UN appear to have Assad in their sights (at last)

The weekend's massacre in Hama appears to have roused the UN from its blind eye regarding Assad's Syria. But the wheels of diplomacy turn slowly and it will be weeks before any action is taken (if at all).

Perhaps they need to appoint some sort of envoy who could knock heads together?

More evidence of Labour's ethical foreign policy comes to light

Three months of protests over the continued misrule of Syrian dictator Bashar Assad resulting have led to an estimated 1,300 civilian deaths. With the regime showing little sign of bowing to democratic demands more blood is likely to be spilled.

But with blood on his hands one wonders who in the west might be able to broker some sort of deal? Step forward Tony Blair - whose ethical foreign policy was such an inspiration to all those Arab pro-democracy movements he carefully nurtured during his time in office...

Clegg: Liberal vigilantism is dead

Nick Clegg has spoken about the Libya crisis. In Mexico (where he is leading a trade mission) he pointedly said "Liberal vigilantism is dead. Law-abiding liberal interventionism is not."

Now who could he have been talking about with this implication that previous interventions may have been illegal?

Eventually getting it right on Gaddafi

Despite my fears the west finally showed some backbone, managed to bring the arab league with them and stopped the authoritarian powers of China and Russia using their vetos.

But military intervention may be too late and the chaotic scenes of the rebels shooting down their own planes (apparently) is a sign of the confusion that exists on the ground. But it is a good sign and Cameron's stress on the legality of it is both significant and a reminder of the short cuts the previous regime were prepared to take when putting our armed forces in harm's way.

The west dithers as Libya (and Bahrain) burns

News that murderous tyrant Col Muammar Gaddafi's forces are massing to take over the last remaining rebel held city of Benghazi comes as unwelcome but hardly surprising news, given the dithering of the west over the past few weeks.

It's clear that there is no will in the western powers to do anything that upsets the authoritarian juntas that run much of the Arab world or puts vital oil supplies at risk. Oil that is likely to be that much more necessary as nuclear power looks likely to be off western government's agendas as a result of the tragic events in Japan.

So sadly, we'll carry on seeing a procession of western leaders prostituting themselves around unsavoury dictators all in the name of diplomacy (and oil rights). But it will do no good and simply encourages the despots to think they are somehow acceptable in the eyes of the wider world - as Mr Blair's famous 'manbrace' of Gaddafi shows...

I appear to have annoyed Labour...

...by referring to Tony Blair's role in rehabilitating the mass murderer Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.

So just for you 'anonymous' I won't reproduce that picture. Instead I'd thought people might like to see how Gordon Brown swept away the old regime and re-established Labour's ethical foreign policy...

Labour's smear of Miriam Clegg shows their panic over Blair and Gaddafi

A Labour MEP has written to Nick Clegg trying to implicate Miriam González Durántez in lobbying on behalf of the Gadaffi government.

It's pure Labour smear - straight from their playbook. I have a copy of the official advice from Labour called 'Beating the Liberals - lessons from Lambeth'. In it it gives Labour campaigners the following advice:

"Find one flaw and smear them all. Go negative until swamped by complaints. Then do it again."

Labour know that if the revolution in Libya is successful then the likelihood is that official documents over the roles of Blair and Brown in the rapprochement of the odious Gaddafi, oil deals and the Magrahi release will come out.

The smear is a simple distraction from the big picture that shames Labour and one that they are clearly achingly embarrassed by. Which is why I'm reproducing it again.

Why Israel ought to be welcoming an 'Arab spring'

First Tunisia, now Egypt - it looks like the winds of change are blowing through some of the most authoritarian, corrupt and undemocratic states in the middle east. Whether these democratic movements succeed over the long term in either of these states or even spread to some of their more unsavoury neighbours it's probably too early to say.

But the idea mooted in some quarters that these democratic uprisings could be bad for middle east peace and the security of Israel is patent nonsense.

The more of Israel's neighbours that join it in the democratic community - including full rights for women - the better. Democracies rarely launch all out wars on their fellow democracies.

But a fully democratic middle east would put the spotlight back on Israel and its human rights abuses in the Palestinian territories. They could no longer use the excuse of being the only democracy in that part of the world as a virtue they alone are defending or have the easy rebuttal of referring to their arab accusers' oppressive and antidiluvian actions which have subjugated their people over generations.

Perhaps that's why some of the more unsavoury right wing elements in Israel and the US are worried by events in Tunis and Cairo.