I'm going to try a simultaneous commentary on the Prime Minister's speech on Afghanistan.
He's speaking now here.
At the present a gent that I (having come in late) I take to be the Lord Mayor is verbalising well. He is extolling the City of London, reminds me of Lord Lawlor.
He's mentioning charities emanating from the City. I probably missed the bit where he thanks the us the people, for their charitable donations of £3000 per head.
Gordon is about to come on.
Toot toot (fanfare).
BG: Hello everyone, thanks. Today I am going to tell you about
- Climate change,
- Multilateralism,
- global rules for prosperity,
- NPT,
- Afpak, (stronger counterinsurgency)
- and a New World Order.
There are Causes worth Fighing For.
Good stuff can happen:
Fall of Berlin wall, Mandela out of jail &c.
Yesterday's dream becomes todays impossibility and can become tomorrows reality.
We need strong alliances. Multilateral cooperation. Collective action. Recession, climate, &c. International action is necessary.
We must lead in global cooperation.
1 Climate Change.
International legal treaty asap.
2 Secure world economy.
- Restructuring banks...
- Fiscal stimulus
- world economy will double in size in 20yrs.
Trade abroad = jobs at home.
There must be a new contract of trust between banks and public.
Must address
Burma, Zimbabwe &c
Global Poverty.
3 Nukes:
- Bargain between NWS/NNWS
- NNWS renounce NW, get NP.
- NWS must make credible road map on Nuclear Disarmament.
Iran - end of year deadline to do something about terrorism.
[I'm missing bits. Gordon's breaking up. The feed I mean].
Tribute to soldiers. First bit of applause.
We are disrupting alQaeda (AQ) 7/12 AQ leaders killed. Sapping morale.
28000 Pakistani forces squeezing AQ in S Waziristan.
AQ atrocities.
200 persons convicted of terrorist offences since 2001.
AQ has extensive recruitment network
[RL: Recruiting sergeant No 1 is at the podium now.]
No appeasement. Public opinion is "the mood of a passing moment".
[RL: That's us!!]
We have a new Document on Partnering.
We're saved then! Hurray!!
Corruption is Bad and Something Must be Done.
RL: Opium is the food of corruption.
Passing districts to Afghan control, progressive Afghanisation til the cows come home. (or was that "boys"?)
If Taleban regain power, AQ will flourish.
Global society must become a reality.
Construction of a New Global Order.
We have every reason to be confident about our prospects.
[RL: so that's all right then. I have a bit worried lately.]
Architects of a New World that can truly become a Global Society.
er...
..that's it.
Well. Well-a well-a well.
Good stuff Gordon. You read it well, and you looked craggy and solid as Buaichlle Etive Mor on a windswept November night.
Great words. Who could disagree with most of it, apart from barking neo-cons who are allergic to words like "social" or "Co-operation".
What we need now is to get a few concepts and ideas to attach to the words, and the political will to realise the concepts and ideas, and off we jolly well go...
...except, between the word and the action falls the Abyss of indecision and mental conservatism.
And advisors who advise against even thinking about buying the opium.
Interesting that the Guardian and the BBC seemed not to mention the scope of Gordon's speech. Not that I noticed. They just reported the Afghan bit.
ReplyDeleteWhat he said was important. Yes, broad brush easy stuff, but nonetheless, maybe the British Prime Minister does have influence in international meetings.
The Tobin remark he made; the meejah jumped on it as a mistake that got squashed by US &c; but it is a Good Plan, and the only people who hate it are the banksters. Well they can go and Carter-Ruck themselves for all we care. We want Tobin. There's a link below to a No 10 petition on Tobin.
The media give a very narrow view on stuff. You gan get a better view on the Web.