Headlines:
- Tony Blair’s Spin
- US to challenge China in Asia-Pacific
- Low turnout to Egypt Elections
Tony Blair Spins Iraq Again
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair in a lengthy interview with the CNN said he was sorry for “mistakes” made in the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, but he reiterated that he didn’t regret bringing down Saddam Hussein. “I can say that I apologize for the fact that the intelligence we received was wrong because, even though he had used chemical weapons extensively against his own people, against others, the program in the form that we thought it was did not exist in the way that we thought,” Blair explained. It was Blair, who as Prime Minister ordered British troops into Iraq in 2003, he told CNN that he regretted failing to plan properly for the aftermath of President Saddam Hussein’s removal. But he said that he would “find it hard to apologise for removing Saddam.” This interview comes in light of the Chilcot enquiry which is due to be released soon, into the decision to invade Iraq, in which much of the government will be criticized. Tony Blair once again laid blame on his intelligence services and for not planning for the aftermath despite the death of hundreds of thousands and the complete destruction of the country. Tony Blair and his cronies in the US government continue to lay blame on process and lack of planning despite the blood on their hands.
US Challenges China in the South-China Seas
The US Navy sent the USS Lassen Destroyer to within 12 nautical miles of artificial islands built by China in the South China Sea on Oct 27th. This was the first of more regular challenges to China’s territorial claims. Since Leon Panetta the then Defence Secretary announced in 2012 that the US planned to shift 60% of its Navy to the South China Seas. The patrol marked the most serious US challenge yet to the 12-nautical-mile territorial limit China claims around the islands, and follows months of deliberations. The patrol came just weeks ahead of a series of Asia-Pacific summits the US president, Barack Obama, and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, are expected to attend in the second half of November. Chinese officials condemned a US ship’s passage near disputed islands in the South China Sea as “illegal” and a threat to their country’s sovereignty. Lu Kang, a spokesman for China’s foreign ministry, said Beijing would “resolutely respond to any country’s deliberately provocative actions.” China claims most of the South China Sea and on 9 October its foreign ministry warned that Beijing would “never allow any country to violate China’s territorial waters and airspace in the Spratly Islands, in the name of protecting freedom of navigation and overflight.” The United States argues that under international law, building up artificial islands on previously submerged reefs does not entitle a country to claim a territorial limit and that it is vital to maintain freedom of navigation in a sea through which more than $5 trillion of world trade passes every year.
Low turnout to Egypt Elections
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has failed to generate strong voter turnout for the first phase of the multi-step parliamentary elections. The government delayed the election multiple times since the country’s last legislature was dissolved following the July 2013 military coup. Voter turnout — which domestic media and government officials have put anywhere from 10% to 17% fell far short of the over 60% that came out in May 2014 to elect Sisi. The vote for the 596-member parliament will be held in two phases ending on 2 December. But with an absence of opposition parties – such as the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood, which has faced a deadly government crackdown overseen by Sisi – the poll has not inspired the enthusiasm witnessed for Egypt’s first elections in 2011. The outcome of the election is a foregone conclusion and the voter turnout is a gauge of the popularity for Sisi. Sisi and the military need to find a replacement for the defunct former ruling National Democratic Party. Hazem Hosny, political science professor at Cairo University said, “This parliament will be a parliament of the president. It’s really a parliament … to keep things as they are, to give an image of democracy.”