When Britain’s Prime Minister Tony Blair supported George Bush’s invasion of Iraq he was accused of being America’s poodle by independent-minded Brits, who considered this to be the be-all and end-all of subservience, given that the United States originated as a British Colony.

The extent to which time flies is evidenced by the present subservience to the United States not only of Britain but also of Sweden, a country which, in the name of its sovereign independence, maintained a position of neutrality during the bloodiest conflict the world had thus far seen, i.e., the Second World War.

‘Poodle politics’ is merely a slur, but behind it lie sacrosanct principles of international relations stretching back almost four hundred years. The modern concept of nation-state sovereignty is based on two things: territoriality and the absence of a role for external agents in domestic affairs.  It was codified in The Peace of Westphalia, a series of treaties signed between various European states at the end of the Thirty Years religious wars.  Although the birth of the European Union, the rise of multinational corporations and globalization have seriously dented Westphalian notions of sovereignty, the 1961 Vienna Convention on International Relations, under the auspices of the United Nations, continues define the diplomatic relations between sovereign states.

As reported in the press, Article 22 of that convention clearly stipulates that:

1.The premises of the mission shall be inviolable. The agents of the receiving State may not enter them, except with the consent of the head of the mission.

2.The receiving State is under a special duty to take all appropriate steps to protect the premises of the mission against any intrusion or damage and to prevent any disturbance of the peace of the mission or impairment of its dignity.

3.The premises of the mission, their furnishings and other property thereon and the means of transport of the mission shall be immune from search, requisition, attachment or execution.

Yesterday’s post was missing a last ‘who would have guessed it’ item:  RT reports a recent trend among the children of Indian immigrants to the U.S. It seems that increasing numbers, armed with graduate degrees, are returning to India, where they find more opportunities – and a more relaxed life-style, as has been the case for American ex-pats who move to Europe.

This morning, Britain’s Supreme Court rejected Julian Assange’s request that it reopen Sweden’s request that he be extradited to face sex-related allegations, widely believed to serve America’s determination to arrest Assange on charges of terrorism. Since the U.S. is armed with the latest, controversial legislation allowing it to arrest anyone suspected of links to enemy groups, Assange will be an internationally watched test case.

Finally, just days before the Presidential run-off in Egypt, that Supreme Court has ruled that Parliament should be dissolved, claiming that one-third of its new members were fraudulently elected.  Tariq Ramadan, the Swiss scholar of Islam and Oxford professor, interviewed by RT, believes the Muslim Brotherhood has been used by the Egyptian Army to ultimately retain power, bringing Egypt back to the days of deposed leader Mubarak.

More precisely, as Syria hurtles toward all-out civil war on Israel’s northern and Eastern border, pitting Russia (and, diplomatically, also China) against the United States, the latter appears to be going all-out to ensure that Egypt becomes once again a predictable neighbor to Israel’s south.

Yet again my apologies for not writing.  Just want o let people know that Julian Assange will start a program on RT (see your local publi ctelevision channel) this coming Tuesday, with a presentation tomorrow Monday.