Went to see The Corporation the other night. This documentary film looks at the history of corporations, and criticises the behaviour of many companies.
Highly recommended.
Check the film's website: www.thecorporation.com.
At the Labour Party conference in October 2001, shortly after the atrocities of 9/11, Tony Blair made this promise:
And I tell you if Rwanda happened again today as it did in 1993, when a million people were slaughtered in cold blood, we would have a moral duty to act there also. We were there in Sierra Leone when a murderous group of gangsters threatened its democratically elected Government and people.
And now, genocide has been committed in Darfur. Who says so? American Secretary of State, Colin Powell, in testimony to Congress on 9 September 2004:
…genocide has been committed in Darfur and that the Government of Sudan and the Jingaweit bear responsibility."
And this did not come as a surprise. The violence erupted in February 2003; and by the summer of that year, Mukesh Kapila (a former colleague at DFID, and UN representative in Sudan) warned the world that a major humanitarian crisis was unfolding. And despite the promises, we did nothing.
It seems that Alan Milburn, now rejoicing in the feudal title of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (very New Labour), will have responsibility in No.10 for the policy directorate and the strategy unit.
These staff obtain such influence as they have in Whitehall from having direct access to the Prime Minister, and being thought to be working directly for him. If they are now working for another Minister, however capable and influential, the influence of these key No.10 staff can only be diminished. Futhermore, they will have divided loyalties, and an increased workload serving two, rather than one, masters.
Good luck to them, I say.
George Bush and Tony Blair must be very proud that they have created the precedent, through their action in Iraq, which has allowed the Russians to announce today that Russia will take pre-emptive strikes anywhere in the world.
According to BBC news website "We will carry out all measures to liquidate terrorist bases in any region of the world," Gen Yuri Baluevsky said. "However, this does not mean that we will launch nuclear strikes." That's OK, then.
Richard Clarke, former counter-terrorism coordinator in the White House and author of Against all Enemies, spoke at Berkeley last night to a packed auditorium.
He came across as civilized, well-informed, thoughtful; and genuinely contrite that he and his colleagues had failed to convince the Bush administration of the importance of pre-empting an attack by Al Queda.
I disagreed, however, with his notion that it is desirable to create competing intelligence institutions, in order to promote diversity of opinion. If a challenge function is needed, it can be created within the institution.
Some rights reserved