Tag: Tony Blair

Iran’s nuclear threat is a lie

John Pilger

01 October 2009

Obama’s “showdown” with Iran has another agenda. The media have been tasked with preparing the public for endless war

In 2001, the Observer published a series of reports that claimed an “Iraqi connection” to al-Qaeda, even describing the base in Iraq where the training of terrorists took place and a facility where anthrax was being manufactured as a weapon of mass destruction. It was all false. Supplied by US intelligence and Iraqi exiles, planted stories in the British and US media helped George Bush and Tony Blair to launch an illegal invasion which caused, according to the most recent study, 1.3 million deaths.

Something similar is happening over Iran: the same syncopation of government and media “revelations”, the same manufacture of a sense of crisis. “Showdown looms with Iran over secret nuclear plant”, declared the Guardian on 26 September. “Showdown” is the theme. High noon. The clock ticking. Good versus evil. Add a smooth new US president who has “put paid to the Bush years”. An immediate echo is the notorious Guardian front page of 22 May 2007: “Iran’s secret plan for summer offensive to force US out of Iraq”. Based on unsubstantiated claims by the Pentagon, the writer Simon Tisdall presented as fact an Iranian “plan” to wage war on, and defeat, US forces in Iraq by September of that year – a demonstrable falsehood for which there has been no retraction.

The official jargon for this kind of propaganda is “psy-ops”, the military term for psychological operations. In the Pentagon and Whitehall, it has become a critical component of a diplomatic and military campaign to blockade, isolate and weaken Iran by hyping its “nuclear threat”: a phrase now used incessantly by Barack Obama and Gordon Brown, and parroted by the BBC and other broadcasters as objective news. And it is fake.

The threat is one-way

On 16 September, Newsweek disclosed that the major US intelligence agencies had reported to the White House that Iran’s “nuclear status” had not changed since the National Intelligence Estimate of November 2007, which stated with “high confidence” that Iran had halted in 2003 the programme it was alleged to have developed. The International Atomic Energy Agency has backed this, time and again.

The current propaganda derives from Obama’s announcement that the US is scrapping missiles stationed on Russia’s border. This serves to cover the fact that the number of US missile sites is actually expanding in Europe and the “redundant” missiles are being redeployed on ships. The game is to mollify Russia into joining, or not obstructing, the US campaign against Iran. “President Bush was right,” said Obama, “that Iran’s ballistic missile programme poses a significant threat [to Europe and the US].” That Iran would contemplate a suicidal attack on the US is preposterous. The threat, as ever, is one-way, with the world’s superpower virtually ensconced on Iran’s borders.

Iran’s crime is its independence. Having thrown out America’s favourite tyrant, Shah Reza Pahlavi, Iran remains the only resource-rich Muslim state beyond US control. As only Israel has a “right to exist” in the Middle East, the US goal is to cripple the Islamic Republic. This will allow Israel to divide and dominate the Middle East on Washington’s behalf, undeterred by a confident neighbour. If any country in the world has been handed urgent cause to develop a nuclear “deterrence”, it is Iran.

As one of the original signatories of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Iran has been a consistent advocate of a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East. In contrast, Israel has never agreed to an IAEA inspection, and its nuclear weapons plant at Dimona remains an open secret. Armed with as many as 200 active nuclear warheads, Israel “deplores” UN resolutions calling on it to sign the NPT, just as it deplored the recent UN report charging it with crimes against humanity in Gaza, just as it maintains a world record for violations of international law. It gets away with this because great power grants it immunity.

Preparing for endless war

Obama’s “showdown” with Iran has another agenda. On both sides of the Atlantic the media have been tasked with preparing the public for endless war. The US/Nato commander General Stanley McChrystal says 500,000 troops will be required in Afghanistan over five years, according to America’s NBC. The goal is control of the “strategic prize” of the gas and oilfields of the Caspian Sea, central Asia, the Gulf and Iran – in other words, Eurasia. But the war is opposed by 69 per cent of the British public, 57 per cent of the US public and almost every other human being. Convincing “us” that Iran is the new demon will not be easy. McChrystal’s spurious claim that Iran “is reportedly training fighters for certain Taliban groups” is as desperate as Brown’s pathetic echo of “a line in the sand”.

During the Bush years, according to the great whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg, a military coup took place in the US, and the Pentagon is now ascendant in every area of American foreign policy. A measure of its control is the number of wars of aggression being waged simultaneously and the adoption of a “first-strike” doctrine that has lowered the threshold on nuclear weapons, together with the blurring of the distinction between nuclear and conventional weapons.

All this mocks Obama’s media rhetoric about “a world without nuclear weapons”. In fact, he is the Pentagon’s most important acquisition. His acquiescence with its demand that he keep on Bush’s secretary of “defence” and arch war-maker, Robert Gates, is unique in US history. He has proved his worth with stepped-up wars from south Asia to the Horn of Africa. Like Bush’s America, Obama’s America is run by some very dangerous people. We have a right to be warned. When will those paid to keep the record straight do their job?

New Statesman

October 9, 2009
Turkey in Europe magazine launched

British citizens publish a magazine on Turkey

Anatolia News Agency

LONDON – A new magazine that aims to better acquaint Europe with Turkey was introduced Monday at the House of Commons in London. The magazine is run by a group of British citizens who support Turkey’s accession into the European Union.

Speaking at the introductory reception, the editor in chief of “Turkey in Europe,” Osman Streater, said more and more people in Europe were finally understanding Turkey’s significance. Another speaker, Edward Davey, shadow foreign secretary and a Liberal Democrat Parliament member, said he hoped the magazine would reach its goal of helping Turkey gain full membership in the EU.

According to Davey, the launch of the magazine was a key step in Turkey’s membership campaign. He added that Turkey was important for Europe in terms of economic, political and strategic reasons, and that its membership would send a clear message with historical significance that the EU is open to all religions.

The magazine’s first issue contains articles in support of Turkey’s EU membership by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Shadow Secretary of State for Defense Liam Fox of the Conservative Party and Minister for Europe at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Caroline Flint.

Turkish Ambassador to London Yiğit Alpogan, Turkish Consul General in London Bahadır Kaleli, former British Ambassador to Ankara David Logan attended the gathering.

Source: www.hurriyet.com.tr, May 16, 2009

Turkey in Europe magazine launched

by Fatih Cansiz

"Turkey In Europe"

A NEW magazine aimed at promoting Turkey’s application to the EU was launched on Monday at a reception at the Houses of Parliament.

It was launched on behalf of the patrons of Turkey in Europe who are Michael Gove MP, Dr Denis MacShane MP and Graham Watson MEP.

Editor Osman Streater spoke about the first issue of the magazine which was established to bring international business together and to promote Turkish membership of the European Union. He added that Turkey in Europe magazine is independent of the Turkish and UK governments and funded by its members, allowing it to be an independent business-focused voice in support of Turkish membership.

Turkish Ambassador Mr Yigit Alpogan and Liberal Democrat MP Edward Davey were special guests at the event.

Mr Davey spoke briefly about relations between Turkey and the European Union.

The magazine includes messages from politicians and will be published as a quarterly magazine to promote Turkey to key stakeholders in the EU, organise events in the UK, Brussels and Turkey, to promote Turkey’s EU membership and lobby for Turkish membership more generally.

Source: www.londragazete.com, 14 May 2009

May 16, 2009
Why we must all do God

Tony Blair

Published 19 March 2009

Religion has never mattered more to the world than it does now, says the former prime minister, launching our new occasional column on faith

Blair on the role he believes faith can play in the 21st century

My faith has always been an important part of my politics. While in office, it was best, in my view, not to shout that too loudly from the rooftops, lest it be thought that I was trying to claim some kind of moral superiority for myself or my party. On the rare occasions when I did talk about religion, it tended to be misrepresented to suit the political purposes of others. That was the reason why “we did not do God”.

Out of office, seeking to make a contribution to important public and policy debates in a different way, I feel no such restraints. Indeed, as the years of my premiership passed, one fact struck me with increasing force: that failure to understand the power of religion meant failure to understand the modern world. In western Europe this may sound counter-intuitive. Almost everywhere else, it stares you in the face.

Briefly, consider the statistics: more than two billion Christians worldwide, almost 1.5 billion Muslims, more than 900 million Hindus, 400 million Buddhists, 24 million Sikhs, 13 million Jews. And these figures exclude adherents of other faiths. In most places these numbers are growing. In Africa, for example, there were ten million Christians in 1900; by 2000, there were 360 million, the largest quantitative change ever. And people of different faiths are being brought closer and closer together. Walk down many UK high streets and you see a microcosm of the world’s faiths in a few yards.

In this globalised world, we are more than ever interconnected, but we are also more uncertain. What were firm boundaries of race, culture and identity are becoming fluid. In such a world the involvement of religion becomes ever more crucial. It can either play a positive role, helping to deepen understanding and working for the common good, or it can be exploited to become destructive, emphasising difference and reinforcing distrust of the “other”.

Religious faith and how it develops could be of the same significance to the 21st century as political ideology was to the 20th. It could help guide and sustain the era of globalisation, lending it values, and, in bringing faiths and cultures to a greater understanding of each other, could foster peaceful coexistence. Or it could be a reactionary force, pulling people apart just as globalisation pushes people together. Whichever route develops, it does mean that all leaders, whether of religious faith themselves or not, have to “do God”.

I set up the Tony Blair Faith Foundation with the aim of promoting greater respect and understanding between the major religions, to make the case for religion as a force for good, and to show this in action by encouraging interfaith initiatives to tackle global poverty and conflict. We hope to show the relevance of faith to the challenges of the 21st century and its ability to bring people together, not force them further apart.

We are focusing on five main projects initially, working with partners in the six main faiths.

First, we have developed Faith Acts Together, a programme already involving supporters in more than 30 countries on six continents. We are working across religious divides towards a common goal – ending the scandal of deaths from malaria, and thus contributing to the Millennium Development Goals. We shall work initially in selected countries in Africa, bringing different faith communities together to distribute bed nets and offer training in their use, the most effective and the cheapest way to eliminate the preventable death toll from malaria. And, initially in the UK, US and Canada, we are appointing 30 Faith Act fellows, young leaders who will build grass-roots campaigns and coalitions across all the main faiths to support the work in Africa on the ground.

Second, we have established Face to Faith, an interfaith schools programme to counter intolerance and extremism. This will link classrooms around the world through structured and facilitated video conferences. Children of one faith and culture will have the chance to interact with children of another, getting a real sense of each other’s lived experience. The syllabus will focus on leading contemporary topics, such as the environment, exploring what the great faith traditions have to contribute on the issues. The programme is being piloted now in five countries on three continents.

Third, we are developing a deeper intellectual understanding of the dynamics of faith and globalisation. My foundation and Yale University have developed a course on this, which I co-taught last term. Our aim is to build a global conversation between a dozen world-class universities on these issues. We are now discussing with three others how they will take up the course, with more to follow. Each university will bring its own intellectual traditions and regional perspective, but all will explore the relations between religion and economics, politics and society, and how the great faiths might do more to humanise a globalised world.

As part of this we are also exploring the issue of values and the financial system in the light of the financial crisis, examining how our financial systems might be reconnected with some basic values from which they have become largely detached. We have contributed to the global debate, at President Sarkozy’s Paris conference and at the World Economic Forum; we are now exploring ways of translating the debate into concrete action.

Finally, we are working with the Coexist Foundation and Cambridge University to develop the concept of Abraham House. This will be a world-class place of encounter for the three Abrahamic faiths in London, but also open to all of any faith or none. It will provide a national and international focus for a movement of creative thinking and exploration, leading to new action and deeper understanding.

The 21st century will be poorer in spirit and ambition, less focused on social justice, less sensitive to conscience and the common good, without a full and proper recognition of the role that the great faiths can and do play. I hope my foundation, in its own way, can work with others in those faiths to help harness their full power to transform our world for the better.

Source: www.newstatesman.com, 23 March 2009

March 26, 2009
Linguist claims US intelligence spied on Blair

By Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington

Published: November 25 2008 02:00 | Last updated: November 25 2008 02:00

The US government eavesdropped on Tony Blair while he was British prime minister, according to claims made by a former employee of the National Security Agency.

ABC News yesterday reported that the NSA had eavesdropped on Mr Blair and Ghazi al-Yawer, the first Iraqi president following the 2003 invasion. The White House did not respond to inquiries.

Making the allegations to ABC, David Faulk, a former NSA Arabic linguist who worked for the spy agency at Fort Gordon, Georgia, claimed to have had access to a top secret database called “Anchory” in 2006 that included personal details about Mr Blair.

While the US government routinely spies on foreign governments and their leaders, the US and UK are long understood to have had a more trusting relationship. The revelations could damage the “special relationship” with Washington that London prizes so highly. Mr Blair was one of President George W. Bush’s closest allies over the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Mr Faulk also claimed to have read secret NSA files on Mr Ghazr, including “pillow talk” phone calls, between 2003 and 2007. Bob Woodward, the veteran Washington Post reporter, this year reported in The War Within that the US had also eavesdropped on Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister.

Last month, Mr Faulk and another former NSA employee provided a rare glimpse into the veiled world of the NSA, by revealing that the spy agency had spied on journalists, soldiers, and non-governmental organisations, including the International Committee of the Red Cross. They told ABC that the NSA routinely spied on Americans by listening to private conversations, including pillow talk and, in some cases, phone sex.

The revelations have provided glimpses into the secret and warrantless domestic spying programme that Mr Bush approved in the wake of the September 11 terror attacks on the US.

When that domestic spying programme first came to light in 2005, the White House provided a vigorous defence, arguing that it was necessary to protect the US from terrorism.

Michael Hayden, the former NSA director who now heads the Central Intelligence Agency, insisted that the programme did not violate the rights of ordinary Americans.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008

Source: www.ft.com, November 25 2008

November 25, 2008