Home truths from Planet Wishful Thinking

Norm

I don't trust Blair. He could tell me water was wet and I'd still put my hand in to check.

J.A.

He has been more trustworthy than Hilary (forked tongue ) Clinton

MO

Too little, too late from Mr Blair. Hope he enjoyed his stay on those couple of occasions he was in the region.
Regardless of his credibility in the UK he had an opportunity to do some good here and instead - nada, zilch, klum. Oh, just the money, of course.

Sam Armstrong

What's he after?

I don't trust him either.

BlairSupporter

Well said, Melanie. I was about to write on Tony Blair's interview myself. Might just use your version instead.

As you say - who do we hear in our present "government" or even opposition frontbench giving Israel the benefit of ANY doubt? Not one of them, at the top echelons. And the press? Don't mention the press.

Your readers may like to read my thoughts on your 'Londonistan' book, to whose wisdom I was a late-comer, having just read it.

http://keeptonyblairforpm.wordpress.com/2010/06/28/review-analysis-londonistan-by-melanie-phillips/

I was also slow to understand what we had in Blair. I understand it now.

Good to know that I have this in common with Mr Blair - eventually I get the FULL picture.

I look forward to the day that the British press and our present government can see or admit to seeing the whole picture.

d gray

I always find it odd that once these people are safely out of power and have no elections to loose they suddenly decide to speak freely. The ex Spanish Prime Minister is another example...........the problem here is that they need to say these things while they have the power to dictate policy and lead the public away from the Jew hate fest that is now solidly part of British life. To wait till you are out of power and influence to say what you really think is cowardice. Blairs comments come 10 years too late.

BlairSupporter

I think people like the commenter d gray is typically wrong-headed and making a rather facile remark. Blair was ALWAYS on Israel's side against terror when PM. And he often mentioned Israel as a democracy surrounded by those who were anything but.

But with his own party largely NOT onside with Israel or with Blair on Iraq, the Lebanon/Israel conflict of 2006 was used to push him out of office. Hardly indicates someone who failed to support Israel's position, even then, before he knew as much as he does now.

From his own angle, and the anti effects of the Iraq war, the accusation that he was anti-Muslim (wrong-headed again, as his saving of Kosovan Muslims proved) may have moved him to try to disprove this widespread misconception, and he started to work closely with Muslim/Arab countries and leaders.

Perhaps it's not easy to understand that there are some of us who, as Melanie says, perhaps 'naively' seek peace all round, when it's 'immovable object and indestructible force' time.

Blair has more reasons than most for wanting to bring peace in the Middle East. It is worth recalling that he (again parhaps naively) said at the end of the 1990s that peace in the Muslim world depended on peace in Israel/Palestinian issues. We can expect to disagree with whether that will ever be the case, even if peace descends, given issues of widespread Islamisation and downing Judaism - both ongoing.

But give me the optimism of Blair any time, for whatever reason, rather than the endless "no chance" mumbles of those who seem to wish failure on all of us.

david elder, australia

Don't knock it, guys. Blair's comments here might have been a while in coming. But at least they came, and you won't see that from a lot of British leaders these days.

Augustus

I have always thought of Tony Blair as bit of a slick talker, someone who you wouldn't buy a second-hand car from without looking very closely under the bonnet. But, in the case of Israel, I think that he might have a genuine desire to help the process of peace along by using his undoubted influence and success as a world reknown politician. Welcome in the ME Tony, where nothing is as it seems, and reality exceeds even one's wildest imaginings. And when you visit the Gaza Strip, please note: There's plenty to eat there!

David, Thailand

If I ever shook his hand I'd count my fingers!

phil

The problem for Tony Blair is the cynicism that exists here in the west and amongst both the press and the chattering classes ,it is so easy to jump on the bandwagon of bad mouthing-I realise he made mistakes ,----but no doubt "naively", I believe he meant to do what was right, and as far as Israel was concerned he supported their cause .I have never voted for his party and doubt that I ever would ,but that does not blind me to the fact that socialists can also on occasion be right .
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I definitely believe that he saw Sadam as a potential cause of world war ,which an attack on Israel and then retaliation by the Arabs may well have caused .His reputation was ruined by the Iraq war and although we may never hear the real reasons ,there are those whose purpose it served, to blame him for the wrong reasons.If he says he supports Israel ,I believe him, and I suggest you all should too. . For those who may wish to abuse this point of view ,you will waste your time ,we have enough enemies without turning away friends .

Kevinc

I admit to not having had much time for Blair - until I read this interview. He has obviously been working very hard and intelligently behind the scenes, and is clearly sincere in his desire to bring about a just solution. His analysis of the situation is clear-headed, compassionate and pragmatic - I wish him well.

phil

I meant to include in my post"
phil
June 30th, 2010 9:32am " a response to Sadams attack would receive retaliation from Israel and subsequently a reply from the Arabs -where is my editor ?

William Boyd

Useful link - thank you.

I thought Tony Blair was convincing and if he was indeed responsible for the shift in the Israeli position on the blockade then I think that definitelyimpressive because plainly a dangerous impasse had been reached.

He's said what he's says about reaching out to Hamas before when challenged over his own talks with the IRA. But we know the British government were engaged in secret talks with the Provisional IRA long before the IRA announced a cease-fire and the situation is fundamentally different in that Hamas in Gaza were legitimately elected and (in the beginning at any rate) had the genuine support of Gaza's inhabitants.

For the US not to reach out then was I think a mistake and contributed to the present situation where Hamas' status in Gaza is more that of a war-lord than an elected government.

However you have to build on what you've got and I do think Tony Blair is plausible here.

Carl

So, Tony Blair "leaving office – from which he was forced out early, let us never forget, because he supported Israel’s right to defend itself, without which right a country cannot continue to exist."

Thanks for that illumination, there was me thinking that he was forced out by a dour Scotsman who had plotted and schemed to be leader for years.

Lynne T

Too bad Tony Blair has no influence on his nutty sister-in-law Lauren Booth's activities, which serve only to support Hamas to the detriment of Palestinians, women in particular, as well as Israelis.

Palestinian says women's rights forgotten in Gaza
Activist Naila Ayesh says political and economic upheaval in the territory has forced women to give priority to more immediate needs, such as finding work and providing for their families.

By Edmund Sanders, Los Angeles Times
June 27, 2010
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-gaza-feminist-qa-20100627,0,6959559.story

Baron

am in the same boat as David, Thailand; more to the point, with Hamas and their backers around there will not be peace in the middle East. It’s as simple as that.

Bob

Blair and the rest of the world need to ask: How many more Palestinian States does the World need? We already have Jordan. Formerly Transjordan, formerly 81% of the British Mandate of Palestine.

Why can't the Palestinians go and live there... Or let them live in the houses vacated in 1948 by the Jews who were driven out of their middle eastern homes, Iraq Iran Syria, Egypt etc in 1948...

I am sure productive hard working people like this would find a welcome in these countries

Bob, son of Bob

I never thought that Tony Blair was a bad person like most of the rest of Labour are. I do not think he hates his country or Israel like most of the true left do. It is possible to be the figurehead for a wicked lot without being a bad person yourself if you are ambitious enough.

JohnAnt

That's just Blair being typically wimpish in his expression of what is actually a reasonable position: that Hamas needs to recognize and respect Israel's right to security before a Palestinian nation-state can be formed.
Actually, I thought Blair behaved well during the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah War. He stoutly refused to bow to international demands that the UK censure Israel. (Unlike Brown, who was constantly dog-whistling to the left during the last Gaza War.)
Reading between the lines of Blair's comments at the time, it seemed to me he was tacitly on Israel's side.
Alas, now he's such a broken reed Blair doesn't seem to be able to speak out strongly. He goes through the motions, but not much comes out apart from havering vagueness.
Maybe he's not well? Or he thinks he's turned into St John Chrysostom?