The newspapers today carry the unsurprising news that Blair’s business affairs are routed through a multiplicity of companies operating in tax havens. He is raking in over £5 million per year, aside from his official job of chief Zionist – sorry, I mean Middle East Peace Envoy.
But I was more struck by the information in Michael White’s Blair puff piece that, before his arrival in the Sedgefield constituency yesterday, six policemen blocked off the roads around the venue with trafic cones.
Why? I am not making a petty or petulant point, I mean it. Why? This was a Labour Party event, not a government event. Blair holds no executive office in this country. The election has not been called. Even if it had been, he is not a candidate. Why do the police cone off the roads for a Blair New Labour speech?
How much did the six policemen cost? And they were just the bottom of the pile, the road coning bobbies. Blair arrived in a huge entourage of cars, at least some of which were taxpayer provided. There was a large police car and motorcycle escort. Not to mention the close protection officers. How much did all that cost?
Thatcher and Major move around with no blues and twos and a single close protection officer when required. The Duke of Edinburgh moves around privately with much less security than Blair. As a taxpayer I object fundamentally to footing the bill for protecting this war criminal. He should get a single close protection officer and fund anything else himself. He can certainly afford it.
Here is the full transcript of the interview.
http://justiceforaafia.org/attachments/477_JFAC%20Transcript%20Translation%20Front%20Line%20Interview.pdf
Mark
David Cameron looks to me like a cyber character in second life software. Sudden disconnection of contact is a warning that the groomed face is just an electronic illusion. You have to remember that just because the face moves and the voice articulates opinions and even emotions, this is all the product of sophisticated animation.
Tony Blair, George Bush and Gordon Brown were real faces, manipulated by animation software, but David Cameron is the first of a pure fantasy animation world. His policy promises are fantasy, they will all be broken; his loyalty to Israel is pure fantasy, Israel is controlling him; his opposition to New Labour is pure fantasy, like the multiple voices this blog’s trolls.
David Cameron is a selection of recorded answers on an automated customer services line. The real Tory party is up to its neck in everything Paul Craig Roberts described in the US. Like Tony Baldry. They are Global banking hard power and the Terror War on Islam combined in one. As for communication and consultation, the only thing different from New Labour is that instead of talking to a brick wall, we will be talking to a 24 hour, interactive computer screen.
What people don’t understand is Larry’s Zionist don’t just torture men, they do the same to women and children.
Christians discriminated against, bishops warn
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8591331.stm
Maybe at Least The Roman Catholics need discriminating against. I was a former Roman Catholic Altar Boy, and although they didn’t mess with my body, they seriously messed with my mind
http://www.alternet.org/rights/146239/dissident_catholic_bishop_calls_for_pope_to_resign_over_sex_abuse_scandal
I’m sorry. I just don’t get it.
This article talks about “the Vatican strongly defended its decision not to defrock” people where there is enormous evidence of the most appalling abuse of Children, by those in a Position of Trust.
You can’t get much worse than that. What gives these people protection from the full force of the law?
What the hell difference does it make who they work for?
It shouldn’t be a case of Priests being defrocked. I couldn’t give a toss what job they do, except if they are in a Position of Trust their Crime is even worse, because they have not just committed a crime against a Child, they have committed a Crime against CARE.
If we can’t trust those we entrust to Care, then we can’t trust anyone. Society as a whole completely breaks down. If you can’t trust a Teacher in School, then you can’t send your Children to School. If you can’t trust a Doctor or Nurse in Hospital, then you can’t go to hospital when you need Medical Treatment.
Without Trust Society Does Not Work.
When that Trust is Broken, If Their Are No Consequences, Then We All Go To Hell.
We Shouldn’t be talking about defrocking these Criminals. There are many who believe in Capital Punishment for such Crimes. I do not believe in the Death Penalty. I think it is much too kind.
Tony
anno,
I tried Second Life a few years ago, and thought it was incredibly impressive…
Within an hour I was talking live to a real person who claimed to be a local girl living not far from me, who told me about her life, and was about to go out with her boyfriend to a pub less than 5 miles away.
I thought this was rather scary, because we met in a virtual disco, and I quite fancied her avatar.
So the next day, we were talking again, and I resigned and have never looked back, though I still get emails from second life.
I have absolutely no idea who or what she was. Whilst she seemed very real, it is entirely possible she was a very clever piece of software ….er or…….or a prostitute
But it is entirely possible she was a completely real genuine person and telling me the truth and just wanted a chat with an old man.
Maybe she liked my Avatar
Tony
@ Ruth,
well I hope you are right for all our sakes and that change will happen for the good. My experience of human nature in britain is that folks look after themselves and family first and foremost and the wider aspects of geo-politics don’t concern them at all. I expect this will increase as the economy gets worse in the years to come and life gets harder if this indeed comes to pass.
@ Jon
nothing to do with racism really, i was aware of the protest in London and considered going however i knew perfectly well that the invasion would go ahead because bascially they were after the oil in Iraq as other sources were either running out or unreliable. Whether it was legal or not is for lawyers to debate, personally i think it was and continues to be wrong in a moral sense. I am saddened that the british government has decided to go and mug other less well armed countries in order to get a financial gain. I thought that ended with the british empire.
Gideon @ March 31, 2010 1:59 PM
You are playing with semantics – yes whether a person is a criminal or not can be a view, but some of us believe that in a democracy criminality should be a fact established by due legal process rather than by mob rule. If you hadn’t noticed some people here want protection to be removed from a former Prime Minister, which he receives on advice from the Police rather than as a personal request, so that their friends can be free to deliver some self administered justice. Even those who are charged woith the most heinous crimes usually receive protection from the mob in civilised countries. And then there are those charming people who want to confiscate all Blair’s “proceeds of crime” and seriously think that they have the legal power to do so, even though he has not yet been charged let alone convicted of any crime.
Pardon me, but such behaviour runs counter to any notion of liberalism of which I am aware.
http://www.alternet.org/news/146226/hedges%3A_is_america_yearning_for_fascism
Hedges is back on form and is cutting it like a knife.
Most people who read Alternet will think of themselves as well educated Liberals, who think they belong to The Professional Class. That is, they perceive themselves as using their brains to make a living, by coming up with ideas or using their skills and education to manage, direct, teach or control others as a result of their perceived superiority.
They actually look down on people who do real work, like fixing their car ?” or even building something that is of some use. They consider themselves “white collar” who pay the less fortunate blue collar (what is left of them) to do the real work. The blue collar themselves, they too think they are superior, because they actually have the skills to do the work. But they too are only happy to employ at the lowest possible rate, the unskilled labourers at the bottom of the hierarchy.
Well, its time for people to wake up, particularly those who think they should be in control, and have just experienced the real world hitting them, as they lose their jobs and their homes and join the rest in the queue for the soup kitchen.
How will you cope, when you suddenly realise that you have absolutely no practical skills to do the work that needs doing, just to survive?
Its tough being brought back down to Earth isn’t it?
Maybe you should have started at the bottom as a labourer and worked your way up, rather than starting from a privileged position and find that your World was built on a house of cards that those above have just intentionally collapsed to see how you would cope.
Maybe its time to put all these “class” differences aside and work together to rebuild a society that is fair to all, but maybe only the strongest and those with the best practical skills will survive.
By now the bricklayer’s labourer has learnt the skills to actually build his own house. He is also going to be much stronger and fitter than you who have spent your entire life sat at a desk, so fighting him is not a good idea. Maybe you should make friends with him instead, even if he votes Republican and goes to Church on Sunday and believes in a load of nonsense.
Tony
@ Stephen
What I’m saying to you is that one can hold the view that Blair is a war criminal whilst still respecting the law and courts to effect punishment.
Holding the view that Blair is a war criminal does not effect any punishment upon him other than the judgement of his peers at large.
It is purely a view about his activities, held by many people.
Until someone suggests acting upon that view to effect punishment without the law then you have no argument about disrespect for due process. Craig has made no such argument.
On the contrary, most of us would in fact wish him to be held to account to law under due process.
So, our views about the man’s culpability and due process under law are not in conflict.
Arsalan: I think you are rather misleading yourself if you attribute all that’s gone on over the past decade to Zionism. That’s got more than a bit to do with it, but the real driver for the entire middle east adventure by Bush and Blair was to gain political capital and do favours for his cronies, and to hang onto the shirt-tails of power, respectively. Both were driven by ideological zeal, in that both were capable of convincing themselves that they are right, just and infallible, and ended up believing their own propaganda. Or “drinking their own CoolAid”, as the Jim Jones reference would have it.
Vast interests were at stake – the transfer of mind-boggling amounts of money from the taxpayer to the private sector, and the opportunity to make a killing on reconstruction and oil revenue after a short war in Iraq. Bush indicated he wanted a war with Iraq before coming to office, and said that his father had made a mistake – he would push onto Baghdad.
Bush also said that a very quick war was no good, like HW had done, he wanted a war to get himself a second term and win political capital so he could (for instance) privatise Social Security.
So Zionism was a pretty useful tool in helping this whole project, and no doubt they encouraged the agenda plenty. But Zionism is not what started this – disaster capitalism was always the prime mover.
Gideon you are talking to a Zionist, from one arse he will tell you that “you shouldn’t criticize Blair for killing millions, innocent before guilt”, with the other arse he will support the invasion of Iraq, not just in the absence of guilt being proven, but even after innocence is proven.
What I am saying is, when you speak to him, whether he uses this name or any other, you are speaking to a war criminal.
You can’t really discuss with him whether we can call Blair a war criminal before he is tried, because the guy agrees with the war crimes.
Any crime is allowed if it is good for Israel as far as the Zionists are concerned. Including what Blair did. Remember, he did it for Israel.
Really a striking similarity between the cases of Tony Blair and Ian Huntley.
Both are given extra protection in recognition of their notoriety, both are despised by the British public. I suppose there is the fact that Blair has profited directly from the war he helped prosecute…
Actually, the unifying figure for these two is Roman Polanski – he has the wealth, the notoriety and the devicance.
My last post before I go to bed.
Gleen I agree with the facts you have listed but my analysis but who was the tool of who is the other way around.
I believe it was the Zionist Neocons who were manipulating the others of the axis of imperialism.
I believe they persuaded the business interests including oil and arms, exaggerating the possible gains.
They were basically saying the war will pay for it self.
They also persuaded the conservatives, to do so they even left their former ideologies to become conservatives. Some of these Neocons were actually communists. Their alliance with conservatism isn’t ideological, or sincere, they did so simply because their loyalty to Israel was greater than their loyalty to the left. And these wars were good for Israel.
So I agree their was a bunch of groups calling for the war, but the Zionists weren’t a tool. The others were the tools of Zionism.
And after the war when the mess became visible, many of the tools did admit that they were used by the Zionists who lied to them to get them to do their dirty work.
America and Britian didn’t gain from the wars. The only nation that did was Israel.
Israel is quite simply a racist terrorist state and existential threat to its neighbours, which will drag us all down into unending war and potential nuclear annihilation if we let it.
That’s what’s at stake in the game our politicians play. They’re paid to play this game of course so their interests are personal and short term and not ours.
Sadly for us the only saviour from this fate will be the emergence of a dominant superpower in China and its sphere of influence, which cares nothing for the US/Euro guilt trip fostered by Zionism, and similarly cares nothing for us.
Alternatively we could cut ourselves loose from Israeli right wing policy and make friends with the muslim nations again, thereby strengthening our position against China.
I suspect we’ll find the worst route to oblivion, given the self-serving shit we elect to rule us.
I looked just like you when I was 5 years old. My guns worked. I had a roll of caps and they went bang.
You see, I was in Love with my Girlfriend.
I used to watch Andy Pandy with her and the Flowerpot Men. I don’t know if you got that where you lived. They also had Little Weed. She was a Beautiful Sunflower, Blonde Like My Girlfriend.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcF9JSxkUSE&
And when I was nearly 5, I lost her.
She was called Susan, such a beautiful 2 Year Old when I met her 2 years earlier…
She went to Australia
So My Mum introduced me to Guns when I was 5
When I was 14, I was quite big, and I Pretended I Was 16
And I turned up in The Gun Shop in Shudehill in Manchester and Bought My Gun with the money I had earned.
The Primative Animal Energy Got To Me, and I Felt Really Excited at The Point Of My First Kill.
I Then thought I have killed a beautiful sparrow. I Felt a Right Cunt.
It will no longer be singing to me in the morning.
And so I gave up Guns
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYwm5GAfRaU
There was this Girl in My Class at School who I really Fancied
If I told her I had done that, She would hate me.
And then I learnt to Fly
And became a Glider Pilot a few years later
Tony
@ tony op-moc
Relax Tony…don’t beat yourself up…we’ve all done regrettable stupid things when we were young…hell even i,against my true nature,was cruel to a lovely little animal-although i was some years into an MI5 persecution/torture scene which rendered me quite unlike my real self.
I still feel bad about that but the extenuating circs were,to say the least,rather extreme.
Take care dude.
Arsalan said: “America and Britian didn’t gain from the wars. The only nation that did was Israel.”
Very thought provoking. Some British and many American groups gained a great deal from this misadventure, most notably the halliburton, Bechtels, Blackwaters and so on. Weapons manufacturers did extremely well too, not to mention the oil industry, Wall Street speculators and the media who find that war boosts ratings to be most pleasing.
But on the whole, our countries (UK/US) did indeed lose out something rotten.
Israel, on the other hand, has got rid of the old enemy SH, but has got instead an emboldened Iran and increased scepticism about its motives worldwide. Their treatment of the Palestinians alone would generate enough worldwide animosity, and extinguishing any last sympathies decent people might hold for the new state of Israel, but the GWOT has bought enough “look the other way” for them to really step up their genocidal occupation.
Officially, we’re all closer to Israel than ever. But even to your average American, who’s not sure if Canada is north, south or on an entirely different continent to themselves, this idea of being tied to Israel and supporting it whatever may come, is losing its magic touch.
A few tea-bagging freaks, racists, militant pro-Israeli nazis are expressing themselves freely here – I wonder if our resident trolls might have made a contribution as eloquent?
http://maxblumenthal.com/feeling-the-hate-in-jerusalem/
It’s not clear to me that any nations are any better off for the Bushblair wars (except Iran, and I find it hard to believe that was part of anyone’s conspiracy, more a part of the fuckup), I suspect glenn’s handful of powerful people & corporations/disaster-capitalism suggestion is closer. (Did you see the piece where Klein talked about that, btw ? ‘Year Zero In Baghdad’, iirc; somewhere around ’04).
Though it does look as though it’s Israel that’s the prime mover in the ‘bomb iran’ noise, these days. But then, a few years ago it looked clearly like the Rumsfelt brigade, so maybe in a few more years there’ll be some other conspiracy behind it … bring back the Illuminati, I say.
Daz Caz and Goz Boz are now more signed up to paying interest to the banks who bankrupted us, than an accident victim whose whole body is covered in scribbled- on plastercasts. Thatcher’s fascination with money and
Blair’s fascination with Military power were like the combination of high speed motorbike and human recklessness – an accident waiting to happen.
And yet, so far, nobody has come forward in this election saying this musn’t happen again, lessons have to be learnt, or indeed a threat of prosecution. Daz and Goz will get back onto their superbikes of high borrowing and military incursion as soon as they can throw off their back-fastened, green, hospital gowns.
We desperately need a period of sobriety, in which after the loans have been repaid, Thatcher lunacy and Blairite violence are brought under control. Is this a lesson that this country is ready to learn? Neither of these two madmen, who voted for the Iraq and Afghanistan invasions should be standing for election. Obviously they are not going to resign. What this country needs is new faces who do not remind us of this shameful decade of neo-Imperialism so that we can look the world and God in the face again.
I feel incredibly embarrassed to admit to this, but I assure You it is True
The Gun was only an Air Pistol.
I Couldn’t Afford an Air Rifle Like My Mate Had on the Other Side of Middleton
So I built a wooden harness for it, such that I could keep it really still
But I did actually put the gun in my mouth and pull the trigger
I knew it wasn’t loaded and wasn’t trying to kill myself
I was only 14 years old and was copying something I had seen on TV
What I didn’t realise was that the Gun in My Mouth Was a Very Powerful Spring Loaded Weapon
It Nearly Knocked My Front Tooth Out and Put a Big Hairline Crack In It which has been clearly visible nearly all my life
So just now I went to the Mirror and Looked at My Teeth in Close-Up
The Hairline Crack Had Completely Disappeared
I have always drunk a lot of Milk
We Have Great Cows in England
I used to get Free School Milk
The Kids North West of Middleton were just like me. They were even more Working Class than me. They used to play with Lesley Ann Downey, and so had to cope with that.
I actually liked delivering leaflets around Langley. The houses were all close together and people talked Proper English.
In Alkrington, the houses were much further apart
Sometimes you had to walk down a long drive just to deliver one leaflet ?” and then if they actually tried to talk to you, they would try and speak like the Queen
Of course they couldn’t get anywhere close to My Mum
She was born in London and spoke Posh Posh Queen’s English ?” She had even learnt the detail of her intonation
Everyone including My Entire Family Thought
What The Hell Is She Doing Living in Oldham?
Well,
I was Born There
Personally, I think Google Streetview is Absolutely Brilliant Now That They Have Done Oldham
I haven’t been to the home I grew up in for about 17 years – and then only for 5 minutes to show my 5 year old Son who was born in London – it was the first time I had been back since 1978 which was 32 years ago
It Looks Rather Beautiful, and Hardly Changed At All, except that they have Cut Down The Tree and Turned Our Front Garden into a Parking Space.
But all the buildings look in good nick. I was a bit puzzled that the back passage had gates across it at both ends…
But at one end the Gates were open, so I don’t know if there is Free Access To Our Back Passage or Not
Tony
Glenn: “But even to your average American, who’s not sure if Canada is north, south or on an entirely different continent to themselves,”
Well that’s a bit of an exaggeration, you silly goose.
What the f*** is going on? Bliar has got a 2010 Election website.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/blog/2010/mar/31/election-2010-tony-blair-website
PS LfStL keeps using animal names to address us. This is a common Zionist habit when addressing their enemies. eg we, the British, were ‘dogs’ after the Israeli dilomat was kicked out. Palestinians were described as ‘cockroaches in a bottle’ etc. Vile.
dilomat=diplomat
I heard this on the World Service news and as Hidari says on medialens, The Stasi Did Not Die. What a completely fascist rotten goverment we have at the moment and what is the likelihood of Daz Caz (I like that moniker) changing any of the present regime’s legislation that attacks our freedom.
The Stasi did not die
Posted by Hidari on April 1, 2010, 12:21 am
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/cia-given-details-of-british-muslim-students-1932727.html
Richard,
“Though it does look as though it’s Israel that’s the prime mover in the ‘bomb iran’ noise, these days. But then, a few years ago it looked clearly like the Rumsfelt brigade, so maybe in a few more years there’ll be some other conspiracy behind it … bring back the Illuminati, I say”.
I can’t quite get a grip on some of your cryptic comments.
It seems to me that, the Middle East has been a target for the usual suspects, for a very long time. I suggest from the moment Israel became established as an ME salient for American hegemony. The tacit US/UN agreement, to look the other way, while Israel metamorphosed into a nuclear power convinces me that, there is a programme of keeping the Middle East countries in a state of turmoil, suspicion and chaos–all to the consolidation of a very strong Zionist led Israel.
Gratuitous vilification of Iran has become more pronounced lately, as a prologue to its destruction, one way or another.
Whilst I do not agree with theocratic government, I do believe that, nations as old as Iran, have the intelligence to develop in their own way.
The West has no great merit to commend it, either in its kind of “democracy”, or in its efforts to maintain world peace.
There would be far fewer wars started if politicians were responsible for their own personal safety. Think about it, how much more considerate you would be if you knew people had a fair chance of punching you on the nose if you annoyed them.
Franz Ferdinand may have disagreed
As for Bliar, a sustained and concentrated effort to keep his warmongering notoriety and its horrific and costly human consequences, in the public’s memory, might eventually lead to his trial.
Both he and Bush personalise the degradation of human and political values of the western world to a market stall.
Merchants are now, openly buying the services of politicians, to further their creation of a capitalistic Frankenstein’s monster, devouring all other ideologies and free political development.
Bliar is a home-grown, British problem and it may take the total conversion of the British people to a conscious self-respect, in order to bring him to account and protect future generations from beguiling charlatans, who treat the destruction of people and countries, as pragmatic solutions.
Mary that is because the Zionists see all of us lesser races as animals.
If we are their enemies we are pests to be exterminated. To them Palestinians are cockroaches to be stepped on.
No remorse, or second thoughts.
There friends are also animals. To them the British are dogs, their loyal servants. To be punished when chastised when naughty and praised when good. So when the master plays with the dogs ball, and the dog barks at the master to indicate the dogs displeasure. The master chastises the dog, to tell the dog the master is the boss, so the dog has no right to complain. That is what the Zionist did to their loyal servants in Britain, to put them in their place and show them whose boss.
And the rest of humanity, are just wildlife to observe, and make use of.
So East European women and girls, are trafficed in to Israel to be made use of as forced prostitutes.
Others are imported so they can be butchered and their kidneys sold to rich Americans.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE56M3QU20090723
Succinct little post which, while stating the obvious, has to be said time and time again. However, more importantly than Blair costing the taxpayer money, although that is certainly important too, are his various roles, which you touched upon.
Yes, his roles in the Middle East and in East Africa (especially in Rwanda) are deserving of particular scrutiny.
Excellent work Craig!
Stephen
The presumption of guilt is always held by the accuser. If this was not the case then police and the CPS would never arrest or prosecute anyone. As has been pointed out before when and if he gets to Court then he will be pressumed innocent by the judges and the jury until the prosecutor persuades them otherwise with evidence beyond reasonable doubt. If we went on your reasoning everyone would be on the defendants side in assuming him innocent and no one would ever get convicted. And as for Police protection of Blair I agree he should contribute to the cost of his protection. At the moment police budgets are being cut hugely which will affect us all. I can understand why Police go overboard as they are completely risk adverse nowadays scared of what might happen if they do nothing. If he wants to lead a less public life and be a normal business man as he claims to be he wouldnt need such protection.