BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY HAGUE ARRIVES IN BAGHDAD

Blair's views on Islamism and the Middle East – including Egypt – received a controversial airing at a speech he gave on Wednesday, in which he called for the West to intervene across the region against Islamism, and in support of its opponents.

Mr. Blair said that even moderate Islamists, such as the Muslim Brotherhood, foster totalitarian aspirations and provide fertile soil for terrorism.

Two former British diplomats with extensive experience in the Middle East told EgyptSource that Blair's proposed campaign against Islamism, broadly defined, would receive little support in the UK Foreign Office. They agreed that his speech did reflect concerns in Britain's foreign policy establishment, but differed on the extent to which that is the case.

In his speech Tony Blair set out, more comprehensively than ever before, a vision of the Middle East, and of the West's role in the region.

Blair argued that turmoil in the Middle East "represents the biggest threat to global security of the early 21st century" and "at the root of the crisis lies a radicalized and politicized view of Islam."

Specifically, Blair criticized "a deep desire to separate the political ideology represented by groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood from the actions of extremists including acts of terrorism." But this is wrong, he argued: "the ideology [Islamism] itself is nonetheless dangerous and corrosive."

"The Muslim Brotherhood Government was not simply a bad Government," he said. "It was systematically taking over the traditions and institutions of the country. The revolt of 30 June 2013 was not an ordinary protest. It was the absolutely necessary rescue of a nation. We should support the new Government and help."

Blair, who was often criticized during his time as Prime Minister of the UK for a Manichaean worldview, said "there is a Titanic struggle going on within the region", one "with two sides."

5.Churchill's bust unites Washington in bombast and circumstance

The Guardian, 30 October 2013 by Paul Lewis

In 1814, the British invaded Washington and set fire to the Capitol building. They returned to the same spot on Wednesday to honour a bust to Britain's wartime prime minister, Sir Winston Churchill, with a ceremony capped with a performance from Roger Daltrey of The Who.

"I'll tip my hat to the new constitution," Daltrey sang to the approving VIPs. "Take a bow for the new revolution."

The unveiling of the bust said much about the once great bond between the United States and Britain, but less about what it has become.

Churchill's arrival in Statuary Hall is the culmination of two-year effort by the Republican speaker of the House, John Boeher, who passed a resolution to provide an "appropriate" honour to Churchill in the US Capitol.

Boehner called Churchill, who in 1963 was made an honorary US citizen, "the best friend the United States ever had" and the architect of "a beautiful and, of course, special relationship". He called the connection "one of history's great love stories".

Churchill is revered among some Americans, quoted almost as often as the Founding Fathers, and there is a feeling he could do no wrong. When Democratic senator Mark Warner was caught recently misquoting the former British prime minister, he remarked: “If Churchill didn’t say it, he should have.”

Taking turns at the lectern on Wednesday, leaders of the House and Senate tried to out-do each other with grandiose declarations of admiration. It was the kind of hero worship that comes naturally to Americans, but from which Britons, still awkward about their colonial history, might recoil.

"Churchill mobilised the English language and sent it into battle," said Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic minority leader of the House. "That steadfast voice, rumbling with unending determination, served as a great beacon of hope to the free peoples of the world."

Mitch McConnell, Republican leader in the Senate, said Churchill was "the greatest Englishman of his time". His Democratic counterpart, Harry Reid, was last to speak; he called Churchill a "saviour" of the world and told the audience he owned an audio-book of Churchill's speeches and readings. "I've heard them all," he said. All 125 hours.

"I even had dinner with one of his grandsons, in Las Vegas, a number of years ago," Reid added.

Only John Kerry, the secretary of state, mentioned the burning of Washington. It was a suitably delicate "who'd've thought" from America's top diplomat. "To think that in Statuary Hall, the building that British troops tried to burn down," Kerry said, "the bust of the one time secretary of state for the colonies will forever stand alongside the statue of Samuel Adams."

There was no reference to another Churchill bust, recently removed from the White House.

That bust was returned to the British embassy when Barack Obama took over the White House from George W Bush. That decision elicited scornful disapproval from Obama's critics, although the administration insists there is another Churchill bust (a third) just outside the White House treaty room.

But there were no prominent figures from the White House present at today's ceremony – Obama was in Massachusetts and his vice-president, Joe Biden, was in Texas. It is no secret in Washington that the country's relationship with Britain is less special now that it was under his predecessors.