I’ve had a few already this weekend. (Treasonable thoughts I mean.) And I’m beginning to wonder if the crime of treason hasn’t been outgunned by modern business practice. After all, in the olden days, what was Caesar’s belonged to Caesar, and what was God’s belonged to God. No confusion there. And anyone who transgressed would surely end up on the wrong end of a crucifixion. But these days, the most relevant nexuses of power seem to revolve around corporations, their deniable outriders the ideologically-based think tanks (more here), their ever-present lords and masters the shareholders – and any politician who dares to let him- or herself get mixed up in the resulting stew of conflicted interests. In this case, the nation states seem more like God every minute of every day: last in the line and forever begging for adhesion – whilst those Caesar-like corporate interests ensure themselves first bite at the sinful apple of previous lore.
Under such circumstances, and under such widespread acceptance of the model in question, it would seem that as a practising politician who supposedly operates on behalf of a nation state, it is possible to work in favour of the interests of another state by simply associating oneself with such supposedly charitable-like lobbying organisations. No one looks in askance. No one actually ever finds it in themselves to accuse you of working for a foreign power – even though you are. These are revolving doors which everyone, on both right and left of the political spectrum, expects to have access to. There is no interest at all, then, from the governing elites to prevent this kind of disloyal behaviour – nor bring it to anyone’s attention as being thus. It is sanctioned and accepted – until one day, that is, someone goes just a little too far and brings to the cauldron matters like Mossad, toppling Iran and being debriefed by MI6. After which it becomes just a little bit too murky – or perhaps, instead, that is laughable – for anyone to want to be even mildly associated with such shenanigans.
In plain language and to summarise: it would appear that important and influential politicians at the heart of British government have been working with a “charity” which has the support of American corporate interests: interests which in the United States have set up a massive deniable outrider called the Tea Party in order to coerce the American people into accepting a series of political frameworks no one in their right mind would ever choose to sanction.
As far as the British body politic is concerned, the purpose of the aforementioned “charity” clearly seems to have been to drive a political fifth column into the centre of Conservative thought. And if David Cameron really does want to deal with lobbyists, as is claimed to be the case, he needs to do so from this particular perspective: Britain may continue to have global friends all over the place; may continue to need them; may, even, be wise to continue to make them … but friends who aim to turn your cosy home with Welfare State included into a shopping mall of distant and jungle law, a law which – what’s more – they not only write but also administer … well, really they do not deserve the designation of friend – nor merit the reciprocal act of a friendship exchanged.
William Hague might very well distance himself thus:
Hague said he had only been a “name on the letterhead” for the Atlantic Bridge thinktank set up by Fox. “It doesn’t mean that you know how the thing is being run in detail,” he said.
Another deniable outrider then? Another act of betrayal in the name of international relations? Or another piece of incompetence from the incompetent?
To be honest (and I apologise right now for the bad language I have been driven to use in this post), I think it’s all bollocks myself. They all know what it’s about – on both sides of the fence. They’re politicians, for goodness sake. And politicians live on the cusp of fresh gossip.
Not just bollocks then. Eighteen carat bollocks, in fact.
The real question, of course, is why no one in the mainstream cared to unearth it all sooner. And why now they’ve suddenly decided it’s a story worth running.
Weird stuff from the very top of the pyramid, this. Weird stuff, indeed.
