Tom Griffin, 15 May 2008 

Dean Godson, a research director for Policy Exchange and former chief leader writer for the Daily Telegraph is one of the best-connected neoconservatives in Britain.

He has been a prominent advocate of ‘political warfare’ against Islamist movements and those who engage with them, and a persistent critic of peace processes in Ireland, the Middle East and around the world.

His involvement in the controversial report, The Hijacking of British Islam, could be considered an example of political warfare.

Sam Gardiner, 13 May 2008 

Con Coughlin writes a Friday column each week for the UK's Telegraph.  On Friday he wrote about Afghanistan : "Another week, another British fatality - and yet more evidence of Iran's lethal meddling on the battlefields of the war on terror."

He goes on to say the hand of Iran in the death of the  British soldier may never be proven, but in an attempt to justify his  assertion, he goes on to suggest it is because "the Revolutionary  Guards have become highly adept at covering their tracks."

His "evidence" that the Iranians are behind explosive devices in  Afghanistan goes beyond anything being suggested by even the most  anti-Iranian officials in either the US or British Government. One would think he would be at least a little self conscious about talking about evidence.

Tom Griffin, 9 May 2008 

Douglas Murray could justly be described as the enfant terrible of British neoconservatism.  He has been a prominent advocate of the application of neoconservative ideas to Europe.

Influenced by the authoritarian philosophy of Leo Strauss, and the concept of ‘dhimmitude’ put forward by Baat Ye’or, Murray has argued that the ‘innate flaws of liberal democracy’ leave Europe vulnerable to domination by Muslim immigrants.

As head of the Centre for Social Cohesion, he has been a central figure in a wider neoconservative propaganda offensive against Islamist movements in Britain.  He claims to have influenced Government policy, and his ideas have been influential in some NATO circles.

Andy Rowell, 8 May 2008 

There is something obscenely ironic that whilst the poor starve and struggle over soaring food prices, the rich convert food into fuel so they can carry on driving in their large gas-guzzling vehicles.

The rich world is rushing to invest in biofuels as one of the solutions to climate change. Fuels made from corn, sugar, or maize are seen as producing less carbon dioxide than conventional fuels from oil.  As Western nations belatedly struggle to come to grips with the daunting challenge of radical reductions in climate changing gases, biofuels offer a theoretical solution.

What biofuels conveniently mean for America and Europe is that they can carry on driving and flying, thinking they have a clean conscience over climate change. Such is their appeal that last year the US Congress mandated a fivefold increase in their use. Europe, too, is committed to raising the share of biofuels in transport from current levels of around 2% to at least 10% by 2020.

Sam Gardiner*, 6 May 2008

Yesterday's New York Times contains an article by Michael Gordon in which he reveals information from "an American official" that Hezbollah has been training Iraqi militia fighters in a camp near Tehran.  UGH!  This is so deja vu that it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

Remember Salman Pak?  That was the terrorist training camp in Iraq that was used over and over again to justify the invasion.  The parallels to this new story are striking.

First of all, it feels like the story is part of a strategic communications plan.  It is not something that happened last week.  The individuals who revealed this information were captured between September and December of last year.  A key piece of information came from a Hezbollah commander who was captured in March 2007.  He is just now talking according to the article.

Nicholas Jones, 4 May 2008

While the warnings about the demise of viable journalism could hardly have been any clearer, when the vote was taken it was overwhelmingly in support of the freedom and opportunities offered by the internet. Unesco’s annual World Press Freedom Day debate at the Frontline club in London  (2.5.2008) produced a spirited exchange of views but ended with a 43-13 vote to reject a motion that “new media is killing journalism.”

Becca Fisher, 30 April 2008

Behind the Scenes of the Arab-British Chamber of Commerce.

On the surface, the Arab-British Chamber of Commerce is a company that facilitates relationships between businesses in Britain and Arab countries. It defines its role as offering:

''a wide range of services to both Arab and British companies already involved in or planning to become a part of a long-standing bilateral trading relationship. These services include certification and legalisation of documents, business information and research, seminars and workshops, translation, language and cultural training, library facilities and a range of business publications''.[1]

‘Friendship through trade’ is the company’s motto, but its role is far more sinister. As an organisation simultaneously representing government and business elites from the UK and Arab countries, it wields substantial power in creating the conditions, in both the UK and the Arab world, in which the needs of those government and business elites are met. It does this by trying to enhance connections across business, government, the media, academic and policy networks, publishing and civil society. It furthers British businesses interests in established and emerging markets – easing the difficulties of breaking into a foreign market, and greasing the wheels of corporate globalisation. Regarding Iraq, it is a crucial player in the attempts to embed corporations in the fabric of Iraqi society.

Tom Mills, 29 April 2008

When terrorism expert Evan Kohlmann first appeared on the scene he was dubbed the ‘the Doogie Howser of terrorism’. For those who don’t know, Doogie Howser was an American sitcom aired in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. The main character was a childhood prodigy who became a doctor at the tender age of 14. The label was a light-hearted quip at Kohlmann’s relative youth. It also implied that he was some sort of genius, which he is not. Unlike the fictional Doogie Howser, Kohlmann has no post-graduate research qualifications and has displayed remarkable ignorance when challenged in court. Not that that has held him back. He is one of the most prominent media commentators on terrorism in the US, and is a prosecutors’ favourite in terrorism trials there and in Britain. Perhaps if your chosen field of expertise is the ‘war on terror’ then ignorance is a virtue. 

Andy Rowell, 23 April 2008 

It was a photo opportunity that was meant to signal a new dawn for Afghanistan. In January 2006, then British Prime Minister Tony Blair hosted a conference for some 60 international delegates in London on the future of the country.

Standing side by side with Tony Blair for the conference photo was US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, then UN head, Kofi Annan and Afghan President, Hamid Karzai. According to the US State Department, the conference “represented an historic milestone for the Afghan people and the international community” in which “Afghanistan sets its reconstruction and development priorities.”

The centerpiece of the conference was the endorsement of the “Afghanistan Compact”, which set out an ambitious programme for Afghan development, committing to specific and achievable goals in security, governance, economic and social development. The document also included an entire annex on “improving the effectiveness of aid”. At the conference, the international community pledged some $10 billion dollars in aid.  For the photo, Karzai held a copy of the Compact proudly in his arms.