The paper previously described the apparently cringing conversation between Blair and Bush in St Petersburg, at the G8 summit. Bush (Yo ....Blair) used street talk ( ..get Syria to stop this sh*t) and Blair said words like.. 'I could go..if that's OK with you...but I could not achieve a great deal.' This man controls the country that built the biggest empire television has ever seen ( apologies to Monty Python)
I have argued that if Blair had opposed the Iraq war he would now be the outstanding politician in the world. Also Bush would have struggled to build a coalition of the willing. Who is in the coalition... apart from Italy,(leaving) Japan ( leaving) and Haliburton? Bush would also have US troops in Basra, close to Iran and US casualties would be even greater( although still not critical).
'Support for the war reached 63% in April 2003, in the wake of early military success. Now a narrow majority of voters - 51% - believe it was unjustified, the highest proportion for more than two years.' The Guardian noted. Less support the Israeli 'intervention'
The Israelis can claim they were being attacked.. what can we say?..But were they? Tanya Reinhart, of Tel Aviv University, has suggested that Israel encourages attacks specifically to counter them big style, although I do not believe that with the present level of tension much encouragement is needed.
It is so odd that this all happened so close to US elections, however I am not suggesting that there was any obvious link, not being a supporter of conspiracies. The US regime would not be so crass as to try to divert attention away from their attempts to democratise the Arab world..would it?
Allen Roland today described minute planning by Israel and the US and Rob Kall maintained there will be an attack on Iran. Makes you yearn for the safety and security of the past. Another era of close relations with the States.
In "Back to the Future", Doc comments that it is no surprise that Reagan, an actor, became President, as he was so adept at TV presentation. I disagreed. Reagan was never an actor. Doc's point though, was spot on.
The pauses that might have been carefully weighted concern, the appropriate smiles, the age-defying hair-do, all made Reagan electable. ( My spell check does not like" electable" ...interestingly profound for a machine.....it suggests "delectable"!)
Reagan learned his art through the years in a series of B films, but was never as awful as folk lore would have it. No decent scripts, except for "King's Row", for which he got a lot of praise and the line.. " Where's the rest of me?". I heard a cameraman say that Reagan could always tell which camera was switched on and was never caught out looking "non presidential."
This is so important, here as well as in the States and a sign of triumph of style over substance. Roosevelt, arguably the greatest president, walked stiffly and ended up in a wheel chair. Despite some progress and anti-discriminatory legislation, this would not happen here. Michael Foot, a former Labour leader was head and shoulders above Westminster intellectually, but..had thick glasses! He quickly disappeared.
He was a hugely experienced and hard working man but with a walking stick! He was a life long anti Nazi with a proud war record, but ...wore a duffle coat to the Cenotaph,the war memorial in London. Reagan wore smart suits and too, had a good war record. He was a captain in one film.
Reagan was his union's representative, but let's not be fooled into thinking this meant any higher consciousness, or concern for workers in general. This is a US union. I remember a Teamster's man saying that they had achieved great change in the US. "All our trucks have air conditioning." I think Wall Street is safe for a while yet. Reagan quickly adapted to Red baiting and was valuable as poacher- turned- game keeper. He knew the ones who were suspect. They were his ex-friends!
His looks and reputation took him to the office of Governor of California. This does not seem such a huge thing, now that Jesse Ventura, the wrestler and Arnie have done likewise, but for a poor boy with no real talent, this was... the pinnacle of his life? No it was not. He became president to everybody here's disbelief. Never again would such a thick right winger grace the White House (ho ho).
"King's Row" was Reagan's favourite film and he watched it a lot in the White House, where he kept a copy handy. Rumour had it that he made visiting Heads of State watch it as well. Of course they would not complain. I imagine that some dictator would be asked just how brilliant it was before the arms sales were discussed.
"Mister President Words fail me. I cannot describe how great you were." "Oh I think you can... Try" .. "Very Well Mister President. A cross between .....Brando and ....Fonda" " These are reds . You're getting 3 surplus hand grenades".
Ronnie brought us "Reaganomics" a bold and successful plan to stop rich people paying, firstly too much tax, then any tax at all. This was highly popular amongst the rich and soon the government debt was such, that harsh no action at all, was taken.
Spending on the military was increased. Someone with a mental age of 8 could have predicted problems but, unfortunately, there was no one of such stature available as he was a Republican.
Next Ronnie loves Maggie..true.
