emotive.
The Dear Leader had more important business in Washington, though….
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/dick-cheney-bust_566072bee4b08e945fee4ea2
Completely nullifying his reluctant admission that invading Iraq may perhaps not have led to an outbreak of freedomndemocracy in the region, and joining Cheney-lovers, including Cheney, in adulation of their hero.
Reminder:
Cheney left office in 2009 with a 13 percent approval rating. According to Roll Call, the bust will cost approximately $50,000.
(Cheney’s another big charidee man, like Tony – http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/04/19/203270/-The-charitable-Dick-Cheney-what-does-his-dollar-buy# )
Diary (confirmation)
The Supreme Pontificator will be blairing at the Flagler Museum, Palm Beach, FL, on Monday night. A ticket will cost you $2-4000. The theme of the get-together is ‘Closing the Gap’ between rich and poor in the USA. Tony will no doubt be bringing his unique expertise in enriching himself to this. Enjoy.
http://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/news/business/billionaire-jeff-greene-brings-closing-the-gap-eve/npcwP/
A new shaft into the scarcely-exploited lode of Blairiana…
http://www.thebookseller.com/news/faber-publish-blair-biography-317905
According to the publisher, Broken Vows will detail the “full story” of Blair’s decade in power, and will follow Blair’s trail since his resignation, to Asia, the Middle East and America, where he has built a commercial empire advising tycoons and tyrants.
Angus Cargill, editorial director at Faber, described the book as “incredibly revealing and so timely”.
We hope so. But we doubt that his tangled finances, concealed by Windrush and Firerush Ventures, will be unravelled yet.
Looks like Paul Kagame, a Tony Blair Associatee par excellence, might not have much longer to go:
http://www.blackstarnews.com/global-politics/africa/rwanda-has-kagame-exceeded-the-limits-of-his-useu-support.html
Will Blair, his advisor on governance, advise him to walk? Or maybe to find somewhere safe to run to, as per Gaddafi? Still, should it come to a war-crimes trial, we know Cherie will do her best to get him off.
Here’s Tony basking uneasily in the reflected glory of controversial lawyer/TV sleb/self-promoter Star Jones, a profitably-divorced proponent of equal distribution of wealth, at the ‘Closing The Gap’ bash on Monday. I’m sure Cherie doesn’t read this….
http://www.gossipextra.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/ClosingtheGap-2.jpg
Jeff Greene, the zillionaire hosting the gig, is on record as saying that globalisation is one of the factors responsible for rising pay inequality. This makes Tony’s warm support of globalisation at every possible opportunity – indeed his global omnipresence – hard to reconcile with his attendance. He was completely upstaged by Mike Tyson, however. Satire remains dead. Anyway,after drinks and nibbles, everyone appears to have concluded that government intervention was undesirable and that measures taken to make them all richer could only improve the lot of the slaves they exploit. So the earth didn’t move.
It remains to be seen what Tony Blair makes of Paul Kagame’s decision to hold a referendum to
obtainseek a mandate to extend his presidency into 2034. Though it is entirely possible that Tony’s advice was offered before the decision was made. Especially if the bill to Omnia for spiriting Karake out of the UK has yet to be paid.http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-35049885
Mr. Kagame was unfortunately unable to attend the African Global Investment Conference in London earlier this month (see above), although Cherie and the representatives of Vodaphone and Safaricom did make it, along with other suits intent on improving the lot of their starving wallets. Is there, perhaps, another international arrest warrant in the offing?
ALL MEDIA EVERYWHERE!!!
The elves in St. Tony’s grotto have been scribbling furiously, not least in that bastion of Socialism, the Spectator, and mass-mailing editors from Stockport to Semipalatinsk to endorse Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of the Labour party! Fr’instance…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-35050984
Strap: Tony Blair says Labour’s position is a ‘tragedy’
and
http://blogs.new.spectator.co.uk/2015/12/in-defence-of-blairism-by-tony-blair/
Strap: In defence of Blairism, by Tony Blair
We are awestruck. How selfless of Tony to seek to improve on his effect on Labour’s leadership election, where his support for anyone but Corbyn ensured the massive recruitment of socialist members and Corbyn’s resounding victory! Keep it up, Tony! Though we would caution against over-reliance on the Spectator. There, you are only preaching to the converted…
DIARY (Reminder)
As Googling ‘Tony Blair’ for ‘Last 24 hours’ reveals only the global reach of Tony Blair Associates’ press releases – plus an excellent cartoon by Steve Bell* – let us not forget that he is to be questioned tomorrow on his strange relationship with evil dictator/commercial opportunity, Col. Gaddafi.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tony-blair-and-colonel-gaddafi-the-questions-the-former-prime-minister-faces-over-his-ties-with-a6767191.html
Which is no doubt the reason Tory Blair’s festering hatred for Corbyn and the founding principles of the Labour Party is receiving so much coverage.
*
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2015/dec/09/steve-bell-on-tony-blair-and-labour-cartoon
So far the only nugget to emerge from the hopeless FAC Conversation With Tony Blair(TM) is this:
http://myinforms.com/en-gb/a/20468901-tony-blair-throwing-gaddafi-under-a-bus-means-assad-wont-give-up-his-chemical-weapons/
Throwing Colonel Gaddafi “under a bus” in Libya signalled to dictators such as Bashir Assad not to give up their chemical weapons, Tony Blair said today. The former Prime Minister argued it was “not great for diplomacy” that having convinced the Libyan dictator to give up his weapons of mass destruction, the UK then assisted in his removal from office.
And throwing Saddam Hussein under a bus was intended to have precisely the opposite effect, Tony? And what did Assad do with his chemical weapons after Gaddafi was
thrown under a bus anally raped with a bayonet? Oh, yes. He gave them up.Blair has lost touch with reality. He has no coherent sense of what he has done, or why. He should be in Broadmoor.
For clarity:
And throwing Saddam Hussein under a bus was intended to have precisely the opposite effect, Tony? And what did Assad do with his chemical weapons after Gaddafi was
thrown under a bus anally raped with a bayonet? Oh, yes. He gave them up.Edit function. PLEASE.
Blair had a busy day on the 4th Dec. He did the standard, OEM, blair-lite ‘Conversation’* for the Council on Foreign Relations too:
http://www.cfr.org/about/meetings/
Note, as it says, the time. After the Froot Loops, then.
Without having to actaully watch this, it’s fun to scroll the mouse pointer along the elapsed-time bar on the video, and watch Blair’s frantic gesticulations in the thumbnails….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95WGN_7S6yc
*Largely with himself.
Dodging the awkward questions about rendition and torture he wasn’t asked by the FASC on Friday, and wasn’t personally asked by Alex Salmond, but shrugged off anyway, Tony Blair The Universal Mediator has apparently been summoned by Uhuru Kenyatta to blair at Kenya:
http://www.kenyan-post.com/2015/12/raila-forces-uhuru-to-summon-tony-blair.html
Sources within State House said that Uhuru was seeking Blair’s advice on the performance of the newly formed Presidential Delivery Unit.
Uhuru is said to be concerned with the performance of the unit which is headed by former Safaricom’s Communication Manager, Nzioka Waita.
The Head of State is also pointing a finger at his Digital Communication Unit headed by Dennis Itumbi saying that the two offices are not doing their job satisfactorily.
Uhuru and his political advisors argue that the two offices have been sleeping and that is why CORD is unmasking the Government daily.
“The President wants to scrap the two units and form one stronger unit that will deal with CORD’s lies and propaganda,” the source said.
This means Dennis Itumbi and Nzioka Waita may be jobless any time from now.
Note particularly the mention of Safaricom, one of Cherie Blair’s favourite corporates/ charities (it has one, too). Why? Though the CB Foundation for Women carefully avoids using these words, because African women represent a hugely profitable emerging market for telecoms and mobile banking in particular. Ditching Waita could be problematic, and Tony might not get his oats for a week or two…
While the government line suggests that Blair and Kenyatta are discussing development issues, dissident voices in Kenya are preparing for an election in 2017 which, unless Kenyatta can spin furiously, he will lose. So a spin doctor in touch with foreign development funds is probably an investment even at Blair’s imaginative rates.
Though that may not be the only reason for Blair’s safari…
http://www.politico.eu/article/nairobi-kenya-make-or-break-moment-for-wto-trade-agreement-global-commerce-us-eu/ It’s about lowering trade barriers and facilitating the usual players’ profitability. =
People are underestimating the centrality of the U.S. to this,” he said. “We can coerce everybody.”>/i> … and either collapse the WTO in favour of accelerating TTP or support the WTO if enough countries agree to drop their guards, tradewise.
It’s pretty obvious that after Tony Blair trousered the cheque for advising Kenyatta (no, guyz, I did it pro bono. You gotta believe me) on delivery, good governance and other euphemisms for privatising everything not redhot or nailed down – after that, the Delivery And Management Bollocks Unit, with at least one of Blair’s proteges in charge, failed to deliver or manage.
Not just in Kenya.
https://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=sq&u=http://www.syri.net/2015/12/14/ekskluzive-tony-blair-prish-kontraten-me-edi-ramen-ikin-4-keshilltaret-e-delivery-unit-departament/&prev=search
In which, and in other reports, it can just be discerned that Albania’s Edi Rama’s had enough blairing and handed him the old P45.
And now in Nigeria again, though Nigerian sources are sometimes unreliable:
http://www.channelstv.com/2015/12/16/blair-holds-talks-with-nigerian-governors-forum/
It is a gathering mystery why the leader of a village council would consider that Blair had anything better to offer than the wise woman down the road could divine with a couple of chicken heads. Talking of wise women, Mystic Ba’al reckons that the next stop is probably Rwanda. After the faint criticism he has had to endure lately in the Uk, it’s not surprising he’s visiting the kind of people who understand him: in the cases of Buhari and Kagame, corrupt to the bone, and on the make.
But The Times is back onside –
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/opinion/columnists/article4642999.ece
You obviously have to pay to read Aaronovitch on Blair, don’t be fooled by the ostensibly critical intro into doing so. What cuckolded Murdoch may have to say about this is another matter….
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/12/blair-foundation-expresses-readiness-to-partner-nigerian-govs-on-infrastructural-development-growth/
You betcha, guyz. You gotta start with a um telecoms network and some er banking and it just so happens the Africa Governance Initiative(tm) (registered charity) (accounts not available) knows some pretty straight kinda bankers and global phone co.’s who will sort you out pro bono, free gratis and for absolutely nothing without asking too many questions about where the international aid I’ve laundered for you is actually going. Did I mention BP?
Christ. Dear Christ. Now read the patronising, simplistic guff the Dear Leader delivers when he is paid for advice.
Meanwhile, Nigeria does its best to emulate Tony Blair’s other employers, like Kazakhstan:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/16/world/africa/shiite-muslim-sect-alleges-massacre-by-nigerias-military.html?_r=1
Another reason to expect Tony Blair in Rwanda today or tomorrow:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/rwanda-referendum-a-president-for-life-vote-to-decide-whether-term-limits-should-be-abolished-a6776036.html
Likes a good election, Tony does. He already did Sri Lanka’s this year. And Kagame reckons being seen to be chummy with Blair is strong juju.
Nope. Mystic’s crystal ball malfunctioned. Tony Blair has reportedly just descended from the clouds in Cairo. Ah, well, same thing. Dictator, old chums, contract.
http://www.albawabaeg.com/72685
Mr. Blair has now left the pyramid…
http://www2.el-balad.com/1868141
Informed sources told Sada El-Balad that Blair left boarding the private jet of the Egypt’s business tycoon Naguib Sawiris.
Sawiris = Orascom Telecom Media And Technology Holding SAE. La Mancha resources (gold, Canada), unquantified holding in Wind Telecom. His jet is presumably nicer than business class on a scheduled flight. He has two, one for his son. Manx-registered originally: M-KSSN and M-USIK …to Gulfstream’s ears. they’re G650’s.
A week ago, Sawiris spoke at an Italian government initiative, under MED 2015 “Beyond Turmoil, A Positive Agenda” – a meeting of minds on, among other things, shared prosperity in the Mediterranean region. He is also in the process of buying an investment bank, CIB. Is a new contract for Tony in the offing? Or is the planeshare part of Blairs paid work for the World Bank/JPMorgan/ Sisi? The World bank, incidentally pledged $3 Bn in aid to Egypt last week. Sawiris is worth about the same. And is a chum of Kim Jong Il.
Prime Blair network, then.
Let’s give Mystic Ba’al another chance. The Quartet is back in town (Jerusalem) Can Blair bear to be left out? Or has he got another super scheme to sell the three Palestinians still listening to him, in the unrealistic expectation that Netanyahu won’t sabotage it along the line, and probably level Gaza again in the process? Cairo-Tel Aviv is just a short hop. And it’s on the way to Abu Dhabi too. Tony hasn’t been there for months.
Sadly, these guys haven’t realised that Tony Blair rarely stays anywhere longer than it takes to sign a contract, unless he’s on a freebie holiday –
http://www.informationng.com/2015/12/rights-group-gives-ex-british-pm-blair-7-days-ultimatum-to-leave-nigeria.html
Accusing the former British PM of planning to “steal” and “loot” from Nigeria, the group in a statement signed by its Coordinator, Comrade Jeremiah Olatinwo, on Thursday, said: “Nigerians were greeted with shock to read about Britain’s former Prime Minister’s visit to Nigeria to meet with the Nigerian Governor’s Forum. We see this development, camouflaged in the facade of advisory as an effort to loot and steal from the treasury of the 36 states of the federation.
That’s not exactly the wording Tony uses, but….yes.
FCO has something to hide regarding its dealings with Blair on Egypt:
http://swarb.co.uk/foreign-and-commonwealth-office-central-government-ico-26-nov-2015/
References: [2015] UKICO FS50585275
Links: Bailii
ICO The complainant submitted a request to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) for information relating to communications between it and Tony Blair about Egypt. The FCO confirmed that it held information falling within the scope of the request but considered this to be exempt from disclosure on the sections 27(1)(a), (c) and (d) (international relations), section 40(2) (personal data) section, 41(1) (information provided in confidence) and section 21 (information reasonably accessible to the applicant). The Commissioner is satisfied that the FCO is entitled to rely on these various exemptions to withhold the information falling within the scope of the complainant’s request.
FOI 21: Not upheld FOI 27: Not upheld FOI 40: Not upheld FOI 41: Not upheld
How dare you even ask?
Someone was whisked from Cairo back to Luton on a Global Express with a meaningful registration yesterday afternoon. Looks as if it could have been our man. Sawiris owns a BGE XRS…