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…
Recognition that perhaps not quite all of the taxpayers’ money shovelled into international aid organisations is reaching its intended destination:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-37758164
Ms Patel has been a longstanding critic of some aid spending and her remarks will unnerve many multilateral agencies and non-governmental charities opposed to the idea of further so-called “conditionality” being imposed on their spending, our correspondent says.
So far so good. But this isn’t designed to ensure that relief is shifted from corrupt local officials and given to the desperate. Oh no. It’s about soft power, trickle-down economics and commercial advantage.
…she wanted to use Britain’s aid budget to boost economic development, announcing a £30m programme to encourage more job-creating investment in Kenya.
And she promised £95m to help Kenya break down barriers to trade, particularly by speeding up the flow of goods through the port of Mombasa.
She said she would undertake joint missions overseas with International Trade Secretary Liam Fox to gather what she called “intelligence” about economic opportunities for British businesses.
Which means that the very expensive suits running AGI for Tony probably won’t have to worry about UK cash drying up, even if it doesn’t (as it is believed to now) arrive from the likes of the World Bank for onward transmission – on commission. Will Liam Fox join the crew?
The Tony Blair Case – as all the Romanian media are calling it – continues:
http://www.romaniatv.net/ana-birchall-audiata-in-dosarul-tony-blair_322052.html
Brief recap: Former Prime Minister Victor Ponta (resigned last year amid allegations of corruption: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-34720183 ) and whom Tony Blair levered into proximity with Obama at Mandela’s funeral (critically investigated here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/tony-blair/10518182/Tony-Blair-introduces-prospective-client-Victor-Ponta-to-Barack-Obama.html ) ….is accused of having received money – effectively a bribe – from a Sebastien Ghita in exchange for nominating Ghita for election The cash was then paid to Tony for a visit so that Ponta could bask in the great man’s brilliance on TV. For the record, it cost £180,000 to get the Dear Fixer to fly in for a photocall. It is as usual uncertain whether this was business or charity on Tony’s part.
Prosecutors accuse receiving money for nomination of persons on the electoral roll is undue advantage for Victor Ponta, who has the power to decide on electoral lists from the position of party chairman.
Victor Ponta is accused of using his influence and complicity in money laundering.
The penalty for using influence is punishable by imprisonment for 1-5 years. /i> (ibid, Google Translate)
Should Ponta and Ghita end up in chokey, it’s fairly certain that Tony won’t, despite being the receiver of the proceeds of a criminal enterprise. All he has to do is deny everything…and he does. Chalk it up to experience, suckers – just like Cherie’s Maldives deal, Petro Saudi and the rest.
Gambia has just withdrawn from the International Criminal Court, citing its failure to prosecute Tony for war crimes:
http://www.freedomnewspaper.com/gambia-gambia-govt-cites-the-refusal-of-the-icc-to-indict-tony-blair-and-the-eu-to-withdraw-from-the-icc/
Doesn’t look as if the Africa Governance Initiative will be setting up there any time soon, then. Or,
because ofdespite Gambia’s strong Muslim affinity, the TBFF.Indicating clearly that he’s going to go on banging on about what ‘we’ should do, without having much of a clue, beyond things that go bang, himself, the Cosmic Illuminator, that ostentatious adherent of a pretty dogmatic religion, has this to say about radical Islam:
…If we can understand, discredit and disrupt their ideology, then we can undermine the very foundations on which this global movement is built. (continues, invoking the aid of ‘we’ and ‘world leaders’ remorselessly)
Noble words, which might just as usefully be applied to global crony capitalism, eh, Tone?
Students of perception management may care to read the rest of his, candidly, simple-minded rant, but it just ain’t the same without the hand gestures. Note that while:
politicians have to appreciate that this isn’t a fight against Islam but a fight against a perversion of Islam.…
If people are brought up within a society that dislikes Jews or considers millions of Muslims to be apostates, inevitably that prejudice fertilizes the soil within which extremism can grow. Unless we can successfully counter religious prejudice within Muslim communities, extremists will use this bias to gain a foothold.
Hear that dogwhistle?
http://edition.cnn.com/2016/10/26/opinions/defeat-religious-extremism-tony-blair-op-ed/
And if you didn’t hear the dogwhistle, this helpfully turns the volume up (maybe a little too far, but hey, Blair never shrinks from overstating his opinions either):
http://consciousreporter.com/war-on-consciousness/unmasking-tony-blairs-interfaith-crusade-using-religious-extremism-impose-new-world-order/#sthash.cZrn7OtG.dpuf
…we see Tony Blair implying that religious differences must somehow be removed through use of arms and ideas to make way for globalisation, and suggests education toward this aim is a security issue. He does not mince his words when he describes what the purpose of his Faith Foundation really is:
“…the purpose is to change the policy of governments: to start to treat this issue of religious extremism as an issue that is about religion as well as politics, to go to the roots of where a false view of religion is being promulgated, and to make it a major item on the agenda of world leaders to combine effectively to combat it. This is a struggle that is only just beginning.”
Note: Blair is clearly advocating political control of religious views here. As a (nominal) Catholic, we might expect him to be somewhat wary of this approach. For some of our Protestant monarchs, Catholicism, too, was a ‘false view’, and justified mass murder, while, on the other side of that debate, the Spanish Inquisition exemplified what can happen when ironclad moral certainty – and doctrinal education – really get to work on ‘false views’ of religion.
Update on the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee enquiry into the issue of compensation for victims of Libyan-supplied IRA violence: as expected Straw, today, distanced himself and Blair from the whole mess. As any fule could work out, while he and Tony were eagerly improving Anglo-Libyan relations, the matter was not discussed. Additionally, it would be ‘cruel’ (presumably to the Libyans) to deny British claimants compensation which has been agreed for American ones. Nothing yet on whether Tobias Ellmann’s extremely strong recommendation that Blair be pressed on what happened subsequently will be acted on. Blair – we repeat – has declined to appear before the committee in person and has responded briefly, inadequately and arrogantly, to its written questions.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/oct/26/jack-straw-blair-gaddafi-libya-ira-victim-compensation
Sputnik, as would be expected, puts a slightly different emphasis on that meeting:
https://sputniknews.com/europe/201610261046754040-gaddafi-blair-libya-ira/
Interested, we went to the source, our own parliamentlive.tv.
Here’s Straw lying through his teeth, to judge by the body language (09.35.30):
http://parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/62992f00-8f37-4cce-abcf-2b78cb48f88d
Significant admission – “paucity of written records”, at 09.44: That’s a familiar concept, whenever Blair is held to account. Straw has difficulty with his memory throughout. A sensible caveat, since even he doesn’t know what was recorded and who was in the loop.
At 09.53, Straw is asked if he knows why neither Blair and Brown will appear before the committee. Straw immediately goes into dodgy liar mode: it’s never been mentioned by his friend Tony. From then on, pressed on the decision – if it was that – not to go beyond the criminal injuries compensation awarded inadequately to victims of IRA violence – Straw goes into total meltdown, kicks the blame back to 1995, and Major’s initial moves with Gaddafi, and claims that his response comes from ‘piecing together’ the events, rather than from any hard facts. Even he looks unhappy at this. He may realise that he has been hung out to dry by his ‘friend’ Tony, at this point. Worth a watch.
All newsdesks, everywhere in the inhabited universe, have now got today’s instructions from the Faith Leader. ‘We’…’Must’… have another referendum on EU membership, apparently. Seems ‘we’ really fucked up his plans for global domination the first time.
As a thoroughly discredited proven liar, and crony of nationalist – y’know, guyz, they’re globalists really. And decisive – dictators, it’s hard to see why anyone prints his ravings any more. Surely there’s some news happening?
May be found at (www.)
mix96.co.uk
kyivpost.com
thisisoxfordshire.co.uk
nepszava.hu
mygoldmusic.co.uk
…in addition to 5+ Google pages (after which we stopped looking) of Blair-spammed UK local media outlets, simultaneously. Yet news critical of the Glorious Helmsman’s great plans and cerebral cogitations is invariably confined to the Daily Mail, the Telegraph, and of course this thread.
We note, carefully, no proposal from Tony to rerun the Rwandan referendum last year. Which approved a change in the constitution to give Tony’s pal Kagame a third seven-year term, with the option of remaining in power until 2034 as long as he can fix the ballot.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/01/rwanda-paul-kagame-third-term-office-constitutional-changes
Perhaps that’s because the referendum gave a 98% vote to the oily dictator?
Blair reports to his masters, predicting the Miliband election debacle:
http://www.thenational.scot/news/clinton-emails-suggest-tony-blair-lacked-faith-in-ed-milibands-2015-election-campaign.24251
Which was obviously nothing to do with Tony’s atlanticist legacy.
DIARY:
Four of Blair’s favourite words – Global. Financial. Leadership. Conference. And here; they all come at once. Bliss:
http://www.gflc.com/
Tony Blair and Gordon Brown to discuss Brexit… on the 15th November, 0900 local time, at the Ritz-Carlton, Naples, Florida, USA – that heartland of European politics.
Not just Tony, but Gordon, too. Ecstasy! Presented by the CME Group, which exists solely to gamble with other peoples’ money.
As the Blair Inc company structure is still intact, some weeks after it was announced that He would be devoting more of His insight and time to charity, we may safely assume that the nominal fee he is being paid by CME will go directly to the relief of starving interns at the OTB….may we not?
An informed take on the above absurdity:
Ahem. A “Global Financial Leadership” event including keynote speakers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.
Excuse me? The duo who sold off Britain’s gold reserves and nearly bankrupted the nation with their spendthrift idiocy and delusional belief they had Canute-like powers to smooth out the economic cycle? What can we expect for the 10th anniversary? North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un on corporate governance or Robert Mugabe on the secrets to maintaining hyperinflation?
There are many worthwhile events which deliver continuous professional development credits for their attendees. If you sit through the unctuous anti-democrat Blair or his pathetic side kick Brown, can you perhaps get credit for, say, minor felonies?
I worry about CME when I see things like this. Too much of its approach to branding and marketing is, at best locked in the era of mad men without even the panache of the “Mad Men.” This event looks increasingly like lipstick on a pork belly. Yet CME should be so much more than this but it has mixed up pomp with business focus, I fear.
https://exchangeinvest.com/november-1-2016/
Global Financial Leader Tony is of course advising President Sisi of Egypt on selling anything that moves at discount rates to foreign speculators. And good governance, obviously.
http://www.jordantimes.com/news/business/rapid-currency-slide-chokes-business-egypt
Whoops.
Commenting on one of the Spokesman For Tony Blair’s hourly pastes of the Global Chairman’s Thoughts, on Facebook:
Kim Brown contributes:
A man died and went to Heaven.
As he stood in front of the Pearly Gates, he saw a huge wall of clocks behind him. He asked, “What are all those clocks for?”
St. Peter answered, “Those are Lie-Clocks.
Everyone who has ever been on earth has a Lie-Clock. Every time you lie, the hands on your clock move.”
“Oh”, said the man. “Whose clock is that?”
“That’s Mother Teresa’s”, replied St.Peter. ”
The hands have never moved, indicating that she never told a lie.”
“Incredible”, said the man.
“And whose clock is that one?”
St. Peter responded, “That’s Abraham Lincoln’s clock.
The hands have moved twice, telling us that Abraham told only two lies in his entire life.”
“Where’s Tony Blair’s clock?” asked the man.
St. Peter replied, “We’re using it as a ceiling fan.”
Thanks, Kim.
So sorry to miss Cherie, cherieblairing at BNP Pariba’s sustainability group hug in Singapore last week:
http://apac.bnpparibas/en/sff/
The forum brought together leading international experts to debate these important issues, including how the SDGs can be used to guide business purpose and unlock shareholder value; the role of private sector capital in financing sustainable economic development; and the evolution of green finance from a “nice to have” to a fundamental component of the financial system we need.
IOW, how to invoke *green* to ensure the continued importnace of people who are allowed to print money (‘we’, above)
Cherie was present inher usual capacity of empowering wimmin by making sure they’ve all got Ooredoo phones ( and Renault cars, no doubt) Her socialist roots weren’t showing, whatever her hair colour.
Victor Ponta slides off the hook – escapes judicial review in the Tony Blair “shifty-politico-buys-office-from-Ponta-who-uses-cash-to-pay-Blair-to-help-win-Ponta-election-allegedly” case.
Not many details here, but nauseating pic of our hero.
https://www.realitatea.net/victor-ponta-scapa-de-control-judiciar_2001083.html
In other (US) news, modest and self-effacing unknown candidate currently proving that you don’t need to know the first thing about running a country to win an election. How unlike our hero.
Spotted at the Cenotaph today, with Cherie, and practising his #concernedface, Mr Blair’s name also came up in connection with Rio Tinto’s sudden recent interest in corporate corruption within its ranks. Tony was, it seems, passed over as a mediator between RTZ and Guinea’s Alpha Conde in a matter involving some very profitable mines*…quite an exhaustive account here, illustrating the kind of activity which is not featured on Blair’s Africa Governance Initiative website, but which is nevertheless philanthropic as far as the Bank Account of Tony Blair is concerned.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/exbritish-pm-tony-blair-on-guinea-consult-shortlist/news-story/79e54abf353ab04e346359719a05fdd5?nk=7dfc244fe77d72214a1ebd9cc0f11452-1479061596
*For which his qualifications would appear to have been excellent, but not with RTZ:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/tony-blair/10518355/Tony-Blair-and-the-Africa-mine-deal.html
Your man’s been somewhat subdued and withdrawn lately. I hope he’s sickening for something…however, in the last few days, he has offered his advice on terrorism – having so assiduously fostered it in Iraq, he may have some knowledge of the subject – to Donald T. Rump. Simultaneously, he has warned Canada against electing an anti-immigration populist like Donald T. Rump. As yet, he has not harangued France and the Netherlands, both of which are very likely to elect anti-immigration populists, and are in Europe. He has, however,
been writingcaused to be written under his name, articles for something called the “New European” (which preaches – only in English – to the Remainer converted, but don’t tell him). From his first, now forgotten, book: “New Britain”, via New Labour to “New European”, there is a common theme. Next week: New! Improved! advice from the Orifice, but meanwhile we note that ” …Is A Cunt” has just given him its eighth cunting. How did we find the site? It appears every time we google Cherie Blair….FACT.http://is-a-cunt.com/2016/07/tony-blair-8/#comments
A little more detail here: the Messenger of Peace was apparently speaking at a CSIS event. CSIS is yet another Washington think tank which manages to combine Kissinger, Scowcroft, Brzezhinsky, Armitage et al with a host of global corporates to ensure that government works for, er, them. And Tony was telling them that the incoming Trump administration needs to set up a $1 billion outfit to ‘fight’ the threat of Islamist ideology spreading to nice Muslims, like maybe the Gulf rulers? This would involve a special advisor to the president, and although far be it from him to push himself forward, but in his modest opinion, well, he needn’t say more, guyz, need he?
Some of which can be read between the lines here:
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:bGFNq5zoSZ4J:http://www.arabtimesonline.com/wp-content/uploads/pdf/2016/nov/17/10.pdf%2Btony+blair+CSIS&tbs=qdr:d&hl=en&ct=clnk
But according to the Telegraph, any suggestion…beyond speculation..total coincidence God has told him to annoy Muslims…Wendi Deng friend of Ivanka..etc. No mention of CSIS, though.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/11/17/tony-blair-dismisses-as-beyond-speculation-claims-he-is-being-li/
We await developments with interest.
It’s in the Express, but it’s irresistible:
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/733222/Tony-Blair-Donald-Trump-hired-dining-president-elect-Jared-Kushner-Sam-Zell
As Blair sucks up to a new posse of Influential People, the Express draws an entirely plausible conclusion. Beside Kagame, Sisi, Nazarbayev, Aliyev and most of the Gulf crowd, the only objection to Tony’s working with Trump must be that the man is slightly too moderate. And it would draw a line under Tone’s increasingly embarrassing friendship and some say dependence on the Clintons.
New Tony? Or is Old Tony only looking for New Networks to exploit?
One diner at the Harry Cipriani restaurant, where the trio were dining, said: “Jared Kushner would get better advice from A-Rod on nutritional supplements than he’d get from Tony Blair on foreign policy”.
This may need some explanation. A-rod (Alex Rodriguez, a baseball star), notoriously plugs a coconut-based energy drink whenever circumstances permit: But there’s a twist:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/43330413
A-rod and Tony should compare notes on playing for both sides.
Cherie was at the Women of the Future Awards yesterday. We do not know why. The awards are sponsored by faceless corporates and are intended to ‘recognise’ successful young women, according to the definition of success as being blind and deaf to anything other than personal financial advantage. Recognition is easy. They do not live near you. Another embodied warning of the the future, Sophie, Countess of Wessex, was also on hand, as were a couple of Nahyans, recognising success in the Arabian horse racing racket, in the form of a female jockey. Wouldn’t be allowed in Saudi Arabia, obvs.
Reluctant as we most always be to afford Tony Blair any opportunity to promote himself, we note in passing that the media have seized on some scraps of gossip to postulate that the man who gave us mass immigration and happily signed away our EU rebates is proposing to set up an Institute to guide us back to the Brussels fold.
Basically, he’s been spotted sniffing round some Westminster properties, he’s spoken with fellow-pariah George Osborne, and his spokesthing is rocking the Trump thesaurus of insults: May is a ‘lightweight’, alleges the mouthpiece of possibly the shallowest politician ever to hold cabinet rank, and Corbyn is a ‘nutter’…to which we can grudgingly agree, on the grounds that Blair, so far off the wall these days he can barely reach it to headbutt it, is the only one in step with sanity. Some gleeful responses from Brexiteers here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/11/21/eurosceptics-welcome-tony-blairs-political-comeback-and-brexit-i/
Fairly prompt denial of all the above from the Palace of Tony Blair. Someone’s been pulling some legs, we fear. As we said, scraps of gossip, but oh, how plausible…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-38049254
Which is not to say his unelected snout will be withdrawn from the Euro-trough altogether, we predict.
This looks more likely, though.
http://heatst.com/world/tony-blair-wants-to-be-the-new-henry-kissinger/
The rumoured Institute …will apparently be called either the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change or the Tony Blair Centre for Global Change., according, originally to the Times (toxic, paywall) whose sister paper the Sun mischievously attributes the above comments on May and Corbyn to a Mandelson soundalike. Is Mandy stirring it again? We hope so.
Yup. Name in lights, ‘global’ and ‘change’ in the same portentous title. (Though we would have preferred the *New* Tony Blair Institute for Global *Transformative* Change, and bugger the added expense of carving the extra letters into the Doric architrave above the onyx-lined atrium ‘n swimming pool). We’ll put a fiver each way on those.
This RT report is essentially the same as the Independent’s, today, from which it was abstracted, except that its pic shows Blair without makeup and looking pretty haggard, and we prefer it:. Alan Milburn has leaked:
https://www.rt.com/uk/367801-branson-blair-plot-brexit/
Despite the denials, ‘sources’ seem to be pretty sure that Blair’s petulance anent the Brexit vote persists, and he is all for a second referendum, which some fat cats, as well as the loathsome McTernan, are prepared to support. As we foresaw, above.
RT reports in addition that McTernan (who, it will be recalled, omitted to agitate for a second referendum on Scottish independence) delivered himself of the following arslikhan eulogy, to the BBC:
“People are getting very excited and correctly excited because (Blair) is the biggest political figure of our era. And people can’t stop talking about him because everyone wants him back in some way, shape or form.”
As in publicly impaled upside down in Parliament Square?
“He bestrides British politics still,” McTernan added. “It’s nearly a decade since he stopped being prime minister, stopped being an MP, and we are on television now talking about him coming back. Of course he excited people, [he] clearly does.”
In charity, let us note that berserker rage and stark horror also qualify as excitement, in behavioural terms.
“You idiot. You naive, foolish, irresponsible nincompoop. There is really no description of stupidity, no matter how vivid, that is adequate. I quake at the imbecility of it.” (ACL Blair, on his government’s introduction of the Freedom of Information Act – remember?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/opensecrets/2010/09/why_tony_blair_thinks_he_was_a.html )
Terrifyingly apropos of which –
Into the bleak grey record of Blair’s Freedom of Information Act routinely being sidestepped by any department with an interesting story to tell, on the grounds of national security, or the mandarin’s secretary having a headache, or because at £500 a minute it would cost too much to ask a flunkey to do a search on his Outlook inbox….comes a little ray of sunshine.
The Telegraph has just ‘won a freedom of information battle to uncover advice on taking up private sector work which was given to former premier Tony Blair by the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (ACOBA).’
http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/telegraph-wins-foi-battle-over-advice-to-tony-blair/
The laudable persistence of the Telegraph suggests that someone’s picked up the scent of something interesting. If so, the chase has begun, and Tony’s self-criticism (above) may have had more to it than the ‘shucks, guyz, y’know’ fake self-deprecation for which it may have been taken at the time. Watch this space, reader.
Some amplification of the above: the Telegraph is interested in Blair’s dealings with Kuwait and Kazakhstan, among all the others, and, significantly, the question of why Blair only had* to avoid lobbying HMG for one year after leaving office, when the prescribed norm is two.
Enjoy Robert Halfon and Paul Flynn getting stuck into the ‘toothless pussycat’ ACOBA, too…
http://informationrights.decisions.tribunals.gov.uk//DBFiles/Decision/i1895/Malnick,%20Edward%20EA-2016-0055%20(3-11-16).PDF
*in theory. But Kagame didn’t take Blair on in 2008 just for his cheeky grin. He wanted influence.
From Kenya, we learn that Cherie’s still selling phone subscriptions in order to empower wimmin. And oiling up to any project likely to improve her dismal reputation. Looks as if Mrs Kenyatta is perfectly capable of getting her hospital project designed, done and dusted without Mrs. Blair’s ‘partnership’ – which will almost certainly involve some phone contracts from Safaricom, for which she is working. As with Tony, the charity (The Cherie Blair Foundation), the paying job (one of which is Safaricom) and the individual are sometimes very hard to distinguish. We note that there is no mention of money leaving the Blair account, at any rate.
https://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/2016/11/cherie-blair-pledges-partner-first-lady-achieve-beyond-zero-dream/
Pretty fair confirmation of the wholly profit-driven activities of Blair-Booth, along with her association with something called the Global (check) Telecom Women’s Network, may be found here:
http://www.gtwn.org/news/22508_cobranded_12pp.pdf
promoting the mobile phone as a life enhancing, effective development tool which creates education, health, employment, banking and business opportunities; and designating high-profile champions of mobile phones for women.
…and delivering fat profits to foreign companies on longterm locked-in contracts with people who could find better uses for the money. That too.
As the BBC* continues to relay Blair’s remedies for what ails us – today he’s going to work behind the scenes (that would be a first) to ensure that the democratic will of the people, obtained on a larger turnout than he ever got, is overturned – our sense of fair play demands the inclusion of a contrary opinion. Step forward Alexander Boot, with a magnificent exposition of everything we have ever thought about Blair:
http://www.alexanderboot.com/second-referendum-and-turd/
(‘Happy Birthday, Agent Mikhailov!’ is also fun)
* Auntie, who has yet to say a harsh word a\bout the EU, has been fishing in the murky waters of the New Statesman, and carefully notes that it is, according to Tony, ‘media hostility’ which is preventing him from saving His people in public. He’s regretting the Deng fling, then.
As if it wasn’t bad enough for the Remain camp’s chances of overturning the democratically expressed will of the people and putting its gravy train back on the rails, to have Blair vocalising on its behalf, we now have failed Tory stooge Clegg cheering Blair on, and Labour MP’s ensuring their unelectability for a thousand years by opposing the motion to investigate Blair’s porkies anent Iraq….and more (possibly clickbait, but worth recording):
http://www.thecanary.co/2016/11/28/fresh-scandal-end-tony-blairs-political-comeback-begins/
And there’s still the smell of fish about Blair’s involvement with PetroSaudi and the Malaysian 1MDB scandal. While US and UK reports on this festering and complicated probable fraud have been sanitised (it’s a brown people problem, nothing to see), other opinions are circulating in Malaysia. This makes some extensive connections pointing to a rather central role for Blair:
http://www.malaysia-today.net/the-blair-rewcastle-multifaceted-complicity-to-destroy-1mdb/
I said that this had been sanitised, but a full account of the fraud was published by the Guardian, based on leaked material.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/28/1mdb-inside-story-worlds-biggest-financial-scandal-malaysia
Full, that is, apart from any mention of the name of Petro Saudi’s advisor at the time, one ACL Blair. Well, it’s the Guardian.
It has to be said, there’s probably a suspicion of bollocks in this series of articles – alarm bells ring when we see the Rothschilds roped into a discussion, and we reach for our tinfoil hat. The author is also fond of the codeword ‘Khazarian’, which we do not think refers specifically to Central Asians in this context.
However, the reporting is good, and some at least of the conclusions are supportable. The hypothesis is that Blair gave attack-journalist Clare Rewcastle-Brown -Gordon Brown’s sister-in-law, incidentally – access to material which could be used against 1MDB. Why? Because Blair was trying to put together a Malaysian-Chinese deal in competition with 1MDB, and to the advantage both of PetroSaudi and Blair’s Mubadala paymasters in the UAE. While Clare’s husband had designs on becoming the UK’s energy lobbyist to Chin (now read on)
(‘Individuals’ connected with Blair) were hell bent on severing 1MDB’s ties with PetroSaudi International, a well-connected oil services company* founded by a guy named Tarek Obaid together with his partner Prince Turki Abdullah, the son of the late King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.
Unbeknown to the Malaysian government, PetroSaudi had in November 2010 signed Blair up to assist the company broker deals with well-connected officials in China the former British premier was said to be close to.
As a reward, Blair was promised a 2% commission for each deal he brokered, which came atop the 41,000 pound monthly fee he charged PetroSaudi for his services.
Bllair had hoped to ride on his appointment with PetroSaudi by negotiating strategic partnerships between PetroSaudi and the Chinese government through an umbrella organisation of his, the Tony Blair Associates (TBA).
But every time he thought of a potentially lucrative deal, he discovered that 1MDB had been there and had done that.
That was just the second of his problems.
The first had to do with Mubadala Development Company PJSC, an investment vehicle wholly owned by the government of Abu Dhabi.
On Oct 8, 2010, barely a month prior to Blair’s appointment by PetroSaudi, Mubadala signed two collaborative agreements worth USD7 billion with 1MDB that had the potential of spurring Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Malaysia.
At the time of signing, nobody within the Malaysian government was made aware of Blair’s appointment as Mubadala’s principal advisor the year before, despite the appointment being made by the very person who approved the collaboration agreements with 1MDB.
That person was none other than Sheikh Mohammed Zayed al Nahyan, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and the head of the state’s wealth fund.
Both Zayed and his brother Sheikh Abdullah shared very close rapports with Blair and had hoped the former British premier would trench them a path through Chinese bureaucracy and into the inner circles of well-connected Chinese officials.
But as with the case of PetroSaudi, 1MDB seemed to come between Blair and deals he planned to negotiate on behalf of Mubadala with the Chinese.
Through Blair’s association with the two Sheikhs and former officials from JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs…. Blair and his team were able to gain access to inside information that pertained to 1MDB and all its dealings with various quarters in Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia.
By March 2014, the former British premier had drawn the line – he wanted 1MDB out of the picture once and for all.
If what I am told is true, Blair’s people established contact with Rewcastle sometime in May 2014 to offer her a glimpse of that information.
They promised to book Andrew (Brown) a seat on the Blair express and have him connected with just the right Chinese officials to further his energy ambitions.
http://www.malaysiaoutlook.com/regime-change-mahathir-george-soros-tony-blair-and-clare-brown/
*Some doubt exists about these connections. They did not extend to any enormous involvement in the petroleum industry, for example – BZ.
So, in the author’s view, the 1MDB scandal was less about corruption in the Malaysian government than double dealing by Blair for his own , and his employers’ interests. Nothing would surprise us less….
More intriguing –
https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=tr&u=http://t24.com.tr/haber/akit-tv-abdullah-gul-yeni-parti-kurmak-amaciyla-tony-blair-ile-urdunde-bulustu,373914&prev=search
As if Tony would annoy Erdoğan by introducing Turkey to the Üçüncü Yol* and reviving its dreams of EU membership…it wouldn’t go down too well with his Balkan advisees, either.
*Third Way
Now officially denied by the Presidential Office: Gül didn’t meet any Brits. The Turks are between a rock (the PKK) and a hard place (Wahhabist extremists), and Russian navigational skills are better in these waters:
https://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&hl=en&prev=search&rurl=translate.google.co.uk&sl=tr&u=http://www.aydinlik.com.tr/turkiye/2016-aralik/rusya-disisleri-bakani-lavrov-antalya-da&usg=ALkJrhhr43agqMAAzDpDPcYCjaYmz314gA
which suggests that even Erdoğan’s visceral loathing of Assad has been tempered by cold reality.
Nest-featherers, 439
With consciences, 70
Good to have a snapshot of what we’ve elected from time to time, isn’t it?
Still, there hasn’t been a vote on ex-PM’s, privy to the nations secrets, buzzing round the world selling influence to foreign dictators, yet.
Phew, says Tony. Not that they were going to vote for being held accountable for their actions, anyway. And now to save the world from discontented proles –
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/dec/01/tony-blair-to-launch-new-institute-for-centre-ground-politics
New Tony, old chums, definitely not returning to politics, lol, and what’s this Middle East Initiative? Oh, that. That horse has popped its clogs, Tony. It is an ex-horse, etc. But still he goes on flogging.
C&P’d press releases in the media promoting The Tony Blair globaltransformativepolicyunitwhichisn’tathinktank project include the claim that Blair has shut down his commercial operations.
Not so. Both Windrush Ventures Ltd and Firerush Ventures Ltd are still listed as ‘active’ at Companies House:
https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/06397276
https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/06901376
…and Windrush filed its confirmation statement – it was formally still in business – a week last Tuesday.. Firerush’s accounts (such as they are!) are due by the 31st January, which would seem to be an ideal time to terminate the enterprise – watch this space.
But as far as can be discerned, that’s yet another lie from the newly-minted advocate of “reasonable and evidence-based discussion of the future which avoids the plague of social media-led exchanges of abuse”. (source: all media short of news this week)
Y’know, dudes, just like our reasonable and evidence-based discussion of Iraq, avoiding the plague of Murdoch’s total support.
How cheeky can you get?
Clairification of the reference to Windrush’s confirmation statement, above. The confirmation statement replaces the annual return requirement, it is required to inform Companies House of any significant changes to the company. Its ‘active’ status, then, is unchanged after the submission date. And there’s a new feature:
Register of People with Significant Control
Companies registered before June 30th 2016 will have to include information about People with Significant Control (PSCs) in their first confirmation statement. The need for all companies to keep a PSC register at their registered office or alternative inspection location was introduced on 6th April 2016. Companies registered on or after June 30th will provide PSC information on their incorporation application form. This information should then be updated or confirmed annual when filing a confirmation statement.
It will be interesting, if nothing else, to see who the PSC’s are in respect of the subdivisions of the Windrush and Blair complexes.
We await with interest FINRA’s next update on obscure securities broker ABG LLC of Kansas City – owned by Blair’s Firerush Ventures No. 3 LP, opaque to any scrutiny, as repeatedly indicated above (and you saw it here first, some months ago):
http://brokercheck.finra.org/Firm/167190
It has been in existence up to at least October 2015, and its current fiscal year ends in December….
CURSE OF BLAIR:
http://themarketmogul.com/all-eyes-on-italy-why-blair-and-renzi-are-cut-from-the-same-cloth/
… the ‘Third Way’ is that slippery and ambiguous ‘Establishment’ that everyone is so angry at and can help provide context to a vacuous and unhelpful concept that has taken 2016 by storm. They tick all the boxes: internationalist, pro immigration and pro wealth creation, and key figures such as Tony Blair are held up as poster boys for a movement that channels increasing resentment towards these figures.
Matteo Renzi is cut from the same cloth, and if this referendum is an indirect vote on his popularity, then the trend would suggest a capitulation of the progressive centre and the rise of the populists thereafter. Renzi seems to be the latest casualty for a consensus that was at one time unstoppable. The collapse of the progressive centre is a substantial lens through which one can understand the events of 2016 and potentially the result of the Italian referendum.
It appears to have been just such a vote on Renzi’s popularity. So farewell, then, Matteo.
Some history:
https://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=it&u=http://temi.repubblica.it/micromega-online/si-scrive-renzi-si-legge-jpmorgan/&prev=search
Those that live by the global banker shall die (politically, that is) by the global banker.
Definitely some changes afoot in the humming core of Blair, Inc. The radioactive material is being removed:
https://register.fca.org.uk/ShPo_individualdetailsPage?id=003b000000LVJF4AAP
Prashant Francis aka Joseph Francis Prashant was at one point simultaneously working for JP Morgan (for whom Blair is as far as we know still working) and Blair. He was licensed to provide financial advice to Blair’s customers…however, as usual, there is little trace of his activities. The link indicates that he has now ceased his connection with Firerush Ventures No. 3LP.
However, Jason Searancke and Catherine Rimmer are apparently still in place, although Varan Chandra doesn’t find a hit in the FCA’s search tool.:
https://register.fca.org.uk/ShPo_individualdetailsPage?id=003b000000LVez3AAD
https://register.fca.org.uk/ShPo_individualdetailsPage?id=003b000000LVez3AAD
The same site indicates that FRV3 LP has applied to cancel its Financial Conduct Authority authorisation – although this does not mean that it has ceased trading.
https://register.fca.org.uk/ShPo_FirmDetailsPage?id=001b000000MgBN9AAN
Historical detail:
Firerush Ventures No. 3
Firerush Ventures No. 3 may sound like a hip purveyor of flame retardant materials. It’s not. It’s the boutique advisory service set up by ex-Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2009.
According to the FSA register, Firerush Ventures No. 3 currently has four approved employees. One is an ex-Lehman/Nomura banker (Varan Chandra). One is an ex-JPMorgan banker (Prashant Francis). One is Tony Blair’s former aide from Downing Street (Catherine Rimmer). And one is a New Zealander who hasn’t been registered with the FSA before (Jason Samuel Searancke).
Tony Blair aspires to add to this. Firerush Ventures No. 3 is currently recruiting “very smart people” from investment banking, he told the Financial Times at the weekend.
Firerush and Blair’s foundations currently employ 150 people. By the end of the year, Blair expects them to employ 200 (although he doesn’t say how many will be at Firerush in particular). If he doesn’t do something big in politics, he’ll be hiring even more.
If you want to submit your CV, it might help to have sovereign wealth fund contacts. The idea of Firerush is to introduce sovereign funds to investment opportunities in areas like clean tech. If you find Tony Blair irksome, don’t let this put you off. His role in Firerush is, “very limited,” he says.
( http://news.efinancialcareers.com/uk-en/104709/two-organisations-will-be-creating-a-combined-100-jobs-in-corporate-finance-advice-and-futures-broking-in-london-over-the-next-year/ )
Blair warns, sky about to fall in. On USA Today, which is some distance from the audience he needs to convert to
bland acquiescence in institutional financial malpractice, no,The Third Way, no again – ah, we have it! – centrism ™ and defeat the flesh-eating hordes of radioactive populists who have battened on hatred of and discontent with the wise and sublime policies of, y’know, moi.Blah’s faux-empathy leads him to acknowledge that frustration with the preceding political system led directly to the ascendancy of Trump and the right wing in general. Unhappily, he can’t manage the realisation that his own brand of political shapeshifting and utter uninterest in anyone on less than £200K a year is what fuelled this political juggernaut in the first place And he believes – his faith is so pure – that re-establishing a Left which isn’t at all Left will magically make everything OK for the little people.
That’s what he said in 1997. And, despite record borrowing and a near-record term in which to make it happen, it didn’t, and culminated in a predictable financial crash against which Blair (who promptly scarpered) and Brown had built up no defences. While much of our industry is now foreign-owned.
No need to link to this tosh. The world’s churnalists have all c&p’d it from USA Today