From No. 10 to the Middle East
By Nicole Belle Monday Jun 25, 2007 2:47pmAh....he's done so well in one Middle East crisis...I'm sure that Blair will do just fine in this new endeavor, won't he?
Guardian UK: (h/t Gregory)
Tony Blair has landed a major diplomatic job as the international Middle East peace envoy, responsible for preparing the Palestinians for negotiations with Israel. His role, to be announced today, will be largely to work with the Palestinians over security, economy and governance.
Working from an office in Jerusalem, and possibly another in the West Bank, Mr Blair will become the special representative for the Middle East quartet of UN, EU, US and Russia. [..]
Friends of Mr Blair suggest he would make it a central purpose of his mission to work to restore Palestinian unity after the armed takeover of the Gaza Strip by the Islamist movement Hamas.
At times he has had to bend with an American willingness to bolster Mahmoud Abbas, the Fatah leader, while ignoring the plight of 1.4m Palestinians in Gaza.
The idea of Mr Blair doing this job is understood to have originated with the prime minister himself in conversation with George Bush, who then suggested it to the UN. The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, is said to be a keen supporter and Washington was reported last night to have mounted "an enormous push" to ensure Mr Blair got the post.
Diplomats said there was some disquiet over the way US talks with Mr Blair were well advanced before any details were shared with the other quartet partners.
Hmmm....something tells me that Tony isn't exactly starting off on the right foot.
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Now you know why he switched to Catholicism.
Trade him for the journalist whose got he bomb belt strapped to him
Prince Harry couldn't make it but (Linda) Blair (Witch Project) could?
BRITISH CLAIM IRANIAN ATTACKING IN IRAQ
"Iran bombers attack Our Boys "
By TOM NEWTON DUNN
Defence Editor
June 26, 2007
IRANIAN forces are being choppered over the Iraqi border to bomb Our Boys, intelligence chiefs say. Military experts claim this worrying move means we are at WAR with Iran in all but name. Last night an intelligence source told The Sun: “It is an extremely alarming development and raises the stakes considerably. In effect, it means we are in a full on war with Iran — but nobody has officially declared it. “We have hard proof that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps have crossed the border to attack us.
“It is very hard for us to strike back. All we can do is try to defend ourselves. We are badly on the back foot.”
The sightings have been confirmed to The Sun by very senior military sources.
At least two Brit squaddies are thought to have been killed by bombs planted during these incursions into Maysan province — Corporal Ben Leaning, 24, and Trooper Kristen Turton, 27. A further 44 British deaths have also been linked to the highly advanced bombs, rockets and mortars which originated in Iran.
Coming so swiftly after the kidnap of 15 Royal Navy sailors in the Gulf, our revelation will send strained relations between London and Tehran plummeting further.
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Even with a new leader, we're getting the same old poodle-talk
George also nominated Shere Khan to supervise children during recess at the kindergarten.
Do the people of the middle east speak poodle? Woof woof.
Silly idea! Go to:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/6242788.stm
and click on the "Israelis and Palestinians speak of Tony Blair's prospects as Middle East peace envoy" link. Nearly all the Israeli voices are more or less positive while absolutely all the Palestinian voices are negative. How exactly does "working with the Palestinians" work out then?
Another train wreck just waiting to happen.
The only thing the Bush administration seems good at is recycling. Recycling old men who everyone thought were to old, or to bad at their job, and then move them into more prominent jobs in which their lackluster abilities can blossom into a horrible catastrophe.
Donald Rumsfeld hasn't had a major government job since he help sell weapons to Iraq? Why not put him in charge of developing a war there?
He will have no credibility. Israel has no plan for peace until demographic reality is changed throught jewish settlements in West Bank(Judea and Samara). As President Carter described in his book, it will remain apartheid and strong PR effort in U.S. keep people of concious silent.
w's poodle helped destroy the ME.
It should be someone opposed to the Iraq occupation for credibility.
Caption: "I will crush you,"
By the way... what is the situation in Jerusalem concerning hairdressers? Cherie needs a good one.
Blair - what a joke.
This is a horrific joke, absolutely not-funny.
Most of the problems, injustices, distortions of the middle east can be traced directly to the Brits, and their empire, and their arrogance, circa 1920 forward.
So now they're putting a Brit, himself a puppet of Bush, who is a puppet of the neocon-zionists, to assist the opponents of the neocon-zionists, the Palestinians?!
If I were Hamas, the winner of the recent Palestinian elections, I'd raise Tony Blair to the top of my target list, first, to have a very straightforward negotiation with, advising him of such things as the delights of taking a very long, life-affirming and saving vacation.
In Northern Ireland, perhaps.
Count Blair will be the new viceroy of Iraq. Great! Now you can steal oil, gold, dinars, etc just as you stole resources from India.
Blair is attracted by carcasses!
Why's Blair puckering up?
Oh great, he's a HUGE crazy christian and he's going to be working for Palestine?
Whatever.
So the poodle goes to Jerusalem dragging his huge pile of Iraq baggage, and he thinks he can solve the Palistinian riddle? Right. They'll welcome him with open arms and a suicide bomb vest. The Bushistas are clueless.....
At increasing his bank account I'm sure he is and will do well.
Whew. What a relief. I was a little worried old Blair wasn't gonna 'get his' for selling his dignity. Good to see the Bush cabal is at least consistant.
Yep,
the guy seen as Bush's lapdog (and by extension, Israeli) goes to prepare the palestinians for peace.
Yup, they are consistent
This has good idea written all over it.
His tie is crooked.
Auntie Blair Wants You...
=)
One of my favorite quotes from the C&L comments ever.
"Now you know why he switched to Catholicism".
If that's a reference to Catholic martyr's, you may have a point.
Oh, sure, great idea - because Blair is so POPULAR in the MidEast. (Not.)
After walking around with his nose up monkey boys ass for 5 years he has no credibility in the middle east.
It's like encouraging the man who raped and killed your mother, to marry your daughter. One would think Blair should be kept as far away from the Middle East as possible, with prison being the preferable locale.
Liberal AND Proud @ 1:
Ahhh he is indeed the Anti-Christ..
LOL
Its twuoo! Its Twuoo!
Repent sinners~!
lol
He's become Bush's man in the Middle East. Talk about a sellout.
I think Tony Blair is another of these desert loving english.
But if he the Anti-Christ... and he is clearly on the prophetic path of one... Then wouldn't he be Bushies boss...
The best place for true Evil is the back seat...or what appears to be...
If Blair helps makes a peace treaty that is supposed to last 7 years... Start building a space ship...~~!!
anyone recommended by shit-for-brains has the lowest of the lowest cridentials or trust. we know the game now, it's cheney pulling shit-for-brains strings up his ass. no cofidence i say.
This may be a diplomatic first! Usually a snitch is SECRETLY planted into an organisation to derail any plans. How clever of ROVE.
standing on a mountain of dead innocent iraqis, Blair will undoubtedly continue to be complicit in his and Bush's war crimes. he just loves playing Mussolini to Cheney's Hitler.
Wait!! What do they mean by "armed take over? They are the elected government trying to take back what the people lawfully elected them to do in the 1st place. This entire world is retarded.
Welcome to 'Palestine'
by Robert (who may be excused for his idiocy on Lebanon) Fisk
How troublesome the Muslims of the Middle East are. First, we demand that the Palestinians embrace democracy and then they elect the wrong party - Hamas - and then Hamas wins a mini-civil war and presides over the Gaza Strip. And we Westerners still want to negotiate with the discredited President, Mahmoud Abbas. Today "Palestine" - and let's keep those quotation marks in place - has two prime ministers. Welcome to the Middle East.
Who can we negotiate with? To whom do we talk? Well of course, we should have talked to Hamas months ago. But we didn't like the democratically elected government of the Palestinian people. They were supposed to have voted for Fatah and its corrupt leadership. But they voted for Hamas, which declines to recognise Israel or abide by the totally discredited Oslo agreement.
No one asked - on our side - which particular Israel Hamas was supposed to recognise. The Israel of 1948? The Israel of the post-1967 borders? The Israel which builds - and goes on building - vast settlements for Jews and Jews only on Arab land, gobbling up even more of the 22 per cent of "Palestine" still left to negotiate over ?
[Deleted. Please do not copy entire article. 3 paragraphs and a link, OK?-Sitemonitor]
No stone left unturned when Dumbya decides to reward failure.
Now he crosses the Atlantic to reward his poodle.
I think he's being setup for an execution by this administration's goons because he has insider knowledge of this administrations war crimes and if he dies there, with his secrets, then the murder can't be investigated by the UK or USA!!
If he's smart he'll refuse this job and start talking, now and fast!!! If he wants to have a long life of course.
Considering Blair's track record in the ME (re: Iraq), coupled with the fact that the British Empire pretty much handed Palestine to Jewish organizations up until 1948, I doubt he will be welcomed among Palestinians.
Besides, the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians is all a charade. Israel continues to build settlements in the West Bank while claiming to want peace with the Palestinians. Now there's a paradox if there ever was one.
It's raining cats and dogs.... I just stepped in a poodle.
Shouldn't he be in Milosevic's cell at The Hague facing charges for "waging aggressive war" rather than doing his poodle act for Dubya and the Israelis?
When I walk the dog I take a plastic bag to pick up after my dog. Who is carrying Tony's bag?
Blair will do a wonderful job promoting war - I mean -peace - in the Middle East!
Osama Bin Laden will be his 2IC - wooooo!!!!!!!1
He ordered his country to invade another Arab state for reasons that have now turned out to be TOTALLY WRONG.
Mistaken. Erroneous. He f'd up.
Now giving Tony the benefit of the doubt that he pledged Britain's support for the invasion of Iraq for all the right reasons (if even they turned out to be factually inaccurate), I'd still say that someone who invades another country BY MISTAKE is probably not a good choice for peacemaker. Now perhaps if the invasion had been of Grenada, this wouldn't make a difference, but its ANOTHER ARAB STATE and one of Palestine and Israel's neighbors!
This is positively retarded. I'm shocked that the Europeans, Russians, and UN would go along with this.
Britain is "colluding" with Israel in oppressing the Palestinians by giving it privileged trade access, former British international development secretary Clare Short said today.
Ms Short said Israel was creating an "apartheid" system that left Palestinians impoverished, and she urged ministers to use trade access as leverage.
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/breaking/2007/0626/breaking53.htm
I think some people are missing the point. Tony Blair was the driving force for peace in northern ireland. Painstaking line by line diplomacy.
He devoted a large amount of time as prime minister to this conflict.
He would be able to use this experience when dealing with israel/palestine . I don't think many here in the u.k would object to him getting involved.
Although tarnished by iraq, he does deserve praise for his actions in northern ireland.
He does believe he could take this knowledge gained and adapt it to similar situation's .
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