Gaza Strip - latest crisis

Tensions have flared up again between Israel and Palestine. This started with the deaths of three Israeli boys and this has lead to the deaths of hundreds of Palestinian people including children. 

Whilst I feel the pain of hundreds of innocent Palestinians, I feel that they have been let down by the Palestinian Authorities and placing to much faith in Hamas. 

Whilst Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is  a Man that only knows how to use brute force. I was sad when the Israeli people elected this man to be their Prime Minister at a time when they could have elected a more moderate Prime Minister. 

So the violence will sadly go on and more people will continue to die until there is a ceasefire.

 I know I sound pessimistic but I don't believe the current leadership of either Israel or the Palestinians want peace. 

If anything is going to change in this conflict it's going have to be a change of leadership from both sides and I don't really know how realistic that is. 

President Obama needs to get more involved as Israel need the USA support and I think if President Obama had a proactive role in this conflict then at least Benjamin Netanyahu would have to listen and could result in a temporary ceasefire. 

Malaysian Airlines crash - The Political fallout

A Malaysian airline from Holland and on it's way to Malaysia crashed last week and it was brought down by a Surface to Air Missile in Ukraine. 

This plane crash killed two hundred and ninety five people and nearly two hundred of them where Dutch nationals and ten British nationals. 

The investigations has just started but there is strong evidence to suggest that this airline was brought down by Russian backed fighters. 

If it is proved that Russia where involved in bringing down this airline it could have some far reaching consequences politically for Russia. 

I think if it is proved that Russian government where involved then applying sanctions against Russia will not be enough.

President Putin has been quick to deny that Russia had anything to do with it and  Russians at the moment seem quite supportive of him. 

In the UK David Cameron has been using his Public Relations background to full effect by pressing for sanctions against Russia.  

But then he is not prepared to return any of the money that some billionaire Russians linked to the Russian government have donated to the Conservative Party. 

President Obama has been very even handed at the moment and he waiting for confirmation of Russian involvement before pointing the finger. 

As there was only one American on the plane he might only be able to advise without really getting involved.

But the next week or so will give us better indication of what the European Union response will be.

 I think that Russia where involved and once it's proven not only should they apply financial sanctions but they also need to relocate the 2018 World Cup to a safer region. 

Prime Minister Questions - 30th April 2014

After the Easter break Prime Minister's  Questions is I back! Today Ed Miliband focused his six questions on the sale of the Royal Mail.

The sale of the Royal Mail is both a sensistive and a political hot potato for David Cameron. 

Ed Miliband pointed that a select few have really benefited from the sale. Which Ed Miliband believes was sold below the market value. 

David Cameron desperately tried to avoid answering the questions put him instead focusing on children of Labour MP's who are candidates for 2015 election. 

David Cameron tried to end the exchange on the news that Ed Miliband had hired President Obama's former adviser David Axelrod. 

However House Speaker John Bercow cut him off and David Cameron was heard saying he hadn't finished to which John Bercow replied he had finished and moved on to the next question...ouch!!!

Ed won the exchange today as he focused on the beneficiary of the Royal Mail sell off and pointed that British people and the workers of the Royal Mail where the main losers. 

However I do wish that Ed Miliband had brought up the Office of National Statistics report that about 1.4 million people are on zero hour contracts. 

But I suspect that Ed will probably bring this up when David Cameron is least expecting it. 

 

So it was great to have PMQ's back after the Easter break and even better that Ed Miliband picked up from where he had previously left off. 

Review of the of President Obama's speech

President Obama made his State of the Union speech  last night, as I expected a large part of the speech was decidated to the US economy. 

President made an impassioned plea for better pay for low paid workers and for Congress to work with him pass some bills.

President Obama discussed the successes of the Affordable Care Act and how it was changing people lives. 

It was great that President Obama talked about the NSA and making sure that they do not over reach their power in the future.  

From an international prespective it was good that he discussed the withdrawing of troops from Afghanistan and regulating the drone programme. Giving more assistance to Syrian opposition. 

Overall President Obama made a good speech and but some pundits have said it was quite a predictable speech. 

I don't think that is always a bad thing as President Obama was developing topics from last year. 

As usual the Democrats where very appreciative of his speech whilst the Republicans looked largely unmoved by his speech. 

So it look like the  President has another partisan year of politics to look forward to. Where he will probably make some progress but with very little help from the Republicans. 

Preview to President Obama's State of the Union address

Tonight President Obama will make his State of the Union address and there are various topics which I think he will touch on. 

Firstly he will talk about the US economy and how things have greatly improved in the last year or so but will probably state how there is a lot more to do and this is difficult without the help of Congress. 

Secondly he might talk about the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare and how after it's initial teething problems the act is greatly benefiting many Americans. 

Thirdly on the international front he might talk about Syria and how the America needs to bring world leaders together to end the current crisis. 

The topics I hope President Obama will discuss is firstly doing more to limit access to guns and I hope he worries less about the gun lobbyist. 

Secondly I hope he will talk about the NSA and hopefully he plans to ensure they do not abuse their power. 

Thirdly I hope on international he will talk about Afghanistan and how handing of power back to the Afghans is going. 

So there is a lot for President Obama to discuss and is approval rating is back up to 50% and this means that Americans are reasonably happy with his Presidency but he has a lot of work to do! 

Obamacare

President Obama's flagship healthcare policy has been causing him a few problems.

This problems have been technical where users had problems logging unto the website and operational where some Americans had lost their previous health plan.

However these problems have been overly highlighted by the Republians who are vehemently against the Affordable Healthcare Act, they have named Obamacare.

 

These problems have even started to affect President Obama's poll numbers and although the Republicans are desperate to repel Obamacare. 

I would say that like most roll outs it is natural for it to have its  problems in the early stages. 

But ultimately it will be defining piece of legislation that I think more and more Americans will come to appreciate in the coming years. 

USA and the availability of guns

As I stated in my previous blog, it is always difficult as a Brit to understand the need to be a gun owner. 

Yesterday, in New Jersey a gunman went on the rampage but thankfully caused no loss of life other than to himself.  

From a political viewpoint there is not much President Obama can do. 

As the powerful gun lobbyist NRA are not prepared to comprise on the availability of guns.

 So sadly the shootings or the threats of shooting will go on. 

NSA fallout

The NSA spying fallout doesn't seem to be dying down anytime soon.

It has gone from citizens around the world being concerned about the USA government outreach. To upsetting world leaders like Angela Merkel. 

The more we learn about the murky world of spying the more intrusive and outrageous it sounds. 

However I am from the view point that it is a necessary evil to counteract terrorism. 

But there clearly needs to be boundaries and the NSA have clearly over reached these boundaries. 

So it is very important to protect our civil liberties but at the same being to protect the public from potential terrorist attacks. 

The political fallout has been messy with the White House failing to control the narrative or reassure the public that spying is neccessary tool to use.

President Obama needs direct the narrative and this will help gain more public support. 

The fact is nobody likes to feel like they are being watched, but a better control of the narrative can go a long way.

Prime Minister's Question time - 09/10/13

Prime Minister's question time returned after about a months break. Ed Miliband and David Cameron discussed the energy market and various of issues.

Ed Miliband still has the momentum going  into to this weeks PMQ's and he did very well to maintain it at this weeks PMQ's. 

Ed needs to convince the wider public that he is PM material and yesterday strong performance would have helped him a little bit.

David Cameron also needs to convince the wider public that his austerity policies where needed and have been successful. 

In PMQ's David Cameron repeated the Daily Mail's talking points about Ed being a Marxist. 

This clearly the talking point that David Cameron plans to push as part of his reelection strategy. 

To some extent it is similar to the talking point the Republicans tried to make about President Obama and that was unsuccessful.

 So I don't think David Cameron will get much success in trying to claim that Ed is a Marxist. 

USA - Government shutdown

Today is apparently day eight of the US government shutdown. This came about because the Democrats and Republicans are in deadlock over the federal budget. 

The Republicans are using the federal budget to try and defund The Affordable Healthcare Act, also known as Obamacare. 

The government shutdown last happened when Bill Clinton was President. This means that all government procurement and day to day activities are currently on hold. 

Which is probably terrible for the US economy which has also been doing well recently.

So far the public seem to  be behind President Obama and is approval has gone up by 4%. 

However this can change very quickly and especially if this shutdown starts to inconvenience the public. Then the public support of President Obama's could disappear very quickly. 

USA and the gun culture

Another mass shooting took place in US this week and tragically twelve Americans  lost their lives. 

This shooting took in the capital of Washington DC in the Navy Yard by a man called Aaron Alexis. 

As someone who lives in the UK with very stringent gun laws. It is not easy to understand the fascination of wanting own a gun. 

Sadly the guns in the USA are now getting into the wrong hands. As to my knowledge there are little background checks done on purchasers of guns. 

Aaron Alexis had some mental health issues. It has been reported that a few days before committing this mass murder, he called police to the hotel he was staying at saying he could hear voices. 

As the inquiry is ongoing we do not as yet know what the police did with that information. We know that Aaron went to kill twelve people in cold blood.

I find it incomprehensible that a man with mental health issues can legally buy a gun. This was the case with Aaron Alexis he purchased his gun legally and the gun seller probably no idea abut his mental health issues.

From a political point of view there is not much President Obama can do. He did try to bring in some backgrounds checks but the powerful gun lobbying  group called the NRA made it impossible for this to happen.

So at this stage the mass killings will continue by unstable men who are able purchase guns. Unless the American public overcome the gun lobbyist and say enough is enough. 

 

Prime Minister's Questions review 03/07/13

Today PMQ's started off fairly nicely with Ed Milliband asking about the UK government responses to the clashes in Egypt. David Cameron provided a nice considered response about how the government was liaising with the Egyptian government and how President Obama had spoken to President Morsi.

However when Ed Milliband asked David Cameron about primary school places that's when Cameron became defensive and started his usual "its all Labour's fault". Today Cameron went a step further and most of his responses to the Labour MPs was embedded with "they are all here because of Len McCluskey"

Cameron responses were a little interesting at first but then just got repetitive and boring and he came across to me as quite desperate as well. Cameron is clearly gearing up for the next election and he thinks that it can be fought on painting Ed Milliband as a die had trade unionist.

Cameron was asked various questions ranging from food banks to bedroom tax and his standard response was either it is all Labour's fault or the Unite union is pulling the strings of the Labour party.

I thought Ed Milliband did quite well today in raising issues that are affecting families up and down the country. Whilst David Cameron does not come across as a man who understand the daily struggles of families in the UK.