The Bewilderness

Calais

Yesterday, I travelled as a foot passenger to Calais on the ferry from Dover, as part of a group celebrating the birthday of a long-standing friend. It was ironic to read the Times on embarkation controls and experience the poorly organised efforts of the Immigration Service. After checking in, all foot passengers are taken on a courtesy bus towards the ferry. However, as the embarkation infrastructure was dismantled in 1998 to save money, they have established an ad hoc arrangement. You have to exit the courtesy bus twice, once to show your passport, the other time: to check your luggage. Such practices were not in evidence on the return journey from France.

We noticed that there were two or three Asian men holding camcorders and filming stairwells, restaurants and the maps of the ferry. This may be innocent behaviour but we took photos of them. The photos have been passed on to the Kent constabulary. This could be something or nothing, but vigilance is the purview of the alert citizen, not a monopoly of our less than competent authorities.

Calais, itself, is a nondescript town whose tourist potential is undermined by the large numbers of illegal immigrants who loiter around the parks and telephone boxes. Most appeared to be from the Middle East of the Horn of Africa. For a Saturday afternoon, they did little apart from sit or chat, cultivating indifference to the French or the holidaymakers. When attempting to look at a map of the town of Calais, that a group of them were obscuring, they quickly got out of the way. Perhaps this indicated past encounters with the French police and a fear of transgressing unspoken rules. Whatever the set-up, they have no place to go apart from the public spaces.

The local beer is worth imbibing and we found a well-stocked Irish pub near the main square that deserves patronage. Nearby is the local war museum, housed in a bunker, with jumbled momentoes of the occupation. Calais suffered heavy damage during the Second World War and testament is apid to this suffering with the photos of local landmarks, just situated outside the bunker, surrounded by piles of rubble and destroyed buildings. A vivid and revealing contrast of sixty years of peace.

To conclude, Calais does not cater for the tourist. We had to walk out of the ferry terminal and into town. Unlike any previous country I have visited, there was no sign for taxis or taxi ranks to pick up arrivals. One existed at the local station in the town although we had to wait for some time before a people carrier appeared. One could muse at the unmet demand for transport from strangers which the locals did not appear to consider a profitable enterprise. You could not help commenting that, in Britain, some of those sitting in the parks would obtain work by driving minicabs, and relieving the taxi drought.

A Cautious Welcome

As Britain has continued with the peace process, despite the continued low-level criminality of the IRA, their announcement that the war is over should be welcomed. Some will say that this was due to increased pressure of the British government, in the light of the new terrorist threat, but Gerry Adams has stated that this is a unilateral initiative:

What led to yesterday's move? One factor was a change in republican strategy towards unilateralism. Just as Ariel Sharon has seized the initiative with his one-sided Israeli pullout from Gaza, so Mr Adams realised the power of taking decisive action on one's own terms. In the words of one senior strategist: "We act best when we act alone."

Ending the armed campaign was not a response to a demand from either Mr Blair, Mr Ahern or Mr Paisley - one that would be contingent on a reaction from the other side. For that makes you a hostage to your enemy. "This is a republican initiative," said Mr Adams. "It's not part of any little deal."

Unionists will have their objections; that's only natural. But those watching from afar can only feel a twinge of envy at this news. For what wouldn't we all give for a statement like that from the new enemy, promising no more bombs, no more bloodshed and an end to tears?

But this will only be vindicated in practice: the return of exiles, the curbing of the thugs who terrorise Catholic communities and the ability of the republicans to support the police (as an end goal). So a cautious welcome to this milestone!

Are We Slowing Down?

The Great Internet Mersenne Prime Research (GIMPS) is a project designed to find and publish ever larger Mersenne Prime Numbers. This can often act as a lagging indicator of the potential computing power available since it  reflects the potential of current technology. The 42nd Mersenne Prime was discovered in February 2005 using a distributed computing system or, in this case, a 2.4GHz Pentium 4 PC.

The number has 7,816,230 digits and is represented as 2^25964951-1. This was ten months after the 41st Mersenne Prime was number crunched and represents another step towards the $100,000  prize set  by the  Electric Frontirer Foundation for the first ten million digit prime.

Will it take ten months for the 43rd to be calculated?

"An Alliance of Civilisations"

This blog is not degenerating into an analysis of Tony Blair's 'love-ins' with his fellow European leaders but the press conferences provide insights about his attitude towards Europe and the 'war on terror'. It is clear that, in order to combat Islamic terrorism, Blair has prioritised the development of a co-ordinated response across the European Union. In this press conference with the Spanish Prime Minister, as in his talks with Dominique de Villepin, the major focus was on extending the timeframe for data retention and strengthening the laws on internal security. Blair's authoritarian populism is utilised to strengthen the security policies of the European Union.  When questioned about the  European arrest warrant, the Prime Minister was quick to downgrade the importance of the common law, in the name of European solidarity:

I think in respect of the situation of co-operating on arrest warrants, this is one of the reasons why we need a simple European system of doing this, and I am very anxious to make sure that we cooperate fully with our European partners so that where there are people who are wanted for terrorist activities in other countries, then they get the fullest possible cooperation from us and from our judicial system. Now we obviously operate in a different common law system, but the basic principle of solidarity between European countries in fighting this terrorism is essential.

Given the range of crimes covered by the European Arrest warrant, it is worrying that terrorism may prove the cause of easing extradition for other offences.

The press conference allowed Blair to provide rhetorical support for Spain's latest diplomatic action plan, "An Alliance of Civilisations". This anti-Huntingdon and, by extension, implied critique of neo-conservatism (read stereotyping of US foreign policy), fits neatly with Blair's attachment to  presentation. The talking shop, co-sponsored by Spain and Turkey, appears to be a chance for all of the elites in Europe and the Middle East to sign, under the aegis of the United Nations, a statement of solidarity combating terror. Here is their initial action:

Annan is bringing together a high-level group of eminent persons to guide the initiative. The group is expected to present a report with recommendations and a practical plan of action in late 2006.

Blair's painless support was cost-free; the test comes in 2006 when the recommendations can be assessed with regard to the position of Israel and Iran.

Best Buddies Apparently

The rancour and the disagreements of the budget discussions have vanished. Chiracisms have been displaced by the diplomat, Dominique de Villepin, who has found common ground with the British government on homoegrown Muslim radicals and the potential terrorist threat. Both are allies on the European Council when debates veer towards greater powers for the security forces and the sharing of data.

But, surprisingly, Blair was outwaffled by the French Prime Minister, or is this a flight of poetic fancy:

We have networks, we have groups that are very mobile, they are all over the place, and we need to mobilise against them in advance, with determination, and enhance our cooperation in the spirit of cooperation that we have talked about here today because that is our best protection for each of our societies, that is our best protection for our respective peoples.

As always, this poetry soon settled on the Ozymandias solution, the trite and predictable call to European values of solidarity and unity, expresed in a number of shared commitments from common security to a budget consensus. No doubt the victims of terrorism are a fit subject to be invoked for such glorious endeavours, especially when many are still unburied.

The concrete measures hidden in the supercilious responses include sharing the names of jihadi networks, extending the statutory time for keeping electronic and telephone records, setting up laws to deport Muslim extremists and, last but not least, sharing counterterrorist expertise. Since the United States or Israel were not mentioned, we can doubt the efficacy of such measures.

However, underlying divisions remain. Blair views Iraq or Afghanistan as 'any old excuse' whereas De Villepin argued that,

We for our part need to take account of those crises, because the more these crises can be restricted the more we will have the greater possibility of denying the terrorists any legitimacy of basing their acts on these events. So we should cooperate together to face up to terrorism, and at the same time we ought to try and cooperate to find political resolutions to conflict, to tackle wherever there are open wounds in the international scene, to try and bring elements that will resolve them, and to try and close these wounds in the international arena.

It is unclear how diplomacy will reduce terrorism's 'recruiting sargeant' as the underlying grievances remain the suppurating sores of the Arab world, bolstered by the West's need for oil. When will the French remove the al-Saud family, one of these 'open wounds', according to Al Qaeda. Not in my lifetime!

Conduct Unbecoming?

If British soldiers were ever to act in a manner contrary to that required by the legislation upholding the rule of the army or their standard rules of engagement, then there is a clear line of command (or was, until the Human Rights Act) which allowed soldiers to be court-martialled and punished, if they had transgressed. Armies have good and bad episodes in their history, and during more savage campaigns, such as the Mau-Mau, the British Army was capable of acting  by standards that would leave them all  in the war-crimes dock today.

The question is: can Britain fight, whilst respecting universal norms which prevent their soldiers, sailors  or airmen from conducting military service without fear of prosecution? What is the difference between the killing of an Iraqi civilian in circumstances which lead to a trial or an airman bombing a city? One is more clinical and more likely to result in civilian casualties than the other. Under the current regime, without French derogations, we are fighting with one hand tied behind our backs.

The Blair government loves war, in the sense that the pols get a rush from believing that they  are making history. But the wannabe Churchills also have their creed and, holding power, see poor squaddies as pawns who can twist in the wind for their warfare state.

Bruce Anderson say it better than I can, of course.

A Positive Short Straw

Claire Short, has come third in the private member's bill ballot, with her requirement that a parliamentary vote is required for all future deployments of British troops for wars, rapid reaction forces or peacekeeping exercises. Understandably, Blair prefers the flexibility and grandstanding of the royal prerogative to the need for providing accoutable reasons for his wars.

Nevertheless, this bill has attracted the support of prominent politicians including Robin Cook and William Hague. The number of potential supporters is listed as 167, following the early day motion, and includes support from all political parties, with some Cabinet sympathy, in the guise of Straw and Brown.  The  bill has some implications for current deployments as well:

More surprisingly, a retrospective clause - inserted to allow the prime minister to go to war in an emergency and then put a report before parliament to justify the action - would mean that MPs would have a chance to vote on whether troops should remain in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The report says: "Under this clause retrospective approval would have to be granted for the participation of British forces in armed conflicts that begun prior to the legislation coming into force."

It also warns of a potential loophole in the legislation. If Tony Blair lost a vote on keeping troops in Iraq, in theory he would have to withdraw them within 30 days. But the bill allows the prime minister to keep troops in a foreign country for an unspecified period as a precursor to withdrawal.

More useful is the fact that, if this bill is passed, British Prime Ministers could not abuse the executive power to place our troops under European command without parliamentary approval, gritting the smooth path towards a common foreign and security policy.

A Growing Scene

The first British company to list on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) as a pure nano-materials firm, was listed yesterday. The company was Oxonica, and presents a confirmation that nanotechnology has acquired respectability for listing purposes. This slow affirmation represents a slower but surer alternative to the type that has surrouned certain aspects of the commercialisation of nanotechnology in the United States.

A Background Primer

The Guardian had an article on Mirpur, the Pakistani region where the majority of British Muslims originate from. The Sufi strand of Islam that predominates in this area has fast fallen away as there are not enough imams to teach the Barelwi doctrines that infuse this part of Kashmir. Their origins in Kashmir provide a link with the festering sore of the sub-continent. This has left a group of disaffected youth, some of whom drift away from Islam into crime, others of whom adopt the strong brand of Islam adopted by the Wa'habi sect.

One of the strongest Mirpuri traditions is that you marry your first cousin, so there is a constant exchange with the UK to renew the Mirpuri influence for the next generation. Mirpur has been an example - and there are others the world over - of the painful disruption in deeply traditional communities of a sudden influx of wealth and interface with modernity.

This practice cannot help either, on the grounds of integration or the health of their children. It would be interesting to note the rates of secularisation amongst subcontinent Muslim immigrants and their descendants, the counterpoint to the influence of Islam.

Edward Heath has passed away

Edward Heath has passed away, and no doubt some on the right will argue that they have the right to draw attention to the historical shortcomings of the former Prime Minister with intemperate language.

It is traditional to accord those who have just died some respect, so I haven't anything else to say for now. A bit of a cop-out!