when there is money to be made (and lots of it).
Revealed: Tony Blair’s secret oil links to Middle EastThe former prime minister has been in the pay of the Kuwaiti government and a South Korean oil firm for up to 18 months, a parliamentary watchdog has revealed.
But the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments allowed Mr Blair to keep his contracts secret because of “market sensitivities” and because the Kuwaitis requested confidentiality.
In a further revelation, a classified memo from Mr Blair to President Bush showed the full extent of his support for the toppling of Saddam Hussein.
The personal note — which has been seen by the Chilcot Inquiry but not released by the Government — shows that Mr Blair wrote: “You know, George, whatever you decide to do, I'm with you.”
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23817037-revealed-tony-blairs-secret-oil-links-to-middle-east.doChina and Tony Blair: the wealth circuitDuring his premiership (1997-2007), Blair visited the People’s Republic of China only twice. Now, he passes through Beijing and Shanghai every few months. There is no evidence that his current projects - including the promotion of his modestly titled book A Journey - extend to any public role in the area: brokering a peace initiative, promoting the green economy, even preaching the merits of globalisation. The conclusion must be that he is here to chase his new passion - making money.
Many British people are sharply critical of their former leader’s embrace of a super-rich lifestyle fuelled by enormous payments for “consultancy” speeches and personal appearances. Chinese people by contrast tend to discuss his presence in their midst with the steady tolerance towards personal accumulation of wealth that is one of their most striking (and endearing) characteristics. In part this reflects an internalisation of the message Deng Xiaoping is reputed to have given at the start of the epic reform process he initiated in 1979: “to get rich is glorious”.
snip
Where Shenzhen and Tony Blair intersect is that it is only places like this and the nearby Donguan that can afford his now astronomical speaking-fees. Blair was reported in 2007 to have earned $500,000 for one short speech in the city. Now the Cantonese are among the world’s shrewdest businesspeople, and some journalists inquired whether his hosts in the area might feel short-changed. On the contrary: Blair’s mere presence for a time in their city was seen as money well spent. Blair’s ability to talk Cantonese out of such sums impressed almost everyone I spoke to in China about this - including the Cantonese themselves.
The Chinese also recognise that Blair’s visits are closely tied to China’s rise towards the status of a global superpower. Among the many other consequences and problems this brings is that China will join the United States and other countries as part of a lucrative “global circuit” of eminent former leaders. The shifting balance of world financial power may even make China a more attractive destination as corporate and institutional income-streams start to flow more thickly. And the appeal of China to leaders such as Tony Blair will not be lessened by the fact that most of his audiences will understand very little of what they are saying.
http://www.opendemocracy.net/kerry-brown/china-and-tony-blair-wealth-circuit?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzEmail&utm_content=201210&utm_campaign=Nightly_%272010-09-16%2005%3a30%3a00%27
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