Cutting through the bullshit.

Friday, 22 June 2007

Call the RSPCA!

While on the subject of cruelty to dogs, look what W has in mind for his disgraced poodle.

The Bush administration is laying the groundwork for an announcement of Tony Blair's appointment as a special Middle East envoy for Palestinian governance and economic issues after he steps down as Britain's prime minister, following two months of behind-the-scenes negotiations, according to U.S. officials.

Blair would report to the Quartet overseeing Middle East peace efforts -- the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia -- and focus on issues limited to the internal workings of a future Palestinian state.

The Palestinians have yet to be approached on the possibility, but U.S. officials believe they would welcome a Blair appointment. Among Palestinians, Blair is known to have a good working relationship with Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and President Mahmoud Abbas, but he is considered strongly pro-Israel and is closely associated with the Bush administration's Middle East policies, according to Palestinian analysts.

Blair's role would be an expanded version of the one previously played by former World Bank president James D. Wolfensohn, who resigned in May 2006 out of frustration with the deadlock over aid to the Palestinians after the January election of Hamas, U.S. officials said. …But Wolfensohn held the position for only 13 months. In his final report, he warned that neither the United Nations nor private relief groups would be able to fill the vacuum if the Palestinian government collapsed or imploded because of the international cutoff of revenue and aid.

(Sang Tan -- Associated Press)

Eli Stevens at Left I on the news points out

the position has been open since April, 2006, more than a year! Not that anything different would have happened had the position been filled, mind you. But still, it does rather reflect the "seriousness" (as in ha, ha) that the "Quartet" treats the concept of a just solution for Israel and Palestine (even on their terms of what that "just solution" might entail).

2 comments:

  1. Tony Blair is a safe choice. I mean, they probably didn't worry about Wolfensohn, and then he basically resigned over the economic boycott of the Palestinians. Blair would never do such an embarrassing thing. He'd eloquently explain why the boycott is good for Palestinian governance.

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  2. It's true that Tory Blain is pretty well housebroken and might be counted on not to do anything embarrassing like resign in frustration. I doubt if he can quite manage eloquence, but no doubt his explanation would simply ooze sincerity. The point, however, is what kind of reward is that for his loyal service? Why couldn't they have given him something easy, like Kashmir?

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