Yo, Blair II

Tony Karon, Rootless Cosmopolitan

President Bush has a new role in mind for Tony Blair: No, no, not, as is being widely reported, as a "Middle East peace envoy." Goodness, no, the U.S. has no need of such a thing, because that would inevitably involve putting pressure on Israel. Blair’s new job, in fact, will be that of tutor to the Palestinian Authority, helping it to "develop effective institutions." He’s getting the job, it seems, because, as the New York Times blithely ventured, he "would bring to the job a higher stature, and might also bring a credibility — particularly with the Arab world — that an American might not be able to match." (Uh, right, because unlike Blair, an American might be seen as somehow implicated in the Bush Administration’s Middle East misadventures…)...

continua / continued