The Blair Lecture

I just went to the Tony Blair lecture, and...uh, I don't want to forget anything. They wouldn't let us bring a lot of stuff, like recording devices for instance. So...yeah...

So why not use a blog I haven't updated in months?

Anyway, this was at the Issam Fares lecture at Tufts on February 2nd. Sorry if the notes are rough!

The World: To make a peaceful world where we banish the issues of Global Warming, hunger and disease in Africa (which he is quite passionate about), we have to deal on a global basis of partnership and create a world order based on justice and partnership- the time when the West could impose their will on the rest of the world is over. We can not and should not do this. We should not act in morally restrictive and anyway useless national fashion- the whole world must act together. But there is one big problem with this...

Islam: Samuel Huntington once proclaimed that the Cold War would be replaced by a Clash of Civilizations- and it is the belief that such a clash exists that motivate some radical Muslims to think that committing suicide and killing innocents will somehow reconcile you with God.

Is Islam in a transition phase? Perhaps. And if we want to influence it at all, we cannot keep it in a strictly military manner- we need to do things in terms of persuasion, and overall...

Blair on the Middle East: During a tour through Palestine as the envoy of the Quartet (the US, Russia, EU and the UN that is supposed to negotiate or at least guide the process as one bloc), Blair's (Palestinian) guide once said, "Moses, Jesus, Muhamaad...why did they have to come here?"

He said that there are a lot of conflicts, and while the Arab-Israeli conflict was not the cause of the conflicts that rile from Somalia to Iraq, or even a cause, for they would exist without Israel, but solving it is necessary and the most important thing they can do to bring peace to the Middle East (which I will acronymize to MENA or "middle east and north Africa"). To solve this, we have to start now. We have to let the Palestinians rule themselves, instead of promising it as the Israeli settlers are allowed to take the best land uninhibited. Perhaps more importantly, we have to give the Gazans a way out, for the Gazan strikes has destroyed the infrastructure- and the hopes of many. We must not isolate Gaza from the West Bank!

On Iraq: Blair openly acknowledged that he could split the room on the question "Do you still think it was the right thing to do?"...or not XD. Apparently all the information he had was put on a website, though I remember reading that the whole event was rather controversial. I believe there was some rather odd event that put a shroud over the whole affair, but it may be best not to reference it directly in such a post as this. Still, he seems to have acknowledged the damage, and the best he could answer was that Iraq would not have been less dangerous if Saddam was still in power.

Okay, onto the lighter stuff before I forget absolutely everything.

On his command of communication: Apparently he somehow dodged using a mobile or a blackberry for his ten years in power as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland. In any case, he said he has one now- which prompted Tufts President Bacow to comment that he was trying to get rid of his. Blair remarked he loved the communication ability his gave him- and had to refuse Bacow's offer of his Blackberry.

More problematic was something that happened in his first years of power. He was at a news conference with the French Prime Minister at the time (a Socialist, given the timing), and he made the mistake of giving a live conference in French. He's good, but not that good: When asked which policies of the French PM he wanted to emulate, he meant to say, "There are many policies of his that I would like to emulate."

It came out as, "I prefer the Prime Minister in many different positions." No, Blair's married. To a woman.

On Ireland: Before Blair had a Bush-shaped albatross around his neck, he was famous for many other things. His New Labour coalition created growth and prosperity (which seems to have gone down the toilet recently), he pushed for ground troops in Kosovo during the Balkan wars, was (and is) passionate about African aid (and rock stars who want said aid), and, perhaps most importantly given Iraq, pushing for peace in Northern Ireland. While there, his wife Cherie got pregnant. An Irish delegate came up to Blair and remarked on how wonderful Blair is blessed with yet another child and inquired about the name of the child. Blair said "Well, if it's a boy, then we'll probably name him after his grandfather," and thought nothing of it.

A few months later, the delegate came up to Blair and said, "remember that fortutious conversation?"

"Well, I put 1000 euros on his name..."

I hope you guys got something out of this!