The Quartet of Middle East mediators is considering naming Tony Blair
for a top peacemaking post, diplomats say.
Mr Blair steps down on Wednesday as UK prime minister and officials from
the EU, Russia, the UN and US are working to define a possible new role
for him.

It is the Quartet's first meeting since Hamas militants took control of
security from pro-Fatah rivals in Gaza.

The US has signalled its desire for a role for Mr Blair, but many Arabs
see him as too pro-American and Israeli.

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I say this is like letting the fox into the chicken coop!!

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Btw I now have a stable internet connection ... so Im back!!!

Yes, looks like the US are looking for a puppet to pull the
strings.

Welcome back

Hiya Duncan


Why not Elmer Fudd? They might at least take him seriously!

yep ... I hear Mickey Mouse has a Tony Blair wristwatch!!

I will be amazed if he actually gets the job. I hope the Arabs do turn
him down.

But getting someone without a vested interest in the region will be as
rare as finding rocking horse 5hit

True, but Tony Blair is just a US addy, so he shouldn't even have been
mentioned.
Everybody is biased this way or the other, but Blair played a very
active role, while others refused to do so.

Hey, Duncan!

Naming Blair to any role in the Middle East is silly, of course. His
credibility went down the tubes a long time ago.

The Quartet itself is a separate problem. The concept was cobbled
together to create an appearance of multilateralism on the issue of the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It is an unworkable recipe of Oslo,
Madrid, the US "Peace process", AIPAC influence (the blind support of
the US for Israel), the EU (as if the EU had a coherent or relevant
'policy' toward that conflict, Russia, and the UN.

The UN is the only one of these entities that actually does anything
useful in the conflict, largely through its humanitarian efforts.
Initially, the UN also had an active envoy tackling the conflict, but
when the Quartet was formed any independence of action by the UN and the
envoy was subordinated to the workings of the Quartet generally and the
specific constraints imposed on it by the US. The political work of the
Envoy was essentially eliminated by the US in its service to Israel.

If anyone wants to know more about this, please let me know via email.
There is an important paper, by the last Envoy, that everyone interested
in this subject should read.

So....to appoint Blair to be the Quartet's envoy will simply be to
saddle a dysfunctional pseudo-organization with a dysfunctional and
pseudo-diplomat.... It won't do any harm, but it will give the political
cartoonists a field day.

The hope. always, is that the US will support some representative who
will actually be able to think for himself and make a difference. The
last who qualified was Paul Wolfensohn (not to be confused with Paul
Wolfowitz!!!) who did some good work against imposing odds during the
Israeli partial withdrawal from Gaza.

Like the recent UN Envoy to the Middle East, Wolfensohn ended up
disgusted at the willingness of the US government to subordinate the
interests of the US to those of Israel. I suppose the major worry about
Blair is that he might continue simply to be the de facto lapdog of
Israel.

Whew!

Thanks for bearing with me. Lots of detail here, I know, but this is a
question where the devil does indeed exist in the details.



Oceans

Blair has been forced out by his party, so that they can win the next
election, but he is a seasoned politician with many years left.

So he is trying to get himself a job so that Cherie doesnt have to
support him from her meagre £200,000 a year job as a QC.

She has obviously given him the "I dont want you lounging around the
house all day, get a job" speech!

And what would be wrong with a bit of "HONEST" work???????

Sorry, I cant see Blair serving sausage and egg MacMuffins on the A1
service station, or working in a call centre ...

Honest work for Blair would be really hard to find .. he is the worlds
best liar!

Cartoon character? I guess Elmer Fudd has that job already.
How about stand up comedy?

Only the second best, I think GWB beats him by many lengths.

Duncan, what is a QC? "Queen's Counsel"???



Oceans

wow are there no honest peoples left?

or is it only the meak

Exactly, Oceans. It is the top level of barrister.
we have a two tier system here. Solicitors do the majority of the
preparation and barristers actually do thearguing in high court.

QC is indeed Queen's Counsel, and they command huge sums of money for
doing the same job as a solicitor would do.

Most QCs become judges of the crown

Are you guys in Europe picking up anything more on Blair? There had been a dearth of hard new news in the ast couple of days, here.

I do know that there was string opposition to the notion of using Blair in any capacity regarding the Israeli-Palestinian situation.

BTW, have you read Alavaro de Soto's final report on his work as the UN's envoy to the Quartet and to the Israelis/Palestinians?

It is a significant document.


How's Amsterdam?

Oceans

Amsterdam is awesome .. but then it always is.

Its my equivalent to the Batcave.

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Blair got the job!

But who will talk to him????

The Palestinians will have him to tea. The Israelis will have him to tea. They can all use the other to make themselves look good, but beyond the pr, what????



Oceans

The point is that he is high profile.

He is the only PM that has lasted more than 10 years since the war (apart from Maggie T.)

So, they are using his profile to put a smiley face to the troubles.

You know as well I, that politicians dont do the negotiating. Its the diplomats who have been trained to talk to each other that are the actual instigators of policy and a plan.

He will be a figurehead that is easily recognisable.

Neither the Palestinian nor the Israelis HAVE to talk to him. They will talk to the Jordanians, who will talk to the Egyptians who will talk to the Brits who will talk to the Americans.

The talking heads and the journalists will see Blair and the israelis, and Blair and the Arabs.

Look at the Camp David accord with Jimmy Carter. Did he really debate with the two sides?

Just because he was a high profile character he got them to stand in front of the journalists.

Same with Blair and the Catholics/Protestans of Ireland. (Although that has long been a drug turf war than a sectarian issue)

I think the right senior leaders can make quite a difference, e.g, for the US, Richardson re. N. Korea, Holbrooke, re. Bosnia, Wolfensohn re. the Palestinians.

Of course, they have to have the backing of the national leader.

So the right envoy to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict could make a big difference. Of course, you are right, they have staff who are indispensable, but it takes a senior and skilled and knowledgeable leader to create the right terms of reference for the staffers, and to lend them political strength to back their work.

It is so tempting to hope that Blair might surprise us all and be such a person. Stranger things have happened.....

Hope! Hope! Hope!

Awwww, forget it.

Iran has already said "over my dead and festering body", so I cant see this being a popular move.