Tony Blair: Mubarak is 'immensely courageous and a force for good'

PatsytheNazi

This is the latest one from middle east 'peace' envoy Blair. Only a few days ago he was calling for Iran to be carpet bombed. Must be encouraging for the men and women protesting and dying for democracy on the streets of Cairo to know the middle east 'peace' envoy doen't want to see democratic elections in Egypt.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/02/tony-blair-mubarak-courageous-force-for-good-egypt

FTA69

Yeah. "A force for (the) good" (of American and British interests in the region.)

Blair is a man who lied to his own people in order to drum up support for the invasion of Iraq in the name of "democracy", meanwhile him and his cohorts are unilaterally supportive of dictators such as Mubarak and the Saudi regime. How anyone can buy into anything this fella comes out with is beyond me.

Soldie

I'm not a fan of Tony Blair at all, but it seems to me that the quote is taken out of context.

Tony Blair wrote:

Where you stand on him depends on whether you've worked with him from the outside or on the inside. I've worked with him on the Middle East peace process between the Israelis and the Palestinians so this is somebody I'm constantly in contact with and working with and on that issue, I have to say, he's been immensely courageous and a force for good.

It appears as though he's saying that Mubarak is a force for good with respect to the Middle East peace process, not necessarily otherwise.

Palmach

Soldie wrote: »

I'm not a fan of Tony Blair at all, but it seems to me that the quote is taken out of context.
It appears as though he's saying that Mubarak is a force for good with respect to the Middle East peace process, not necessarily otherwise.

Don't you dare introduce nuance and reason into this debate. Don't you know Blair is the most evil man ever?

Manach

Puzzled, in that according to the Simpons, that is President Jimmy Carter?

Fratton Fred

I wonder how the shinners will react when the Libyans rise up against Gadaffi? Or is he no longer their friend?

wes

Blair shows himself to be a hypocrite once again. If the man truly believe in democracy, he would be calling for Mubarak to step down, but the man once again shows he is full of it.

Bottle_of_Smoke

Fratton Fred wrote: »

I wonder how the shinners will react when the Libyans rise up against Gadaffi? Or is he no longer their friend?

Has there been any hint of that happening thus far? Not read any reports

Fratton Fred

Bottle_of_Smoke wrote: »

Has there been any hint of that happening thus far? Not read any reports

I can't imagine Gadaffi would be as restrained somehow.

Fratton Fred

wes wrote: »

Blair shows himself to be a hypocrite once again. If the man truly believe in democracy, he would be calling for Mubarak to step down, but the man once again shows he is full of it.

I suggest you read the article.

PatsytheNazi

Well at least it's showing the hypocrisy of the west and revealing that the word 'democracy' is thin indeed on their lips - when they praise or seem reluctant to dispose of their relationships with characters like Mubarak and Suleiman.

Fratton Fred

PatsytheNazi wrote: »

Well at least it's showing the hypocrisy of the west and revealing that the word 'democracy' is thin indeed on their lips - when they praise or seem reluctant to dispose of their relationships with characters like Mubarak and Suleiman.

Like it or not, Mubarak is a key part of the negotiations with Israel. I thought Tony Blair summed it up nicely.

The Waltzing Consumer

PatsytheNazi wrote: »

Well at least it's showing the hypocrisy of the west and revealing that the word 'democracy' is thin indeed on their lips - when they praise or seem reluctant to dispose of their relationships with characters like Mubarak and Suleiman.

Jesus, enough with the west bashing. :rolleyes:

How about you do the adult thing and instead of blaming the west for everything, ooh a hurricane, obviously Tony Blair and George Bush support it, ooh African leaders embezzle money from Charities, obviously Tony Blair, George Bush and Bono caused it, ooh a massacre of Arab people by Arab people, must have been the west who caused it, how about you move out of the west and save us all listening to such ridiculous complaints?

We have American and British interests in Ireland, so when some scumbag shoots or robs or murders someone, are you gonna blame America and Britain and the "West" for that? :rolleyes:

PatsytheNazi

The Waltzing Consumer wrote: »

Jesus, enough with the west bashing. :rolleyes:

How about you do the adult thing and instead of blaming the west for everything, ooh a hurricane, obviously Tony Blair and George Bush support it, ooh African leaders embezzle money from Charities, obviously Tony Blair, George Bush and Bono caused it, ooh a massacre of Arab people by Arab people, must have been the west who caused it, how about you move out of the west and save us all listening to such ridiculous complaints?

We have American and British interests in Ireland, so when some scumbag shoots or robs or murders someone, are you gonna blame America and Britain and the "West" for that? :rolleyes:

Those African leaders that embezzle money from charities etc are often the puppets of the west supported in military coups etc so western company's can exploit the native resources and labour.

The Waltzing Consumer

PatsytheNazi wrote: »

Those African leaders that embezzle money from charities etc are often the puppets of the west supported in military coups etc so western company's can exploit the native resources and labour.

Yep, yep of course. Can't ever decide to give African people and governments responsibility for their own actions. Have to blame the west. Pretty racist if you ask me. Are African people and governments not capable and intelligent enough to embezzle or be corrupt?

Nodin

Soldie wrote: »

I'm not a fan of Tony Blair at all, but it seems to me that the quote is taken out of context.



It appears as though he's saying that Mubarak is a force for good with respect to the Middle East peace process, not necessarily otherwise.

Considering the state of the peace negotiations and the treatment revealed via the 'Palestinian papers' it doesn't really stand up there either.

wes

Fratton Fred wrote: »

I suggest you read the article.

I read it, and stand by what I said. The man is a massive hypocrite. The people of the Middle East deserve democracy as much as the rest of us do. The existence of Islamist parties is just an excuse for some to support despots. Surely, we shouldn't get rid of democracy in the UK, due to the existence of the BNP, for example.

Also, since when has support for a peace process, excuse someone being a despot? So he was peaceful towards Israel, so we should give Mubarak a get out of jail free card? So we should ignore all the crap he did to people, and is currently doing to people? Sorry, but Blair is full of it. BTW, it should be noted the peace process is a complete sham (via the Palestine paper that were leaked), as other have pointed out.

walrusgumble

Fratton Fred wrote: »

I wonder how the shinners will react when the Libyans rise up against Gadaffi? Or is he no longer their friend?

That's sooooooooooooooooooooo 20 years ago.

No, they are no longer lovers.

Why bring them up btw, people are talking about Blair. Having a whatabouttery moment?

Soldie

Nodin wrote: »

Considering the state of the peace negotiations and the treatment revealed via the 'Palestinian papers' it doesn't really stand up there either.

That's fair enough, but that's another debate entirely. Like I said, I'm not a fan of Tony Blair at all, but I don't like sensationalist journalism, either. In running with the headline "Tony Blair: Mubarak is 'immensely courageous and a force for good'" amidst mass protests in Egypt, The Guardian are clearly insinuating that Mr. Blair backs Mr. Mubarak's domestic policies (that's what the protesters are protesting against, after all). The full quote reveals that he's referring specifically to the Middle East peace process.

Fratton Fred

walrusgumble wrote: »

That's sooooooooooooooooooooo 20 years ago.

No, they are no longer lovers.

Why bring them up btw, people are talking about Blair. Having a whatabouttery moment?

Well, we are discussing hypocrisy amongst western politicians....

I still fail to see where Blair is saying Mubarak should not relinquish power. He is saying there should be a properly managed transition. After all, no one wants to see Egypt go the way of Iran, replacing one dictator with a pseudo one.

Memnoch

Properly managed transition? How the hell does that come about when you have a dictator who wants to cling on to power?

As for Blair's hypocrisy, the issue of the 'peace negotiations,' being an utter shambles is not a red herring.

The fact is that there are no peace negotiations, only Israel's slow and long term goal to wipe the Palestinians off the map with the Americans happy to stand by and let this happen.

Mubarak's role in this is irrelevant. He can't contribute to a peace process that never existed in the first place except in the most fascetious sense.

Blair, having been in the know and on the inside of the issue for some time now is surely aware of this.

His comments therefore, though not directly opposing democracy in Egypt are meant to subtly add credibility and perhaps even legitimacy to Mubarak. Which, considering the state of the negotiations is a lie. What else would you expect from Blair?

Therefore the point made by the guardian headline (albiet a little bluntly) is still entirely valid. I.E. That Blair is a hypocrite and has once again shown his colours. Though most of us aren't surprised.

nesf

I'm locking this thread because it is based on a misrepresentation of what was said and further people are responding in agreement to the OP after this was shown to be true.

This kind of crap is not welcome here and please learn to quote people properly not misquote them if you want to stay in this forum for long.