Thursday, 3 April, 2008
- 3 Apr 08, 05:44 PM
AIRLINE PLOT
It would have been the biggest terror atrocity since 9/11 - more than 1000 people would have been killed as seven transatlantic jets exploded in mid air after they had taken off from Heathrow - this is what the prosecution alleged today at the opening of the trial of eight men at Woolwich Crown Court.
They are accused of plotting to explode home made liquid bombs on seven flights to the US and Canada in 2006. The prosecution alleges that any passengers on the airlines concerned would have been "entirely at the mercy of the suicide bombers who happened to be on board with their explosive devices鈥. The judge has said it will be a long, high profile trial with dozens of witnesses and it's expected it will last eight months. All of the men deny conspiracy to murder. Richard Watson will have the story.
ZIMBABWE
Robert Mugabe is still clinging on to power in Zimbabwe so is there going to be a Presidential run off? President Mugabe has finally re-appeared after the Presidential and Parliamentary elections, shown on state TV meeting African Union leaders. One of his spokesmen, Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga, said that if the result from last Saturday's Presidential vote showed a second round was necessary Mr Mugabe would stand. Official results from the Presidential poll are due out tomorrow but the Opposition insists it has won the vote. But what is life like for ordinary people inside the country just now? We have a film secretly shot inside Zimbabwe which gives a fascinating insight into what people there think is going on.
ISRAEL
More conflict - this time in Israel. We have had unique access to one day's events in one of the illegal settlements in the northern West Bank. Here Tim Franks, for Newsnight, has witnessed Israel's ineffectual attempts to remove settlers. The Israeli Army forcibly evicts the inhabitants of the small outpost at the start of the day, but this triggers further conflict, between the army, left wing Israeli groups trying to reclaim the land for the Palestinian owner and the settlers who are trying to get back into their homes.
TONY BLAIR
What does Tony Blair think about God, religion and globalisation? The new convert to Roman Catholicism is giving a speech tonight as part of the Cardinal's lecture series in which he will be speaking about faith and globalisation. We'll be discussing the speech with Richard Levin the President of Yale and the man who has appointed him to the Ivy League University. I hope you join us, Kirsty
Comments Post your comment
Have faith in me. I`m religious.
Should`nt honesty be a prerequisite attribute for a man who wishes to be taken seiously on religious matters.
Notably Blair declared that God would be his judge on the murder of one million plus Iraqis. Not the victims,the injured,the displaced people and of course not the electorate and their representatives to whom he lied.
Complain about this post
SHOCK AND AWE
It is close to inconceivable that educated men of faith can seek to indiscriminately kill thousands of men, women and children, of all ages, in an attempt to bring the world to THEIR vision of how things should be. The problem seems to be that such fanatics arise in DIVERSE COUNTRIES, and whether they are ordinary citizens or holders of high office, they have in common that THEIR GOD wants such slaughter, so it is OK. Yesterday, on this blog, we were jousting over religion and humour. I will concede that young religious fanatics are not funny, and fanatically religious leaders, such as Tony Blair, a sick joke. Quite what war-leader Gordon - son of the manse - amounts to, defeats me.
Complain about this post
BLAIR AND THE CAUSES OF BLAIR
We should be studying Tony Blair more carefully; not just Blair but the causes of Blair.
From heady beginnings, a majority of people now see him to be economical with the truth, obsessed with his place in history, petty, devious and delusional.
Were he 鈥渢hat guy in HR who is a bit too oily鈥 this would not amount to much; Britishness has room for many such odd-balls. But Tony, not only did his own thing to us; he strutted the world stage doing unto others! This is serious.
And he makes very strange friends 鈥 at home and abroad; you know who I mean.
Should we not be examining, with some degree of concern, how he came to be PM?
Tony went from shoo-in Labour dead-cert in Sedgefield, through party approval and impotent monarch, to chum of Bush and a worldwide warrior for God.
He is not a 鈥淧retty straight kind of guy.鈥 He is a mass of complex curves, corners and recesses.
We, the voters, are the 鈥渃auses of Blair鈥 we did not read the signs. If we continue in this careless way, swooning to charisma and yielding to oratory, the next one might not be QUITE SO NICE!
Complain about this post
Hypocracy is NOT one of the seven VIRTUES.Perhaps this gentleman will read his bible and make full confession. Poor God will have a headache. I am ure he will make the time.
Complain about this post
"I know what I believe" said the man of poor judgement.
We can really only ctiicise his hypocrisy because he began his lies before entering Downing Street. Its what politicians do.
The facts are that he was chosen by the Bilderbergers to take the UK into a federal Europe and to embrace corporatism eg. GMO crops. He displayed his willingness by abondoning Clause 4. On the imperial agenda he was vetted and told the score by the US Bilderberg equivalent organisation the Council on Foreign Reations.
The destabilisation of Iraq was started in the Thatcher/Bush era as soon as the Iron curtain fell.Even Carter had plans for taking over the oil fields of the ME.Bush senior and Thatcher rallied the call to push the former CIA asset Sadam out of Q8.
Good cop played by Clinton bombed the
civilian air defences,radar and infrastructure through the nineties with the furrowed brow of Blair giving it the OK.
And of course Bush Junior plays bad cop and Blair the actor tries to smooth over the concerns of the home `consumers`.
All these players are mechanics doing what they are told.It makes no difference whether Republican or Democrat,Nu labour or Tory.The empire rolls on just as the privateer fillibusters did against US law early in the 19th Century.Finally joining with the British empire at the beginning of the 20th century.
Complain about this post
Barrie: Blair was not 'economical with the truth' - he LIED. You are in danger of using the kind of euphemism in which Blair, Campbell et al. used to specialise. Even the Beeb's 'sexed up' allegation was more of the same. It was DECEIT with quite monstrous consequences.
But yes, it would be fascinating to chart the causes of Blair/Blairism. However, I fear it has more consequences than causes: a fundamental watering-down of British politics (see Cameron, Clegg) (& beyond? see Sarkozy).
Excellent programme tonight, full of meaty issues.
Complain about this post
We should remember that the great mass-murderers of recent times have been the antiGod characters who created atheistic states like the Sovet Union,the Third Reich,North Vietnam etc.The imperical evidence would suggest that leaders without faith are far more dangerous than those of belief.This fact will never be accepted by the Left,however.
Complain about this post
The land now called Israel sits on the site of more than 531 (now destroyed) Palestinian villages. Palestinians in these villages were
either massacred or fled for their lives during the 1947-1948 war between immigrant Jews (now Israeli鈥檚) and the native Arab Palestinians. Israel has renamed almost every village and town to cover up all traces of the Palestinian heritage.
Complain about this post
"The resettlements in Judea and Samaria (West Bank) are perfectly legal per se."
"Moreover, the settlements were constantly called illegal."
Yes they are illegal under international law, always have been and always will be. Glad to see there are some Jewish people out there who do recognise this, as Newsnight rightly did.
Complain about this post
@8 - I see you've decided to change UN Resolution 242 to suit your own needs. Also where is the evidence that "Britain was named as the most anti-semitic country in the world, according to the 主播大秀." Surely not the 主播大秀 Worldservice poll on how other countries are seen by others around the world. I think you need to look through a dictionary.
Complain about this post
c.dytor: tell that to the Iraqi people who are watching two islamic sects murdering each other and themselves, presided over by an occupying force from christian nations. The truth is that religion is as easy to corrupt for evil aims as any other phliosophy. In many ways it's easier - when it's foundation is ephemeral, it's easy for a charismatic leader to say "This is the way, if you disagree with me you must be evil."
Complain about this post
My previous post makes no sense now as the old post at Number 8 has (thankfully) been deleted.
Complain about this post
When talking about mortgages, Paul Mason told Kirsty Wark that mortgage suppliers have cheap money "thrown at" them by the Bank of England and so the increase in mortgage lending rates is a ruse to increase profits.
The Bank of England has supplied very little money to the financial sector and so Mason did not provide an adequate answer to the important question.
Newsnight should interview people who have an understanding of what is going on rather then interviewing uninformed staff members.
Complain about this post
Surely I can't be the only one thinking that 'religious belief' (however that is defined, or in what one believes) is not an acceptable justification for presenting partial and distorted information to parliament for a 'going-to-war' vote?
The difference between the original raw intelligence with balanced interpretations, and the final report presented to parliament should help identify, and provide the evidence against, those cold-blooded and self-interested manipulators. Strip them of their pensions and 'honours', and pursue them with criminal charges.
God can judge them later (if exists and interested), but we need to make them accountable now while it still matters.
Complain about this post
It is a misnomer to call the West Bank 'Palestinian' land - under the Ottomans it was 'Miri' or state land. Arab claims should be taken with a pinch of salt. To the commenter who wrings his hands over the 500 or so Arab villages razed by Israel, most of the cities of the Middle East and N Africa had a large Jewish population for thousands of years. These Jews fled or were expelled leaving their homes,businesses,schools, synagogues, hospitals,cemeteries, holy shrines.Perhaps Newsnight would like to do a report on these forgotten dispossessed Jews. Some 主播大秀 balance is long overdue.
Complain about this post