Clare Short's condemnation of the English cricket team's plans to play
in the World Cup being held in Zimbabwe during February is, on the surface,
most commendable - but more of that later.

Mugabe's regime remains in power bolstered by uncountable human rights
violations including starvation and torture, the most newsworthy (in Britain
that is) being the forced removal of white farmers from their properties.
Nasser Hussein, the England captain, looks set to lead his team if the English
Cricket Board takes the stance of the International Cricket Council and gives
him the go ahead. Although not in the same class, any decision to attend the
World Cup is in the spirit of war criminals who claimed to be "only following
orders". The singular positive outcome of the English side going to Zimbabwe is
to swell their bank accounts. Taking the moral high ground and telling the
cricket authorities to get stuffed will cost them dear and may lead to being
sued for breach of contract.

Twisted suggests that our boys make us proud by inserting steel into
their spines, standing up to be counted and thumbing their collective noses at
Muthugbe and his gangsters. If the England side do decide to go then I hope
they fucking lose because they'll have deserved it.

Back to Clare Short. Her government's (rather the Cabinet's) view on
human rights seems to be very flexible. They don't give a shit about how many
Iraqi civilians will be killed when Dubya drops his hat. Their hypocrisy about
the appalling Afghan "collateral damage" was second only to that shown by the
US. Now Bleughh, at Dubya's behest, wants Turkey's entry into the EC
fast-tracked. Europe has refused outright because of Turkey's crappy human
rights record. Good for them!

Turkey supposedly condemns torture but it still goes on. People who
oppose what is manifestly a one party state are labelled terrorists. Anyone
falling foul of the secret police have a depressing way of disappearing only to
be found with bullet holes in their heads. The treatment of Turkey's largest
ethnic minority, the Kurds, makes for grim reading. Despite all this Britain
continues to sell arms to Turkey.

By far the greatest crime visited upon the mostly Kurdish population of
south east Turkey (Anatolia) is the ongoing GAP project to build up to twenty
two dams along the Euphrates and Tigris valleys. Two dams are already
completed, the Ataturk and Birecek dams. Tens of thousands of locals, mostly
Kurds, have been forcibly displaced (some to our chilly shores) and only a tiny
minority of the dispossessed have been compensated. Many rich archaeological
sites (including the Roman settlement of Zeugma), some dating to the
Palaeolithic, have been lost beneath the waters. The proposed building of the
Ilisu Dam on the Tigris valle,y close to the Syrian/Iraq borders, was backed by
Tony Blair, one of the major contractors involved being British construction
company, Balfour Beatty. The Ilisu dam will displace up to 74,000 Kurds and
drown Hasankeyf, one of the world's oldest cities. There was an international
outcry about the Ilisu project and the World Bank refused to fund the dam.
Balfour Beatty was shamed into withdrawing from the project and the British end
of the deal collapsed last year.

Iraq and Syria, both downstream from the GAP dams, have reason to
protest. They fear that Turkey will be able to control the flow of the
Euphrates and the Tigris, major sources of fresh water for both countries, and
blackmail them. Last but not least there is the environmental devastation to
consider.

All in all, Tone isn't bothered by any of this because he would still
like Britain to participate in the construction of the Ilisu dam and is sending
out "feelers" for anyone who will put up cash. French company, Amey, of which
Balfour Beatty holds a 40% stake, is ready to oblige the Turkish government.
The only thing stropping them is the lack of guaranteed money.

Why are Dubya and Holy Tone so eager to oblige the Turkish government?
Is it the pissing off the Syrians and the Iraqis that has made Tone and Dubya
so enamoured of the Turks? Syria and Iraq have both been named as leading
participants in the "axis of evil". Syria has been accused of hiding Saddam's
unconventional arsenal from the UN inspectors. Is this a good enough excuse to
welcome Turkey into the EC, no questions asked? Dubya and Tone think so.

And as to New Labour's disgust at Muthugbe's murderous regime hosting
the next cricket World Cup - well isn't this little more than payback for
Muthugbe's ambush and public humiliation of our dear leader at the "Earth"
summit earlier this year? Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!