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…
Testing: security certificate problem encountered on attempted post just now (reconnnected to see if it persists)
OK now.
The Dear Leader was in Albania yesterday:
http://www.top-channel.tv/english/artikull.php?id=13660&ref=fp
Flashback:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2672301/Now-Albania-sets-sights-EU-membership-helped-Tony-Blair-former-spin-chief-Alastair-Campbell.html
Usual deal, Tony uses connections to oil the way into the EU for a state in even worse shape than Greece, redirects EU taxpayer-funded aid and development money via The Office of The Dear Leader,which of course doesn’t get a penny. Well, not from the Albanians…and introduces hedge funds to fund cosmetic projects, exploit extremely cheap workforce and collect fat profits.
See above for the Dear Leader’s recent appointment to advise Serbia. Here’s why:
http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics.php?yyyy=2015&mm=02&dd=25&nav_id=93291
Invest in Albania:
http://invest-in-albania.org/minister-economy-discusses-reforms-pms-councellor-tony-blair/
…Rwanda, Guinea, Serbia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Sierra Leone, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Senegal, Malawi, Egypt, the UAE…oh, you know, anyone, as long as it isn’t the UK.
Mr. Tony’s even pissed Putin off.
http://rt.com/op-edge/234147-serbia-blair-prime-minister-uk/
I imagine Serbia’s just gone on the Kremlin To Do list…well done, Tone.
A Gulfstream 5 flew into Tirana* on the 23rd, pm, from either Heathrow or ( slightly more likely from the flight path) Northolt. This supports the Mail’s contention (realising that his previous charter arrangement with Aravco has apparently finished) that he is now routinely chartering Gulfstreams:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1138789/Now-Tony-Blairs-finally-got-private-jet-hes-wanted-rented.html
*Likely the same a/c as that last seen at ~1400 yesterday, having taken off from Tirana, heading in the direction of BELGRADE. Lol.
Meanwhile:
http://english.albeu.com/news/news/serbia-wants-full-access-to-albanian-ports/189499/
Serbia has asked EU to help her have access to Albanian ports. The government of Serbia has asked the EU to finance the building of a road that will link the state with Kosovo and Albania and also to build the railway linking it with Montenegro that will reach up to Tirana.
Neither Serbia nor Albania is a member of the EU, or likely to be in the near future. Go figure. And who’s the EU facilitator to both (at no cost to either)? Go figure again…
Heh…see 1.59 pm…
http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics.php?yyyy=2015&mm=02&dd=25&nav_id=93302
Gotcha!
The former British prime minister was obviously keen to go unnoticed while in Belgrade, so he left the building by the back door, most likely through the kitchen, and drove off in a convoy of armored vans and cars.
Not this time, mate.
British Embassy also aware.
Albania…Serbia…Romania…
http://www.stiripesurse.ro/surse-victor-ponta-intalnire-secreta-cu-tony-blair-la-guvern_948314.html
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, at Bucharest, came Wednesday at Victoria Palace for a meeting with PSD leader Victor Ponta PM.
Ponta often turn to Blair’s advice.
The last meeting between the two was in December, after the presidential election Ponta lost. Then Ponta Blair asked what he thinks it is good that he should do next.
Ponta said several times that Tony Blair remains his model in politics, especially as far received good advice from him.
Tony Blair is currently envoy of the Quartet (Russia, US, EU, UN) for the Middle East, commissioned by the US Secretary of State John Kerry to develop an economic plan for tourism development and attracting private investment in the West Bank.
[Google Translation]
Blair has met Ponta at least three times recently, and took the opportunity to help him network during Mandela’s funeral – just another business opportunity for the energetic Mr. Blair…
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/tony-blair/10518182/Tony-Blair-introduces-prospective-client-Victor-Ponta-to-Barack-Obama.html
The suspicion is growing that Blair (whose last two or three meetings have been conducted in considerable secrecy) provides useful cover and support for UK/US efforts to consolidate the Balkans against potential Russian interest in the region. Watch this space.
Next stop Ankara?
I guess…
http://inserbia.info/today/2015/02/ljajic-trade-between-serbia-and-turkey-not-yet-at-satisfactory-level/
There’s a certain amount of concern about Turkey…
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/news/world/2013/10/13/Israel-s-role-in-Turkey-s-Chinese-missile-deal.html
Wondered how long I could stay off Israel, but there it is. NATO supplier = what you do in bed passed to Israel. Chinese supplier = you only have to worry about China.
NATO’s knickers must be in quite a twist, in view of its assessment of Russia’s intentions.
Frantic spinning in the wake of Blair’s stopover in Serbia (just dropped in for coffee and investments)
http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics.php?yyyy=2015&mm=02&dd=26&nav_id=93310
..during that meeting with Blair the talk was mostly about the Serbian government not losing its first year, but instead passing reform laws, reaching an arrangement with the IMF, and now moving into capital investments..
See also:
http://www.riotintoserbia.com/
http://www.presseportal.de/pm/113223/2924430/mundoro-extends-copper-mineralization-with-drill-program-at-zeleznik-property-serbia
(Savignac also looks good)
According to her, the former British prime minister was “not hired as a consultant for a fee.”
“I am completely certain he was not, because this was really a conversation over coffee,” Mihajlovic said, when asked by reporters at the Chamber of Commerce.
Oh, but he was hired as a consultant, at a fee, paid by the UAE, just a fortnight beforehand. Coincidence or what?
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/tony-blair-to-advise-serbian-government-a-country-britain-once-helped-to-bombed-while-he-was-pm-10055253.html
Ankara was a bad guess. The Quartet Representative For Azeri Oil went to Baku today. They really need to improve mobile reception around Erzurum….so that’s:
Albania…Serbia…Romania…Azerbaijan. On a charter jet. So far this week. Honest, guv, he’s not making a penny out of this. Picking his own pocket, he is.
Good background reading: Blair, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Portland Communications –
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/120691/tony-blair-does-pr-repressive-azerbaijan-kazakhstan-autocracies
Forthcoming attraction: The Quartet Representative for Monetising Refugees, CEO of Blair Global International Inc, philanthropist, raconteur and comic singer, The Dear Leader, The Very Reverend Anthony “No peerage please, I’d have to declare my interests” Blair…will be visiting the elysian island of Haiti next Tuesday:
http://news.anmwe.com/haiti-lex-premier-ministre-britannique-tony-blair-visitera-haiti-2/
The World Factbook reports a shortage of skilled labor, widespread unemployment and underemployment, saying “more than two-thirds of the labor force do not have formal jobs.” … With respect to the business environment reforms have had little effect because of widespread corruption and the inefficient judicial framework.[172] [Wiki]
Fertile ground for a global humanoid-production-unit monetiser there, Mr. Blair.
Oh, shit. That was last year’s news…Ah, well. Since his visit, donor aid has dropped significantly, possibly because he didn’t get Lamothe to sign an advisory contract. And:
Haiti remains the poorest country in the Americas and one of the poorest in the world (with a GDP per capita of US$ 820 in 2013) with significant needs in basic services. According to the latest household survey (ECVMAS 2012), more than 6 million out of 10.4 million (59%) Haitians live under the national poverty line of $ 2.44 per day and over 2.5 million (24%) live under the national extreme poverty line of 1.24 dollar per day It is also one of the most unequal countries, with a Gini coefficient of 0.61 as of 2012
http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/haiti/overview
Blair’s Serbia schmoozing:
Zoran Mihajlovic (dreamily having a Wendy Deng moment, and improvising): “the former British prime minister was “not hired as a consultant for a fee.”
“I am completely certain he was not, because this was really a conversation over coffee,” Mihajlovic said, when asked by reporters at the Chamber of Commerce.
http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics.php?yyyy=2015&mm=02&dd=26&nav_id=93310
Aleksandar Vucic (with one eye on the military exercises Serbia will shortly be conducting with Russia, and mindful that Blair wouldn’t get five yards down any Serbian street without being strung up by the balls by the electorate, for bombing Belgrade):
Referring to his deputy’s statement made on Thursday, reporters asked the prime minister whether he “chatted and drank coffee” with Blair.
Vucic replied that he “never chats when it comes to such things” and added, “these were serious discussions.” He also remarked that he “doesn’t even drink coffee.”
http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics.php?yyyy=2015&mm=02&dd=27&nav_id=93330
Forgivable. Blair’s a shapeshifter. I doubt that anyone comes away from a meeting with him with the same memory of what happened.
Ba’al, thanks for the link in the other thread:
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2015/02/amnesty-international-conference-on-torture/comment-page-9/#comment-511580
Wise of you to bring your Blair investigations over to here where they don’t get diluted. All threads end up as old ones eventually. Keep hounding that bastard Blair.
To me, the Ukraine conflict is looking more like a Kremlin power / land / resources / control grab. You might be interested in the following:
http://russialist.org/putin-aide-linked-to-maidan-killings/
Sorry about the storm I’ve whipped up on the Amnesty thread. I just got heartily sick of seeing Resident Dissident smeared by John Goss and Macky enthusiastically savaging anyone who deviated from the groupthink line.
Thanks for your input, Clark. I’ll just restrict myself to Blair here, but know what you mean…
Lost him after Azerbaijan: he tends to mix charter and airline flights as far as I can see. The Gulfstrean, I think, went on to Moscow and Berlin, where it is likely based*: but here’s an intriguing snippet indicating Blair’s current possible whereabouts:
http://english.cntv.cn/2015/03/01/VIDE1425184203081470.shtml
The platitudes don’t improve on being translated into Chinese and back again, do they?
If he is there, and not doing a video interview, Blair’s recent Grand Tour of Africa, in which Chinese interest is as great as that of JP Morgan, probably has something to do with it
*I reluctantly discount the possibilities that (a) Blair murdered Nemtsov or (b) someone of taste and discernment but a poor memory for faces murdered Nemtsov believing him to be Blair.
I’m not alone in thinking:
It appears that Blair’s charity is operating as a firm of commercial management consultants, drawing up policies and implementation plans for African governments, while at the same time hooking their clients up with high-level contacts made during his time as prime minister for business deals. In Rwanda, Blair has picked one of the world’s fastest growing economies.
http://lesterholloway.com/2012/06/06/what-is-tony-blair-doing-in-africa/
He appears to be saying: let me, Tony Blair, design the policies for African governments and deal with its’ leaders while you, my business friends, use your financial muscle to grab as much of the growing economy as possible to make profits for you back in the West.
To which it might be added that his idea of good governance appears to be incarnated in Rwanda, Egypt Nigeria, Guinea (Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan)…etc. At any rate, he’s done sod-all to change them.
Re Blair emerging with a halo from a Charity Commission investigation into the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, it appears that the CC have faith which can move mountains. As Toby Blume explains:
The investigation into the Tony Blair Faith Foundation appears to have been triggered by an article by former employee Martin Bright which made serious allegations of how the charity was run. I know Martin [full disclosure, he and I are both Governors of a local school] and I know that he did not make any complaint to the Charity Commission. Perhaps someone else did, I don’t know, but I do know that the Charity Commission did not talk to him, or even attempt to talk to him, as part of their investigation. They did, as I understand it, talk to staff and trustees at the Foundation. And after they had done so, they concluded that there was no evidence of wrong-doing. Everything was fine. Nothing to see here.
Now, I don’t know about what went on at the Foundation, I have not spoken to Martin about it and nor do I particularly care. That’s not the issue here. My concern is that the regulator of the charity sector – that is responsible for ensuring the high levels of public trust in charities are upheld – in investigating serious allegations of impropriety did not see fit to speak to anyone other than the people who were accused of acting inappropriately. And they did not speak to the former employee who had made the allegations.
What would happen if the police carried on like that? Or the fraud investigation service? Or the Parliamentary Standards Committee? Or the Financial Conduct Authority? Or anyone else that we rely on to investigate and ensure that legal standards are maintained and take action if they are not?
https://tobyblume.wordpress.com/2015/02/26/charity-commission-investigations-need-investigating/
So….why did the Charity Commission get involved at all? If the above is true, Martin Bright didn’t complain to them, but contented himself with a press article excoriating the TBFF’s management style, and peripherally querying its extravagance (alleged).
But maybe it was personal…Bright said he was also blocked from publishing an article explaining the role the Foreign Office had played in legitimising the Muslim Brotherhood during Jack Straw’s time as foreign secretary under Blair’s leadership.
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/aug/03/tony-blair-faith-foundation-charity-martin-bright-role
And that fits to a T. Bright, like Blair, dislikes the Muslim Brotherhood intensely. Bright isn’t the leftie he once pretended to be. He’s a neocon, like Blair, and has done the BICOM-funded tour of Israel to prove it. He’s currently political editor of the Jewish Chronicle, and has written as happily for the Spectator and Mail as he used to for the New Statesman. It would seem at least possible that Blair and Bright were working hand in glove to obtain the CC’s endorsement of what, on the public evidence available, looks like a pretty opaque and unaccountable ‘charity’. At any rate, nothing has been heard since from Bright on the subject. Probably the JC pays better, anyway.
Did Tony Blair actively support al-Sisi’s coup?
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/why-mekameleen-tapes-could-topple-sisi-s-government-449886202
Finally, Kamil tells Sudqi that “a delegation from UAE will arrive on Tuesday with Tony Blair on secret visit and will meet with [army Chief of Staff] Mahmoud Hijazi and [Foreign Minister] Nabil Fahmy the military council.”
(allegedly dated January 2014)
Unverifiable, but similar leaks have been verified more recently –
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/why-mekameleen-tapes-could-topple-sisi-s-government-449886202
Sorry – first link above should be –
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/africa/17273-new-sisi-leaks-exposes-uae-support-for-military-coup
Closest Blair visit I can find is 12/12/13…
Coincidentally (?) top of Google “Tony Blair” / last 24 hours*, is this:
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/former-british-pm-tony-blairs-uae-egypt-links-2095338217
I think this one could run.
* It wasn’t, an hour ago.
And the Telegraph’s got it too. Great journalists, if the Barclays would only leave them alone.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/egypt/11445060/Egypts-military-rise-to-power-partly-bankrolled-by-Emirates-audio-recording-suggests.html
Carefully note the UAE connection. Serbia’s Vucic denies that he, or Serbia, is paying Tony for his
rich contactsadvice:http://inserbia.info/today/2015/03/vucic-govt-did-not-pay-a-single-dinar-for-tony-blair-trip/
That is probably because the UAE is funding the exercise – reminder here:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/18/tony-blair-advising-serbian-government
Inserbia omits to mention this.
Mr. Blair has a longstanding connection with Mubadala,the wholly-owned investment arm of the Government of Abu Dhabi, which Tony Blair Associates has been paid to advise since 2009. Mubadala has extensive interests in Africa, some of which also may owe something to Mr. Blair’s efforts on its behalf (see above)
Pro bono, obviously…