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THAT DAMNED GORDON GRIN!

PLEASE can I be disassociated, in the eyes of America and the world, from that J Gordon Brown gormless grin? If ever a grin lacked gorm - it is the Grin of J Gormless Brown.

He sat beside the Mighty Obama, representing Britain, with Lincoln looking on (Churchill would have growled, audibly) and told the world just what a clown this mother of a democracy has elevated to Nuclear Buttonhood.

After Brown the deluge? It won't bother to turn up!

No Brass BrAssed OFF
Where there's Muck there's Brass
That used 2 b the case

The Mucky Brown Brass Neck
(not real brass, more like plasTic/RUBber
has lost the lot

2 Trillion Quids worth of our Brass,Brassed off all by itself,
According 2 the NU NON Top Brass
Its called brown magHic/ups

As a result of the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team there has been much debate about the security of such teams in future. There has even been mention of Pakistan becoming a failed nation. What has been little debated, almost as if there is a conspiracy of silence, is what we do when Pakistan actually collapses into anarchy.

It is a key country at the centre of the worst global hot-spots; from Gaza to Afghanistan. It is the home of the Taliban, and Al Quaeda, the best trained terrorists in the world. It is also the home of a very fragile military, also trained to a high standard by the US and especially by the CIA. As such it is already, potentially, the greatest threat of all to world peace.

Then, of course, there is the one fact of which nobody dare speak: it is a nation with nuclear capability, and delivery systems. The US worries about whether Iran, or North Korea, will get the bomb; yet these are not failed nations. On the other hand, with the help of the US, and the UK, Pakistan already has the capability and is well on the way to failed nation status. Yet, where millions or words are wasted on the other nations, nobody seems to have any viable plans for Pakistan. When will Al Quaeda launch the first nuclear bombs? Where will they go; India, Israel, or us? Is there any solution, or do we have to continue the fiction that it is a valuable ally?

Post 1 Barrie

We/I are singing the same song/dirge

I do hope the President has locked up his Jewels, before the Gormless brown one losses them.

It was nae me he cries
yeah right, Marbells plot gold n brass lost in space

On the one hand Gordon Brown is not a goose stepper. Thats something.

On the other Labour are trying to seamlessly present themselves as not having done any thing wrong - yet to reassure people that lessons have been learned.

Clear unambiguous messages at this time of great crisis.

Worst of all Ed Milliband looked as though he was enjoying claiming the benefit and yet rejecting the cost. I am sure many viewers would have reacted the same way so perhaps he's not as clever as he thinks he is.

Its an absurd notion that the Iron Chancellor gave us years of continued growth but in one bound he was a helpless victim strapped to a run away economic train by greedy bankers.

Nobody could have foreseen the crisis he laments.

But some people did and if regulators and thence risk managers had been allowed to do their jobs uninhibited by political interference then there might not have been such a crisis.

The banks were not forced to take on sub-prime loans were they?

Globalisation was an issue in the wall St Crash so its been around for a long while.

Are Ye Feart or are ye Feel FF
Are ye Sad or are ye Stupid SS
Are ye Dozy or are ye Dumb/Daft DD
Are ye Nosy or are ye Nothing NN
Are ye Friendly or are ye Friendless FF
Are ye Lovely or are ye Loveless LL
Are ye Bad or are ye Badder BB
Are ye UP or are ye Upside down/doon UU
Are ye Queer or are you Quierees QQ
Are ye Bloody or Bloodless BB (reprise)
Are ye Evil or Eveless EE (buy gum)
Are Full of Life or are you Full o shiet
Are ye Brainy or are ye Brainless BB (again)
Are ye Canny or are ye Canless CC
Are Gormfull or are ye Gormless GG
Are you IntelliGent or Intelint/lent/less
Are ye Carefull or Careless CC (who ye like)
Are ye Kind or Kindless/kINDLE KK (clan)
aRE YE LIMITED or are ye Limitless LL
Are ye Murder or are ye Murderless MM
Are ye Nothing or are ye Nothingless NN
Are ye Oral or are ye Oralless OO
Are ye Piss or are ye Pissless PP (can Iball a pee please bob)
Are ye Que or are ye Queless QQ
Are UseFull or Useless UU (who arese U)
Are ye Rubbish or are Rubbishless RR
Are ye Softer or are ye Softer/ish SS (we no them)
Are ye Tough or are ye Tougher TT (its a Racial thing)
Are ye VicTory or are ye Victorious VV
Are ye X or are ye X ? XX
Are Why or are ye Y YY
Are ye Zebra or ZEE Bra Less ZZ

THAT DAMNED 'BLAIR GLOTTAL'

Limited Ed Miliband lived up to his limitations tonight, as he bumbled smiley nothings back at Jeremy. I lost count of the number of times he used the 'Blairoik' form of 'what' rendered: wo'. Thankfully, his brother has, more or less, woken up to the fact that Great Tony has now put aside childish things and is doing God's work - albeit slowly where the Promised Land is concerned. But Limited Ed, true to his soubriquet, still perseveres.

So we have a PM who can't smile, and can't understand that we can - and can tell the difference; with a minister who chooses not to speak proper English because of a childish aping of the previous PM, that 'stuck'.

How does it look to you, people of the world? Would you let such poor calibre individuals run your country? We have plenty more like those two in Westminster; it's a sort of British idiosyncracy.

By the way the CIA speaker, though his contribution was valid and interesting, did emphasize the inexperience of President Obama.

You could argue that the CIA via their aid to the Talibs and Mujahadeen in the Soviet era helped make the CIA and Osama bin Laden the force it is today!

You could also say that Tenet the then head of the CIA should have worked harder to make Bush hear the al Qaeda alarm prior to 9/11.

WMD anybody?

Sometimes practical intelligence is more important than experience?

Also it sounds as though Mumbai was on the radar of the intelligence community, and coordintaion broke down within India. You would expect that with a major terrorist operation abroad.

Within Pakistan its harder, I assume, but was there anything on the radar this time or was this a bolt from the blue that undermines the ISI credibility? I am sure 95% of them are very brave hard working people.

Liz McColgan got to the (broken) heart of the matter, as she so often does. Life seems an absolute lottery for children these days, whether they are with their own birth parents or not. These Leicester children are so brave.

Perhaps Sir Frederick would like to contribute to causes like the Prince's Trust? (Calling him Sir Fred, as is now the fashion, seems rather too affectionate.) Or perhaps he could found a trust of his own?

Does anyone else feel it's strange the reason Jareth and the other children/teenagers were due to leave state care seemed to elude Liz Mackean: reaching adulthood?

Neither, "...but that changes when he [Jareth] turns eighteen and leaves care..." and "...as Jareth turns eighteen...", were followed by, "...and becomes an adult..."

Liz Mackean seems to be another member of the media who has become caught-up in society's mass hysteria regarding 'child protection' and no longer understands who qualifies as a child.

Not a day goes by, either in a newspaper, on the radio or on T.V., without eighteen-year-olds and nineteen-year-olds being referred to, simultaneously, as teenagers and adults. Which is it? Do you reach adulthood at eighteen or twenty? Are shops filled with 'eighteenth' greetings cards or 'twentieth' greetings cards?

Whilst it was obvious, from the report, that eighteen-year-olds still require state support, it should be clear, to anyone who has kept his head during the past few years of 'child protection' and 'paedophilia' hysteria, why eighteen is the cut-off date.

You know it's right!


ed

ed

In the lead report on Pakistan it said that Benazhir Bhutto had been assassinated shortly after becoming President. In fact she was assassinated whilst campaigning to become Prime Minister. Moreover, she was likely killed from the force of a bomb blast rather than the bullets of a gun as the report suggested.

Cynical Politics

America is mainly interested in bringing together member countries of the EU, and securing continuous military cooperation in Afghanistan through its special relationship with the UK. It is not wonder that Gordon's global plan to combat economics crisis receives little attention from the new US president. UK needs to more actively pursue its own interests to survive this financial storm. Our interests with the US don't always converge, ask the US to do something for us, favor should return both ways.

i officially protest the report on pakistan on tuesday 3 march 2009 at Â鶹ԼÅÄ Newsnight as it did not have any spokesman from pakistan govt and declared pakistan to the brink, a bias analyst Mr. Goel who will never speak in favour of Pakistan was asked to comment ignoring the rivalry between two states, especially when indian hand could not be ruled out in that part of the land.bad journalism.

there were security failures but no one was there to comment, we have high commissioner in london too, Mr. Paxman.

And Pkaistan is there to survive, if afghanisatn, zimbabwe, somalia, and iraq can why not pakistan, so lets behave in the community of nation with a principle of live and let live. Pakistan is loosing alot by being a stooge to west and in return west is gossiping of its downfall, why not rescind its help and guess can west survive in afghanistan without pakistani help.

amjad malik, a solicitor

MR. ZARDARI REMAINED MR. ZARDARI AFTERALL :

I wrote on 7 September 2008 that the litmus test for Mr. Zardari to prove whether he is an ‘don’ or an originator of a new dawn of democracy in Pakistan depends on his progress on 5 things: a) how he handles absolute power, b) his party, c) chief justice issue, d) charter of democracy and e) foreign policy. Looking at his performance in first 12 months, it is unfortunate that he is trailing on all. He could not father the nation and confined himself to the meager position of his party chairmanship and handles his party petty matters at President House, thus making it virtually impossible to look at PML with the same affection as required by the constitution bring his very office into a conflict & disrepute. He enjoys all the powers which ideally should have been assigned to his party premier, but he did not. Drone attacks and missiles in Fata are still falling randomly, a bitter reality, and he has not taken concrete steps to implement sacred historic charter duly signed by his wife in London on 14 May 2006 which has a hope for the nation in decades to come. He not only backed out on his promises, & written agreements on judiciary, but humiliated the chief justice and went one step ahead by appointing higher court judges on whole sale basis without consensus, and consultation with provincial Govt in question & his partners in COD, thus he violated the charter which can save the Federation and civil rule in the country. He gathered a team of non elected commodity around him and has cornered opposition. He has ordered Governor Rule and let loose his fiery aide in Punjab to blow fire on opposition leaders. First he lost credibility of his words, his faith in democracy and now his respect amongst his peers.

PPP leadership has been enjoying the safe haven of UK and abroad to fight their corruption cases as well as advancing their activity of political and civil rights in Pakistan. Nawaz Sharif was in exile too. Both BB & Nawaz signed a social charter in the end realizing the best way out to bring Pakistan to a viable state of civil rule. PPP always advocated for true democracy in the country. However, once they are in power they are adopting the very unfair means against which political parties have been fighting for last 9 years. They are unwilling to give the opposition the same rights which they were demanding for almost the whole decade for themselves. Ignoring ‘Charter of Democracy’ will wipe out the spirit of reconciliation in Pakistan and will end normal political activity and era of 90’s will return by default. Politicians after seeing off 3 martial laws covering nearly four decades must learn a lesson from history and they must work jointly for rule of law, justice and democracy on the principle of live and let live in the country and initiate joint collaboration on ‘COD’ on emergency basis. If popular politicians are kept out of Parliament, then ultimately decisions will be made on streets which will be tragedy for the State which is in a volatile situation at the moment due to ongoing war on terror, bleak law and order situation where Sri Lankan team left during an unfinished test match and west is advising their citizens not to visit Pakistan, drone attacks laughing at the face of foreign policy, and country’s poverty ridden people with weaker institution(s). In this economic melt down a popular slogan of his govt ‘roti, kapra aur makan’ seems like a dream.

PPP and the Govt must honour the pledges and agreements of its leadership on Chief Justice and Charter of Democracy and Chief Executive should ensure that reconciliation efforts must speed up and must take all actions necessary to invite the opposition to remain in the Parliament and erect a time frame for the implementation of Charter of Democracy. Following urgent actions may send a signal of positive ‘confidence building measures’ and may attempt to solve the tension between both the heavy weights: a) Govt of Pakistan must initiate an action to review the Supreme Court decision and either file a review and or repeal the judgement of SC to show that they have full intentions to respect the opposing leadership in order to bring them to a dialogue; b) Governor rule must end forthwith; and provincial assembly special session is called to allow election of its Parliamentary leader and in this respect a mandate of a major political party PML(N) must be respected; c) 2 November 2007 judges must be restored at once as per agreement of the ruling party of 9 March 2008 to gain respect in the eyes of general public; d) Parliament session must be called immediately to repeal 17th amendment with consensus; and e) A time frame is chalked out to implement the ‘Charter of Democracy’ in its letter and spirit.’ If COD is implemented, then tussle between two may not remain. If the rule of the game are respected, and referees are independent then civil system remains intact, otherwise long term military dictatorship, shorter civilian rule and accountability on the name of corruption will be the legacy these political rulers will leave behind for the generations to come.

I have strong reservation on the role of West too. It is time that Western countries who are ready to broker deals in order to sponsor the imports of defunct leaders to Pakistan must take notice of barring opposition & the plight of deposed Chief Justice and the lawyers movement and they must impress upon Mr. Zardari to honour the pledges and give space to the opposition. If the West fails to make it clear strongly, we may miss the opportunity to have rule of law, justice and democracy in Pakistan for a long period to come which will destabilize the country & struggle for civil rights and will increase militancy and radicalization in the region.

Looking at the performance of Mr. Zardari’s team when his legal eagles are vigorously defending his poorly managed decisions & ordinances, it reminds us the performance of Wasi Zafar, Qayum and Qasuri, in not too distant past, and their fate in the end too. His media team is doing a hard job too and similar to that when we saw Sheikh Rashid, Afghan and Durrani selling a wrong stuff to the nation on the issue of exiled leadership and chief justice. He has not even learnt from the counter protesting rallies of 12 May when his own party was a victim at the hands of violence, and of course, violence breeds intolerance in return. Musharraf could not win even by showing fists and gathering millions with horse dance at Islamabad, as public likes humility and Govts never stage protests and rallies for and against their own performances, its the prerogative of opposition. Political parties must realise that their workers are loose cannons and once they are out they are like swords drawn, and President Zardari is making life difficult for both major parties by remaining partisan and if they are confronted, it will wipe out ever a chance of having a healthy democracy in Pakistan. I am afraid Mr. Zardari could not get out of the shell and remained limited to the spouse status of the former Premier, Be Nazir Bhuttoo, a legendary, remarkable, charismatic leader full of intellect, and astute political sharpness. Alas, we could not see torch bearers of democracy acting as democrats in the end when time came, and Pakistan again stands alone calling out loud for help inviting to the elite, is there anyone who can save Pakistan by following the Quaid e Azam’s command of unity, faith and discipline. I am afraid rulers are on leave.

Excellent interview by Jeremy with Michael Scheuer & Mohsin Hamid on the current mess in Pakistan as it almost seems to be a failed/failing state. Also loved Jeremy's interview with Ed Milliband at his worst :p

Looks like neither of the parties can moan about expenses at the moment - they are all just as bad - as pointed out by Michael!

Very moving report by Liz :o)

When it comes to security matters, it is Frank Gardner who usually has some insights to offer.

Too bad that the 3 March Lahore incident was commented upon reporter
(Richard Watson) and armchair commentators (Sajan Gohel and Patrick Mercer) who haven't event set foot on Pakistan soil for months if not years.

Their comments were typical, based on hearsay and speculation did not substantially reflected if before volunteering their opinions they even consulted any genuine expertise close to the ground for updating their observations.

One aspect missing from the incident's coverage was the fact that 6 police/security personnel engaged and distracted the attackers, took the brunt on themselves and led the Lankan team escape to safety. Why those unsung heroes and victims not accorded appropriate mention?

Richard Watson is an outstanding journalist who is highly experienced in reporting terrorist act/activities and investigating them.

As for Sajjan Gohel and Patrick Mercer - they are NOT "armchair commentators" - Gohel is the Director for International Security at the Asia Pacific Foundation, and Mercer was in the army, and received an MBE and an OBE as well as being a former Defence Reporter for the Today Programme, and is a member of the Â鶹ԼÅÄ Affairs Select Committee. These are both experts!!!!!

Not!
;-)
ed

Dog Watch

37. At 8:37pm on 03 Mar 2009, ecolizzy
This comment is awaiting moderation. Explain.

The above from Monday's thread. That makes a 17 hour delay on moderation. Is this a record? So not only is the Newsnight blog PRE-moderated (as are all Â鶹ԼÅÄ children's blogs) but it takes an inordinate time to do it. Not very helpful in keeping a lively exchange going.

'An arrest warrant is issued by the International Criminal Court for Sudan's president '

Hoorah, I hope, as its not clear what knock on effects this will have on aid and stability.

I wonder if the Chinese will surmise that as they had nothing to do with it it is not in their interests to obstruct or oppose the execution of the warrant.

I assume at some point he may get snatched?

At least somebody is trying to do something about the appalling suffering and inhumanity rather than shuffling awkwardly in their seats at the UN.

Another idea (probably Newsnight is way ahead of me so apologies if so) but on Mexico:
'Last month, the police chief in Ciudad Juarez, Roberto Orduna, stepped down after drugs gangs threatened to kill at least one police officer every two days until he quit.'

The troops are in Ciudad Juarez.

How deep and corrosive is the corruption? Is Mexican organised crime going to have a de-stabilising effect on depression USA? Will money laundering be easier or more difficult in todays environment?
Is law and order breaking down in Mexico (I seem to recall rape statistics that would make the UK blush)? Is there a knock on effect to central America - e.g. competition or cooperation with Venezuela?

SOFA MANAGEMENT (#21)

Hi New Fazer. I, had been keeping an eye on that one. Looks as if the Blogdog has pushed it under the cyber-sofa and lost interest. Must be a Human Rights issue by now surely?

Barrie, Must be a

"Human Rights issue by now surely?"

Pakistan

Sorry to be blunt , but until the Afghan Government and Western (NATO) Governments agree a Afghan Opium Strategy, the narco money will be used to destabilize surrounding countries and countries further afield.

Mr Brown

HA

Spelman

Good find , now go after the big fish please !

Mistress76uk (#19) "Richard Watson is an outstanding journalist who is highly experienced in reporting terrorist act/activities and investigating them."

They are rare events though are they not?

He may well beas you say (I don't know), but I do feel uncomfortable when he presents, as he always seems to be looking for trouble and finding it. Now that may be what 'outstanding journalists' do, but in teh waker of Poliicy Exchange's antics and other 'think thanks' what I would like to see and hear more of (now that we are no longer to use the term 'war on terror') is an even handed, critical examination of the two sides to this conflict, which is essentially, Israel vs Islam (especially Palestine and Iran).

I appreciate that Israel is a western friend, but so is Pakistan, and most of the people we see paraded on these programmes are UK citizens who have at least some just grievances, and are the fastest growing element of our population (long with other S Asian Muslims).

It serves Israel's interests to get as many in the West on her side, and I am concerned that there is a lot of that to this.

what a good job we have the Newsnight blog column as a previous post had what could have been the Gettysburg address it was that long! It is a good job he is sat at a computer otherwise I fear for the safety of his neighbours...really, sir CALM DOWN

Sarah (Jeremy)

PAKISTAN
It is a truly horrible day for the people of Pakistan and also, a troublematic day for the people of Sri Lanka....

(**//**)

Also tonight, are we kidding ourselves about a "new" special relationship with the US?

I think that the U.S. and the U.K. will always have a 'special' relationship..

(**//**)

'NANNYGATE'
I hope that this entire problem can be sorted out quickly...

(**//**)

'LEAVING CARE'
I hope that these young folks get the necessary resources...

~Dennis Junior~

"From our terror specialist, Richard Watson

As 'The War on Terror' has been put to bed, who are our 'terror specialists' working on behalf of? Is it Israel or is it just Neo-Liberal business interests? I think we should know.