Tony Blair warns the west today that it urgently needs a wider plan to respond to the Arab spring, including a warning to autocratic leaders across the Middle East "to change or be changed".
His call for a clearer strategic approach comes in a new foreword to the paperback edition of his bestselling autobiography, The Journey.
The former prime minister also praises Europe, and by implication David Cameron, for showing leadership in Libya, saying it would have been inconceivable to leave Muammar Gaddafi in power.
He said that if America and Europe had done nothing, "Gaddafi would have retaken the country and suppressed the revolt with extraordinary vehemence. Many would have died."
If he had been left in power while the west was willing to see President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt deposed, "the damage to the west's reputation, credibility and stature would have been not just massive but potentially irreparable. That's what I mean by saying inaction is also a decision."
Blair does not call for immediate military intervention across the region, saying instead that "where there is the possibility of evolutionary change, we should encourage and support it. This is the case in the Gulf states." » | Patrick Wintour | Wednesday, June 08, 2011
Is this hypocrisy, or what? This is the man who courted Qadhafi not so long ago, and it was his party, NuLabour, that was complicit in releasing Megrahi – the man of Lockerbie infamy! Go back to sleep, Blair! Your ‘wisdom’ is not needed at this time. – © Mark
