Who is the New Blair ?

The Times: Reports that the ex Foreign Secretary David Miliband has thrown his hat in to the race to be the successor to Gordon Brown. The question for Labour is who is the next Tony Blair, the PM TV debates has show that a leader has to be good on the box, thus the next Labour Leader has have the charisma of Tony Blair but the political substance of Gordon Brown. As of this time there is only one candidate, thus we will have to see who thinks he or she is the next Blair. One can postulate two outcome for that leader, either there is an early election and Labour gets back in or the Lib Dems / Conservative coalition Government works for five or even ten years, thus the next Labour PM might not be someone who is even in Parliament as of this time, at the end of the day time will tell.

The Lib Dem / Conservative Deal

Telegraph: Has the full deal between the Lib Dems and the Conservatives. The most important aspect for this blog is that any new EU Treaty would need to be approved by the voter and that the UK will keep its nuclear deterrence.

The Truth about Afghanistan

The New York Times: An excellent article by Ms Dowd on the failures of the Kabul regime under President Karzai, from the failure to deal with corruption, with the Karzai stating that he would talk to the Taliban. The Liberal NYT wants out of Afghanistan, as with Iraq they have started with negative reporting and comment, this time they are right, the cost from the death of UK Soldiers to the cost on the financial front is not worth it when it comes to Afghanistan, when NATO leaves and it will leave Afghanistan will return to its natural customs, you cant change a Feudal state in to a 21st Century over night or in a few yeas, it takes many years and the simple fact is the voters want out of Afghanistan. Lets get out NOW and not lose any more of the UK's Armed Forces Personnel.

The New UK Cabinet

The new UK Cabinet is taking place, nice to see that PM David Cameron is taking up an old Conservative tradition of placing former Conservative leaders in the Cabinet, thus at the Foreign Office you have William Hague, then you have Iain Duncan Smith at Work and Pensions. But also the new Lib Dem / Conservative Government has something that the UK has not seen since 1945, a coalition Government. Thus you have Nick Clegg as Deputy PM, and overall the Liberal Democrats have twenty members in the new Government. The first Press Conference of Cameron and Clegg went well, my one advice is that leaders drop the first name use and use their titles, it still the Government after all of the UK. Thus so far a good start, but this is the honeymoon lets see how this political marriage works in the long term.

War Funding - Afghanistan

The Hill: Reports on the comments by Speaker Pelosi when it comes to US funding of the War in Afghanistan, the Speaker stated that President Karzai has to show effective government by less corruption, security for the people of Afghanistan and a role for women in Afghanistan. The Obama Administration is asking for 33 billion dollars to fund the War in Afghanistan, in an election year the House Democrats have to worry with the military deaths in Afghanistan and the cost of the War. The left in the Democratic Party want out of Iraq and Afghanistan, thus they argue that this money could be better spent on domestic spending, as the left funds House and the Senate the Congress has to take notice, thus the Obama Administration has to show that that Karzai is not another Diem of South of Vietnam and that the US will win this War.

The Special Relationship - The US and the UK

The White House reports that President Obama phoned the new UK PM David Cameron to add his congratulation to his becoming UK PM. The President stated the following to Mr Cameron, “… As I told the Prime Minister, the United States has no closer friend and ally than the United Kingdom, and I reiterated my deep and personal commitment to the special relationship between our two countries – a bond that has endured for generations and across party lines, and that is essential to the security and prosperity of our two countries, and the world. ” . It has been reported that President Obama did not find ex PM Brown the warmest of people he had meet, thus let’s hope that the chemistry is better between Cameron and Obama, it has also been reported that when Obama first meet Cameron he stated that he found that Cameron has charisma if Brown has political substance. The Oval might be worried that the UK might want to get out of Afghanistan, lets hope that is a real worry, the War in Afghanistan is now an American War, a War in many respects that has shades of Vietnam. It can be argued that with the world wide recession, the War in Afghanistan, the threat form Iran and the constant threat from Al Qaeda that the Oval wants to make sure that the US still has a Special Relationship with the UK.