The former vice-president has just confessed to a war crime

Andew Sullivan ruminates on the consequences of Dick Cheney's interview at the
weekend with Jonathan Karl.

There is not a court in the United States or in the world that does not consider waterboarding torture. The Red Cross certainly does, and it's the governing body in international law. It is certainly torture according to the UN Convention on Torture and the Geneva Conventions. The British government, America's closest Western ally, certainly believes it is torture. No legal authority of any type in the US or the world has ever doubted that waterboarding is torture. To have subjected an individual to waterboarding once is torture under US and international law. To subject someone to it 183 times is so categorically torture is it almost absurd to even write this sentence.

What makes a Cheney

Well he was at one point compared to Darth Vader but writer Darin Murphy

took umbrage at the widely used Darth Vader comparison for being unfair to Vader, who did not, after all, defer his military service five times and never shot anyone in the face unless he meant it.

In the New York magazine David Edelstein attempts a comparison

Cheney is Palpatine with a soupçon of Sauron, a pinch of Voldemort, a dash of Mabuse, a jigger of Fu, with some Elmer Fudd and Richard Nixon folded in. That is, needless to say, a recipe for calamity.

Ht-Andrew Sullivan

Blair arrested,Cheney shot

Well worth a read as always,John Pilger looks forward to 2009 and in Jan

Tony Blair is arrested at Heathrow Airport as he returns from yet another foreign speaking engagement (receipts since leaving office: £12m). He is flown to The Hague to stand trial for war crimes for his part in the illegal, unprovoked attack on a defenceless country, Iraq, justified by proven lies, and for the subsequent physical, social and cultural destruction of that country, causing the death of up to a million people.

Whilst in March

Dick Cheney shoots himself in the foot hunting squirrels following a prayer breakfast in Hope, Florida.

Ukraine may upset Cheney's plans

With Dick Cheney on his tour of the Asian Republics in an effort to assure the former Soviet States of American support,Ukraine's turbulent democracy is once again stumbling as President Viktor Yushchenko has threatened to dissolve parliament as the coalition in the country's parliament once again collapses.

The collapse of the coalition is another sign of the split in the country between Pro Moscow and Pro Western factions.

Mr Yushchenko's supporters walked out in protest following new laws trimming the president's powers.
The laws were introduced by the pro-Russian opposition and backed by Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's party.

The splits have dogged the fledgling democracy since the Orange revolution with Yushchenko supporter of Georgia during the conflict but the prime minister's party blocked a parliamentary resolution condemning Moscow.

Currently in Azerbaijan the Vice President is due to meet with President Ilham Aliev before going onto Georgia and Ukraine.

Azerbaijan is important for the United States trying to ensure its oil wealth is exported to the West, and thus bypassing Russia.

Iran still holds the US attention

The United States is facing key military and political decisions over a bitter current adversary, Iran, and an adversary-turned-ally, Iraq. Their outcome will have major consequences for the short- and medium-term future both of the middle east and the US homeland.

That's the thoughts of Paul Rogers writing over at Open Democracy.

Whilst the attention of the world is on Bush's visit to the UK and the announcemnt that Britain is going to send more troops to the country,it is worth reminding us of the battle still raging in the Middle East.

Rogers cites evidence to back up his statement.Firstly that the debate over whether to go to war over Iran's nuclear strategy is regaing in the White House.Secondly that Bush's decisions with the Israeli Prime Minister focused mainly on Iran and thirdly that Bush is using his farewell European tour to drum up support for an Iranian strategy.

According to Rogers

The prospect of a grinning Mahmoud Ahmadinejad outlasting the administration that for so long excoriated him would be a form of humiliation as well as confirmation of deep policy failure.

and cites the continued influence of Vice President Cheney in this strategy.

Halliburton to be investigated over Nigerian Liquid Gas deal

The bribery allegations against Halliburton centring on Nigeria are to be widened to cover the last 20 years.

As most people are aware,US vice president Dick Cheney was its former chief executive and the Company was embrioled in controversy over its bidding for post war contracts in Iraq.

For a good analysis of history of Dick Cheney read this post from Andy Worthington

Despite having a CV that apparently explains his rise to power –- as an aide to three presidents, the youngest ever White House chief of staff, the second most powerful Republican in the House of Representatives, a cabinet secretary and the CEO of a giant corporation –- Dick Cheney is a “shadowy Zelig figure” with a “Wizard of Oz-like penchant for remaining behind the curtains of authority”. In his introduction, helpfully entitled “The evil genius in the corner”, Nichols reveals that Cheney’s pursuit of anonymity has been so unrelenting that Secret Service officials used to call him “Backseat”.

The investigations will centre around the former Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR) who were involved in $10b worth of construction of Nigeria's liquified natural gas plant at Bonny Island

Africa Path reports

Investigators will also probe accusations of embezzlement by senior executives, and Halliburton’s relations with other multinationals, including Royal Dutch Shell.

and adds

The initial claim, which started the investigation some six years ago, was that Halliburton and others working on a gas export project conspired to win a $5 billion construction contract in 1995 by establishing a $180 million slush-fund to bribe Nigerian officials, and to reward Western contractors between 1994 and 2002, which includes the period when US Vice-President Dick Cheney was Halliburton’s chairman and CEO (1995-2000).