war criminal – praag.org

Apocalypse Blair

Mr Blair paid a singer to sing If I Ruled The World to him

While Gaza writhes in agony, Middle East Peace Envoy Tony Blair’s private jet last week was in Las Vegas and Los Angeles. Two months earlier Blair had certainly visited Las Vegas and Los Angeles on the same journey. In Las Vegas Blair was paid a large but undisclosed sum to attend a conference of hedge fund managers. His meetings in Los Angeles were “private”.

I have been unable to discover whether Blair was on his jet last week, or it was Cherie shopping or Alistair Campbell following up on the “business opportunities” for Blair from the July meetings. But he was evidently not in the Middle East. Just before the jet left for the USA he was in Britain hosting a lavish and deeply tasteless birthday party for his wife, two months before her birthday.

From the Daily Mail:

Guests sang Happy Birthday to Cherie, as waiters brought a garish pink-coloured cake into the marquee.

Mr Blair, whose role is to hammer out a ceasefire in times of conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians, spent large sums of money to have celebrities perform to Ma Cherie Amour. Bobby Davro then impersonated a blushing Mr Blair, and sang If I Ruled The World, from the musical Pickwick.

Yesterday the Guardian announced Blair’s new role as adviser to the Government of Azerbaijan, to add to the money he gets from advising Sisi of Egypt, Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan, numerous Gulf despots and any other dictator who does not realise that the Blair brand has become even more toxic than their own.

Blair’s attendance at the July conference of hedge fund managers was appropriate, as they are the epitome of the heartless irresponsibility and short term financial outlook of the new capitalism which Blair so heartily embraced. His fellow guest speaker at that conference was Francis Ford Coppola. I went to bed last night mulling this article and the aptness of combination of Tony Blair and Apocalypse Now.

Then I woke up this morning to the news that after twenty years of peace fighting had broken out between Blair’s brand new client, Azerbaijan, and Armenia. The man really is cursed. Perhaps once you voluntarily brought so much war and terrible death, there is no way to stop. Apocalypse Blair. He should rename that private jet The Four Horsemen.

Source: Craig Murray

John Major puts Blair on the spot over Iraq

Former Tory prime minister John Major insists his New Labour successor Tony Blair’s notes to president Bush should be released without being edited

Tony Blair was yesterday put on the spot over the Iraq inquiry by the man he defeated in 1997.

Former Tory Prime Minister John Major said Mr Blair should demand the release of all his secret notes to former US President George Bush in the run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

And he insisted Mr Blair alone had the power to make them public.

Sir John said censoring the papers meant suspicions about the Iraq War would “fester.” His intervention came after Sir John Chilcot’s inquiry into the invasion was branded a “whitewash” because it will only publish the “gist” of 25 notes and 130 taped talks between Mr Blair Mr Bush .

He slammed the Cabinet Office for withholding the documents, telling the BBC: “Firstly, it will leave suspicions unresolved and those suspicions will fester and maybe worsen. Secondly, withholding them is going to be very embarrassing for Tony Blair, not least because he brought in the Freedom of Information Act.”

He said rules keeping the papers secret could only be overturned if the former administration led by Mr Blair agreed. “I suppose it could approach them and say ‘we think it better if they release the papers,’ but the Government can’t do that, Mr Blair could.”

The release of the documents has delayed publication of the report which finished its public hearings in 2011.

At first the Government tried to block all papers between Blair and Bush amid fears it would upset the US and break a rule that Ministerial papers can only be published after 30 years.

After months of wrangling, the Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood said the inquiry can release extracts of Blair and Bush’s correspondence. Mr Bush’s views will not be revealed.

The move sparked fury, with Labour MP John McDonnell saying it confirmed “suspicions of a whitewash.”

Rose Gentle, whose son Gordon, 19, was killed in Iraq, said: “How will the families get to know the truth? We are just shoved aside. I think Tony Blair has a lot to do with the decision. He is laughing at us”. Tony Blair’s office refused to comment.

Source: The Mirror

G8 hosts spar over ‘war criminal’ Obama

President Obama’s visit to the Group of Eight summit has created a political row in Ireland after an outspoken liberal lawmaker on Wednesday denounced the U.S. president as a “war criminal” for his drone use and his decision to arm the Syrian rebels.

Parliamentarian Clare Daly said her country’s government had showcased the country “as a nation of pimps, prostituting ourselves in return for a pat on the head,” The Irish Times reports.

The “unprecedented slobbering” during Obama’s two-day visit to Northern Ireland, she said, had even led to speculation that “you were going to deck the Cabinet out in leprechaun hats decorated with a bit of stars and stripes to really mark abject humiliation.”

The Irish head of government, Enda Kenny, called the remarks “disgraceful.”

“I think they do down the pride of Irish people all over the world who are more than happy to see this island being host to the G-8,” he said.

“And for you to stand up and criticize the American president for giving a continuation of support for a fragile peace process in Northern Ireland, where over 3,000 people lost their lives in 30 years, is a disgraceful do-down.”

Daly’s pique appears to have been provoked by the White House’s announcement last week that it will provide “military support” for the Syrian rebels after accusing Bashar Assad’s forces of using chemical weapons.

Ireland has remained neutral since shortly after its independence from Great Britain in 1922, and was one of the most vocal critics of the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

“This is the man who is in essence stalling the Geneva peace talks [scheduled for next month] by trying to broker enhanced leverage for the Syrian opposition by giving them arms — and to hell with the thousands more who’ll lose their lives, or the tens of thousands who will be displaced,” Daly said.

“This is the man who has facilitated a 200 percent increase in the use of drones which have killed thousands of people, including hundreds of children.” – The Hill

Nazi war criminal, 98, charged in Hungary

Top Nazi war crimes suspect Laszlo Csatary, accused of overseeing thousands of Jewish deportations during World War II, was charged with war crimes on Tuesday in Hungary, prosectors said.

The 98-year-old, under house arrest since last year after apparently living for years undisturbed in Hungary, is listed by the Wiesenthal Center as its most-wanted alleged Nazi war criminal. – Sapa