UPDATES: 1. Blair has been meeting with Palestinian PM Salam Fayyad today in Ramallah/ Hamas tells Abbas – STOP working with Israel
And here – 2. Hamas spokesman’s shot across the bows of EU leaders meeting this evening? Fast moving situation. Euro News video report – EU & Middle East Foreign Ministers and others are meeting in Brussels on reconstruction in Gaza & how to prolong current truce. Also Blair’s meeting with Fayyad, his welcome for Mitchell, and Olmert’s vow to protect Israeli commanders from ANY attempt to charge them with war crimes. Netanyahu to Blair - no more settlements in West Bank
Video: Mideast envoy Blair welcomes Obama’s appointment of MitchellRamallah – Ma’an – Repairing the relationship between Hamas and Fatah will be an intimate part of the Gaza reconstruction plan, said envoy of the international Quartet of peace process in the Middle East Tony Blair on Sunday. He is in the area meeting with Fayyad around issues in Gaza, getting aid to the Strip and a long-term reconstruction plan.
“Any new government must be built on the basis of understanding and real national unity,” said Blair, who indicated that unity was the first step to “the establishment of a Palestinian state.” Without unity, he noted, the process of state-hood would collapse.
“We are all in the region will work to find the solution,” he continued pointing out that the appointment of the US presidential envoy for peace in the Middle East, George Mitchell will be supportive to the process.
Comment at end
25th January, 2009
TONY BLAIR MET ISRAEL’S EHUD BARAK LAST NIGHT
George Mitchell, the new Obama Middle East envoy, is being lauded as the man with the answers over the mess that is the Middle East right now. But last night the Quartet’s man, Tony Blair, met the Israeli Defence Minister, Ehud Barak, to hear Israel’s present thinking on Iran, and the possible way forward.
Whether this is just a shot across Iran’s bows to try to persuade them to abandon their nuclear programme, or across Mr Obama’s bows to remind him of the serious threat from Iran, is debatable. It could be both.
Mr Ahmadinejad’s squirming over his approach to Israel is worth noting, though.
From YouTube video site: Israel Will Disappear From Map: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad repeated his call for the destruction of Israel. He first made the comments in 2005, fueling international outrage. (June 3)Taking aim once again at Israel and the United States—Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad repeated inflammatory comments that he’d made three years ago:VOX POP: Ahmadinejad Crowd UP. Saying Israel would soon disappear. Ahmadinejad first made the remarks in 2005, fueling international outrage AND speculation that he was threatening the Jewish state with a nuclear weapon. But while speaking at a ceremony honoring the late founder of Iran’s Islamic Republic Monday — Ahmadinejad told an audience that — quote — “this origin of corruption will soon be wiped off of the Earth’s face.”Ahmadinejad also called the U-S a satanic power… that with — God’s will — would be annihilated. Iran cut ties with Israel and the United States in 1979 after their revolution toppled the nation’s government.
There is now some debate over whether or not the Iranian President actually said that IRAN would wipe Israel off the map. He says he didn’t, but that ‘God willing’, it would disappear anyway.
A little like the story that Bush said “Yo, Blair, when he actually said “Yeah, Blair” (watch here), it’s all about perception. And sometimes we perceive what we WANT to perceive.
From YouTube video site: “Around the world the media were falling over themselves giggling at the Yo Blair incident at the G8 in St Petersburg. Only thing is – “BUSH NEVER SAID YO BLAIR”!!!! 19 seconds into this clip you clearly here it. Bush says … ‘Yeah…. Blair’ … i.e. ‘Yes, Blair’ as Blair approaches him…..
Is this Important? Well … just goes to show how ALL the media won’t let anything like, erm, the TRUTH or, erm, SIMPLY CHECKING FACTS themselves interfere with a story.”
It’s also all about adding together ALL remarks made by politicians over certain issues, and coming to an ‘educated’ conclusion.
The educated conclusion right across the Middle East, not just in Israel, is that Iran is determined to become a nuclear power.
How to deal with this conclusion is far more controversial.
The Current Affairs site:
Tel Aviv has reintroduced the idea of attacking Iran in the wake of a deadly military offensive in Gaza, which claimed over 1300 lives.
In a Saturday night meeting with Quartet envoy Tony Blair, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak claimed that Iran’s nuclear program threaten the stability of the region.Iran’s enrichment program is a threat for the stability of the Middle East and the whole world. There is still time for sanctions and for the free countries of the world to implement economic sanctions against Iran,” said Barak.
Barak said that Israel was not taking any option off the table with regards to a military attack against Iran, although it needs to cooperate with, Russia and China.
“Cooperation with different countries especially with Russia and China is necessary in light of the threat. This, however, does not take any options off the table,” Barak said in remarks translated from an AFP report.
Barak was referring to the West’s failure to come to an agreement with Moscow and Beijing about imposing tougher sanctions against Iran in the last UN Security Council resolution passed on Iran.
Under pressure from Israel’s devoted ally the US, the Security Council has so far approved four resolutions against Iran, asking the country to suspend its enrichment activities, regardless of NPT (nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty) regulations.
In a November meeting with the then US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, Barak asked Washington not to rule out the military option against Iran.
Israel claims that the speedy rate at which Iran is conducting its nuclear program and the comments made by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad about Israel’s final fate indicate that Tehran poses a threat to Israel.
Clarifying his mistranslated comments about wiping Israel off the map, Ahmadinejad has repeatedly explained that he intended to point out that the regime will disappear the same way the Soviet Union and the South African apartheid regime did.
Despite being used in nuclear weaponization programs, uranium enrichment is not an indicator of possible armament intentions, as the process is also part of the nuclear fuel production cycle.
Iran which conducts enrichment on the supervision of the UN nuclear watchdog refuses to halt the process arguing that it will turn the country into an energy dependant state when its fossil reserves run out.
The NPT reserves the right for all its signatories to conduct enrichment as part of a civilian nuclear program. The UN watchdog has confirmed that the rate of Iran’s enrichment is consistent with a civilian nuclear program.
Quite contrary to Israeli claims, Iran says Israel is the source of all unrest in the Middle East, being the region’s sole nuclear armed power and a major participant in most wars.
Throughout its 60-year existence Tel Aviv has taken part in nine regional military confrontations. In its latest military adventurism, Israel killed more than 1340 people, injured around 5,500, and damaged over 12,000 homes.
Israel threatens Iran despite its failure to reach the goals it set out to achieve in the onset of its military campaign in Gaza- an impoverished coastal enclave that had suffered devastating economic set-backs because of an 18-month-long Israeli siege.
When launching the offensive, Tel Aviv said that it wanted to stop rocket fire into Israel. Later on, it added toppling the democratically-elected Palestinian government of Hamas to its list of objectives.
However, as the crisis unfolded, Hamas rocket fire continued, hitting deeper targets within Israel and even reaching an airbase 15 kilometers from Tel Aviv. Hamas was still in control of Gaza, when the two sides announced separate ceasefires.
BLAIR’S ‘POLITICAL FOUNDATION’ – AH, NOW YOU’RE TALKING, MR BLAIR!
Meanwhile pendennis at The Guardian reports that Mr Blair is setting up a new foundation. This time on politics. The plot thickens.
If Obama fails, we can count on Blair
Another new project comes to light for Tony Blair. Documents filed at Companies House show that the former PM is in the process of setting up yet another charity to add to his Faith Foundation and his Sports Foundation.
This one’s called the Tony Blair Governance Initiative.
Its aim appears to be to spread good governance around the globe and one expert suggests it may be a vehicle for Tony to use on the world stage should Barack Obama hesitate to endorse him as the Quartet’s Middle East envoy.
Endearingly, the Companies House documents include a section stating that Blair’s permission must be sought should anyone want to change the organisation’s name.
“Endearingly”? Endearingly?
Understandably, I’d say, knowing what some ‘experts’ think of his knowledge of governance.
Having said that – surely it goes without saying that his permission would have to be sought before a change in name could be authorised?
It comes to something when a former PM has to be this careful with his own information at Companies House.
Tags: bush, Ehud Barak, George Mitchell, Iran, Israel, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Obama, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, Tony Blair Governance Initiative, Tony Blair Quartet Envoy
