Blair's
Future Is Brown
By Mohammad Kamaali
02 July, 2007
Countercurrents.org
As Tony Blair left Downing Street,
leaving Britain's Prime Ministership to his long time rival and co-leader
of the Labour Party, Gordon Brown, the protesters outside Blair's office
were greeted with the news that Blair had just been appointed as the
new "Middle East Envoy" for the Quartet. (US/EU/UN/Russia)
Looking at the realities of the Middle East today and reviewing Blair's
contribution to the current mayhem, one is left wondering whether this
decision is born out of delusional thinking, sheer cynicism, or is there
any possible constructive utility in this appointment?
During his ten years in office, Tony Blair was, by all accounts, the
most media-obsessed Prime Minister Britain has ever seen. Perhaps his
decision to put himself forward for this job must also be viewed in
that light, as a last attempt by an increasingly unpopular politician
to save his face at home rather than a genuine attempt to work towards
any real prospect of a safer world.
Perhaps the one major highlight of Blair's negotiation skills was the
Good Friday Agreement that he helped bring about in Northern Ireland
in 1998. But not only was the groundwork for this laid down by his predecessor,
what is also often forgotten, is that this was an isolated problem,
in his own backyard; while the Middle East is an entirely different
situation with a complicated web of stake holders where problems cannot
be viewed in isolation from each other.
The very fact that Blair seems to see himself as 'fit for purpose' shows
a lack of understanding of the political situation in the Middle East
and the root causes of the ongoing problems.
His conduct and miscalculations in his shameless refusal to call for
a ceasefire during Israel's attack on Lebanon last summer, which led
to the destruction of southern Lebanon , cost him the little credibility
he had previously earned by projecting an image of himself as a restraining
force in preventing George W. Bush from attacking Iraq without a second
UNSC resolution. Of course that resolution was never passed and they
both went ahead with their long time planned invasion.
In any conflict, it is reasonable to expect the mediator to be respected
by both parties to the conflict as unbiased and one who will act in
competence and honesty to bring about a fair and appropriate resolution.
Blair's appointment as an envoy was immediately welcomed by Israel and
the US . But is this a view that is shared beyond the 'allied' countries?
It is inconceivable to think that Blair and his advisors are not aware
of his image in the Middle East . As such one is led to believe that
he is quite simply "not bothered" about it. This is what I
refer to as "sheer cynicism".
If his new title is anything beyond a media spin and if he takes it
seriously at all, we should expect that he will most likely follow the
same biased agenda that he followed throughout his time in office. There
should be no illusion that if his double standards with respect to democracy
and human rights in the region were capable of bearing fruit in any
way, there would have been a brighter outlook for the Israeli/Palestinian
conflict today.
The Middle East is not limited to Palestine and Israel . There are many
other local and international players in the region, and more often
than not, they are in conflict with one another, an important aspect
of which relates to the extent to which they support or defy US policies.
Blair's shadow over the region, following his complicity with the US
in the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, will no doubt further highlight
the differences between those states in the region that practise an
independent foreign policy and those effectively implementing American
scripts for short-term gains, but to long term detriment of the interests
of their own nations.
Blair's military adventures in the Middle East have also adversely affected
Britain 's interests and reputation, not only among the people and historians
of the region, whose memory of the colonial past has now been sharply
revived, but also among some client states too. The Iraqi dictator who
was so humiliatingly and horrifically captured and hanged last year,
was one of the closest allies of the West until as recently as 1990.
Other regimes in the region, who also have developed close relationships
with Britain and the US in the hope of 'security', will now think of
contingency plans for the years or decades ahead when their expiry date
comes up and the US may call upon them too to disarm or else.
This goes beyond today. For most countries in the Middle East , with
a colonial past, 'foreign policy' is a new skill which they have yet
to master. Under colonial rule, they interacted with the outside world,
only with the blessing of the colonialists; but now they are expected
to act independently and to distinguish between being a puppet, and
acting as free agents engaged in independent cooperation and liaison
at an international level. During this transition, those rulers that
choose to accommodate the concerns of foreign entities rather than their
own population are bound to come into conflict with their own societies
sooner or later.
The history of the Middle East is littered with uprisings against governments
who were more loyal to the British or the Americans than to their own
people. The Middle East 's level of 'stability' has often been miscalculated,
mainly because the assessments have always been subjective to our own
interests in the West, rather than measured against the social and economical
welfare of the inhabitants of the region. In 1977 President Carter famously
branded Shah's regime in Iran as "an island of stability in a turbulent
sea." The monarch was forced into exile only a year later following
popular grassroots uprisings!
Gordon Brown without causing much controversy has tried to open a new
chapter by reshuffling the Labour cabinet and by introducing new ministers
who have a record of having been critical of the Iraq war. He has effectively
fired the Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett, in favour of David Miliband,
who is said to have been critical of Blair for his bias towards Israel
. Other major appointments include John Denham who had resigned over
the Iraq war in 2003 and Sir Mark Malloch-Brown, again a critic of the
war.
But no matter how many changes he makes to distance himself from Blair's
legacy, Brown, and the entire country for that matter, for many years
to come, will have to deal with the consequences of having waged unprovoked
wars against countries and their populations. Not surprisingly, Brown's
first day in office on 28th of June, started with news of three British
troops killed in Iraq , and on 29th June, with an alleged car bomb plot
in London .
In the past ten years, the world has gone through fundamental, largely
irreversible changes. Yet despite having been part of the force responsible
for this change, Blair's take of the situation so far, has been limited
within the boundaries of official channels. Now, however, that he has
left office, perhaps he will become more in touch with realities on
the ground.
He may notice the occasional pieces of independent commentary in the
media. He may google "Blair and Iraq" and see the title "Blair
Knew Iraq Had No WMD" or in a rainy day, whilst drinking tea in
his recently purchased multimillion pounds house in Connaught Square,
he may come across those countless blogs and photo-blogs that have forever
documented the role of his servile and interventionist foreign policy
in bringing about misery and instability in the world.
The day a war criminal becomes an envoy of peace is an Orwellian nightmare
having come true, and a wake up call to us all.
As time goes by, whether he likes it or not, Tony Blair will find out
how he is viewed by the real "international community". His
'legacy' will be a lesson for other politicians who rely too much on
propaganda to support and protect their agenda, whilst underestimating
the power of an increasingly informed public opinion.
Mohammad Kamaali is a UK board member of the Campaign
Against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran (CASMII) http://www.campaigniran.org
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