PM urged: Stand up to Bush and call for ceasefire

[cal04]

Tony Blair will face fresh pressure over the Middle East crisis today when he arrives in Washington to meet President George Bush. Senior Downing Street aides said the two leaders intended to show the world they were seeking an urgent end to the hostilities in Lebanon, despite the failure of the much vaunted Rome summit on Wednesday to deliver a unified call for a truce.

Israel's Justice Minister, Haim Ramon, added to the pressure yesterday, when he interpreted that indecision as a green light to continue the bloody assault on Lebanon.

"We received yesterday at the Rome conference permission from the world... to continue the operation," he told reporters.

The Prime Minister's visit takes place as 42 leading figures in politics, diplomacy, academia and the media put their names to a declaration urging Mr Blair to tell the President that Britain "can no longer support the American position on the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in the Middle-East". Their declaration, printed on the front page of today's Independent, calls on the Prime Minister to "make urgent representations to Israel to end its disproportionate and counter-productive response to Hizbollah's aggression".

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/article1201307.ece

[uppityperson]

1. cool, k&r for the signers

[babylonsister]

2. Permission NOT granted, you lying sack of crap (not you, cal04):

EU denies giving Israel green light Updated at 9:30 PM

Staff and agencies
Thursday July 27, 2006
Guardian Unlimited

The European Union rebuked the Israeli government today after its justice minister claimed "permission from the world" to press on with its Lebanon campaign.

Haim Ramon, who is a close ally of the prime minister, Ehud Olmert, said failure at yesterday's Rome conference to agree on an immediate ceasefire in the 16-day-old crisis amounted to a green light for Israel to continue its offensive.

As both sides stepped up their rocket and missile attacks and Israel called up more reserves, the Finnish foreign minister, Erkki Tuomioja, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, called the interpretation "totally wrong" and said the fighting should stop immediately. "Most of the countries, including the European Union, <...> specifically want an immediate halt to the hostilities," he said.

The German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, called Mr Ramon's words "a gross misinterpretation".

<more>

[rodeodance]

7. it is like the Repugs saying We have a mandate!

[ananda]

3. geez, what a lying piece of..

.. propaganda just spewed out of the Israeli minister's mouth.

The truth is that all the nations wanted an immediate cease fire except the USA.

Then there was the clip of Condi playing Brahms for the foreign ministers...
Condi plays while Lebanon burns.

Words fail.

[liberalhistorian]

4. Apparently, the British press is far more

intelligent and non-propogandistic than our own sorry, useless pressititute whores. And what in the hell is up with Blair, anyway? Why is he turning into Bush's poodle, when, by all rights, he should damn well know better? Especially when it's cost him so much support.

[babylonsister]

6. My theory is that Blair is in so deep at this point that he has to

support all dimson's lameass ideas. And his constituents can see through that and can't stand him because of it.

[saigon68]

8. He's infatuated with "The Singing Cowboy"

[babylonsister]

9. Arggghhh! nt

[Cha]

11. Oh man, I hope

blair has to see that.

[Cha]

10. Even sitting there in full

view while bush chaws with his mouth open talkin' shit.

[Greeby]

5. Can't read the names

Anyone know where I can find a list?

[Cha]

12. CAn't you go to the

Independent's website and look around?

[Greeby]

13. Did, and there was nothing

I'll have to wait until I see the frontpage at the newsstands this morning. (it's nearly 4am right now)

[Cha]

14. You're up late!

Please let us know who all signed..this is getting weird for tony.

[Eugene]

15. Guardian: Blair to tell Bush: we need a ceasefire

Blair to tell Bush: we need a ceasefire

Drawn out Lebanon crisis will boost militants across Arab world, PM fears

Ewen MacAskill, Simon Tisdall and Michael White
Friday July 28, 2006
The Guardian

Tony Blair will press George Bush today to support "as a matter of urgency" a ceasefire
in Lebanon as part of a UN security council resolution next week, according to Downing
Street sources.

At a White House meeting, the prime minister will express his concern that pro-western
Arab governments are "getting squeezed" by the crisis and the longer it continues,
the more squeezed they will be, giving militants a boost. The private view from No 10 is
that the US is "prevaricating" over the resolution and allowing the conflict to run on
too long.

-snip-

http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,1832122,00.html

[lavenderdiva]

16. PM urged: Stand up to Bush and call for ceasefire

link: http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/article1201307.ece

Tony Blair will face fresh pressure over the Middle East crisis today when he arrives in Washington to meet President George Bush. Senior Downing Street aides said the two leaders intended to show the world they were seeking an urgent end to the hostilities in Lebanon, despite the failure of the much vaunted Rome summit on Wednesday to deliver a unified call for a truce.

snip:
The Prime Minister's visit takes place as 42 leading figures in politics, diplomacy, academia and the media put their names to a declaration urging Mr Blair to tell the President that Britain "can no longer support the American position on the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in the Middle-East". Their declaration, printed on the front page of today's Independent, calls on the Prime Minister to "make urgent representations to Israel to end its disproportionate and counter-productive response to Hizbollah's aggression".

snip:
Sir Stephen Wall, one of the Prime Minister's most trusted former advisers, said Mr Blair's approach was wrong. "There have been times on trade issues when the PM should have told Bush to get his tanks off our lawn," Sir Stephen wrote in the New Statesman. "There are still times when, as well as working quietly with Congress on climate change, we should speak up about the irresponsibility of the White House.

"There are times, such as the past two weeks, when a British prime minister should have been thinking less about private influence and more about public advocacy."

[ronnie624]

17. Very interesting article.

Thanks for posting.

[radfringe]

18. in other news

The bush administration ordered the FBI to raid an music exhibit which featured a rare Stradivarius.

Speaking on condition of anonimity, one official said "We were ordered to stop the root cause of violins as part of a wider investigation into root causes of the Israeli-Lebanese conflit"




On edit: BWAAAAHAAAHAAA

snip: After his stop-over in Washington, Mr Blair will fly on to California tonight to attend a conference with the media magnate Rupert Murdoch. An ally of Mr Murdoch, Irwin Stelzer, insisted Mr Blair was not Mr Bush's "poodle", but his "guide dog", particularly over the Middle East.

so bush is blind to reality? BWAAAHAAAHAAAA

[MaineDem]

19. I hope this is Blair's "Love Actually" moment

Like when the PM played by Hugh Grant stood up to the US President played by Billy Bob Thornton.

You can do it, Tony.

Only then he'll face the question of why it took so long.

[Joe Bacon]

20. Fat chance.

Prime Minister Ramsay Mac Donald, er, Phony Baloney, er Tony B. Liar is infatuated with the right wing.

You can bet Clement Attlee and Harrold Wilson are turning in their graves over Bush's pal