THE
2006 EMPIRE CONSERVATIVE REPORT
by Pastor Nigel Owens, who was at that
time Chairman of the Northern Ireland Branch of the Springbok Club
THE WORLD SITUATION
: MUCH OF
IT COULD BE SUMMED UP BY THE PHRASE "WE
TOLD YOU SO !"
[1] THE WORLD GENERALLY: (a) Thanks in large part to the Empire,
English is still the world's most understood language. Like the world's
time zones, it is yet another positive, lasting legacy of Empire. (b)
Cuba is weakening. (c) Libya is weakening. (d) Support for the
Empire is still strong in Sierra Leone. (e) Evangelicals in the Anglican
Communion, especially its African provinces are taking a very strong stand
indeed against homosexuality and the activities of Rowan Williams, the 'Tony
Blair appointed' Archbishop of Canterbury. Williams describes himself as
"a hairy lefty", which just about says it all.
[2] THE HOME COUNTRIES OF THE UNITED
KINGDOM:
General UK
(a) The excellent celebrations surrounding the 200th anniversary of the Battle
of Trafalgar. (b) The massive groundswell of popular support throughout
the UK for Tony Martin and the principles which he has come to embody.
(c) The growing success of the 'Campaign Against Political Correctness',
including the securing of columns in 'Freedom Today' (journal of the 'Freedom
Association') and appearances on daytime television programs. The think
tank 'Civitas' has also produced a brilliant, compelling and very popular
rebuttal of political correctness entitled 'The Retreat of Reason' (written by
Anthony Browne, a journalist with The
Times). (d) The Conservative Party seems to be enjoying something of
a revival at the moment. (e) Under the leadership of David Cameron, the
Conservative Party has finally withdrawn from the federalist 'European Peoples
Party / EPP' group in the European Parliament. This comes as an answer to
the prayers of many staunch conservative throughout the length and breadth of
the country. (f) The convincing rout of Kenneth Clarke and Malcolm
Rifkind in the Conservative leadership contest. (g) Ted Heath and Tony
Banks are no longer present in the House of Commons. (h) Philip Davies MP
(one of the new Conservative intake from the 2005 general election) is clearly
a very welcome young man who has served to gladden our hearts. In his
maiden speech, he demonstrated himself as a strong friend of unionism, praising
Dr Ian Paisley as "a great parliamentarian of our time" and saying
"it is an honour to speak in the same debate". He then went on
to condemn political correctness. He has since gone on to call for
Britain's withdrawal from the EU and abolition of the 'Council for Racial
Equality'. Mr Davies clearly represents the bright, fresh, young future
of the Conservative Party, I hope that his wise words will be heeded and I
confidently expect him to transform Shipley into a safe Tory seat at the next
general election. (i) The return of William Hague MP to the Shadow
Cabinet. (j) Brown, as the next leader of a bitterly divided Labour
party, should be easily beaten at the ballot box by David Cameron come the next
general election. If the economy goes belly up at all (many believe that
it will), Brown will get the blame (regardless of what position he is holding
at the time); and, if Brown endorses the euro (as many believe he will), he
will be even more unpopular. In the meantime, Tony Blair's position
continues to be slowly eroded from within. (k) Alastair Campbell, the
former soft porn magazine writer who went on to become Tony Blair's formidable
spin doctor, has stepped down. Shortly after doing so, he vented his full
hatred for the Daily Mail, a brilliant newspaper championing the cause of
freedom in Britain today, which will thankfully continue to make waves and
influence people long after the name of Alastair Campbell has been forgotten.
Having said that, the next general election will be much easier for
conservatives now that he is out of the picture, and, it gets even better
because further help will be at hand - John Prescott will still be sticking
around, as one of Labour's big hitters (in more ways than one), he will be in
the front line - hopefully he will be as successful as he was in the 'North
East Referendum'. (l) Even judges are beginning to call upon Britain to
toughen up its asylum policy. Very few public figures (not even those who
believe it) are going around claiming that what Britain needs is more chaotic
immigration/asylum policies. (m) Events in the 'Celebrity Big Brother
House', with the normally very adept, canny 'Respect' MP George Galloway
utterly humiliating himself and showing his true character. His antics
merely served to confirm, vindicate and widely publicise our analysis of
him. This is the man who described the fall of the Soviet Union as
"the worst day of my life" and, after saluting Saddam Hussein's "courage"
and "indefatigability', said to him (in Arabic), "until victory!
until Jerusalem!" (quoted by Nick Cohen in 'The Observer',
15.01.06). Many of the conservative Muslims in Bethnal Green who gave him
their vote were shocked and outraged by his behaviour in the Big Brother
House. The “respect” and credibility which he enjoyed in their eyes seems
to have quickly faded away. It is interesting to note that, just after he
left the Big Brother House, Galloway seemed to intimate that he would not be
standing again to represent Bethnal Green in parliament. Was this because
he knew that he could no longer charm its voters sufficiently enough to
win? That certainly may be the case when you consider the fact that the
'Socialist Workers Party' (which many believe runs the Respect Party) is
clearly panicking, admitting in a recent communiqué that "it would be
foolish to pretend that the issue (of Galloway's recent behaviour) will not
cause us some damage". The Respect Party's carefully constructed
alliance between the Trotskyite far left and the Islamic far right now seems be
unravelling and will, in time, gradually disintegrate into its own richly
deserved inevitable failure. A House of Commons without George Galloway
and his ilk will be an infinitely better place. (n) Tony Blair has on
various occasions, within recent memory, concurred with our analysis of effect
of the 1960s and political correctness. (o) The government's notorious
'Religious Hatred' Bill (which saw Tony Blair join forces with George Galloway)
was, by the grace of God, miraculously defeated in the House of Commons and the
House of Lords. Rev William McCrea (DUP MP for South Antrim) broke the
news to a jubilant crowd (numbering in the 100s and mostly from an
Afro-Caribbean background) praying and singing outside parliament, he then went
on to lead them in the singing of 'Amazing Grace'. Labour whips were
speechless and couldn't rationally explain away the defeat. (p) Support
for the monarchy remains strong and, some would say, is growing. The
'Dianna effect' is now finally beginning to dip, this was especially seen in
the public's relatively supportive reaction (whether right or wrong) to the
marriage of Prince Charles to Camilla Parker-Bowles. Prince Philip is
also enjoying some good publicity for a change in view of BBC Radio 4's recent
decision to make a very positive documentary on his role in the Second World
War, during which he saved a man's life. The man is actually still alive
and was reunited with Prince Philip during the making the production. (q)
The Liberal Democrats are in disarray. Their recent leadership contest,
one could say timed perfectly to show up all of their internal splits and
divisions just before the Spring elections, was a complete debacle. Their
popular image as 'the nice party' who 'are not like other politicians' is now
gone forever thanks to the way they got rid of Charles Kennedy. One Lib
Dem MP even spelt it out and said, 'we are a political party, not a
charity'. This must have come as something of a shock to many of their
most passionate supporters, who just could not conceive of the Lib Dems being
ruthless to anyone. In a sense, they were in a lose/lose situation after
he 'came out' about his drink problems; keep Charles as leader and your party is
seen as a liability, mercilessly get rid of him and your party is seen as a
pack of heartless Pharisees. As one person said to a senior Liberal
Democrat on Radio 4, "Charles accomplished more drunk, than the rest of
you did sober", maybe there is something in that. For all our past
opposition to Charles Kennedy, we must at least pay tribute to the wonderful
way in which he swiftly and decisively dealt with Jenny Tongue MP after her
pro-Palestinian remarks about suicide bombers. Interestingly enough, she
was one of the earliest Lib Dems to call for the wounded leader's
removal. The party's leader in the Lords, as well as leadership
contenders Mark Oaten and Simon Hughes, have all subsequently had less than
helpful, embarrassing revelations come out about them. In recent months
therefore, the Lib Dems seem to have opened nothing less than their own
Pandora's Box. Their passion for scoring own goals seems to know no
limits. All they need now is for John Prescott to join the party and they'll
be absolutely sunk. Their recent by-election victory in 'Dunfermline
& Fife' can easily be explained away as nothing more than a protest
vote. (r) Whilst we have no time whatsoever for Nick Griffin, Mark
Collett, the BNP or their views, we do however believe in freedom of thought,
speech and expression. It is for this reason that we welcome their recent
legal victories. Living in a free, democratic country means that everyone
has the right, not only to be right, but to be wrong as well; not only to offend,
but to be offended. Regardless of how much one may disagree with their
views, they are still entitled to the same rights as everyone else. (s) Britain's loyal, patriotic Sikh
community showed their worth once again in joining and supporting the various
Christian protests against 'Gerry Springer the Opera'. (t) The mythical,
self-proclaimed 'credibility' of the BBC has been significantly damaged in
recent years. They have been forced to make some very less than positive
admissions about themselves and their enemies have gained quite a few important
scalps. (u) Dr Ian Paisley has been appointed to the queen's 'Privy
Council' and the DUP has been given 3 positions in the House of Lords.
(v) Peter Tatchell, the hard left homosexual activist who conducted such a wonderful
campaign against Robert Mugabe, weighed in on the side of freedom when street
preacher Harry Hammond and Sir Iqbal Sacranie of the 'Muslim Council of
Britain' were unjustly persecuted by 'political correctness ridden' police
forces. Tatchell maintained that everyone (unless they incited murder or
violence) had the right to express their views about homosexuality without fear
of prosecution or harassment from the police. (x) Recent attempts in
parliament to attack the 'Act of Settlement' have been sunk, thanks in no small
part to the efforts of Dr Ian Paisley MP and Ann Widdecombe MP. (y) The
idea of a 'British Day'. It is just a shame that this idea is being
floated by a Labour government and not a Conservative one. No doubt Labour
is doing this for a reason however, therefore the potential for it to be
ruined, or have a distinctively 'un-British' feel to it, is quite high.
(z) The British authorities have finally moved against Abu Hamza, prosecuted
him and told him to 'sling his hook'.
England
(a) The
Conservatives were the largest party in England (by around 60,000 votes) at the
last general election in terms of the popular vote. When you add to this
the votes of parties like UKIP and Veritas (who deprived the Conservatives of
gaining many extra winnable seats), the future looks very bright indeed.
(b) The wonderful victory against EU regionalisation at the 'North East
Referendum'. (c) London's successful Olympics bid and
the subsequent explosion of patriotic sentiment. (d) The wonderful
English victory at 'The Ashes' and the resultant explosion of patriotic
sentiment connected thereto. It was especially lovely to see the crowds
in a packed Trafalgar Square covered with English flags and
singing 'Jerusalem' and 'Rule Britannia'.
The
Principality of Wales (England)
(a) The
Conservative Party and UKIP have made some really excellent strides forward in Wales. (b) Plaid Cymru (a minor
left wing party which wants independence for Wales) lost what little relevance
it did have when, in 2005 at the General Election, they slumped to a 13 year
low - losing one of their MPs to the Lib Dems (now they only have two MPs in
Westminster). They fell from 17 to 12 seats in the 2003 Welsh Assembly
Elections and lost one of their MEPs in the 2004 European Elections when their
support dived by 12.2% (they only have one MEP left now, Jill Evans, and her
vote is beginning to look quite shaky as well). They have also recently
lost control of two local councils, thus compounding their blues.
Scotland
(a) Devolution has been shown to be a disastrous waste of money, the behaviour
and ideas of some within the Scots parliament have shown it to be nothing more
than a complete joke. The final cost of the new parliament building
itself, perfectly illustrates the incompetence, failure and wastage of
taxpayers money inherent within Labour / SNP / Lib Dem socialism and de facto
republicanism. (b) The 'West Lothian Question' remains a serious
challenge that easily exposes the 'democratic immorality' of devolution; i.e.
Scottish politicians being able to reject what they deem as bad
legislation for Scotland, yet vote in the Westminster Parliament to enforce
that self same legislation upon the people of England. Unfortunately,
this has also had the effect of giving rise to a popular demand for 'English
Devolution' and an 'English Parliament', some even going so far as to call for
'English Independence'. Whilst this is understandable, it
does not bode well for the long term future of British unionism or pan-British
patriotism. (c) UKIP and the Conservative Party are now enjoying some
real growth in Scotland and the recent 'rise' of the
SNP (due to their reappointment of the charismatic MP Alex Salmond as party
leader) will soon inevitably ground to a halt. (d) Spirited opposition to
the recent 'Civil Partnerships' legislation, especially in the Hebrides.
Northern Ireland
(a) Unionists, while not having a complete veto over government policy on Northern Ireland, do at least have more of a
veto than they used to. (b) The government's withdrawal of its 'On
the Runs' legislation (unfortunately this was done in order to placate the
feelings of IRA terrorists, not those of their victims - which the government
and 'Troops Out' activist Peter Hain clearly don't give a toss about).
The actual parliamentary debate on the issue itself saw some of the best
speeches delivered in the Commons in recent years, particularly regarding the
contributions of Rev William McCrea MP, Iris Robinson MP and Lempit Opik
MP. (c) Sinn Fein / IRA have been kept out of government by a unionist
party which firstly, is not afraid to say 'no' and secondly, is not taken in by
the latest IRA statement (including Adam's claim that "the war is
over") or the recent decommissioning stunt (including the word of the two
'impartial' IRA appointed, pro-agreement witnesses). Events on the ground
and the contents of various police and IMC reports delivered since then
certainly seem to have vindicated the DUP's rather sceptical view of the whole
affair. David Trimble and his pro-agreement conies however, would have
readily swallowed the bait and easily settled for a lot less. Whilst
there is no doubt that the IRA certainly did decommission some of their weapons
recently (thanks to the presence of a much stronger unionist opposition to
them), that clearly is nowhere near enough and still not acceptable. (d)
Thanks to the efforts of Dr Paisley, the old 'Ulster Special Constabulary'
association, the IMC and Mr William Frazer of the victims group 'FAIR'; the credibility
and integrity of the decommissioning witnesses (and those pro-agreement
'unionists' like Lady Sylvia Hermon MP and Danny Kennedy MLA who defended them)
has been ably, publicly and incontrovertibly demolished. (e) The sweeping
victory of anti-agreement unionist candidates in the 2005 General
Election. This saw the election of 9 DUP members of parliament,
especially glorious was the result in Upper Bann where David Trimble lost his
seat to David Simpson. Pro-agreement unionism is effectively dead and
buried. (f) Anti-agreement unionism looks set to win North Down, South Belfast and Fermanagh & South
Tyrone at the next General Election. (g) There is a very real possibility
of a hung parliament after the next general election, with the DUP holding the
balance of power. (h) Our analysis of the continuing links between
Sinn Fein / IRA and the ANC has been confirmed over the last 12 months with
senior ANC figures addressing local republican rallies and events.
(i) The annual 'Belfast Pride' parade was subject to some very stringent
restrictions indeed after a series of successful representations to the
'Parades Commission' by local Christians. The number of people taking
part in the parade was quite small. (j) Sean Garland, leader of the
pro-North Korean 'Workers Party of Ireland', is being extradited to the US. Good riddance to bad
rubbish.
[3] WESTERN EUROPE
(a)
Angela Merkel has led Germany's conservative CDU to victory
in the recent general elections. (b) Convincing referendum victories
over the proposed EU Constitution in various countries. (c) The
exceptionally impressive performance of British MEPs like Roger Helmer, Daniel
Hannan, James Allister, Gerard Batten, Nigel Farage, Godfrey Bloom and Roger
Knapman. (d) Some of the incredibly amusing speeches and antics on
the floor of the European Parliament by Veritas leader Robert
Kilroy-Silk. (e) Ruth Lea and Rodney Leach (two of Britain's greatest economic minds and
conservative thinkers) have now indicated that they are in favour of a British
withdrawal from the EU. (f) Some commentators believe that David Cameron
will secure the enduring loyalty of the Conservative Party's eurosceptics and
right wingers by offering them a very tempting deal on Europe, namely that we
present our European 'partners' with an ultimatum - either we get a full and
satisfactory renegotiation of our relationship with the EU, or, we
withdraw. This dovetails perfectly with what UKIP MEP Nigel Farage
recently reported to a meeting in London - namely that contingency plans are
already being drawn up in Brussels to cope with a full British withdrawal from
the EU. (g) Queen Margrethe of Denmark recently made some remarks
about Islam which many people perceive to be extremely pertinent and a dose of
good old common sense. However, regardless of whether she was right or
wrong, it is at least heartening to see someone in Europe who is still able to enjoy
freedom of speech, even if it does offend Islam. She called upon the
Danes to "show our opposition to Islam" and went on to say, "It
is a challenge we have to take seriously, we have let this issues float about
for too long because we are tolerant and lazy". (h) Whilst it can
certainly be argued that the recent publication of cartoons depicting Muhammad
in various European and Jordanian newspapers was unnecessary, it nonetheless
threw up a whole lot of interesting things. It served to let the wider
public see once again the true face of so many Muslims who just cannot cope
with the whole concept of freedom of speech and expression. Hysterical
protests, acts of violence, death threats to westerners and attacks on foreign
embassies could not be contained and spread round the world like wildfire - all
the while, 'moderate' Muslims stood by, red faced, continuing their claims that
true Islam is really a religion of peace that respects individual
freedom. Furthermore, it was revealed on BBC Radio 4 (1.30pm to 2pm on
09.02.06) that various Danish Muslims had travelled abroad to 'brief' foreign
Muslims leaders on the situation by showing them the cartoons in question;
however it now turns out that they also included three extra, more offensive,
cartoons as well - which were not even published in the first place (depicting
Muhammad as a bestialist and a paedophile). One Danish Muslim even
appeared on the Arabic television station Al-Jazeera claiming that the Danes
were burning mosques, destroying copies of the Koran and persecuting
Muslims! It was good however to see so many left wing and liberal
European newspapers and journalists actually standing up for real freedom for a
change, rather than just the kind of 'freedom' they normally promote, i.e. your
'freedom' to agree with their latest politically correct consensus on any given
subject. It exposed the true agenda of New Labour (in the person of Jack
Straw), the EU Commission (in the person of Peter Mandelson) and the usual
collection of 'the great and the good', who condemned the cartoons as
inflammatory and urged that no more newspapers should publish them - yet were
either strangely silent when the BBC decided to broadcast 'Jerry Springer the
Opera' (which insulted Jesus Christ), or, brazenly defended it as a necessary
triumph against religious censorship, intolerance and bigotry. So there
we have it all over again, it is wrong to insult Muhammad, but right (and even
necessary) to insult Jesus. After all - Labour, the Liberal Democrats and
their cronies do rely rather heavily upon the votes of millions of British
Muslims, especially in marginal constituencies, don't they? It's just a
thought. The 'Independent' newspaper showed a distinct lack of
'independence' in its dithering over whether or not to publish the cartoons due
to the fact that they (thanks to their opposition to George Bush and the Iraq War)
have a large Muslim readership who no doubt bring in lots of money to, what
many people see as, a failing, activist newspaper. The 'Guardian' and the
'Mirror', normally so fearless in the face what they see as religious
intolerance, censorship and extremism (especially when evangelical Christians
are concerned), seemed oddly reluctant to throw down the gauntlet on this
occasion. It's just a thought, but no doubt conclusions will be drawn,
especially in light of the fact that, if you offend them, there are some Muslim
extremists who won't just send the editor a letter of complaint, sometimes they
have been known to send other things as well. British Muslims have held a
number of protest marches in London, some of which have been better
choreographed than others. On one such march, there were calls for all
those who insulted Muhammad to be killed, there were calls to 'bomb Britain'
(remember the 7th July 2005!) , and, just to make a point, one demonstrator (a
convicted drug dealer according to AOL News 07.02.06) decided to dress up as a
suicide bomber. This was all clearly incitement to murder, and therefore
constituted a breach of existing law, yet there were no arrests and no
prosecutions. The ultra pc 'London Metropolitan Police Force', normally
so eager to please on occasions when offence rears its ugly head, were
strangely found wanting. You can rest assured however, that if anyone
else had marched through London demanding the death of Muslims,
then the Met and the CPS would have had a field day. The march wouldn't
have got too far and there would have been 'on the spot' arrests a
plenty! It is also interesting to note that the Vatican (hardly a natural champion of
concepts like free speech and a free press) saw fit to weigh on the side of
Islam - no doubt all sorts of interesting conclusions will be drawn from
that. Pope Benedict may even find himself with a bit of egg on his face
in that some of the more irreverent and less deferential amongst his opponents
in the press may be tempted to point out, that whilst their actions may have
caused offence to those with whom they disagreed, at least they didn't cause
death (unlike the past actions of a certain Italian based European
institution). One final thought for us to ponder - over recent months,
many Muslims have said repeatedly through the media that true Islam opposes
both, making pictures of Muhammad, and, making videos of westerners being
beheaded. We have seen many Muslim demonstrations across the world
against the former, how many have we seen against the latter? (i) France continues to confirm our
already low opinion of it in its inadequate support for the USA and the allied action in Afghanistan.
[4]
EAST EUROPE / WEST ASIA
(a)
Euro-scepticism continues to grow and flourish in Latvia, Turkey and Poland. It now looks
increasingly unlikely that Turkey will ever be able to get into
the EU (a growing number within both Turkey and the EU are not overly
enthusiastic about the prospect). (b) The pro Russian premier of Ukraine has been replaced with someone
who (according to Dr Paisley's magazine 'The Revivalist') is a Christian.
This will prove to be a setback for the plans of Vladimir Putin for local
hegemony.
[5] GIBRALTAR
(a) The
resolve of the people of Gibraltar remains rock solid. By their determination
and strident action, they wrecked the Labour government's plans to sell them
out to Spain. (b) Excellent
celebrations of the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar.
[6] THE
FALKLANDISLANDS
(a) The
resolve of the people of the Falklands remains rock solid. (b)
They continue to enjoy what many observers believe to be the highest standard
of living and quality of life on both American continents (with the probable
exception of the USA). (c) Massive oil and gas
reserves which, if fully exploited, can bring untold wealth to both Britain and the Falklands.
[7] HONG KONG
(a) The
continuing strength of the strongly anti-communist 'Democratic Party'.
[8] CANADA
(a) The
recent victory in Canada of a strong, revitalised,
right-wing, pro-freedom, pro-US, Atlanticist, Conservative Party (which only a
few years ago had almost vanished from the Canadian House of Commons).
The long night of the previous left wing, very repressive, anti-freedom,
politically correct government is now finally at an end. (b) The
soaring popularity of Canada's revitalised Conservative
Party with university students. (c) What scientists are calling
'one of the world's top ten biggest oil reserves' has been discovered in the province of Alberta. This oil is now
beginning to be exploited and extracted - just in time for the incoming
victorious Conservative Party government to enjoy its bounty. In addition
to its newly discovered massive coal deposits, this will ensure that Canada will be strong, confident, more
prosperous and much less dependent tan before on Middle Eastern oil. (d)
Quebec Separatists are downcast after their latest referendum defeat.
[9] AUSTRALIA
(a)
Fourth General Election victory of conservative Australian Prime Minister, John
Howard, a man of strong monarchist and immigration / asylum credentials.
(b) There have been some very encouraging victories in the various referendums
held throughout Australia on the issue of the British
monarchy. There also continues to be strong popular support in Australia to keep the Australian flag in
its present format and not to change it by, among other things, removing the
Union Flag from its top left hand corner. (c) Popular resolve against
both militant Islam and uncontrolled immigration / asylum policies holds
strong.
[10] NEW ZEALAND
(a) New Zealand's Conservative Party (the
'National Party'), which is the main party of opposition, continues to go from
strength to strength. They have just recently created a brand new
position - 'Political Correctness Eradication Spokesman'. This is going
down a real treat with the voters, many of whom are sick and tired of long
years of repressive misrule at the hands of Helen Clark's Labour Party.
The left wing vote in New Zealand is currently very fragile,
badly fractured and beginning to unravel. There is therefore a good
possibility that the National Party, possibly with the help of 'Christian
Heritage New Zealand' and other minor parties, will be victorious at the next general
election.
[11] RHODESIA
(a) Our
analysis of the situation in Rhodesia continues to be confirmed by
events as they unfold and is increasingly being heeded. (b) Opposition to
Robert Mugabe is continuing to grow. In line with Springbok Club policy,
many Conservative MPs have called for military intervention. The Daily
Telegraph has given what can only be described as brilliant support to the work
of Mr Denis Walker's 'Rhodesia Christian Fellowship' who seek to expose the
full horror of what is really going on in that once great nation.
[12] SOUTH AFRICA
(a) Our
analysis of the situation in South Africa continues to be confirmed
stronger and stronger each year by events as they unfold on the ground.
The world cannot afford to turn a blind eye and ignore our analysis forever.
(b) An opinion poll shows that a majority of South African blacks believed they
were better off before the ANC came to power than they are now (Sunday
Telegraph, 22.12.02). (c) A close relation to Mbeki (the current South
African ANC president) said the same thing. (d) Helen Suzman (a veteran
opponent of apartheid and for years, the only PFP MP in the South African
parliament) has lashed out at the failures of the ANC government.
[13] VENEZUELA
(a) Pat
Robertson's recent controversial outburst on American Christian Television has
rather conveniently served to focus popular attention on the situation in Venezuela.
[14] ISRAEL
(a) The
increasing success of 'World Holocaust Memorial Day'. Unfortunately, the
role of Muslims who supported Hitler, like the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, was
downplayed by some official exhibits in the US - some would say that this was
down to political correctness and a desire not to offend Islam.
Interestingly enough, the 'Muslim Council of Britain' has once again voted to
continue its boycott of 'Holocaust Memorial Day'. No doubt conclusions
will be drawn. (b) The succession of Benjamin Netanyahu, an eminently
honourable and able man, to the leadership of Likud (Israel's Conservative Party). In
view of; the widely demonstrated fact that Israel has gained nothing from the Gaza pullout, the Hamas general
election victory and the public claims from their leaders that electoral
victory has changed nothing, the atmosphere is just right for Netanyahu to put
his case and show that his analysis of the situation has been proven right all
along. (c) Arafat is no longer on the scene.
[15] IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN
(a)
British and American troops continue to do a good job. The war is being
steadily won and we need to have the grit, guts and sacrifice to support our
troops and stick at it until the job is done, regardless of the cost.
[16] IRAN
(a) War
with Iran is quickly becoming inevitable,
and once it comes, Iran will fall. (b) In one
poll conducted in America, over 57% of those questioned
were in favour of a war with Iran.
[17] SYRIA
(a) War
with Syria is slowly becoming inevitable,
and once it comes, Syria will fall. (b) Syrian has
been forced to withdraw from the Lebanon.
[18]
THE UN
(a) The
UN is significantly weakened due to its deep divisions and widely exposed
corruption / scandals. (b) It is also weakened by President Bush's
appointment of John Bolton as America's envoy to the UN. Bolton, a strong Conservative, has a
long history of combative criticism of the UNO and is considered to be a
leading hawk on matters like Iran, Iraq and North Korea. He is believed to want
to clip the UN back in a whole lot of areas. (c) It is then further
weakened by the groundswell of popular support in the USA for that nation's immediate
withdrawal from the UN (the UN has been very unpopular with the American public
for some time now). Many leading politicians are therefore calling for
withdrawal on the floor of the US Congress, including Rep Ron Paul (R-Texas)
and Rep Roscoe Bartlett (R-Mid). The state of Utah's 'Government Operations
Committee' recently passed Rep Don Bush's proposal (to urge the US to withdraw from the UN) by a
majority of 9 to 2. President Bush himself, whilst making the bad
decision of re-entering UNESCO and allocating it $60 million, has rescinded the
signature of Bill Clinton from the 'International Criminal Court' document and
pulled out of the Kyoto Protocol.
[19]
THE USA
(a)
Many US states have passed laws banning
same sex marriage. (b) In one poll, over 57% of Americans indicated
that they were in favour of a war against Iran. (c) The 'United American
Committee' has organised a whole series of large, highly successful public
rallies against 'Islamo-fascism and Anti-Semitism'. (d) Good possibility
of the appointment of pro-life justices to the American Supreme Court in such
numbers that it will be swung in the favour of conservatism for at least a
generation. (e) Events in the New Orleans superdome (following the
hurricane) served to prove what many of us suspected for a long time was the
case about the situation in question.