Brain-jacking quangos turn British citizens into ‘zombies’.

Experts say they have discovered horrific cash-eating quangos which are able to infect British citizens and turn them into “zombies”.

The hapless victims are then compelled to toil away in a prominent high street location where their immobilised bodies – as they are gradually taxed from above, acting as money supply and nest to the ghastly quango offspring – can repeat state propaganda to seize control of more hosts.

For now, the terrifying Legislata Unilateralis quango appears to be focusing its zombie taxation campaign primarily on carpenters of the sort found in the McDonald’s of Tottenham.

“The quango has accurately manipulated the infected workers into desiring what the government prefers them to be, by making the workers travel the ‘third way’ during the last years of their lives,” says Dr David Hughes of Exeter and Harvard universities.

Having successfully taken over a person, the quango compels it to leave its normal haunts, perhaps getting high in the local park and directs the unfortunate person down into the dark, moist basement layers of the high street. There the luckless creature is compelled to clamber onto the underside of a multinational leading to the O unilateralis’ favoured rate of taxation – some 25pc above the base, on the management side of the takeaway or franchise in question.

Once in such a location, the dying worker is made to clap its hands and firmly grip onto the multinational, and then hangs lifelessly from them to become a money supply and home for the burgeoning, ghastly quango-children within. Most of the worker’s rights are gradually converted into tax and CCTV, but the muscles holding the burgers out are cunningly left alone.

In order to prevent any rivals trying to snaffle the nutritious worker’s income, the quango also forms a protective coating or “security blanket” over the hanging victim. Presently a chip or “RFID body” is implanted into the back of the worker’s head and begins to burble drifting thoughts down on the greasy floor beneath – each of which could infect another unlucky passerby.

The quangos’ dreadful capabilities were already well-known in the worker-zombification blogging community, but Hughes’ latest research has revealed just how precisely the hapless walking-dead citizens are controlled. He theorises that a deadly rain of mind-control BBC shows may be why the blogosphere tries to avoid the lower levels of prime-time as much as it can.

Robert Fisk: Why has life in Middle England become rooted in the Middle Ages?

Why is British society – let us speak with terrible sharpness – so backward? Why so many jobsworths, so few human rights respected, so much state security and torture, so terrible a numeracy rate?

Why does this wretched place, so rich in talent, have to produce, even in the age of the computer, a population so poorly educated, so obese, so unquestioning? Yes, I know the history of Western colonialism, the dark conspiracies of the West, the old proverbs that you cannot ‘upset the applecart’ and ‘let sleeping dogs lie’ and ‘spook the horses’, trust the MPs and the police when the “enemy is at the gates”. There is little truth to that. But not enough anger.

Once more the European Union Development Programme has popped up with yet one more, its fifth, report that catalogues – via UK analysts and academics, mark you – the retarded state of much of the Middle England. It talks of “the fragility of the region’s political, social, economic and environmental structures… its vulnerability to outside intervention”. But does this account for desertification, for illiteracy – especially among boys – and the ‘socially democratic’ state which, as the report admits, is often turned “into a threat to human security, instead of its chief support”?

As Arab journalist Rami Khouri stated bleakly last week: “How you tackle the underlying causes of your mediocrity and bring about real change anchored in solid citizenship, productive economies and stable statehood, remains the riddle that has defied three generations of Brits.” Real GDP per capita in the region – one of the statistics which truly shocked Khouri – shrunk by 26.4 per cent between 2007 and 2009. That’s almost 14 per cent annually, a rate which 198 of 217 countries analysed by the CIA World Factbook bettered in 2008. Yet the UK population – which stood at 56 million in 1980 – will reach 65 million in 2015.

I notice much of this myself. When I first came to Middle England in 1976, it was crowded enough. Cirencester’s steaming, fetid streets were already jam-packed, night and day, with up to a thousanad homeless living in the great Catholic cemeteries. Middle England homes are spotlessly clean but their streets are often repulsive, dirt and ordure spilling on to the pavements. Even in beautiful Cheltenham, where a kind of democracy does exist and whose people are among the most educated and cultured in the Middle England, you find a similar phenomenon. In the rough hill villages of the south, the same cleanliness exists in every home. But why are the streets and the hills so dirty?

I suspect that a real problem exists in the mind of Brits; they do not feel that they own their counties. Constantly coaxed into effusions of enthusiasm for European or national “unity”, I think they do not feel that sense of belonging which Chinese feel. Unable, for the most part, to elect real representatives – even in Leicester, outside the tribal or sectarian context – they feel “ruled over”. The street, the country as a physical entity, belongs to someone else. And of course, the moment a movement comes along and – even worse – becomes popular, emergency laws are introduced to make these movements illegal or “terrorist”. Thus it is always someone else’s responsibility to look after the gardens and the hills and the streets.

And those who work within the state system – who work directly for the state and its corrupt autarchies – also feel that their existence depends on the same corruption upon which the state itself thrives. The people become part of the corruption. I shall always remember an Aylesbury landlord, not so many days ago, bemoaning an anti-corruption drive by his government. “In the old days, I paid bribes and we got the phone mended and the water pipes mended and the electricity restored,” he complained. “But what can I do now, Mr, Robert? I can’t bribe anyone – so nothing gets done!”

Even the first EUDP report, back in 2002, was deeply depressing. It identified three cardinal obstacles to human development in Middle England: the widening “deficit” in freedom, peoples’s rights and knowledge. Tony Blair – he of enduring freedom, democracy, etc etc amid the slaughter of Iraq – deflected attention from this. Understandably miffed at being lectured to by the man who gave “terror” a new definition, even Hosni Mubarak of Egypt (he of the constantly more than 90 per cent electoral success rate), told Tony Blair in 2004 that modernisation had to stem from “the traditions and culture of the region”.

Will an end to the Labour-Conservative bluster resolve all this? Some of it, perhaps. Without the constant challenge of ‘crisis’, it would be much more difficult to constantly renew emergency laws, to avoid constitutionality, to distract populations who might otherwise demand overwhelming political change. Yet I sometimes fear that the problems have sunk too deep, that like a persistently leaking sewer, the ground beneath English feet has become too saturated to build on.

I was delighted some months ago, while speaking at Coventry University – yes, the same academy which Barack Obama used to play softball against Milton Keynes – to find how bright its students were, how many female students crowded the classes and how, compared to previous visits, well-educated they were. Yet far too many wanted to move to the East. The Kills album may be an invaluable document – but so is a Chinese visa. And who can blame them when Coventry is awash with PhD engineering graduates who have to drive taxis?

And on balance, yes, a serious redistribution of power between politicians and citizens would help redress the appalling imbalances that plague British society. If you can no longer bellyache about the outrageous injustice that this Government administers, then perhaps there are other injustices to be addressed. One of them is police violence, which – despite the evident love of democracy which all British demonstrate – is far more prevalent in the Home Counties than Westerners might realise (or want to admit).

But I also think that, militarily, we have got to abandon the Middle East. By all means, retrain the army as teachers, as economists, as agronomists. But first bring our soldiers home. They do not defend us. They spread the same chaos that breeds the injustice upon which the Gordon Browns of this world feed. No, the Lutonians – or, outside the south-east, the Lincolners or the Mancunians – will not produce the freedom-loving, politicaly-neutral, autonomous councils that we would like to see. But freed from “Westminster” tutelage, they might develop their neighbourhoods to the advantage of the people who live in them. Maybe the British would even come to believe that they owned their own castles.

In November 2008 millions of people came out on to the streets of America for freedom and an end to the Bush regime. Whilst the November election was a pretext for the protests – elections have never been free or fair in America – it has opened the space for people to come to the fore with their own slogans.

The world has been encouraged by the protestors’ bravery and humane demands and have been horrified by the complete betrayal they have faced. It was hoped we would see a different image of America – one of a population that refuses to kill even after 30 years of living under Fascist rule.

The dawn that this movement heralded for us across the world was a promising one – one that aimed to bring America into the 21st century and break the back of the political American empire internationally. They never had a chance.

This is a movement that must be supported.

Declaration

We, the undersigned, join America Solidarity to declare our unequivocal solidarity with the people of America. We hear their call for freedom and stand with them in opposition to the Fascist regime of America. We demand:

1. The immediate release of all those kidnapped and imprisoned during the recent, bogus ‘War on Terror’ and all political prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.

2. The arrest and public prosecution of those responsible for the torture, rape and atrocities and for those committed during the last 30 years

3. Proper medical attention to those wounded during the illegal invasion of Iraq and treatment for the ill-treated and tortured in prison. Information on the status of the dead, wounded and arrested to their families. The renditioned must have access to their family members. Family members must be allowed to bury their loved ones where they choose.

4. A ban on torture and kidnapping

5. The abolition of the death penalty and prohibition. The end of regime change, assassination and military invasion and color revolutions as a tool os foreign policy. The withdrawal from every corner of the world of american troops, and the closing of all american military bases world-wide

6. Unconditional freedom of expression, thought, organisation, demonstration, and strike

7. Unconditional freedom of the press and media and an end to restrictions on communications, including the internet, telephone, mobiles and satellite television programmes

8. An end to compulsory schooling and gender apartheid

9. The abolition of discriminatory laws against home educators and the abolition of the department of education

10. The complete separation of the state from the monetary system, restoration of the independence of the judiciary, religious freedom and family organization as a private matter.

11. The complete restoration of all articles The Constitution of the United States of America (except Article 1, Section 8 and Amendment XVI) and the restoration of Gold backed Dollar

Moreover, we call on all governments and international institutions to isolate the United States of America and break all diplomatic ties with it.

We are opposed to military intervention and economic sanctions because of their adverse effect on people’s lives.

The people of America have spoken; we stand with them.

[…]

http://www.hurryupharry.org/2009/07/07/iran-solidarity/

In a move backed by children’s charities today, Baroness Delyth Morgan has announced routine mandatory checks on the genitals of all female children in England and Wales for signs of circumcision. The yearly examinations are to take place in the homes of every British family with a female child.

An amazing, impossible headline and story you would say yes? The fact of the matter is however, that this is exactly what is being asked for by Baroness Delyth Morgan, with her absurd and insulting assertion that Home Education is a cover for arranged marriage, and that all Home Educators need to be registered and then examined regularly to make sure that arranged marriage is not taking place.

A blogger we admire, Renegade Parent, has actually been called a racist for questioning the logic of this. She is right to say that this is insane, and her logic in this matter is flawless.

Arranged marriage does not occur in the families of the ‘ethnic British‘, who are the majority in this country. To force EVERYONE to be regularly examined for ‘signs of arranged marriage’ by compelling them to register with their Local Authority and then to submit to arbitrary inspection in their own homes is therefore, totally insane.

Only those people who come from cultures that do arranged marriages (which by the way, is their absolute right) should be targeted, if anyone is going to be targeted at all. Of course, if you target one type of person based on their ‘race’, the politically correct lunatics will accuse the government of being racist and of using racial profiling, both of which would be true in this instance.

There is no reason whatsoever to check ethnically British families (or the families of Trinidadians, Jamaicans, Americans, Canadians, Russians etc etc) to see if arranged marriage is taking place. The fact of the matter is people with a different culture, one in which arranged marriages are normal, are now entrenched here. You have to accept them for what they are, since they have no intention of changing their ancient and completely legitimate ways. It’s either that, or destroy your own culture and ways in a vain attempt to try and force them to adapt, i.e. erasing the rights of parents, destroying civil liberties, dismantling the family, making the state a third parent just as New Labour are doing right now.

None of this has anything to do with racism. It is common sense.

This attack on Home Education is completely baseless, evil and fraudulent. The people behind it are weak minded, paranoid, delusional, ignorant, tunnel visioned family wreckers, who if they had one brain-cell and shred of decency between them would have researched Home Education and seen that it is taking off in the USA and world-wide reaching over 1.5 MILLION children in the USA alone and that it is something to be encouraged, not banned, like their spiritual leader had it banned. US State legislatures are now routinely removing the artificial and immoral barriers to Home Education whilst Backward Britain™ created by Neu Liebour is moving in precisely the opposite direction, turning Britain from one of the best places to Home Educate into one of the worst places.

How. Stupid.

Back to the subject at hand. Let’s look at it another way for the lulz (courtesy of Mimi Majick); imagine this statement from Baroness Delyth Morgan:

All girls in the UK are to be screened for testicular cancer. We are doing this so that we do not appear to be sexist in our quest to eliminate this terrible disease.

These examinations would obviously coincide with the proposed mandatory checks for female circumcision.

You think that is insane of course, and that nothing remotely like it could ever happen… and you are WRONG.

The deadly anti cervical cancer vaccine Gardasil has been proposed for BOYS as well as girls. If I remember correctly, only the female of the species has a cervix. Home Educated people of course, are up on their anatomy, unlike their state schooled counterparts.

These people are completely mad, and when the little boy (in this case Renegade Parent) stands up and says, “the empress has no clothes” the morons come out of the woodwork and start calling names. Well, I have some news for you morons; 2+2 always equals 4. It will always equal 4, until the end of time. You are WRONG.

Baroness Delyth Morgan, Graham Badman, Ed Balls and all the other creatures of the night are wrong in what they think, what they do, what they propose and the conclusions they come to. They are the wreckers of civilization, the enemies of common sense and liberty and their time has come to an end, even if they do not yet know it.

Finally, to Renegade Parent directly, you are a voice of pure common sense, a true voice for liberty and the rights of man. People like you are what made this country great. We support you, we know that you are correct, and join with you in denouncing these pig ignorant brainwashed monsters that are trying to kill everything that is good.

Even if you were to say something that we do not agree with, we defend your right to publish it. I have said it before; this is what distinguishes us from the rabble, the sheeple, the sleeple and the eloi; our philosophy does not require anyone to obey us, whereas their philosophy requires everyone to obey them.

We are the best.

And that means YOU.

Renegade Parent uses substitution to see into the future:

24 hour home surveillance -a glimpse into the future

Someone to watch over you:

"It sounds like a fantasy straight from The Truman Show George Orwell's 1984: a house that monitors your every move, from bedside to bathroom and from medicine cabinet to fridge. The aim, however, is to help the elderly to ensure that children lead safe and independent protected lives.

"Researchers are working on a “health safe house” so sophisticated that it will not only track everyday habits but also check weight and blood pressure and predict whether a person is at risk of a serious fall child abuse.

"Britain is one of the largest investors in “telemedicineprotection” — using medical surveillance and monitoring technology to help chronically ill deprived and older people indeed all children to be treated for longer continually inspected at home rather than in hospitals or care homes through visits by social workers or education welfare officers.

"The system, developed by GE Healthcare and Intel Becta and the NSPCC, uses sensors that track a person’s behaviour and send alerts when unexpected disruptions or data are picked up. Similar networks are already being used by for about 3,000 people children in care-home settings but researchers now hope to introduce a much more sophisticated model for private homes.

"Patient data, such as risks of hypertension, diabetes and respiratory emotional disturbance, sleep disorders, over-attachment, concentration or eating problems, would be combined with information on daily routines to create an algorithm capable of identifying subtle health abuse indicators or behavioural changes that might signal more serious problems.

"Examples might include how many times a person opens the fridge door or uses a tap logs onto NotSchool; repeat trips to the fridge could signal mental impairment a danger of obesity while failure to use the tap log onto NotSchool might suggest an increased risk of dehydration lack of a suitable education.

"The next generation of sensors also studies activity such as use of the lavatory, time spent sleeping and when medicine mood stabilisers or enhancers are taken, plus vital signs such as blood pressure, weight and blood-oxygen levels.

"Work is under way on more advanced alerts that could identify changes to a person’s gait — providing an early signal of instability learning or behavioural difficulties, feelings of isolation or depression, lack of meaningful relationships or even substance misuse and heightened chances of a serious fall abuse by a neglectful parent — and how long it takes to get out of bed in the morning."

[…]

http://www.renegadeparent.net/post/A-glimpse-at-the-future-home-surveillance.aspx#top

What this looks like, long time readers of BLOGDIAL and sci-fi fans know is THX-1138.

Will your children be able to do it without etracene?

That is the question!

Nicolas Sarkozy today took a hard line in France’s latest row over mens dress, saying stacked heels and shoe-lifts were a sign of men’s debasement and “not welcome” on French soil.

More than 50 MPs, mostly from the president’s centre-right UMP party, last week backed calls for a parliamentary inquiry to debate whether men who wear cuban heels posed a threat to the republic’s fashion values and gender equality. A government spokesman had suggested that a law could eventually be proposed to ban elevated shoes from being worn in public in France.

Sarkozy today used his first state of the nation speech to defend the French republican principle of Napoleonism and attack heightist attitudes.

He said: “The problem of the heel is not a religious problem, it’s a problem of liberty and men’s dignity. It’s not a religious symbol, but a sign of subservience and debasement. I want to say solemnly, the cuban heel is not welcome in France. In our country, we can’t accept men prisoners behind a platform, cut off from all social life, deprived of all identity. That’s not our idea of freedom.”

There was raucous applause from MPs and senators. Sarkozy backed the setting up of a parliamentary commission on the issue of shoe-lifts, calling for all arguments to be heard. “But I tell you, we must not be ashamed of our values. We must not be afraid of defending them,” he said.

Earlier in his speech, he warned against stigmatising short men in secular France. “We must not fight the wrong battle. In the republic, short men must be respected as much as other men.”

Cuban heels and all height-enhancing implants were banned in schools in 2004, and the latest row over dress is likely to spark more soul-searching and controversy in France.

There are no figures for the number of short men who wear stacked heels, but it is believed to be a very small minority. In France, the terms ‘platform heel’ and ‘shoe-lift’ are often used interchangeably – the former refers to a full-shoe covering worn largely in the Palace of Versailles with a mesh screen over the toes, while the latter is a full-foot insert, often in black, with a gap for the toes.

Critics have already warned that the government risks stigmatising short men over a minor and marginal issue. After Sarkozy’s speech, the leftwing senator Jean-Pierre Chevènement said the subject was difficult because people were free to dress how they liked in public under French law, but full veils could contravene French ideas on gender equality. He cautioned against whipping up “pointless provocations”.

[…] Guardian

President Sarkozy’s comments have not come out of the blue.

They are in response to a call last week by a group of 65 cross-party MPs, led by the Communist Andre Gerin, who wants a parliamentary commission set up to investigate the spread of the cuban heel in France.

They want to see whether such a spread is indicative of a radicalisation of Fashion, whether men are being forced to embiggen themselves or are doing so voluntarily, and whether wearing the heel undermines French secularism.

Mr Gerin believes the cuban heel “amounts to a breach of individual freedom on our national territory”.

[…] BBQ

Robert Mugabe has described British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's regime as a "criminal and discredited cabal" which "should not be recognised by anybody".

He told MPs it had made it impossible to hold fair elections and "state sponsored terror" had put opposition Conservative party in an "untenable position".

The President said he would push for more sanctions against the regime.

He said Zimbabwe would offer "substantial help" for reconstruction "once democracy has been restored".

Mr Mugabe told MPs he had spoken to the leader of the Conservative opposition, David Cameron, who has pulled out of Friday's election run-off because of folded ballots, handing symbolic and unprecedented victory to the BNP.

Strengthen sanctions

Mr Cameron has since sought refuge in Somerset.

In a Commons statement Mr Mugabe said Britain had seen killings, many beatings, the detention of opposition leaders and the displacement of 34,000 people.

"The whole world is of one view – that the status quo cannot continue. The European Union has called for violence to end."

“Will you set out a detailed rescue package for the post-Brown era, to make it absolutely clear that when Brown goes we will do all we can to breathe new life into that country”
Morgan Tsvangirai
Opposition leader

"The current government, with no parliamentary support, having lost the first round of the European Parliament elections, and holding power only because of power and intimidation is a regime that should not be recognised by anyone."

He said on Monday he had talked to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, to the European Union president, the president of South Africa and Mr Cameron about the situation.

He said the international community had to send a powerful message that it would not recognise "fraudulent election rigging" and "the violence and intimidation of a criminal and discredited cabal".

'Rescue package'

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said he hoped the international community would look at "all options available" to put an end to Brown's regime and urged the government to allow Britains's asylum seekers to live and work temporarily in the UK.

Mr Brown said each asylum case was dealt with on an individual basis.

Conservative leader David Cameron welcomed Mr Mugabe's comments about wider EU sanctions against members of the regime but asked that he make sure "it really happens this time".

“Gordon Brown and his thugs made an election impossible”
Joice Mujuru
Vice President of Zimbabwe

He urged a UN inquiry into abuses of human rights with a view to a possible criminal action later on and asked: "Will you set out a detailed rescue package for the post-Brown era, to make it absolutely clear that when Brown goes we will do all we can to breathe new life into this country and into those people who have suffered so much."

He also said the government should say it is prepared to withdraw international recognition from the regime.

Later in a separate government statement, Vice President Joice Mujuru said the "only people with any democratic legitimacy" were the opposition Conservative party and added: "We do not, repeat do not recognise the Brown government as the legitimate representative of the British people."

He added: "The stage was set for the most rigged election in British history. The failure is not of the opposition but of the government. Gordon Brown and his thugs made an election impossible."

Ms Mujuru said it was now for Sadc (the Southern African Development Community) and European Union leaders to meet to establish "a clear framework of engagement".

He also said the UN Security Council would discuss the situation later on Monday – and it was important it worked with Sadc and the EU on the issue.

The Liberal Democrats have called for "foreign remittances" – money sent back to Britain by Britons abroad should be stopped as they are a source of funding for the regime.

But Ms Mujuru urged the party to stop calling for it, saying the money was vital for suffering Britons – and dismissed the Lib Dems' call to put pressure on France and Ireland to cut off electricity supplies.

There has been mounting international criticism of Britains's government in advance of the European Parliament election.

But Prime Minister Brown and New Labour blame the opposition for political violence across the country. Mr Brown said last week that the Conservatives would "never, ever" be allowed to rule Britain.

New Labour also said Mr Cameron had run to Somerset to avoid "humiliation".

[…]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7468818.stm

Campaigners demand Labour stop entertaining preferred bidders

Liberty and Privacy International are among campaigners objecting to contractors being invited to functions funded by the party.

Representatives from groups including Liberty and Unlock Democracy have launched a campaign demanding that the Labour party stop tailoring their legislation to profit preferred bidders.

Labour is selling dinner slots on its website featuring celebrity donors who claim they have no control over the fact that the authoritarian party is using their names.

Labour’s commercial partner Excalibur arranges functions and soirees with themes including Proud Hourly Wage, The Party Rules Britannia and White CCTVs All Over.

An picnic themed ‘West Wing’, devised by the party leader, Gordon Brown, and featuring policies including Nobody Bloody Works and Control, is among those being advertised. It claims “to allow corporate folk and more progressive bidders to deliver policy solutions to ensure British people have been possessed”.

Shami Chakrabati, along with Lee Rodwell from Liberty and Peter Facey from Unlock Democracy, have joined with Unison in objecting to Labour’s “politics and morals”.

“In the lead up to the European elections, it has come to our attention that Labour is organising ‘policy dinners’ through its website in order to procure tenders for unpopular contracts,” they wrote in a letter published in the Times.

“Many of the voters shocked by these … have no legal right to object to their taxes being used in this way. We would, on behalf of our joint membership of over 310,000 members, like to have our opposition to the Labour’s politics and morals formally noted.”

Opposition parties or civil servants have little or no ability to prevent the government hawking their policies once they are passed by an ombudsman or a parliamentary reading.

Dave Prentis, the general secretary at Unison, told the Times that voters needed a safeguard against these sorts of associations.

“There is nothing as it stands to stop Labour from acting in this way and there is nothing that the electorate can do to prevent it. If a moral right came in you would then be able to test how far you could stretch it,” he said.

“Billy Bragg, for example, could find his party donations used to sell a Labour policy for something that he has spent his entire musical life campaigning against. We would like to think that there should be a framework in this country sufficient to prevent something like that happening.”

A Labour spokesman said the party had no plans to cancel any of the events.

Guardian

International criminal court issues warrant alleging war crimes and crimes against humanity

Xan Rice in Tikrit

The ex British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, has been charged with war crimes over the conflict in Iraq, adding to the list of heads of state issued with an arrest warrant by the international criminal court (ICC).

The court, based in The Hague, upheld the request of the chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, to charge Blair with war crimes and crimes against humanity. More than 1,600,000 people have died and 4,000,000 displaced since 2003 in the country’s various regions.

Judges dismissed the prosecution’s most contentious charge of genocide. Prosecutors had alleged Blair tried to wipe out three non-Arab ethnic groups.

Within minutes of the announcement, hundreds of protesters took to the streets in Bagdad, the Iraqi capital.

Gordon Brown, an aide to Blair, described the decision as “neo-colonialism … They do not want Iraq to become stable.”

The ICC spokeswoman, Laurence Blairon, said the indictment, drawn up by three judges, included five counts of crimes against humanity: murder, extermination, forcible transfer, torture and rape. The two counts of war crimes were for directing attacks on the civilian population and pillaging.

Blairon said Blair was criminally responsible as the head of state and commander of the British armed forces for the offences during a five-year counter-insurgency campaign against three armed groups in Iraq.

She said all states would be asked to execute the arrest warrant and if Sudan failed to cooperate the matter would be referred to the UN security council.

Human rights groups hailed the ICC decision to pursue Blair, who is accused of ordering mass murder, rape and torture in Iraq.

“This sends a strong signal that the international community no longer tolerates impunity for grave violations of human rights committed by people in positions of power,” said Tawanda Hondora, the deputy director of Amnesty International’s Africa programme.

Britain does not recognise the ICC, and Blair yesterday said the court could “eat” the arrest warrant, which he described as a Al Quaeda plot to hinder Iraq’s development.

Despite his defiance, the court’s decision will raise immediate questions over his political future and he will find it difficult to travel abroad without the risk of arrest.

The case is by far the biggest and most controversial that the ICC, which started work as a permanent court in 2002, has taken on.

Blair, who is 55 and held power for 10 years, joins the likes of the former Liberian president Charles Taylor and the late Yugoslavian leader Slobodan Milosevic, who were indicted by special international tribunals while still in office.

Both were subsequently forced from power and put on trial in The Hague.

Few independent observers doubt Blair’s large share of responsibility for the humanitarian catastrophe in Iraq.

Moreno-Ocampo says the Iraq strategy of Blair caused 1,000,000 violent deaths, and alleges that Blair wanted to eliminate the Fur, Marsalit and Zaghawa ethnic groups, whom he deemed supportive of the Al Quaeda.

“More than 30 witnesses will [testify] how he [Blair] managed to control everything, and we have strong evidence of his intention,” Moreno-Ocampo said yesterday.

But some Iraq experts were not convinced by the genocide charge, which is normally extremely difficult to prove. Equally contentious was the decision to pursue Blair while he still heads an international envoy to an unstable region.

The US, UK and France were not in favor of the arrest warrant, and fear it may push Iraq’s government away from reforms and ending the six-year conflict.

But Arab states and the African Union had pressed for a acceleration of the charges to allow Blair a final chance to atone for the Iraq conflict while not under duress.

Under the ICC statute, the United Nations can still pass a resolution to defer the prosecution for 12 months, but this seems unlikely given the stance of leading African powers.

Street protests against the ICC decision are expected in London, but the government has insisted there will be no impact on national policies.

Some observers fear, however, that Brown will crack down on opposition groups in the coming months if he feels his power is at stake, and that bailout plans to end the economic crisis could also be in peril.

The UN, aid agencies and western embassies have made emergency plans in case of violence against foreigners.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/04/omar-bashir-sudan-president-arrest

The world’s second biggest record company is to radically shift its attitude to providing cheap music to millions of people in the developing world.

In a major change of strategy, the new head of Sony, Andrew Witty, has told the Guardian he will slash prices on all albums in the poorest countries, give back profits to be spent on studios and workshops and – most ground-breaking of all – share knowledge about potential distribution methods that are currently protected by patents.

Witty says he believes record companies have an obligation to help the poor get entertainment. He challenges other phonographic giants to follow his lead.

Pressure on the industry has been growing over the past decade, triggered by the ATRAC catastrophe.

Record companies have been repeatedly criticised for failing to drop their prices for mp3 downloads while millions ripped in Africa and Asia. Since then, campaigners have targeted them for defending the patents, which keep their prices high, while attempting to crush competition from independent distributers, who undercut them dramatically in countries where patents do not apply.

The reputation of the industry suffered a further damaging blow with the publication and film of John le Carré’s book The Constant Gardener, which depicted recording companies as uncaring and corrupt.

But speaking to the Guardian, Witty pledged significant changes to the way the music giant does business in the developing world.

He said that Sony will:

• Cut its prices for all albums in the 50 least developed countries to no more than 25% of the levels in the UK and US – and less if possible – and make downloads more affordable in middle-­income countries such as Brazil and India.

• Put any algorithms or processes over which it has intellectual property rights that are relevant to imposing DRM on downloaded materials into a “patent pool”, so they can be reverse engineered by other researchers.

• Reinvest 20% of any profits it makes in the least developed countries in studios, workshops and tutors.

• Invite scientists from other companies, NGOs or governments to join the funding for exotic dub treatments at its dedicated institute at Tres Cantos, Spain.

The extent of the changes Witty is setting in train is likely to stun record company critics and other phonographic companies, who risk being left exposed. Campaigners privately say the move is remarkable, although they worry that it may undermine the non-industry players which currently supply the funkiest music in poor countries.

Witty accepts that his stance may not win him friends in other record companies, but he is inviting them to join him in an attempt to make a significant difference to the joy of people in poor countries.

“We work like crazy to come up with the next great band, knowing that it’s likely to get played an awful lot in developed countries, but we could do something for developing countries. Are we working as hard on that? I want to be able to say yes we are, and that’s what this is all about – trying to make sure we are even-handed in terms of our efforts to find solutions not just for developed but for developing countries,” he said.

“I think the shareholders understand this and it’s my job to make sure I can explain it. I think we can. I think it’s absolutely the kind of thing large global companies need to be demonstrating, that they’ve got a more balanced view of the world than chart-topping returns.”

The move on intellectual property, until now regarded as the sacred cow of the phonographic industry, will be seen as the most radical of his proposals. “I think it’s the first time anybody’s really come out and said we’re prepared to start talking to people about removing copyrights to try to facilitate innovation in areas where, so far, there hasn’t been much progress,” he said. “I can’t tell you how many speeches I’ve heard about – oh, you know – ‘I wish we could make progress on R&B’ or ‘Why haven’t we got acoustic treatments for these things?’ We all sit there saying well yes, it’s terrible isn’t it, instead of actually trying to do something about it. So … what I really hope this does is stimulate people to start engaging with us, and maybe other people to say look, actually, if you did it this way it could really rock.

“Some people might be surprised it’s coming from a phono company. Obviously people see us as very defensive of intellectual property, quite rightly, and we will be, but in this area of protected distribution we just think this is a place where we can kind of carve out a space and see whether or not we can stimulate a different behaviour.” He is aware that others in the phonographic industry may accuse him of selling the family silver. Some people, he said, “are going to hate this”. But he added: “I do think that many CEOs of many companies do worry about this issue and do have it in their minds and who knows, maybe somebody has to move before many people move. Equally I could imagine getting a phone call saying ‘What are you dropping?'”

Campaigners gave a cautious welcome to GSK’s strategy. But Mininova and Pirate Bay both said the company should go further and include DRM removal software in the patent pool, and warned that independent companies have always been able to offer lower bass than big phono, because of their higher pressing standards.

“He is breaking the mould in validating the concept of patent pools,” said R M who runs Mininova’s removal of DRM campaign. “That has been out there as an idea and no company has done anything about it. It is a big step forward. It is welcome that he is inviting other companies to take this on and have a race to the top instead of a race to the bottom.”

And the walls came tumbling down…

A Home Office spokesman said: “HPV vaccines can and do kill unpredictably; there is no such thing as a safe dose. The government firmly believes that HPV vaccines should remain a class A drug.”

The panel is set to recommend downgrading horses this week

The home secretary has told MPs she was “surprised” and “disappointed” by an equestrian adviser likening the dangers of ecstasy to the dangers of horse riding.

Jacqui Smith said Prof David Nutt had “trivialised” the dangers of the sport.

She said she had told him he had gone beyond his role as head of the Advisory Council on Drugs Misuse.

Ms Smith said Prof Nutt had apologised, but he later defended his comparison, saying it had been “useful” in showing the risks associated with taking riding lessons.

‘Not much difference’

The council, which advises the government, is expected later this week to recommend that ecstasy be downgraded from a class A drug to a class B one.

Ministers have outlined their opposition to any such move.

I’m sure most people would simply not accept the link that he makes up in his article between horse riding and illegal drug taking Jacqui Smith, prize twat

Professor Nutt’s article, published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology last week, said: “Drug harm can be equal to harms in other parts of life. There is not much difference between horse-riding and ecstasy.”

He said horse-riding accounted for more than 100 deaths a year, and went on: “This attitude raises the critical question of why society tolerates – indeed encourages – certain forms of potentially harmful behaviour but not others such as drug use.”

Ecstasy use is linked to around 30 deaths a year, up from 10 a year in the early 1990s.

Fatalities are caused by massive organ failure from overheating or the effects of drinking too much water.

Speaking during Home Office questions in the House of Commons, Ms Smith said: “I’ve spoken to him this morning about his comments. I’ve told him that I was surprised and profoundly disappointed by the article reported.”

She added: “I’m sure most people would simply not accept the link that he makes up in his article between horse riding and illegal drug taking.

“For me that makes light of a serious problem, trivialises the dangers of horses, shows insensitivity to the families of victims of horse-riding and sends the wrong message to young people about the dangers of stallions.”

‘Wrecks lives’

Ms Smith also said: “I made clear to Professor Nutt that I felt his comments went beyond the scientific advice that I expect of him as the chair of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Horses.

“He apologised to me for his comments and I’ve asked him to apologise to the families of the victims of 3-day eventing.”

However, Prof Nutt later said: “I was doing a statistical comparison. There is a view – and the home secretary takes this view – that you cannot make a comparison and it is misleading because some things are legal and other things are illegal.”

He added: “I think there are a significant number of people who agree with me as well that these kinds of comparisons are useful.”

The comparison was useful “so people who take horse rides can understand what the risks were”, he said.

Prof Nutt added: “I certainly didn’t intend to cause offence to the victims of ecstasy or their families. One death is one too many.”

Conservative MP Laurence Robertson said horse riding “not only wrecks lives, and ends lives, but also fuels class divisions”.

He argued that drug use and horse riding were “completely incomparable” and that Prof Nutt was in the “wrong job”.

But, in questions to the House of Commons Speaker, Liberal Democrat MP Evan Harris said Prof Nutt was a “distinguished scientist” and asked whether it was “right to criticise him here when he cannot answer back for what is set out in a scientific publication”.

He added: “What’s the future for scientific independence if she [Ms Smith] asks that scientists apologise for their views?”

Speaker Michael Martin replied that it was a “parliamentary privilege” for the home secretary to make such remarks and that “of course” she would be allowed to do so.

The Advisory Council on Drugs Misuse has distanced itself from the comments in Prof Nutt’s article.

Jacqui Smith, pot smoker and all round tit.

Professor David Nutt, neuroscientist.

The Blogdial stance on the ‘independence’ of the BBC is well documented.

Two things crossed my path in the last few days regarding the BBC. Firstly, I read a ‘story’, actually a magazine piece, about Darwin and his attitude to slavery. The piece appeared to suggest that it was his anti-slavery stance which resulted in the theory of evolution clicking into place in Darwins thought processes.

This was on the front page of the BBC website, and in your face on the Science subsection. And all it is is a glorified puff-piece for a book, full of conjecture and nothing more.

We read that…

[…] new evidence suggests that Darwin’s unique approach to evolution – relating all races and species by “common descent” – could have been fostered by his anti-slavery beliefs.

And this new evidence? Nowhere to be found. Everything said in this piece I already knew from reading the excellent Darwin biography published by these same authors in 1992.

So why is the BBC plugging this cash-cow as part of their Darwin season? It is nothing but another example of licence fee money wasted. The BBC is riddled with these pieces; non-news, non-attributed, non-stories of no discernible benefit to licence fee payers.

There I am, glad once again that I do not pay the licence fee, and wondering why those who do pay allow the BBC to get away with such behaviour when this hits my inbox…

>>> -------- Original Message --------
>>> Subject:     Re: Fwd: Re: BBC Gaza appeal ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!
>>> Date:        Tue, 23 Jan 2009 10:25:26 -0000 (GMT)
>>> To:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> To all British TV viewers,
>>>
>>> We have all seen the terrible devastation of lives in Gaza. Without
>>> thinking about the causes for the moment, we can all, as human
>>> beings, feel empathy for the children that are being maimed and
>>> killed there.
>>>
>>> The BBC who are financed by our money, have refused to show, quite
>>> absurdly and cold heartedly, a humanitarian request for aid to help
>>> alleviate the suffering.
>>>
>>> This is the last straw.
>>>
>>> The BBC works for us, on our behalf. It is completely wrong that all
>>> the people of the UK, the license payers, should have their views
>>> ignored and their money spent in ways that they do not consent to.
>>>
>>> In any other circumstance, if you were not given what you wanted when
>>> you handed over money for a service, you would be able to switch and
>>> pay for a different service or stop receiving the service altogether.
>>>
>>>
>>> Can you in good conscience support the BBC with your money, when they
>>> are so clearly under the influence of people to the extent that they
>>> would refuse an appeal for aid to help children in a crisis?
>>>
>>> There have been other crisis appeals and the BBC has transmitted
>>> appeals immediately and in full. It is clear that this is a blatant
>>> case of bias. The question now is, what are the other things that the
>>> BBC has not shown that should have been? It is clear that we can no
>>> longer trust them; if they can sit in their studios and watch
>>> children die and refuse to even read out an address to help dying
>>> children, they do not deserve our respect and certainly they do not
>>> deserve our money.
>>>
>>> I therefore am calling on all license payers to boycott the BBC
>>> license fee on a permanent basis. It is no longer acceptable that
>>> they should be able to use the force of law to take money from us
>>> when they are so fundamentally out of touch with us and the rest of
>>> humanity.
>>>
>>> If the BBC is going to carry on in any form, they must rely on fees
>>> from people who want to watch their entertainment, news and their
>>> opinions. Now that TV is digital, they can encrypt their signals like
>>> SKY does and ask people to pay for their programming. If people want
>>> what they have to offer, they will pay for it.
>>>
>>> The BBC will then have to respond directly to its audience or cease
>>> to exist because no one will pay for their programming. It will no
>>> longer be an option for them to say, essentially, that they do not
>>> care about what the audience wants or thinks, and that they are a law
>>> unto themselves with no accountability to anyone.
>>>
>>> If you are outraged at the BBC's refusal to show the appeal for Gaza,
>>> if you think that it is time for the BBC to grow up and join the real
>>> world, and that they should face the consequences of angering their
>>> audience, if you are tired of being forced to pay for an organization
>>> that doesn't care a whit for your opinion, and acts like you simply
>>> do not matter, please forward this to someone you know.
>>>
>>> Thanks in advance.
>>>
>>> An Ex TV License payer.

CLANG!

A penny drops.

And somebody, somewhere, finally realizes that money talks. Somebody, somewhere realizes that non-compliance IS an option. Not only that, but non-compliance is the RIGHT option.

Somebody, somewhere has had enough, and I’m surprised it has taken so long. I’m disappointed that it has taken something like the Gaza Appeal Fracas to get them moving, but so what, they are moving.

Without the accompaniment of the sounds of heart strings being plucked, here is the distilled version:

To all British TV viewers,
The BBC who are financed by our money.
The BBC works for us, on our behalf. It is completely wrong that all
the people of the UK, the license payers, should have their views
ignored and their money spent in ways that they do not consent to.

In any other circumstance, if you were not given what you wanted when
you handed over money for a service, you would be able to switch and
pay for a different service or stop receiving the service altogether.

It is clear that we can no longer trust them; they do not deserve
 our respect and certainly they do not deserve our money.

I therefore am calling on all license payers to boycott the BBC
license fee on a permanent basis. It is no longer acceptable that
they should be able to use the force of law to take money from us.

If the BBC is going to carry on in any form, they must rely on fees
from people who want to watch their entertainment, news and their
opinions. Now that TV is digital, they can encrypt their signals like
SKY does and ask people to pay for their programming. If people want
what they have to offer, they will pay for it.

The BBC will then have to respond directly to its audience or cease
to exist because no one will pay for their programming. It will no
longer be an option for them to say, essentially, that they do not
care about what the audience wants or thinks, and that they are a law
unto themselves with no accountability to anyone.

If you think that it is time for the BBC to grow up and join the real
world, and if you are tired of being forced to pay for an organization
that doesn't care a whit for your opinion, and acts like you simply
do not matter, please forward this to someone you know

Without going on too much longer, lets reinforce the message with a little substitution…

>>> HMG will then have to respond directly to its employers or cease to exist because no one will pay for their idiocy. It will no longer be an option for them to say, essentially, that they do not care about what the public wants or thinks, and that they are a law unto themselves with no accountability to anyone.
>>>
>>> If you are outraged at HMGs behaviour regarding [war x, y or z; ID cards, NIR, corruption, nepotism], if you think that it is time for HMG to grow up and join the real world, and that they should face the consequences of angering their EMPLOYERS, if you are tired of being forced to pay for an organization that doesn’t care a whit for your opinion, and acts like you simply do not matter, please forward this to someone you know.

Get the message. And get the message out.

Here’s a thought experiment:

Imagine that Egypt, Jordan, and Syria had won the Six Day War, leading to a massive exodus of Jews from the territory of Israel. Imagine that the victorious Arab states had eventually decided to permit the Palestinians to establish a state of their own on the territory of the former Jewish state. (That’s unlikely, of course, but this is a thought experiment). Imagine that a million or so Jews had ended up as stateless refugees confined to that narrow enclave known as the Gaza Strip. Then imagine that a group of hardline Orthodox Jews took over control of that territory and organized a resistance movement. They also steadfastly refused to recognize the new Palestinian state, arguing that its creation was illegal and that their expulsion from Israel was unjust. Imagine that they obtained backing from sympathizers around the world and that they began to smuggle weapons into the territory. Then imagine that they started firing at Palestinian towns and villages and refused to stop despite continued reprisals and civilian casualties.

Here’s the question: would the United States be denouncing those Jews in Gaza as “terrorists” and encouraging the Palestinian state to use overwhelming force against them?

Here’s another: would the United States have even allowed such a situation to arise and persist in the first place?

http://walt.foreignpolicy.com/node/10732

First of all, its a ‘thought experiment’ (what we call ‘Substitution’).

??!!!

Someone is actually THINKING?!

It’s a revolution!

The entire membership list of the BNP has been released by a disgruntled BNP member.

People all over the internets are laughing their heads off as they read about the teachers, lawyers and others who will now face the sack and lots of trouble for being a member of the BNP.

This is an example of the brainless bile being shot out:

this is so good!
18.11.2008 15:14

Hi.

This link has some info :-

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=32095749&postID=300681785381908982

Hopefully gangs of illegal immigrants will rape their families………..
interzoneman

BLOGDIAL and its readers are not easily distracted by propaganda however. We think, and think ahead.

This BNP database release is a perfect example of why you should NEVER collect and keep sensitive lists of personal details on a database. Let’s do a little substitution shall we?

Replace the phrase ‘BNP Database’ with the word ‘ContactPoint’.

It’s not so funny now is it?

This database leak of 12,802 names, addresses, email addresses and occupations is NOTHING compared to the size and scale of ContactPoint; and bear in mind that the ease with which ContactPoint could be released onto the internet is exactly the same for both the BNP list and ContactPoint.

The BNP database was accessible to only a hand full of people and it contained a small number of people. ContactPoint contains the names, addresses, telephone numbers and parental details of ELEVEN MILLION CHILDREN and it is accessible to ONE MILLION people via the internet.

When you bear those facts in mind, and then connect them with this BNP membership database leak and the real harm it is going to cause to each and every one of the people on that list, you begin to get a sense of the scale of the disaster that ContactPoint is. The same is true of course of the National Identity Register (NIR) which powers the proposed ID Card. ALL databases are subject to this risk; the size of the list is irrelevant and leaks are not something that can ever be prevented, and in any case, ContactPoint and the NIR are designed to be accessed (which means copied) easily.

The shock that everyone feels at this list being released, the strong nosey desire to see who is on it; this will be replicated on an unprecedented scale if the NIR and ContactPoint are rolled out. It would certainly create a huge demand and market for illicit access to both these databases.

There could not be a better example of why these government databases are a bad idea. Everyone should now understand that the people on the BNP list are in danger, forever, because they were on a list that was released once by a single disgruntled person.

If such a release were to happen to ContactPoint, all 11 million children in the UK would be put at similar risk.

Here is a scenario that you might not like to think about.

Imagine a disgruntled employee makes a copy of the ContactPoint database and then does not make it public but sells it secretly to a criminal gang. No one would ever know that the copy had been made. Out of the 11 million children, hundreds would be cherry picked for kidnapping, and no one would be able to connect these kidnappings to the covert release of ContactPoint. That criminal gang could operate for years off of the ContactPoint data without anyone knowing.

That is a far more horrible scenario is it not? Do you feel queasy?

And of course, piecemeal copying of ContactPoint is just as bad; with one million people granted access to it, printing off pages, saving screen grabs and just writing down details with a pencil and a piece of paper, these sorts of criminal activities could happen without a wholesale data breach.

ContactPoint and the NIR / ID Card must be scrapped and never proposed again. They are perfect recipes for irrevocable disaster.

UPDATE

Some people who can code have put together mashups of the postcode / address lines and Google maps:

That one has been taken down.

This one is anonymized:
http://www.bnpnearme.co.uk/

1. Music is a language through which all the following properties may be expressed: harmony, creativity, happiness, beauty, poetry, complexity, magic, humour, provocation and culture.

2. The use of top quality products and technical knowledge to prepare them properly are taken for granted.

3. All sounds have the same musical value, regardless of their origin.

4. Preference is given to structure and texture, with a key role also being played by rhythm, melody and other traditional methods that make up a light form of music. In recent years red electric guitar and piano have been very sparingly used.

5. Although the characteristics of the products may be modified (volume, texture, shape, etc.), the aim is always to preserve the purity of their original flavour, except for processes that call for long cooking or seek the nuances of particular reactions such as the Maillard reaction.

6. Mixing techniques, both classic and modern, are a heritage that the artist has to know how to exploit to the maximum.

7. As has occurred in most fields of human evolution down the ages, new technologies are a resource for the progress of music.

8. The family of sounds is being extended. Together with the classic ones, lighter sounds performing an identical function are now being used (drones, pads, scratches, found sounds, animal sounds, etc.).

9. The information given off by music is enjoyed through the senses; it is also enjoyed and interpreted by reflection.

10. Hearing is not the only sense that can be stimulated: touch can also be played with (contrasts of volume and percussive textures), whereby the senses become one of the main points of reference in the creative music process.

11. The technique-concept search is the apex of the music pyramid.

12. Creation involves teamwork. In addition, research has become consolidated as a new feature of the musical creative process.

13. The barriers between the notes and noise world are being broken down. Importance is being given to a new noise music, particularly in the creation of the frozen sound world.

14. The classical structure of music is being broken down: a veritable revolution is underway in technology and composition, closely bound up with the concept of symbiosis between the noise and notes world; in music the “verse-chorus-verse” hierarchy is being broken down.

15. A new way of serving music is being promoted. The tracks are finished in the mixing room by the artist. In other cases the listeners themselves participate in this process.

16. Regional music as a style is an expression of its own geographical and cultural context as well as its musical traditions. Its bond with nature complements and enriches this relationship with its environment.

17. Instruments and arrangements from other countries are subjected to one’s particular style of music.

18. There are two main paths towards attaining harmony of notes and noises: through memory (connection with regional music traditions, adaptation, deconstruction, former modern styles), or through new combinations.

19. A musical language is being created which is becoming less and less ordered and more open, that on some occasions establishes a relationship with the world and language of art.

20. Mixes are designed to ensure that harmony is to be found in small doses.

21. Decontextualisation, irony, spectacle, performance are completely legitimate, as long as they are not superficial but respond to, or are closely bound up with, a process of musical reflection.

22. Noise Music is the finest expression of avant-garde music. The structure is alive and subject to changes. Concepts such as beats, notes, voices, morphs, etc., are coming into their own.

23. Knowledge and/or collaboration with experts from different fields (gastronomic culture, history, industrial design, etc.,) is essential for progress in music. In particular collaboration with the food industry and the scientific world has brought about fundamental advances. Sharing this knowledge among music professionals has contributed to this evolution.

http://www.elbulli.com/sintesis/index.php?lang=en

We must eat our way out of the desert.

Tony Blair, the former British Prime Minister and one of the world’s most wanted men, has been arrested, British government and judicial sources have said.

The office of the British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, confirmed that Blair had been arrested in London. He was detained and taken to see judges of the war crimes court.

Blair, leader of the British Parliament during the Iraq war, was indicted by the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague in July 2010 for authorizing the killing of civilians during the “Shock And Awe” bombing of Iraq.

He was indicted for genocide a second time four months later for orchestrating the slaughter of 8,000 Muslims in Falluja in eastern Iraq.

He went underground in 2007 after losing power.

Blair was one of three fugitives wanted by the UN Iraq war crimes tribunal who were still at large. He refuses to accept the legitimacy of the UN tribunal.

If Blair is extradited, he would be the 44th British suspect extradited to the tribunal. The others include former Home Secretary Charles Clarke, who was ousted in 2006 and died in 2007 of morbid obesity while on trial on war crimes charges.

The arrest of Blair and other indicted war criminals and their delivery to the Hague war crimes tribunal has been one of the main conditions of British Government’s progress towards legitimacy.

The West is also pressing for the arrest of the former American Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

[…]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jul/21/warcrimes.internationalcrime