Here in 'Good Old Blighty' we've had the pleasure of hosting the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia this week - Mohammed bin Salman, or MbS as he is affectionately known in the media. The Prince is a very important person in this neck of the woods, as many will have noticed from the avalanche of extremely expensive advertisements taken out in the mainstream media.
Casual followers of the news, and/or people who believe what they read in the newspapers, might assume that the hero's welcome afforded to MbS is due to the fact that he is our 'partner in counter-terrorism' as Theresa May likes to point out; or that he is allowing Saudi women to drive cars, as many of the ads point out. I hate to disabuse such folks...which of course is a blatant lie...but nothing could be further from the truth:
The head of the Saudi crime family received a hero's welcome because we sell him lots of guns & planes, and machines that go 'boom' as they rip the arms and legs off Yemeni children. We welcomed him because he supplies us with the majority of the terrorists currently attempting to destroy Syria on behalf of the United States of America and our good loyal selves.
We welcomed him because we just can't get out of the habit of thinking we still have an imperial role in the world, and of course...because the Americans wanted us to. The net effect is this: it's because we would rather pretend to believe in 'western values' and keep taking the money...rather than act out of 'western values' and stop killing people for their land and resources.
For those of you who missed the wonderful photos here is one that should go up on your wall to commemorate 'British Brown-Nose Week':
Despite appearances none of these people are wearing any clothes
I'm sure you will agree that they all seem to be having a great time lining up with their glorious leaders - the clueless British opportunist and the sociopathic Saudi brat. Seriously though, take a good look...this is an image of two groups of people that secretly despise everything the other stands for, united in their willingness to do whatever it takes to hold onto power. Just hold your nose...suppress the grimace...and say 'moneeeeeey'
On Friday, and just when you thought that 'British Brown-Nose Week' had finally come to an end...it did the impossible...it got worse.
Tony Blair lauded for 'outstanding contribution to democracy'
Blair has been awarded the 'Lincoln Leadership Prize', which recognizes outstanding leaders who display “great strength of character, individual conscience, and an unwavering commitment to the defining principles of democracy,”...just like the 16th US president. As you may know, Lincoln was often referred to as 'Honest Abe'...and at this point I'll leave you to complete that thought privately for yourselves.
I'm sure the weekend papers will cover it, but in the meantime here's something from Nadine Dorries, Conservative MP, star of 'I'm a celebrity, you're an idiot for watching me'...and not someone to downplay her feelings:
"It is beyond belief that Tony Blair – the man straining every sinew to overturn the votes of millions of people to leave the EU – is now being lauded for his commitment to democracy...I think the Americans should have taken a closer look at his record.”
Alas, whilst I agree entirely with her sentiments about Blair's commitment to democracy, Nadine is missing the point here. The US is perfectly aware of his record...Washington likes war-mongering brown-nosers, particularly British Prime Ministers...it's a colonial revenge kind of thing.
So, there you go. I can think of all sorts of reasons for being proud to be British. The main one being that I have some very fine British friends and relations who are honest, compassionate, and will not stand by whilst bullies take advantage of weaker folk. The purpose of power is to protect, otherwise it is not worth having. I am not proud of a bunch of hypocrites who support the cold-blooded murder of children and then lie about their motives for doing so. Those people can go to hell and take their gongs with them.
Finally, I'll leave you with my favourite image of the week. To mark the arrival of MbS one of my favourite charities, "Save the Children' unveiled a statue in Parliament Square. It's called 'Don't Bomb Children', and it's the best thing to come out of the whole grubby visit.
'Don't Bomb Children'