Tag: tony blair

New Wikileaks cable?

I’ll be honest: I hesitated to put up this link to what claims to be a Wikileaked cable regarding issues with the US/UK special relationship during the previous administration. I truly did. I have long made it clear that I take our security classification system likely, and I subscribe wholeheartedly to the notion that some things are and should be on a need-to-know basis. In a very real sense, linking to this alleged cable can be seen as a certain betrayal of trust.

But I wouldn’t link if I didn’t think that my readers should see this; so here you go. I will totally understand if you don’t want to click on through – or whether you have long-term problems with me for putting it up in the first place.

http://www.ding.net/wikileaks/234867.txt

Moe Lane (crosspost)

PS: I had somebody who does have a security clearance look at it; that person couldn’t authenticate the cable, but I was told that the header is in a format that’s consistent with standard American classification language. So there’s that.

White House hanging on until Blair shows up?

American Elephants hopes that the administration is delaying making a decision on Afghanistan until Tony Blair becomes the first President of the EU.  The idea being, it’d give the White House moral reinforcement:

Now we all know Tony Blair has his head on straight about both the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and resolutely so. Is Obama then waiting for Blair’s leadership to give him the political cover to send more troops to Afghanistan?

Well… it’d be both a good idea and a personally satisfying scenario*, so I think that nobody should count on it happening. After the President’s unforced error yesterday in Copenhagen it’s no longer safe to assume that this administration’s strategic planning abilities are up to even minimum standards. It’s much more likely that the White House simply doesn’t know what to do next. Which does mean that they might seize upon enlisting Blair’s support – but if they do, it’ll probably be out of desperation. Which means that people still won’t be able to assume that any forethought went into the decision.

Just the way it goes.

Moe Lane

PS: “President” of the European Union for an unelected position may not be technically incorrect, but it’s a little eyebrow-raising.  Why didn’t they just call the position “Premier?”

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