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In the midst of all the bloodshed and suffering in Gaza this week comes news that Britain’s quisling ex-prime minister, Tony Blair, is to receive the highest civilian award offered by the United States – the Presidential Medal of Freedom.^[1] It will be presented by George W Bush as he leaves office, presumably in recognition of Blair’s services to the US, by selling his country down the river, lying to Parliament, and authorizing the slaughter of hundreds of British soldiers in Iraq, needlessly (and against the wishes of the British people).

Blair has been incredibly quiet over the Israeli aggression in Gaza recently, partly because, despite being the ‘Quartet’s’ man in the Middle East, he was on holiday for the first week of the conflict and seemed unwilling to cut it short for such a minor infringement as the slaughtering of a few hundred Palestinians. Besides he’s making way too much money elsewhere, either lecturing Yale freshmen on the way to combine war, politics and Christianity (and still stay in with Jesus), or, delivering the odd $100,000 half hour, after-dinner, speech to grotesquely wealthy American businessmen.

Well, it beats pretending to be the friend of the British working classes while methodically robbing them blind, doesn’t it, Tony?

2009 has begun with the usual festival of political avarice, power-grabbing, and slaughter of innocents we’ve come to expect from the scum holding the reigns. It’s all delivered with a hearty measure of self-righteousness and the feigned intellectual pomposity that makes our world politicians so endearing -at least to those stupid enough to vote for them.

All hope rests with Barack Obama, and whether he’ll really be different from all the rest. It’s unlikely. So far, all that’s escaped has been hot air, so we must wait to see if any of it coalesces into solid, common-sense, policy making. At this stage, even a mild rebuke for Israeli tactics in Gaza would be welcome, but the chances remain slim, even after Inauguration Day.

On the subject of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict in general, and Gaza in particular, it’s easy to lose sight of the big picture. “Hamas fires rockets; Israel invades Gaza to stop rockets,” is the limit of knowledge of every US politician I’ve heard speak on the subject – and there have been many.

Contrary to Israeli and US political propaganda, there are lots of Israelis who refuse to condone the ongoing actions of their government. Unlike most Americans, they are far better educated on the ‘big picture’.

One such Israeli is Avi Shlaim. He’s Professor of International Relations at probably the most prestigious educational establishment in the world, Oxford University in England. He served in the Israeli Defence Force and believes wholeheartedly in Israel’s right to exist.

Surely, with all the ill thought-out hot air being bandied about on the subject right now, mostly by those with their own agendas, or by uneducated louts who’d not know their David Ben Gurions from their Mossads, the opinion of Professor Shlaim should be respected?

Decide for yourself:

^{“How Israel brought Gaza to the brink of humanitarian catastrophe” Avi Shlaim, The Guardian, January 7th 2009}

^{[1] “Blair to get US Medal of Freedom” BBC, January 5th 2009}

Filed under: US/UK/Israeli politics

As is so often the case with Brian Williams of NBC Nightly News, he failed tonight to grasp the true meaning behind his own opening remarks:

“Good evening, we are eleven days into the first war of the new year…….”

This, on the sixth day of January.

What a sad indictment of the human race.

War – a violent power struggle between two or more factions, identified by sudden mass slaughter and the rushing hither and thither of international leaders and politicians, who huddle aimlessly in groups for hours or days at a time and whisper amongst themselves, only to emerge the day after the war ends, to announce they’ve devised a possible ceasefire plan.

If ever proof were needed that the human infant never attains maturity through adulthood, one need only look to those charged with ruling this planet on our behalf. Whenever any international crisis occurs, they emerge like swarms of bees from their political hives, and flit about making lots of inane comments. Small groups combine to work out strategy and spin, not to tackle the crisis but to ascertain how best to work it to their own advantage.

First, they must attempt to convince us they know what they’re doing, then devise a suitable fable designed to slag off one of the combatants in the crisis. This requires time; usually, however long it takes to reach agreement with one side for the best munitions deal.

When Israel went to war with Lebanon in 2006, the international political community lived up to its reputation. Condoleeza Rice, as US Secretary of State, rushed hither and thither around the Middle East, meeting all sorts of people but achieving absolutely nothing. Britain’s foreign secretary did exactly the same. The French and Germans got involved. It wasn’t until long after the war ended with Israel’s ignominious defeat by Hesbollah, that we learned Western nations had actually been holding back on achieving any ceasefire agreement, under pressure from the USA, who’d been asked by Israel not to negotiate a ceasefire until Israel finished what it set out to do.

All the reams of media video showing Rice parleying with Arab leaders and insisting ‘peace was just around the corner’, all the hours of TV news coverage we had to sit through, was all a load of lies and subterfuge designed to make us think one thing, while the total opposite was being engineered behind the scenes.

We can be sure a similar farce is being played out during this latest snippet of Israeli aggression.

And how do these wankers get power in the first place?

We, the people, give it to them.

Welcome to the sixth day of 2009. We hoped to get through this year peaceably, but didn’t quite make it.

Filed under: Everyone’s a war criminal

God luv ‘im, he cares after all! Today, George W Bush will (attempt to) leave his mark on environmental history by signing declarations under the 1906 Antiquities Act, that will create three large marine sanctuaries where fishing will be banned and divers require a permit.^[1]

These sanctuaries take in Pacific waters at the northern end of the Northern Mariana Islands, including the Mariana Trench, the Rose Atoll in American Samoa — the world’s smallest coral atoll and one of the most remote – and in the central Pacific, coral reefs, pinnacles, sea mounts, islands and surrounding waters of Johnston Atoll, Howland, Baker and Jarvis Islands, Kingman Reef, Palmyra Atoll and Wake Island. These areas harbor some of the most pristine coral reefs in the world.

According to a report in the SF Chronicle, in November, the idea has induced conflict between Laura Bush and Dick Cheney, the former arguing it “would attract tourism and burnish the president’s record for history.” The vice president is concerned about the effects on local economies, in particular that of the Mariana Islands, heavily reliant on fishing – well, not anymore, apparently.^[2]

It’s interesting to note, the area concerned is almost the size of California, but none of it will intrude on the activities of the US fishing fleet. Surprise, surprise.

This is not the first marine sanctuary George Bush has created. Two years ago, our environmental president named the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and surrounding ocean as a national monument. It’s to be hoped he arranges to take better care of these latest sanctuaries, as, according to BuzzFlash.Com:

In 2006, President Bush established 140,000 square miles of Hawaiian island and surrounding ocean as a national monument, citing the need to protect the extensive reef and the 7,000 rare species living there. Two years later, officials say the clean-up efforts were better before Bush’s designation.

The provisions of the proclamation prohibit commercial fishing, place strict restrictions on ship passage and use of natural resources, and pledge to work with federal agencies to maintain and protect the sanctuary…….

The archipelago, now known as Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, is plagued by huge amounts of debris that wash up on the islands’ shores. In 2005, before its designation as a national monument, the area received a $2.1 million cleanup budget. Through 2008, the Bush administration requested only $400,000 per year and though Congress has added to that, dozens of tons of debris remain.

Marine conservation experts have expressed disappointment with the effort. Elliott Norse, president of the Marine Conservation Biology Institute, said:

“It is wonderful that our nation has made a commitment, and this administration deserves a lot of credit for designating the world’s largest marine reserve, but there is a responsibility that goes along with that… Unfortunately in recent years the U.S. has not made picking up trash in our most special places in the ocean a priority.”^[3]

It would seem George Bush’s greatest achievement as president (apart from catching a mythical 7lb perch) was learning to use his fountain pen. After all, it doesn’t take much effort to sign a piece of paper. What happens after, Bush seems happy to leave to someone else.

Oh, and quite why, “burnishing the president’s record for history,” should be a viable reason for taking such drastic measures, only Laura Bush can answer.

Though, God knows, he’s going to need it.

^{[1] “Bush to Create Large Ocean Sanctuaries” LiveScience, January 5th 2009}

^{[2] “Bush hits choppy water over ocean sanctuaries” SFGate, November 5th 2008}

^{[3] “Bush lets trash collect on ocean sanctuary he promised to protect” BuzzFlash.Com, August 11th 2008}

Filed under: Burnishing George’s record