Tony Blair issues Arab spring warning to west

[alp227]

Source: The Guardian

Tony Blair warns the west today that it urgently needs a wider plan to respond to the Arab spring, including a warning to autocratic leaders across the Middle East "to change or be changed".

His call for a clearer strategic approach comes in a new foreword to the paperback edition of his bestselling autobiography, The Journey.

The former prime minister also praises Europe, and by implication David Cameron, for showing leadership in Libya, saying it would have been inconceivable to leave Muammar Gaddafi in power.

He said that if America and Europe had done nothing, "Gaddafi would have retaken the country and suppressed the revolt with extraordinary vehemence. Many would have died."

If he had been left in power while the west was willing to see President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt deposed, "the damage to the west's reputation, credibility and stature would have been not just massive but potentially irreparable. That's what I mean by saying inaction is also a decision."

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/08/tony-blair-arab-spring-warning-west

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. THERE's a man with cred....riiiight.

[mazzarro]

2. Yes - leaving the Saudi, Baharani, and Jordanian autocrats in power

does well for western credibility - in Tony Blair's warped mind and opinion. This idiot does not deserve to be allowed in the public square after all the lies and distortions of the Iraqi war!

[awoke_in_2003]

3. Hey Tony...

your master W has dropped from the limelight, why don't you do the same.

[Alamuti Lotus]

4. Tony, go to Fallujah for an hour without an entourage of bodyguards

Or start with England's friends in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, Bahrain, etc....

What a surprise, though, to see some neolib imperialist calling for more aggressive intervention in the mideast. Shocking.

[bemildred]

5. Poodle. nt