Why western war criminals go free

How can Bush and his disciple, Tony Blair, smugly conclude they were right, pushing out self-serving memoirs suggesting that history will be kind to them when they are responsible for so much death and destruction?

Because they are protected by their successor governments from the consequences of what they have done. Both the U.S. and Britain are keen on jailing or hanging foreigners for war crimes, yet we consider our own leaders immune from prosecution.

There’s another complication, too: the Tories were Blair’s allies over Iraq. Hence their disinclination to pursue Labour over its so-called dossier on Saddam’s non-existent WMDs....

You can read the whole of Peter McKay’s brilliant piece on the toadying to western war criminals- and why it is so important that Bush and Blair are held to account for their crimes, here.

The joys of privatisation: British Gas hikes gas and electricity prices by 7%

From the Daily Mail:

Around eight million households face punishing utility bill hikes after Britain's biggest energy supplier raised tariffs just before winter.

British Gas will push up prices by 7 per cent from December 10, which will amount to an increase of £1.50 on the average weekly dual-fuel bill.

Half a million public sector job losses. VAT hiked to 20% from January. Privatised rail fares- already the most expensive in Europe- set to soar in the New Year.
Massive cuts in government spending. And now big rises in gas and electricity prices just before Christmas.

It’s going to be a long, tough, winter.

But not for everyone.

Isn't neoliberalism wonderful!

Dave lectures the Chinese on 'democracy'

"The people of Britain are what is called a democracy," said Moung Ka.
"A democracy?" questioned Moung Thwa. "What is that?"
"A democracy," broke in Moung Shoogalay eagerly, "is a community that governs itself according to its own wishes and interests by electing accredited representatives who enact its laws and supervise and control their administration.
"Its aim and object is government of the community in the interests of the community."
"Then," said Moung Thwa, turning to his neighbour, "if the people of Britain are a democracy-"
"I never said they were a democracy," interrupted Moung Ka placidly.
"Surely we both heard you!" exclaimed Moung Thwa.
"Not correctly," said Moung Ka, "I said they are what is called a democracy."

From The Comments Of Moung Ka in The Square Egg by Saki.

I don’t know about you, but the first thing I thought of when I read this- was Saki's wonderful story.

ps
Some good comment on Dave’s hypocrisy on lecturing China about ‘democracy’ and ’human rights’ from Andrew Alexander in the Daily Mail and in this Morning Star editorial.

Let's try and get a 'government of the community in the interests of the community', before we start lecturing others.
　

The Left must deal with the new Chingford Polecat

This piece of mine appears in today's First Post.

Neil Clark: The Archbishop and Labour MPs may be angry, but IDS has White Van Man on his side.

In my copy of Birds and Wild Animals by H Trevor Jones, the polecat is described as "a furtive hunter, now rare, but still found in the Welsh mountains".

Since the book was published in 1952, it seems that mustela putorius putorius has moved eastwards - and seems particularly fond of a town on the Essex/London border called Chingford.

The original 'Chingford Polecat', first sighted in the 1970s, was, of course, Norman 'On yer bike' Tebbit, the abrasive working-class Tory cabinet minister who introduced legislation curbing the trade unions and who castigated the work-shy.

Today's Chingford Polecat is Iain-Duncan Smith, who took over Tebbit's seat at the April 1992 general election. The former 'quiet man' of British politics, IDS is now Work and Pensions Secretary and sinking his fangs into the long-term unemployed.

You can read the whole of the piece here.

Al Qaeda in Iraq

Well they weren't there when Saddam Hussein was in power. But they are now.

Well done the neocons and their 'liberal' interventionist allies.

George W. Bush: Still telling WMD porkies

From the BBC News website:

Former US President George W Bush still has "a sickening feeling" about the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, US media report.
Mr Bush admits that he was shocked when no weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq.
"No one was more shocked and angry than I was when we didn't find the weapons," he writes.
"I had a sickening feeling every time I thought about it. I still do."
　
Sorry George, but I don’t believe you. Because if you had genuinely believed that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction you would never have invaded.

Hyping up the 'terror threat'

Another day, another ‘war against terror’ scare. Did our wartime leadership go ­public on every single threat from our German and other enemies? Of course not. So why do they do it now? To ramp up our fear. Do they think this will make us support them and their ‘war on terror’ policies?.....

You can read the whole of Peter McKay’s brilliant Daily Mail piece here.

It’s also interesting to contrast the current ramping up of fear by Britain‘s political elite, with the way our leaders downplayed the threat from IRA bombs in the 1970s. Is it simply that we are living in a more hysterical era, where everything is overhyped- or is there a political agenda at work?