What's he up to now?

+News outlets this morning are agog with speculation about the reasons for Tony Blair being at a meeting re: Gaza with Trump in the White House. It has been suggested that he is sharing his expertise with the property billionaires on how to turn the Middle East crisis into a business opportunity. But Blair’s record will not offer much hope to Palestinians. In this regard, a chapter on the subject, ‘A Hands-off Envoy: Blair in the Middle East,' in a 2015 book ‘Blair Inc. The Man Behind The Mask’ * tells us all we need to know about Blair’s use of his position as ‘envoy of the Quartet.’ It was Blair’s assumption that if he could regenerate the Palestinian economy with the support of the territory’s neighbours then a peaceful, liberal economy would follow. To be honest, I think Blair really believed that liberal democracies would follow liberal economies like night follows day. But as the authors of Blair Inc make clear, Blair didn’t really put a lot of effort into that aspect of the project. He nevertheless garnered more names on his Rolodex than the Emirates has gas reserves. In that regard alone it is conceivable that he may be of some use to Trump. I doubt that he will be able to convince the Israelis that they might usefully support anything which stops the expulsion of the Palestinians from what’s left of their country, either in Gaza or the West Bank. Blair’s involvement in the Middle East is likely to continue its trajectory as one long, unmitigated disaster.

*by Frances Beckett, David Hencke and Nick Kochan, pub. John Blake London 2015. Given Blair’s continuing influence, it would be good to see an update of this book. There is clearly an afterlife to Blair Inc.

+Also in the news is the fact that this year is set to be the hottest on record. Firefighters around the world know this to be true, and here in North Yorkshire our wildfires are setting the pace, although Scarborough has not quite matched Los Angeles yet. But the fires on the moors have closed roads and cut off communities. The land is tinder dry. There was a downpour of about ten minutes' duration yesterday - it took me a while to remember what rain looked like. And all the while the political zombies, Trump and Fartage et al are rising up against doing anything at all about climate change. They really do think their wealth will protect them.