Politicians Are Shitheads
Daniel Craig. Photo: Chrisa Hickey (CC)
So sayeth Daniel Craig, laying heavily into former British PM Tony Blair. Via Huffington Post:
James Bond star Daniel Craig has blamed Tony Blair for the rise of the celebrity obsessed “s**thead” politicians who cannot be trusted.
In an interview with Men’s Journal magazine, the actor said the former prime minister had been too keen to ingratiate himself with the rich and famous.
“Tony Blair started it much more than anybody’s ever done. ‘Go and have tea at 10 Downing Street’,” he said.
Blair was famed for inviting actors and musicians to No. 10 in the early years of his administration in an effort to bolster his ‘Cool Britannia’ image.
“The fact that a guy who’d been in a band, owned an electric guitar and has probably had a spliff was prime minister really meant something, after years of John Major and Margaret Thatcher. He might just be one of us,”…
George W. Bush Cancels Swiss Trip To Avoid Prosecution For Torture
Mr. Blair (left) and Mr. Bush
There was a British television drama a few years ago that had ex-Prime Minister Tony Blair being sent for war crimes prosecution at the International Criminal Court in the Hague. Apparently ex-President George W. Bush doesn’t think that’s so far-fetched and is avoiding Switzerland for fear of being arrested, according to Reuters:
Former President George W. Bush has canceled a visit to Switzerland, where he was to address a Jewish charity gala, due to the risk of legal action against him for alleged torture, rights groups said on Saturday.
Bush was to be the keynote speaker at Keren Hayesod’s annual dinner on February 12 in Geneva. But pressure has been building on the Swiss government to arrest him and open a criminal investigation if he enters the Alpine country.
Criminal complaints against Bush alleging torture have been lodged in Geneva, court officials say.
Human rights groups said they had…
Religion Vs. Atheism – Tony Blair Vs. Christopher Hitchens Video Debate
Who do you think wins: the tarnished former British Prime Minister or the seriously ill bad boy journalist? They get going 5 minutes in, after the moderator introduces them and lays out the rules.
Jon Stewart is the First “Journalist” To Hold Tony Blair Accountable for His Iraq War Position (Video)
Watch the whole thing online (wasn’t aired on TV) and decide. Just because he has a new book out Stewart and The Daily Show are doing the job the American mainstream media should be doing:
London Calling As The Economy Hovers On The Edge And Scholars Debate War And Terrorism
LONDON: The British capital pretty much looked like it did the last time I was here except for all the closed stores and businesses I passed on the way to the War and Media Conference that brought me here.
I am not sure what it will look like the next time I come because the new Tory government is preparing to slash 40% of public funding in an austerity move which is certain to destroy thousands of jobs and inflict pain on the poor and middle class.
My friend Bill Bowles is afraid his pension might be trimmed along with his “freedom card” which gives folks over 65 free access to local transportation. (Seniors in New York only get half-fare cards). Given that the government is the country’s number one employer, a 40% cut will be devastating to the economy as well, mimicking that famous Vietnam War saying, “we destroyed the village…
Tony Blair Nearly Hit With Shoes and Eggs at Dublin Book Signing (Video)
Via Russia Today:
Police scuffled with demonstrators in Ireland’s capital, Dublin, as former British Prime Minister Tony Blair arrived at a bookstore to sign copies of his memoirs. A shoe, eggs and other projectiles were thrown toward Blair as he emerged from his car, but they did not hit him. At one point, a policeman and demonstrator crashed to the ground as officers struggled to control the protesters, who were demonstrating against Blair’s actions in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East. The protesters were heard chanting “Tony Blair: war criminal” as his car arrived at Eason’s book store.
Tony Blair’s Secret Oil Money
While everyone knew that Dick Cheney and George W. Bush wanted Iraq for its oil and the cash that would gush their way via Halliburton and other companies they had interests in, few suspected that British Prime Minister Tony Blair had a similar motivation. The Daily Mail reveals otherwise:
Tony Blair waged an extraordinary two-year battle to keep secret a lucrative deal with a multinational oil giant which has extensive interests in Iraq.
The former Prime Minister tried to keep the public in the dark over his dealings with South Korean oil firm UI Energy Corporation.
Mr Blair – who has made at least £20million since leaving Downing Street in June 2007 – also went to great efforts to keep hidden a £1million deal advising the ruling royal family in Iraq’s neighbour Kuwait.
In an unprecedented move, he persuaded the committee which vets the jobs of former ministers to keep details of both deals from…
Is Tony Blair a War Criminal?
From The Telegraph:
The Iraq war and its aftermath have seen the most contentious decisions taken by any British Government since 1945. Tony Blair stands accused of leading the country into war on a false prospectus, subordinating British interests to George W Bush and showing gross negligence in failing to plan for postwar Iraq.
The only other event that comes close to earning a prime minister such ignominy is the Suez Crisis of 1956, when Anthony Eden lied to the House of Commons. In that short-lived conflict, 21 British servicemen were killed. By contrast, 179 British soldiers died in Iraq, and untold numbers of Iraqi civilians lost their lives as a result of the hostilities and the instability that followed.
Blair’s place in history will forever be coloured by the war. The Channel 4 drama, The Trial of Tony Blair, struck many as far-fetched when first aired in early 2007. Now a full…
