Tariq Ali Om Tony Blair

Tariq Ali tar ett tårögt farväl av Tony Blair. (Om man har hört Ali tala "live" så att säga, så tycker jag nog han ändå var oväntat mild i kritiken i avskedsartikeln.) Han hyser inga större förhoppningar om hans efterträdare, även om denne läser böcker. Ali citerar en tidigare rådgivare till Blair, Sir Rodric Braithwaite, som skrivit följande i Financial Times, förra året:

"A spectre is stalking British television, a frayed and waxy zombie straight from Madame Tussaud's. This one, unusually, seems to live and breathe. Perhaps it comes from the Central Intelligence Agency's box of technical tricks, programmed to spout the language of the White House in an artificial English accent...

Mr Blair has done more damage to British interests in the Middle East than Anthony Eden, who led the UK to disaster in Suez 50 years ago. In the past 100 years--to take the highlights--we have bombed and occupied Egypt and Iraq, put down an Arab uprising in Palestine and overthrown governments in Iran, Iraq and the Gulf. We can no longer do these things on our own, so we do them with the Americans. Mr Blair's total identification with the White House has destroyed his influence in Washington, Europe and the Middle East itself: who bothers with the monkey if he can go straight to the organ-grinder?..."