Category: World

Wretchard is a little melodramatic sometimes, but he’s definitely got a way with words:

Tony Blair, alone among the major leaders of Europe had both the wit to see the danger and the fortitude to face it. He is a flawed figure, beholden to the social policies of the British Labor Party, yet for all that the only one with a sure voice, the only captain fell and terrible now that the issue is joined. And like another British leader thrust unwilling into the crucible he can count on the immense potency of the United States of America on that dark plain whose end he cannot see. In this trial God send us wisdom that we may triumph, not under the banner of hatred which is the enemy’s own standard, but under our own, mournful but unashamed.

Now terrorists of some stripe or other have killed hundreds and wounded over a thousand in Madrid. A former colleague of mine lives in Madrid, so although it’s highly unlikely she would have been involved, it’s still sobering.

It’s still not known if the attack was the work of the ETA or Islamists. However, the ETA has denied responsibility, and some group associated with Al-Qa’ida has not only claimed responsibility for the attack on Spain, but threatened a new attack on America. (People are saying that it’s not the usual ETA modus operandi — they usually target military or police, and rarely civilians, and have always called in a warning before a strike).

As someone once said, if your enemies see things in black and white, pay attention.

Tony Blair’s recent speech is a must-read:

This war is not ended. It may only be at the end of its first phase. [The terrorists] are in Iraq, murdering innocent Iraqis who want to worship or join a police force that upholds the law not a brutal dictatorship; they carry on killing in Afghanistan.

They do it for a reason. The terrorists know that if Iraq and Afghanistan survive their assault, come through their travails, seize the opportunity the future offers, then those countries will stand not just as nations liberated from oppression, but as a lesson to humankind everywhere and a profound antidote to the poison of religious extremism.

It appears that Disney will be making a live-action The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I hope the director can tone down the irony of Shrek while maintaining the whimsey.