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

    Another bite:

    http://www.unioncancun.mx/articulo/2015/03/25/turismo/mexico-vive-un-gran-momento-en-el-turismo-tony-blair

    Decarbonisation and education are now forgotten in favour of touristification, touristification, touristification and a chance to work on my tan now I’m persona non grata east of Suez.

    *reads from conference brochure* – México vive un gran momento en el turismo gracias a la transformación de la industria y al posicionamiento de la marca-país en el extranjero, lo cual le brinda identidad, afirmó el ex primer ministro de Reino Unido, Tony Blair. Oh, sorry, guys, wasn’t I meant to read that last bit?…

    (Mexico is experiencing a great moment in tourism thanks to the transformation of the industry and the positioning of the country brand abroad, which gives it identity, said the former prime minister of Britain, Tony Blair.)

  • Ba'al Zevul

    My bad and carelessness –
    So, not only does Cherie’s little earner appear to be illegally awarded, it’s to fight an action which can be settled for ($359M =) E327M – E32M less than the cost of bringing the action!

    Should read:

    Sorry. Three orders of magnitude out. E495K vs E327M. Ran away with myself there. Still apparently illegal though.

  • Ba'al Zevul

    Missing our daily Blair hit? (like Mandrax, for those who remember the 70’s at all). He’s been quite subdued lately, following that FT report that he might be considering stepping down as QR. Today he’s been licking the Netanyahu bottom in response to Bibi’s statement that he will stop illegally withholding the PA’s tax revenues. The statement was issued by Blair’s Office of the Quartet Representative. Blair’s silence, in any guise, on the sequestration in the first place of the PA’s income, was profound.

    The Dear Leader will be making a speech at the International Conference on Religious Tourism in Bethlehem, on June 15th. Usual guff, of course, but as he is again billed to appear as the Quartet representative, the question arises as to whether he or the Quartet will be paid for this. Hmmm.

    https://insight.nhtv.nl/wp…/Prov_Programme_Conf_Bethlehem_E_.pdf

    Tony is here described as “HE” – His Excellency, it needs to be said, not high explosive – and not for the first time, as he was described thus by Rwandan media and elsewhere this year.

    The correct title for Mr. Blair, unless he has now been officially awarded ambassadorial status and we haven’t been told, is – titter ye not – Right Honourable.

    Soneone please copy, and for Christ’s sake sit on the bumptious self-aggrandising cnut.

  • Ba'al Zevul

    Working link for above, sorry.

    http://middle-east.unwto.org/event/international-conference-religious-tourism-fostering-sustainable-socio-economic-development-ho

    The other link, which locates Blair there, is:

    https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=34&ved=0CCwQFjADOB4&url=https%3A%2F%2Finsight.nhtv.nl%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F03%2FProv_Programme_Conf_Bethlehem_E_.pdf&ei=SBwXVb_AG6SS7AaPvYDgAw&usg=AFQjCNHYc_zu5M-3ErtMvErHh5wtNMS4nA&bvm=bv.89381419,d.ZGU

    Clarification:
    The Netanyahu statement releasing* Palestinian revenues was issued in order to mollify US qualms regarding Bibi’s pre=election announcement that the Pals would not be getting a state. It wasn’t issued by the OQR, obviously. Tony’s arslikhan support was.

    *perhaps.

  • Ba'al Zevul

    No pronouncements from the TBA, OTB, OQR, AGI, TBFF or even the TBSF today, and similarly nothing from the world’s media on the Dear Leader’s current activities. Perhaps he’s in bed with a dictator? Whatever, he’s not available for interview even by a trusted apologist. So here’s a press release in very nearly his own words:

    http://glossynews.com/top-stories/politicos-and-polticians/201503300919/tony-blair-warns-germany-stop-apologizing-for-mass-atrocities/

    Nasty. Like it.

  • Komodo

    Not just a bling break, then:

    Last year (2014 – BZ), for example, we(The Cherie Blair Foundation – BZ) launched an exciting project in the UAE, in partnership with J.P. Morgan* and PlaNet Finance**, to support 100 women entrepreneurs operating micro, small and medium sized businesses. Alongside providing these women with training in core business skills, the project is also forging strong links with key financial institutions and banks, encouraging them to extend their services to women.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/cherie-blair/international-womens-day-make-it-happen_b_6816352.html

    Yup, priority stuff, training yet more bloody management types. Contrast with:

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatnews/11012631/Human-Rights-Watch-warns-expat-women-about-the-UAE.html

    *Tony’s undemanding and generous employer
    **Corporate monetisers of microfinance projects.

  • Komodo

    I belatedly noticed (above link) that even non-Muslim expats in the UEA can invoke sharia law to divorce unwanted wives. No, perish the thought. There are much better reasons for the Blairs to have spent time there….

  • Komodo

    Something rotten in the state of Colombia.

    The lawyer Sergio Held has complained of an alleged conflict of interest involving Tony Blair’s office, which provided advice to the Colombian government.

    According to the lawyer, Tony Blair’s office had access to privileged information and national planning human resources, while simultaneously Blair has contracts with UAE to connect investors with Colombia.

    (BZ/Google Translation of http://www.rcnradio.com/noticias/abogado-sergio-held-denuncia-posible-conflicto-de-intereses-en-ofician-de-tony-blair-202866)

    This rather enigmatic item is believed to refer to an arrangement involving Windrush Ventures No.3 LP the UAE (Mubadala?)and attracting investment in Colombian mineral extraction, possibly ca. 2012. I have found a longer report, but need to translate this to see if it adds anything.

  • Komodo

    We are pleased to announce that there will be one less mendacious nest-featherer in the UK on the 16th or 17th June. He will instead be telling his Polish fans how to suck eggs:

    http://absl.pl/-/tony-blair-gosciem-specjalnym-6-konferencji-absl-

    What’s ABSL? Damned if I can tell from the blurb. Buncha networking suits, I guess…

    The Annual ABSL Conference is Europe’s most important business service sector event. Join the best networking and knowledge sharing meeting of C-suite managers, representing Fortune 500 players and leading technology and business service companies.

    Perfect Blair-fodder. Shall we say £250K in used ones?

    I seem to have reverted to lizardliness, btw. Sorry for the confusion.

  • Komodo

    http://www.larepublica.co/advierten-conflicto-de-intereses-de-oficina-de-tony-blair-y-planeación-nacional_239161

    Very convoluted setup is involved. Essentially, TBA is funded by UAE to operate, at Colombian administrative expense, and totally opaquely. This appears to abrogate Colombian sovereignty in important respects, and to bear on resource exploitation. Details of Colombian activities to be passed via TBA in Abu Dhabi, to Arabs who are not ostensibly privy to what’s going on.

    South America specialists please prick up an ear.

  • Ba'al Zevul

    ^^Replied (email), sorry about delay, Clark. Think Hitachi was just a good backdrop for someone whose suddenly rediscovered affection for his why aye mun ex constituents, marra, hinny, needs to be associated with employment, if not necessarily Tony’s own.

    Be that as it may, this is what’s been going down in Mongolia:

    https://au.news.yahoo.com/a/26964713/mongolia-approves-new-phase-of-rio-tinto-mine-project-pm/

    Close to which the Mail placed him a few days earlier (though at least one of the agency pics of Blugger with Mongolian dignitaries dates from last year):

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3019927/Tony-Blair-visit-Mongolia-drags-row-gold-mining-plans-destroy-ancient-graves-Attila-Hun-s-warrior-ancestors.html

    Mongolia is under severe pressure to raise revenue from mining to head off an economic crisis after foreign investment slumped 74 per cent last year, with speculation also centering on Tavan Tolgoi, one of the world’s largest untapped coal deposits in the South Gobi Desert.

    Tony Blair Associates one year ago hired Anand Pillai, formerly an adviser to Rio Tinto in Mongolia

    Oh, yeah. Him.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/tony-blair/10917264/Tony-Blair-strikes-gold-with-a-boxing-banker.html

    Assisting a rapacious mining conglomerate? Moi?
    (Tirez l’autre jambe)

  • Ba'al Zevul

    The US has qualms (not very big ones_ about Egypt.

    http://news.videonews.us/us-human-rights-in-egypt-not-improved-143767.html

    Tony Blair, the Stepping Back From Being Quartet Representative But Still Trading as The Office of the Quartet Representative, has no qualms whatever, in keeping with his recent thoughts on democracy versus Blair for President of the World….

    http://www.ehlibeythaber.net/tony-blair-kahireye-gitti/

    ..so that’s where he was yesterday. Ehlibeyt-haber appears to be an Iranian-oriented Turkish agency and it’s exclusive to them. It looks* like this is a quick stopover before the Dear Leader progresses to Tel Aviv in order further to stuff the Palestinians.

    More as it arrives

    *Neither Google’s nor my Turkish are up to it.

  • Ba'al Zevul

    Limb of Satan Transplants Self:

    http://www.civilsociety.co.uk/governance/news/content/19462/chief_executive_quits_the_tony_blair_faith_foundation

    A tad coy about the woman’s business background, there. She worked for JP Morgan Cazenove, which is now wholly owned by JP Morgan Chase, Blair’s (believed current) employer.

    Cazenove is/was “a leading investment bank focused on mergers & acquisitions, debt and equity placements and equity research and distribution based in the UK” (Wiki), and no doubt Keenan’s Oxford theology degree* was less relevant there than it was to the extremely holy and 100% altruistic TBFF. Or Goldman Sachs, for that matter.

    http://philanthropyforum.org/members/charlotte-keenan/

    Ugh.

    *President of the Union too…

  • Ba'al Zevul

    Normal service – buzzing round the world like a bluebottle on MDMA, pausing only to stick his infected proboscis into a pile of profitable shite – will presumably be resumed by the Dear Leader as soon as he has fucked Miliband’s chances in May and prepared the way for a Progress nominee (David? Or is he making too much money now?) to restore New Labour’s connections with the hedge funds.

    Meanwhile, this, on the epic, patronising tosser’s* sporadic ‘work’ ‘for’ the Palestinians, is instructive:

    http://dvcronin.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/tony-blair-and-corporate-capture-of.html

    *Johnson got that right, if nothing else.

  • Ba'al Zevul

    Congratulations to the Telegraph for catching this one (see previous post)

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/tony-blair/11547808/Revealed-how-Tony-Blair-makes-his-millions.html

    The deal raises questions over Mr Blair’s role as a Middle East peace envoy and whether he has used that position to befriend wealthy rulers in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), who are now funding his private consultancy work in Colombia, among other countries.

    The disclosure will add to pressure on Mr Blair to quit as envoy. According to one well-placed source, he is expected to announce his resignation from the role in the coming weeks.

  • Ba'al Zevul

    ‘Course, it’s not just Abu Dhabi where Mr Tony finds money. Any oil state will do, as long as it isn’t in flames as a direct consequence of his missionary intentions –

    Today, Bahrain:

    http://www.kuna.net.kw/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=2436573&Language=en

    And tomorrow, the Bahrain GP, perhaps. Good luck, Lewis

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/32367534

    Old chum of Blair’s coincidentally expressing opinion on Bahraini human rights status:

    http://www.foxsports.com/motor/story/f1-bahrain-grand-prix-human-rights-policy-bernie-ecclestone-041815

    Good Lord. I hope they don’t clash tomorrow.

  • Ba'al Zevul

    About bloody time too. The King (Abdullah) is dead, long live the King (Salman). Tony arrives in Riyadh to lick ass…

    http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/04/19/Saudi-king-receives-former-UK-Quartet-envoy-Tony-Blair.html

    During the meeting, the two leaders discussed the developments – and the quartet’s efforts – on the ongoing Palestinian peace process, according to SPA.

    So that pretence hasn’t been offically dropped yet. And we continue to validate the Salafists.

  • Ba'al Zevul

    Blair/Colombia/UAE…ongoing. There’s a remarkable lack of oomph in this story. The Telegraph and Mail have presumably picked up on earlier Colombian media reports – or maybe even on this blog – and are now being quoted as authoritative sources…by the Colombian media. Further, there’s very little insight into what has been going on in the cosy partnership between the Colombian government and the big miners. So here’s the background:

    http://colombiareports.co/injustice-colombia-mining-royalties/

    Subsequently, one can only look to the 2011 mining reform for the much needed changes. On its unveiling it was billed as the most progressive in decades. Now wealth is legally administered in a way that cuts out the middle man and promotes autonomy and investment among all of Colombia’s departments. But is anything really stopping local politicians from feathering their nests whilst the people they are paid to represent fall further into chronic poverty?

    As of February 2014 post-reform information regarding mining royalties remains publically unavailable. This is unsurprising given that there is no legislation anywhere in the world, which forces a company to disclose data. SIMCO, the Colombian Government’s Mining Information System, has not updated their database since September 2012. The latest figure provided for royalties is $USD 701 million for the first nine months of 2012 whilst in 2011 $USD 1.6 billion was recorded. There is certainly nothing to back up the U.S. Colombian Embassy’s 2011 claim that the new reform will increase Pacific departments average royalty receipts from $USD 40 million to $USD 852 million p.a.

    The two “considerable” sums of money with a more factual basis: the $USD 1.6 billion assigned over to royalties along with an export market valued at $USD 40 billion due to hydrocarbons alone, probably go some way to explaining why on 20th February this year Colombia Reports ran the headline “66% of Colombians Think Mining is Positive for the Country”. Such sums also appear to give support to President Juan Manuel Santos’ Tweet of the same day that “mining levers social development and national productivity by generating resources that are invested in the wellbeing for the most vulnerable”. These figures and political rhetoric are however deceptive, especially if one does not investigate the facts behind them. Ask Santos how much money a multinational company pays in just about any country in Latin America, apart from Peru, to extract a tonne of mineral or barrel of oil, and one will quickly realise that once again Colombians are being sold short.

    Tony Blair Associates is being paid by an oil state to advise the Colombian government on how to reallocate oil royalties in a transparent and just manner?

    That will be right.

  • Ba'al Zevul

    The Spanish El Mundo amplifies the account of Blair’s involvement with Colombia:

    (Tony Blair Associates) worked for the Colombian government in 2013, in a program that aimed to establish a flexible and transparent system to ensure the proper use of royalties received by the state from oil and mining companies. Doubts arose because the Arabs had just acquired a mining title with many complications, and because of the secrecy with which everything was handled. In addition, TBA destroyed some documents because they indicated (?referring to? -BZ) one clause of the contract, whose effect is unknown. Also missing from the picture, investment of royalties has been chaotic and more than 40% has not been used.

    The Minister Nestor Humberto Martinez spent Monday morning regustering the Santos government’s response, but this only “sowed new doubts”.

    The minister claimed that “to protect intellectual property of the contractor” naterial was in some cases returned to consultants and in others, destroyed. Therefore, it is not well known what they contributed. He said, though, that there was no connection between the interests of the Emirates as owners of a coal mine with Blair’s work, paid for with money that the UAE allocated for International Cooperation.

    He couldn’t justify, however why in March 2014, during the election race for the presidency, another agreement of the Arabs with the same firm of Blair included a communication consultancy (provided) by Maria Jose Canel* to “counterbalance political opponents, (and implement an -BZ) electoral communication campaign” among other (activities).

    *Chair in Political Communication at Complutense University, Madrid

    So Tony’s being paid by the Arabs to fix an election and identify invesatment opportunities? looks like it. Nothing really new there: it’s what Tony increasingly does. But this deepens the mystery:

    Suspicions, aside from the obscurity of the process, are motivated by the problems facing the Emirates’ investment in coal mine San Juan del Cesar, municipality of La Guajira, in northern Colombia. This newspaper learned that it is a mine that would (exploit, harness, work, explode? -BZ) the company MPX, owned by the controversial Brazilian businessman Eike Batista, now bankrupt.

    Batista … argued that, in his studies had proven coal reserves of about 2 billion tons. The stock soared, the Arab fund bought the title and when they realized that the study was not well done, couldn’t get out.

    “It was a bad move by Batista, there may be coal but does not mean mineable reserve. There is something strange about all this because before Batista (appeared) Cerrejon (very large mining company) considered San Juan an unprofitable mine and discarded it” an expert source in coal mining,who prefers to remain anonymous, said today.

    http://www.elmundo.es/internacional/2015/04/20/55352eb022601d110d8b456d.html

    Some conflicting interests there all right. Especially as the new owners of San Juan will be liable to pay royalties on the property, and that’s what one of Tony’s appointments seems to be all about.

  • Ba'al Zevul

    Full details on that March 2014 meeting:

    http://www.docdroid.net/w06n/lhdlv-estrictamenteprivadoyconfidencial.pdf.html

    Batista/CCX: the clusterfuck:

    http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.dinero.com/edicion-impresa/caratula/articulo/los-pecados-eike/179442&prev=search

    And who picked up the bits? (All Batista’s companies are named “**X”: losses made in, say, CCX, the Colombian coal mining outfit, are written off against other members of the consortium, with, apparently, little in the way of an audit trail)

    https://www.mubadala.com/en/news/mubadala-invest-2-billion-eike-batista%E2%80%99s-ebx-group-part-strategic-partnership

    http://www.wsj.com/articles/abu-dhabis-mubadala-takes-ownership-in-gold-firm-aux-1423756551

    Etcetera. Tony Blair Associates has been making a reported £1M annually from advising Mubadala.

  • Ba'al Zevul

    And another thing…

    Completely unrelated to the Colombian complications, meanwhile, back in Occupied Palestine:

    http://www.exaronews.com/articles/5540/tony-blair-faces-new-pressure-over-role-as-middle-east-envoy

    Possibly Blair’s only tangible achievement in Palestine was to obtain some sort of a mobile phone service. This now turns out to have been a nice little earner for his missus. And in Burma, too.

    “I am delighted that my foundation is partnering with Ooredoo to give women the support they need”… to sell Ooredoo airtime to each other…

  • Ba'al Zevul

    Returning to Colombia, an enquiry will be conducted by its congress into the pretty obscure relationship between the Santos government, Tony Blair Associates and Mubadala.

    http://colombiareports.co/colombias-congress-launched-investigation-into-blairs-lucrative-business/

    Leading the debate is the leader of the opposition Conservative Party, Senator David Barguil, who questioned the government’s claim that Blair’s advice is costing Colombia nothing and asked for clarification.

    “We have decided to call a debate of political control so that, with total clarity, we can establish the participation of ex-prime minister Tony Blair in business surrounding mining operations granted to Arab companies that he represents, and so that we understand the financial contract between Tony Blair and the Colombian government,” stated Barguil.

    The Conservative politician said that the debate is necessary as an explanation given by the Minister of the Presidency Nestor Humberto Martinez on Monday was not sufficient.

    …

    Barguil insisted that more detail is necessary to understand the nature of the relationship.

    “It was said at the time that it was free advice, and today we come to know that there were economic and business interests of the Arabs represented by Tony Blair in Colombia and that through these businesses the advice was financed with our government,” the Congressman stated.

    “These facts have to be clarified and we are going to hold a debate of political control so that the country knows and we get to the bottom of this,” said Barguil.

    Precisely. Similar clarification could be helpful in in Serbia, Egypt and Romania. Indeed, the access obtained by Mubadala through TBA could be a lot more widespread than that.

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