An Apology 2256

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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…

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2,256 thoughts on “An Apology”

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  • Ba'al Zevul

    [Mod: Briefly caught in spam filter]

    No sooner had Blair stepped off the plane after finding common ground with the manically Europhile rightwing EU grouping, the ironically named European Peoples’ Party near Wicklow, than he, his spawn Leo, and his appalling soi-disant socialist wife are papped at what is described as a ‘Labour Party conference party’ in a London nightclub which we will not advertise further. Given that the paparazzi were present, there may have been some foreknowledge of his attendance. Given that the report is confined to, essentially, his manifestation through a back door, and the pictures, we may take it that any carefully selected reporters present were told what to file.

    We imagine that this was in fact a Progress bash*, and Tony was encouraging his troops in their efforts to destroy Corbyn, sabotage Brexit, keep their own seats, and return him or a stooge (Leo? Cherie?) to the eminence he feels he deserves. Looks a bit like Liz Kendall forcing her way into the selfie in the first pic, doesn’t it?

    * For the unaware or uncaring, Progress has for years been the instrument of Tony’s hatred of the real Labour movement. It is copiously funded by various interested parties, notably ‘Lord’ Sainsbury of Turville:

    https://medium.com/@GregHadfield/the-billionaire-blairite-funding-progress-the-party-within-a-party-behind-the-plot-to-break-9582574a0a7c

  • Ba'al Zevul

    Here’s Tony brown-nosing the Turkish opposition party, the CHP – which suffers from the dual illusion that Merkel’s going to let Turkey into the EU, and that Erdoğan’s going to let the CHP anywhere near power – and, evidently, delivering the expected litany of guff:

    http://www.haberturk.com/gundem/haber/1497138-mustafa-sarigul-tony-blair-ile-londrada-gorustu

    Nice comment below: If you made a sperm the head of the CHP it would be more use than (Kemal) Kılıçdaroğlu (its current leader – BZ)

  • Ba'al Zevul

    In a superb flight of satire, Tony recently delivered an exclusive interview to the Athens daily Ekathimerini. The notion that he’s punting the EU to the Greeks, effectively bankrupted by the EU, iconfirms that desperation now tinges the old fraud’s shaky grasp of foreign affairs.

    http://www.ekathimerini.com/218472/article/ekathimerini/comment/tony-blair-millions-politically-homeless-in-brexit-britain

    Where it will be seen that although the interviewer asks relevant and searching questions – far more so than he would be permitted in a staged British Interview With Tony, our toothy friend remains a slippery and evasive customer, now pretending to feel the pain of the deeply regretted victims of globalisation, now advocating extensive and painful ‘reforms’ to facilitate the worldwide replacement of the thinking individual by the wholly monetised consumer. Laugh a minute.

  • Ba'al Zevul

    Looks like someone’s been leaking. Back to the Libya-IRA years, and Who Shot PCW Fletcher?

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/05/17/yvonne-fletcher-murder-suspect-received-amnesty-letter/

    Tony nevva dun nuffin, guv, and ol’ Jack’s memory’s not wot it was. Straight up. Would we lie to you?

    The questions raised by this report are related to those raised by the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee’s enquiry into the non-payment of compensation to UK victims of Libyan-supplied IRA attacks. For which no satisfactory explanation yet exists, due to claimed issues of national security and the famous reluctance of Tony to give straight answers to questions. The report has now been published. (Brown and even Cameron at least partially addressed the issue when Tony had departed, so why were Tony’s hands tied?)

    https://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201617/cmselect/cmniaf/49/4905.htm#_idTextAnchor016

    It would be unfortunate should anyone find out that the IRA victims remained uncompensated, and Yvonne Fletcher died, because BP was at the time interested in Libyan oil. But the reasons for Tony’s intransigence might become a little clearer:

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tony-blairs-former-iraq-envoy-lobbied-for-bp-oil-contracts-2286178.html
    https://www.ft.com/content/28b699ae-0d9f-11e4-815f-00144feabdc0
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1297274/Oil-money-unites-Iraq-invasion-BP-Blair-terrorist-trading-Libya.html

    And Lord Browne, former CEO of BP, got a Blair peerage.

  • Ba'al Zevul

    [Mod: Briefly stuck in Akismet automated spam filter]

    We wouldn’t dream of suggesting that someone in the Tony Blair Institute For Global Change (any spare change, mate?) is charged with the task of checking the day’s deaths in order that Tony can pen, or have penned, the Dear Leader’s faux-humble tribute to the deceased’s qualities. We have better things to dream about, obviously.

    Here’s a sample, anent the late Rhodri Morgan.
    Rhodri was an outstanding servant of Wales, the United Kingdom and the Labour Party. He was great company, a fund of marvellous stories and a shrewd and immensely capable politician.
    True, for once. But Blair continued:
    We spent many times together in opposition and in Government….

    In which ‘together’ takes on a shade of meaning for which it was never designed, we feel. Blair obstructed Morgan at every turn, as Patrick Hannan wrote in Morgan’s Guardian obituary:
    …his determination, his refusal to stop battering against the door that people, in particular Tony Blair, kept holding shut against him.
    and describes, too Morgan’s
    established strategy of presenting his (Welsh) government as something of a leftwing affair, with clear red water between it and New Labour in London.

    Together?

    Here’s a more detailed analysis of Blair’s real attitude to Morgan, by Roy Hattersley, and worth reading in full.

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2002/dec/30/labour.wales

    Together?

  • Ba'al Zevul

    Responding to the Mail’s reporter, enquiring as to the content of Blair’s recent talks with Egyptian rich person, Assem Allam, The Spokesman For Tony Blair –
    .:
    …. denied that his organisation was a ‘centre Left think tank’, saying it was a ‘non-party platform to inform and support those in the active front line of politics’.

    However, the Mail headed the article with

    Last night, Mr Blair said he had met Mr Allam to discuss his new centre-Left think-tank, The Tony Blair Institute For Global Change, and insisted there had been no discussions about a new party.

    so we detect a certain lack of belief there. And we can’t help speculating. Allam has been trying to flog Hull City FC for some time now, and there are currently no bidders.

    If we now turn to Page 6 of TBI’s Articles of Association, which are available here in PDF
    https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/10505963/filing-history

    we will find that TBI is virtually unconstrained as to what it is and what it can do. The setup is designed to merge two corporate networks fulfillinng different functions, two disparate charities, the Office Of and the Associates into one amorphous and nearly-unaccountable blob. In which he ghost of Firerush Ventures can engage in financial transactions, the transplanted DNA of AGI can ‘advise’ governments abroad, the resurrected TBFF can continue to educate, educate, educate, in lockstep with Tony’s Pearson and Laureate chums. There is virtually nothing TBI cannot legally do.

    So both the Mail and the Spokesman are correct. We await with interest the Blair-mediated sale of Hull City FC to one of Tony’s wealthy contacts (like Naguib Sawiris), and the generous donation of some of the proceeds to TBI. Qui bono? Quid pro quo.

  • Ba'al Zevul

    Another instance of Tony Blair’s influence-peddling surfaces:

    http://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2095622/fugitive-tycoon-guo-wengui-met-abu-dhabi-royals-through

    What we find particularly touching is Blair’s magnetic attraction to (alleged) criminals, or theirs to him. Sebastian Ghita, Guo Wengui, the entire cast of the 1MDB/Petrosaudi shambles, various dictators in breach of international law. And yet, payment made, influence duly bestowed, Macavity’s not there, but just outside the scope of the criminal investigation.

    • Ba'al Zevul

      Some telling details here (link above):

      Blair’s office told Caixin that he had known Guo as a friend for 10 years and that Guo had in the past been a donor to Blair’s charitable work. It said Blair had never had a commercial contract with Guo nor received any fees from him.

      “You may also know that Mr Blair has in any event now wound up his company business to concentrate on his not-for-profit activities. So your story is wrong,” Caixin quoted Blair’s office as saying.

      As usual, no data exists to confirm or deny this account. But it seems to have been the case that money intended for Blair’s ‘charitable work’ could have been paid into Windrush Ventures in the first place, and thereafter have been completely invisible to scrutiny. And Windrush Ventures was very much in existence during the period in question, only having been wound up this year. The mention of its winding-up and the insertion of the words ‘not-for-profit’ in the response are rather telling: if the donations were to a Blair ‘charity’ why mention the companies? Answer, there is little discernable difference between them.

      And then there was this, in 2010.
      http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1254359/Why-did-Chinese-tycoon-buy-5-000-copies-Cherie-Blairs-new-book.html

      By 2010 Cherie’s book was remaindered everywhere. Universal critical opinion was that it was worthless. At, say, a cover price of £10 (for which some outlets are still trying to sell it), that would be a useful £50K, especially if the Blairs had bought up remaindered stock with an eye to let us say obscuring some future gratuity. We wonder, though that is not within the scope of our research, how many other gifts made by Guo to his staff had also been strategically acquired.

  • Ba'al Zevul

    And a new friend is made. Indeed, they were made for each other.

    http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2017-05-29/local-news/Top-surgeon-writes-to-Tony-Blair-to-express-shock-after-Muscat-endorsement-6736174847

    Letter to Tony Blair, former U.K. Prime minster

    Dear Mr Blair

    I was shocked and disappointed to see your message of endorsement for Joseph Muscat.

    Joseph Muscat is currently being investigated by a magistrate for serious allegations that his wife owns a Panamanian company as well as having received huge sums of money from Mr Aliyev’s daughter.

    His cabinet minister Konrad Mizzi has been exposed in the Panama papers as owning a Panamian offshore company and has been incriminated in kickbacks in the sale of the national energy company Enemalta. …. (there follows a catalogue of Maltese governmental corruption)

    Mr Aliyev, whose daughter is implicated in the scandal, is, of course, the President of Azerbaijan, who has had numerous dealings with Blair, most recently in connection with the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (see above, passim). So it’s not too surprising that what goes around, came around. Bit more on that:

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/world/91999096/Malta-scandal-exposes-New-Zealand-trusts-again

    Dr. Cassar’s letter continues:

    Your endorsement of Dr Joseph Muscat drags you down with Dr Muscat’s inner core into a world where evil is rewarded….

    We hate to break it to you, but Blair has long been a leading citizen of that world.

    …You may not have been fully briefed about the dire situation we find ourselves in here in Malta. Our very democracy is seriously threatened. Our free press is constantly harassed, our police force is led by a stooge of the government and fails to act in the face of serious allegations of crime but prosecutes whistleblowers, our judiciary has been populated by Labour Party stalwarts including candidates and the most recent deputy leader, the army is led by a personal and family friend of the prime minister who was promoted several times in a few weeks against all the rules to be made head of the army.

    It gives us no pleasure to contradict you, Dr Cassar, but Mr. Blair was undoubtedly briefed correctly, and as a result decided that Muscat was exactly the same kind of national leader as those Blair Inc. has always been paid by. Your criticisms of your government would have been music to his ears, and you can expect visits from Jonathan Powell and Alastair Campbell, too.

    • Ba'al Zevul

      The Maltese Labour Party has denied paying Blair for his endorsement. Hardly astonishing, considering his intervention was made via a two-minute videoconference call, but slightly more so when it is remembered that even this could have bagged him around £11,000 when he was in his prime. No, the clue is to be found at the end of this report:

      http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/election-2017/77734/labour_says_tony_blair_wasnt_paid_for_muscat_endorsement

      Joseph Muscat has also been endorsed by Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven and by former Italian premier Matteo Renzi, while PN leader Simon Busuttil has been endorsed by German MEP and EPP chairman Manfred Weber.

      The corporate shills in the EU love Muscat like a brother, and look forward to continuing a lucrative relationship with the very dodgy politico-capitalist. Tony is of the same brotherhood. Renzi is already described as Italy’s Blair, and Weber’s EPP group (whose motto might be ‘Freedom For Fat Cats’) recently hosted a blairing in Ireland. And we bet he was paid for that. (see above)

      Fuller details on Muscat here:

      https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/09/malta-joseph-muscat-panama-papers-corruption-claims

    • Ba'al Zevul

      Muscat, of course, has been grinding his anti-Brexit axe from the word go. If he had his way, the UK would be manacled and held in some deep EU dungeon, with no possibility of release, ever. The end of this article, on the response of Tony’s fellow globalists to the Brexit vote, should be borne in mind:

      https://www.apnews.com/3475d65b0a1843b3897fede5b25a6b97
      Muscat suggested a deal between Britain and the bloc could even be “scuttled at the very end of the process” by a veto in the European Parliament. A European Parliament election is scheduled for May 2019, meaning lawmakers could be voting on Brexit while facing pressure to please voters at home.

      Hence, we suspect, Tony’s flirtation with the Maltese PM, his urgent need to ensure Muscat stays in place, and his present relative quiescence on the topic – reinforced by his buzzing round Europe like a demented bluebottle in order to butter up other leaders terrified by Brexit. Tony has never had qualms about making deals favouring foreign governments over his countrymen, in office or out. But by 2019, it’s entirely possible that EU incompetence and greed will have inspired millions more nationalists and antiglobalists to vote. The long game may not be such a splendid plan, in the event.

  • Ba'al Zevul

    I am going to be taking an active part in trying to shape the policy debate and that means getting out into the country and reconnecting. This Brexit thing has given me a direct motivation to get more involved in politics. You need to get your hands dirty, and I will
    ..announced Mr Cleanhands, last month –

    http://www.eurasiareview.com/01062017-britain-must-keep-tony-blair-out-of-brexit-discussion-oped/

    Anyone seen him on the stump? Anyone seen him on anything but videolink (see Malta above and the link below)?

    http://www.presseportal.de/pm/7899/3650499

    We are unsure which country he is ‘getting out into’, but it doesn’t seem to be his own. Or has he been forcibly told to STFU, and done so? If so, a first.

  • Ba'al Zevul

    Some intense weaselling surrounds the Time’s allegations that Tony had had words with HMRC’s Hartnett in advance of setting up an Interest In Possession trust (IIP) – the purpose of which is usually to minimise inheritance tax paid by the legatees of the owner.

    http://institute.global/news/statement-regarding-series-articles-published-times
    The Times was forced to withdraw ita allegations, having worded them carelessly. But the devil is in the detail, perhaps. It rowed back on:

    his professional advisors set up a business structure for him and that he had benefited from this.

    Note ‘business structure’. If this applies to the IIP, the implication is clear – it is integral Blair’s business planning. And, sure, he personally would not benefit from the trust, for the simple reason that it can only pay out to those he leaves behind. Which might also include a business… Careless of the Times to imply otherwise.

    The same applies to the tax position on an IIP trust.
    …the structure used was tax neutral and … no tax advantage for Mr Blair was either sought or gained.
    Of course it was/wasn’t. The beneficiary isn’t Blair, but his distraught mourners after ISIS conducts the one wholly praiseworthy operation of its career.

    Both Hartnett and Blair deny a prior meeting.

    And Hartnett* is an honourable man….

    Whilst HMRC boss, Hartnett negotiated a tax deal that granted HSBC’s bankers virtually guaranteed immunity from prosecution for any crimes they might have committed relating to tax fraud in Switzerland.[16] Later in January 2013, he moved on to work at HSBC (Wikipedia)

    *the most “wined and dined” civil servant in Britain, having been treated to corporate hospitality 107 times over a period of three years. (Wikipedia)

  • Ba'al Zevul

    So, farewell then Breaking The Climate Deadlock.
    Under the august patronage of tThe Office of Tony Blair ™ this initiative was founded in 2008, and its last recorded activity was in 2011. Not that even this is visible on the new and very vague Tony Blair Institute For Global Change webpage, ( the single redirect superseding all previous manifestations of Our Saviour’s e -mission), where no explicit references to climate change at all are to be found.. Our thoughts and prayers go to the inhabitants of low-lying islands, among others.

  • Ba'al Zevul

    We are happy to report that neither Blair nor Mandelson is on this year’s Bilderberg list (failed Chancellor and fellow-greedy bastard Osborne being deemed to be more influential this year – he’s there.):

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4561054/Secretive-global-group-gathers-US-mull-Trump-era.html

    Not but what one or both of them are hanging round the fringes, buttonholing delegates in the manner of the Ancient Mariner.

    Tony didn’t make it to the Sedona Forum, another globalist networking event, in April, either. His ratings must be slipping.

  • Ba'al Zevul

    It will be recalled that Sebastian Ghita paid Blair loadsa-euros to endorse Victor Ponta, the former president of Romania. In return, it is alleged, Ponta proposed Ghita’s candidacy for election. Neither Ghita nor Ponta (who is also under investigation) appear to be shining beacons of honesty, and Ghita’s woes were increased in February:

    https://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=ro&u=http://www.cotidianul.ro/sebastian-ghita-este-acuzat-de-frauda-283654/&prev=search

    We have to accept that, as claimed, the cash did not go to Blair personally, but to one of his charites – it may never be known which, or whether payment was made through Windrush Ventures rather than directly to a charity account. In effect, as far as the Romanian prosecutors are concerned, Blair isn’t involved. Just a little uncritical of the sources of his former charities’ funding.

    But they have a crime in Romania, for which we appear to have no equivalent, and with which Ghita is being charged, assuming they can ever lay hands on him. It’s buying influence

    We could learn that much from Romania.

  • Ba'al Zevul

    We hope we may be forgiven for including other members of the Blair Tendency at this time of rejoicing. We discover a ferret reversing:

    http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/815109/Election-2017-DUP-Brexit-Theresa-May-government-Lord-Mandelson

    ‘Lord’ Mandelsnot gushed:

    …There were many people who were critical of Jeremy Corbyn’s performance in Parliament but I think those people should now acknowledge… the ability he demonstrated to inspire such strong support, passionate support amongst groups of voters in different parts of the country.
    He was:
    …genuinely impressed by Jeremy Corbyn’s sure-footedness during the campaign….
    and
    … impressed by the real unity and discipline that extended right across the party and both of these factors were very important in Labour’s success.

    But here’s Mandy in February:

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/feb/21/peter-mandelson-i-try-to-undermine-jeremy-corbyn-every-day

    Mandelson, a former cabinet minister under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, told an event for the Jewish Chronicle that he was actively working to bring an end to Corbyn’s leadership.

    There’s unity. There’s discipline.

    And there’s the sick bag.

  • Clark

    Ba’al, I have no idea how the following fits into anything, but Blair was involved, so you’re the one might have some idea about what could be tied to what.

    What connects Brexit, the DUP, dark money and a Saudi prince?

    http://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/what-connects-brexit-the-dup-dark-money-and-a-saudi-prince-1.3083586

    Richard Cook, the chairman of a group that gave a mysterious £425,000 donation to Northern Ireland’s DUP, previously founded a business with a Saudi prince and a Danish businessman linked to an unauthorised arms drop case:

    https://www.buzzfeed.com/jimwaterson/brexit-donor-previously-founded-company-with-man-connected-t

  • Ba'al Zevul

    Intriguingly, ABG LLC, of Kansas City, previously identified as belonging to Blair’s soon-to-be-something-else Firerush complex, appears to be still active:

    https://whalewisdom.com/filer/abg-securities-llc
    The relationship with Firerush was a strange one, more details of which can be found here-
    https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/vprr/1601/16014189.pdf
    And see-
    https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2015/02/an-apology/comment-page-36/#comment-653086

    Former ABG LLC advisors Ari Untracht and Jason Eisenpresser are now consultants at the Tony Blair Institute for Spare Change, while
    ABG LLC, minus Eisenpresser and Untracht, now appears to be owned by a New York holding company, JCAE Holdings LLC, for which we can find no connection with Blair.

    Plus ça change…

  • Ba'al Zevul

    At last! Seeping out of the woodwork like sewage as the floodwaters recede, the Tony Blair Show is back on the road.
    Shamelessly – as usual – exploiting the anniversary of Jo Cox’s death, as it happens.

    http://www.barrheadnews.com/news/entertainment/15349636.Watch_Tony_Blair_in_The_Last_Leg_sketch_marking_Jo_Cox_anniversary/

    (Press Association release: all editors please c&p on front page, please. The Institute For Tony Blair)

    It appears he will be the hero of this comic effort, and positioned as an angel of reconciliation between squabbling politicians. In a lift.
    We don’t think the Barrhead News is in the same league as The Onion, but nice try nevertheless

    Ed Balls also stars. File under ‘media whore’.

  • Ba'al Zevul

    Dogsbody wanted to do stuff in Africa. Ok, not actually do stuff, but organise stuff. All right, if you insist, make sure things go the way of the resource extrctors…students of management bollocks will be tempted to plagiarise this one for their bollocks theses.

    https://www.charityjob.co.uk/jobs/project-coordination-officer/512518?tsId=1

    Portuguese fluency a requirement. Did Tony strike gold in Sao Tome during his recent visit? Little-known FACT: it’s got some left.
    Corruption is never a huge problem for Tony, as long as it isn’t called that. Which is the point of the Institute for Tony Blair’s Africa arm.

    Burkina Faso’s… political issues have never affected gold mining or stopped the local government from awarding mining licenses. On top of this stability, Burkina Faso offers attractive terms: it has a low corporate tax rate of 20% for mining companies, the government is entitled to a 10% free carried interest in mining operations and a 3-5% sliding royalty on gold production is in place. All in all, taxation and government support appear to be very reasonable compared to global standards.

    https://seekingalpha.com/article/4042218-2-overlooked-gold-exploration-companies-burkina-faso

    We expect to see Endeavour floating a project there soon.

  • Ba'al Zevul

    We note in passing that while Mr Blair whas not been sighted in Finsbury Park or North Kensington lately, or indeed in any media tribute, memorial or thinkpiece on either. But The Obituary Scanner of Tony Blair did notice that Helmut Kohl had passed away, and a tribute was accordingly ghosted. The superlatives look even better in German, so here it is:

    https://presse-augsburg.de/presse/tony-blair-nennt-helmut-kohl-einen-poeten/
    There is to be a memorial event in Strasbourg on the 1st July, at which Bill Clinton, Juncker and other prominenti will be prominent. Ba’al’s giving 25 to 1 on that Eurotone will also be present, business permitting.

  • Ba'al Zevul

    Addressing the faithful from the safety of the Blairerbunker, and mediated by the Institute For Tony Blair, the great educator enlightened the WDF Forum 2017 on June 1st as follows… But hold on a second. Blairings are typically constructed from waffle, platitudes, statements of the blindingly obvious, unsupported assertions, and patronising guff. So there’s no need to listen. But the video is truly compelling with the sound off. Blair appears to be cocaine-fuelled, and the range of inappropriate facial expressions generated per minute exceeds anything we have ever seen from this or any other sociopath. Enjoy.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61l8ZXZ8ud8

    NOTES:
    (a) Furiously waving arms and hand gestures out of shot. But the body movements confirm that he’s still flapping away down there.
    (b) Personality revealed at 0.24. Blair could sinister the socks off Vincent Price – pity he didn’t follow his real vocation.

  • Ba'al Zevul

    Yep. Without a word out of the Global Shitstirrer on the failure of his sabotage attempt on the Labour Party, he’s been blairing at the Herzliya Conference with his old Israeli mates.

    http://www.herzliyaconference.org/eng/?CategoryID=569&ArticleID=2793&dbsAuthToken=
    http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/231405

    The usual misleading hint that he actually understands the situation –
    “The credibility of the ‘peace process’ has been profoundly damaged since the Oslo accords.

    Say that again, Tony. Who, more than any other mediator in the region has onesidedly promoted Israeli interests, and was described by the Palestinians as ‘useless, useless, useless’? No connection there, then. (Were the ironic quotes – ‘peace process’ – Blair’s idea or Herzliya’s? Are we all in agreement that it’s a required mantra but has no tangible existence? Got it.)

    Noting in passing that “we” (Israel and Tony) really need to do something (unspecified) about the Palestinians, this is a call for Arab-Israeli unity in the region, and a lightly coded call for an alliance against Iran. Which “we” (Ba’al) confidently predict will be promoted across the region by Blair in the coming weeks and months.

    • Ba'al Zevul

      As Robert Fisk wrote in January, following yet another ‘peace process’ (sic) initiative:

      Anyone who’s visited the West Bank these past few years, looked at the Jewish colonies built on stolen Arab land, witnessed the occupation and the filth of Gaza and observed its brutal Hamas militia leaders – and realised that Netanyahu will soon be the most left-wing member of his increasingly racist government – knows very well that the “two-state solution” vanished long ago. Why, did we really think it would survive the political surgery of our beloved former Middle East panjandrum, Tony Blair? As he would say if he was honest, the whole charade is “absolutely and completely” over.

      http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/columnists/robert-fisk/everyone-knows-a-twostate-solution-in-israel-and-palestine-is-impossible-now-35371536.html

  • Ba'al Zevul

    Meanwhile, in Serbia and Romania, the Ghita-Ponta Blair case, as the Romanians are calling it, bogs down in a morass of (ellegedly) corruption. The clearest account yet in adequate English of what’s going on appears here:

    http://www.nineoclock.ro/supreme-court-denies-corruption-prosecutors-request-for-arrest-warrant-to-be-issued-on-fugitive-businessman-ghita/

    For our purposes, it is sufficient to note that both Victor Ponta, the decidedly tainted ex PM of Romania, and his definitely dodgy protege Sebastian Ghita were (allegedly) complicit in obtaining the services of Blair in promoting the former’s political career, and both are under criminal investigation for their involvement in this. We feel it would be desirable for the Romanian legal authority, the DNA, to request evidence from Blair, including some financial accounts, should the DNA succeed in winkling Ghita out of Belgrade to face trial. Especially as the proposed charges include aiding and abetting money laundering. We feel reasonably certain that due diligence on Blair’s part is not demonstrable, and that the tortuous route of monies received by Blair, through his impenetrable and then complex company structure would also be relevant were any charges to be brought.

    • Ba'al Zevul

      Background: Blair’s links to Ponta, and his organisation’s embedding in Romania’s government, date from the time of the visit in 2012, and were, it’s safe to assume, lucrative.

      http://www.romaniajournal.ro/pnl-says-tony-blairs-consulting-firm-involved-in-ponta-cabinet-political-interests-and-lack-of-coordination-hinder-its-actions/

      In June 2014, the ‘Financial Times’ wrote that Tony Blair has governance contracts (advice to public authorities) in Romania, citing a friend of former British prime minister. Blair’s aid, which was not named in the article, said that Blair could open an office in Abu Dhabi to manage existing contracts in Romania and Kazakhstan.

      Information about a possible contract between Tony Blair and Victor Ponta surfaced in December 2013 in the British newspaper ‘The Daily Telegraph’ saying that Blair introduced Victor Ponta to the US President Barack Obama as “a possible future client”. The meeting Blair – Obama – Ponta took place during the ceremony dedicated to Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg.

      Blair’s paid a last visit to Romania in February 2015 when he discussed at Victoria Palace with Victor Ponta. He had been to Bucharest immediately after the presidential election in December 2014. Blair had also met Ponta in Bucharest in June 2013 and one more time in March 2012.

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