Politics

This is the story behind the court case on Aggression in invading Iraq in 2003 against Tony Blair and others in the High Court in London.

Background I started my life as an electrical/electronics engineer having studied at Baghdad University and specialised in Microwave Communication at UCL. I left Iraq in 1980 for political reasons. This…

Continue ReadingThis is the story behind the court case on Aggression in invading Iraq in 2003 against Tony Blair and others in the High Court in London.

Realignment in British Politics – 1

Britain is witnessing a real shake up of its political system that may lead to the greatest realignment of its internal politics in generations. There are two indicators to justify such a statement – the Referendum on Europe and the intended Bill of Rights mentioned in the Queen’s speech. Today I will deal with the Referendum issue.

A long time has passed since the UK joined the Common Market (the predecessor of the EU) after the demise of de Gaulle and removal of his veto. The new generation of Brits know very little about life in the turbulent years between 1967 and 1975. The current prosperity is taken for granted and no one can assert whether or not the UK would have been better off had it stayed outside the EU. Economics is not a precise science and thus just as it was impossible in 1973 to determine the pros and cons of joining, it is equally impossible today to decide whether to leave or remain in the EU. (more…)

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Putin’s Dilemma

Mr. Putin, his Foreign Minister and most of his foreign affairs advisors were at some time members of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The presumption must be that they believed then in the ideals of Marx – in socialism, class struggle, and other practical policies that underlined the policies and practices of the Soviet Union during the Cold War era. It is healthier to believe that they were Socialists who converted to Capitalism. The alternative would make them hypocrites which would indeed make the future of Russia look very bleak.

But switching ideology is a dangerous step with unpredictable consequences. Converts of this type, in attempting to repent their early perceived mistakes, may become so adherent to the new ideology that they get blinded to realities and turn into fanatics. We have examples of Arab communists who converted and became worse imperialists than the Neocons.

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UN Security Council Usurping International Law

Many states contracted post WWII to set up the United Nations in order to settle disputes among nations; eliminate wars and maintain peace, order and cooperation amongst them. The Charter that was adopted set out the terms of that contract between states and identified the remit of the Security Council to implement these terms. Although the victors of WWII with the veto powers wanted to ensure that their activities were not shackled by real judicial scrutiny and thus the International Court of Justice was not given such authority, it remained true to say that at no place in the Charter was there any intention to give the Security Council any judicial authority. Furthermore, respecting the sovereignty of member states constituted the heart of the charter, which entailed that the Security Council was prevented from intervening in the internal affairs of any member state. To a large extent, these realties were maintained during the Cold War era.

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