Blair's advice to Obama: "Clash of Civilizations"

"Tony Blair has urged Barack Obama to take the initiative on issues from climate change to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a way to heal the divisions between America and Europe.

In an interview with the Guardian during a visit to Rwanda, the former prime minister said Obama's election as US president opened up "an era of real possibility". (Let's hope not -j)

"I think he can say to Europe, look I'm going to champion a global deal on climate change, I'm going to take the Middle East peace process seriously, I'm going to make sure that poverty in Africa is right at the top of the agenda, I'm going to listen to your concerns and get a shared agenda with you" ("Shared agenda" who remembers 'shared global values'?)

[...] Obama faces inflated expectations, as Blair did in 1997 — in part born out of antipathy to the outgoing administration — that the president-elect's staff are already trying to dampen.

"There's enormous expectation," said Blair. "But I think he's a very smart guy and the only thing you can do in these circumstances is to try and meet the reasonable expectations.

"I personally think that one of the essential things both for the next American president and for the world is to regard this region [the Middle East], and broader than this region, as one problem because you face the same issue everywhere, which is a battle between those who want a modern and progressive future and those who are reactionary extreme," he said.

"Whether it's in Iraq or in Palestine or what's happening in all the different parts of Afghanistan or Pakistan, it's the same issue." (Guardian)

And it's just outrageous. Blair who obviously has no interest in regret or understanding and who has apparently willfully learned absolutely nothing since leaving office earns enormous sums of money giving these after dinner speeches presumably filled with exactly this kind of shocking crap. It's just amazing.