Britain

This could very well be the most ironic act of hopejacking yet. Some British bloggers have noticed a striking similarity between the Websites of the xenophobic British National Party, which banned nonwhites from joining until a court order this year, and BarackObama.com.

The Times reports that when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was in London next week, she expressed concerns that a new Tory government led by David Camerson would cause a rift between Britain and Europe:

Mrs Clinton is said to be worried by Mr Cameron’s promise to hold a referendum on the Lisbon treaty if it is not ratified by the time of the next election or seek to repatriate powers given to Brussels in previous agreements. [...]

President Obama has repeatedly made plain that he wants a strong and united Europe as a foreign policy partner on issues ranging from Afghanistan to climate change.

He has less sentimental attachment than many of his predecessors to the traditional “special relationship”. Instead, he believes that Britain should be at the heart of Europe — a position that has been put in doubt by French and German anger over Mr Cameron’s decision to sever ties with the federalist centre right grouping in the Strasbourg Parliament.

Mr Obama is enthusiastic about the idea of a permanent EU president to replace the revolving chairmanship of the EU council, a measure opposed by the Conservatives.

It has long since been Washington’s aspiration to have a “phone to ring” in Europe and there would be strong support for a heavyweight figure such as Tony Blair taking on the role. Mr Obama’s impatience with dealing with the existing European structures is being reflected by an apparent reluctance to attend the next EU/US summit: he may send vice-president Joe Biden to Sweden in his place.

If Obama is intent to see the new EU governance structure put into place, it will be interesting to see if Vice President Biden applies some pressure to Czech President Vaclav Klaus -- the lone holdout on ratifying the Lisbon treaty -- when they meet in Prague on Friday.

In what will probably qualify as the year's least exciting civil rights victory, the far-right British National Party has agreed to admit nonwhite members nearly three decades after its founding: 

A government-backed rights body took it to court, claiming the party's constitution is discriminatory.

At a court hearing, a lawyer for the party said leader Nick Griffin would ask members next month to change the constitution so it did not discriminate on the grounds of race or religion.

In an order issued at the Central London County Court, the BNP agreed to use "all reasonable endeavors" to revise its constitution to comply with the Equality Bill, which bans discrimination on the grounds of race, gender or religious belief.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission, which brought the case, said it would be watching to see whether the BNP complied.

Somehow I don't think minorities are going to be beating down the door to join.

Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

Say goodbye to your Wii, say hello to Internet Eyes, the novel new game which will allow you to spot crime in real life, and win up to 1,000 pounds in prize money. Vigilantism has never been easier.

 It's run by a private company, which will stream live footage from the CCTV camaras of shops and business (who actually pay to be included in this scheme) straight to the computers of players -- yes, it's marketed as a game.

Some are celebrating the novel use of footage which, as they point out, is already recorded anyway. Britain has one camara for every 14 people, a total of 4.2 million -- however, only one in a thousand of these is actually watched by law enforcement officials at any given time. Some online sites are even celebrating the democratic nature of the game saying it puts Big Brother in the hands of the people.

 Unsurprisingly privacy groups are far less thrilled by the creation of a "snoopers paradise" and worry about a society in which people are encouraged to "spy and snitch on each other."  The Guardian points out that even supporters of the controversial CCTV camaras, aren't totally convinced by these plan.

Even Michael Laurie, head of Crimestoppers, foresees a 'wide range of opportunities for abuse and error' in what is, for him, 'essentially no more than a commercial venture exploiting some people's baser characteristics.'"

Although, in order to safeguard "privacy" the camaras are assigned to players randomly, without any identifying geographic information, shopgoers might want to be careful -- don't get caught buying buying inappropriate magazines by your wife, much less your mother-in-law.

Gordon Brown may have a lot to answer for about his conduct as Britain's Prime Minister, but the BBC's Andrew Marr went way over the line in asking him about rumors that he is using painkillers in an interview. "A lot of people in this country use prescription painkillers and pills to help them get through. Are you one of them?” Marr asked the irritated Brown.

The question was based on rumors that have been floating the British blogosphere for weeks, though the original author says that he was merely floating a theory based on an overheard remark about changes in the prime minister's diet and had no proof to back up his speculation. 

The Marr interview followed one with NBC's Brian Williams in the U.S., in which Brown was asked about other rumors that he is going blind in his one good eye. Brown denies this as well.

Whatever you think of Brown's performance of prime minister, there's nothing credible to suggest it is being adversely affected by either his eyesight or whatever medication he is taking. But he has always brought out a particularly nasty streak in the British media. BBC presenter Jeremy Clarkson, for instance, famously called the prime minister a "one-eyed Scottish idiot."

And if it's not his health, it's his physical appearance and public persona: Christopher Hitchens has described "his fingernails ... gnawed down to the knuckle." On this Web site, Alad Sked wrote, "his jaw seems to detach itself in a strange manner when he inhales while speaking." The Times's Robert Harris has described his "alarming smile which seems to appear from nowhere as if a button marked “smile” has been pressed in his head" and suggested that he may have Asperger's Syndrome.

Given Brown's low approval ratings and the leper-treatment he's been getting from the White House, he's certainly a soft target these days. But can't his critics stick to his record without attacks on his physical appearance and unfounded claims about his health?

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CentCom commander Gen. David Petraeus writes in the (London) Times to make the case for a population-centric counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan and praise U.S.-British cooperation:

[W]e need to be realistic in recognising that the campaign will require a sustained, substantial commitment. Many tough tasks loom before us — including resolution of the way ahead after the recent election, which obviously has been marred by allegations of fraud. The challenges in Afghanistan clearly are significant. But the stakes are high. And, while the situation unquestionably is, as General McChrystal has observed, serious, the mission is, as he has affirmed, still doable. In truth, it is, I think, accurate to observe that, as in Iraq in 2007, everything in Afghanistan is hard, and it is hard all the time.

Iran constitutes the main state-based threat to stability in the region. The impact of its malign activities and harsh rhetoric are felt throughout the Arabian Peninsula, making it, ironically, the best recruiter with prospective partners. We now have eight Patriot missile batteries spread across countries on the western side of the Gulf, where two years ago we had far, far fewer.

If Cecil Rhodes was correct in his wonderful observation that “being an Englishman is the greatest prize in the lottery of life”, and I’m inclined to think that he was, then the second greatest prize in the lottery of life must be to be a friend of an Englishman, and based on that, the more than 230,000 men and women in uniform who work with your country’s finest day by day are very lucky indeed, as am I.

Petraeus also gave an address at London's Policy Exchange think tank, saying, "The challenges in Afghanistan are significant, but the stakes are also high, and while the situation unquestionably is serious, the mission is still do-able." (See the AfPak Channel for more.)

Sending Petraeus to rally British support makes sense, but it makes me wonder why the Obama adminsitration hasn't used Petraeus -- certainly the most well-known military officer in the country and a bona fide pop-culture icon -- to pitch the Afghanistan strategy to the U.S. public.

The media-savvy general seemed to be everywhere during the later Bush years defending the Iraq surge. But Petraeus has been out of the spotlight lately and the job of "selling" Afghanistan seems to have been left to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Joint Chiefs Chairman Mike Mullen and the previously unknown Stan McChrystal. With the Pentagon worried about declining public support for the war, it seems odd that they haven't pulled out the big guns, so to speak. 

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Today, FP's front page has an excellent article from Amjad Shuaib on the crimes and fall of former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf. As Shuaib notes,  the Pakistani Supreme Court's decision this past July to declare Musharraf's state of emergency proclamation unconstitutional means "he may be tried for treason -- and possibly executed." 

With that threat hanging over his head, one might expect Musharraf to escape to a remote island hideaway, or at least somewhere where he couldn't easily be found. Not so: instead, according to the Guardian, he's holed up in "an unassuming three-bedroom flat behind the shisha bars and kebab joints of London's Arabic quarter." Unconstitutional seizure of power aside, the only controversy Musharraf is attracting in Britain is his taxpayer/Scotland Yard-provided security detail. And while he lives decently well, the apartment is a far cry from the "Park Lane penthouses" his rival Nawaz Sharif used to own. 

Still, Londoners who don't want the dictator hanging around will get their wish after this week: "he starts a 40-day lecture tour of the US next Tuesday." 

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British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has now come out in favor of pushing Libya to pay conpensation to victims of terrorist attacks by the Irish Republican Army, which was aided and supplied by Muammar al-Qaddafi's government in the 1980s. This is a reversal of his previous position on the matter:

 

“I care enormously about the impact of all I.R.A. atrocities on the victims, their families and friends,” Mr. Brown said at a news conference in Germany. He said the government would not negotiate directly with the Libyans in the matter, but would establish “a dedicated Foreign Office support for the victims’ campaign.”

He added, “I think it is clear that we are taking what action we believe is necessary to support the families in their difficult but necessary attempt to represent themselves with the Libyan authorities.”

This, of course, has nothing to do with a certain recent scandal over a released Libyan terrorist. In fact, Brown only shifted positions after the Times revealed that he had personally intervened to veto any government help for the victims' families, saying that the government "does not consider it appropriate to enter into a bilateral discussion with Libya on this matter." (For what it's worth, the Libyans have no intention of paying.)

The general spinelessness of the Brown government's response to the ongoing Libya scandal has been pretty breathtaking. Brown would probably have a hell of a time convincing the British public that helping these people was not "appropriate," but at least he would be standing up for his own policies rather than cynically reversing them as soon as the public found out what he was up to. 

Up until national elections are held, we can expect a lot more of Gordon Brown going out of his way to prove that the really hates terrorists, especially Libyan ones. 

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