G8 Foreign Ministers Meeting.

On Wednesday (10/4/13) the UK will be hosting a meeting of G8 Foreign Ministers in London ahead of the full G8 Summit to be held in June (17-18/6/13) in Northern Ireland.

In preparation for the meeting the UK has offered the news that Asda (a division of Wal-mart) own brand corned beef has been found to contain traces of the drug bute. Although it has not been confirmed the fact that bute is commonly used in horses as a pain killer the suggestion is that Asda corned beef has been found to contain traces of horse meat. Obviously this brings in all the arguments surrounding the horse meat scandal including the UK's role within the European Union (EU) and the associated Rihanna implications. As bute used to be used to treat gout in humans it also brings in that the UK try to convince everyone that I had gout and through that every other time the UK has tried to convince people that I or members of my family are suffering from some weird and mysterious medical condition. As corned beef is involved the implication is that the tainted product came from Argentina. This of course brings up the issue of the sovereignty of the Falkland/Las Malvinas islands and it's knock on effects in the Kenyan election and all those little island disputes going on in south-east Asia. It also brings up the issue of the 1982 Falklands war particularly France and US' support for Galtieri's Argentine government over the British government. The US' support in particular leads into a very complex and controversial discussion about the role played in the Cold War by the CIA's School of the Americas.

Not to be outdone the US have contributed a mass stabbing at the Lone Star college in Texas. As this was timed to coincide with US Secretary of State (Foreign Minister) John Kerry's arrival in London which in turn had been timed to coincide with my traditional Tuesday night visit to the pub this was intended to create a flurry of excitement about my personal safety. It also brought back memories of the Tuesday night in January (22/1/13) when there was a shooting incident at Texas' Lone Star college. That of course was also intended to cause a flurry of excitement about my personal safety while Israel was announcing the results of it's General Election while having obvious implications on the US' current debate on gun control. The fact that this latest incident has involved knives rather then guns is intended to be seen as US concession to China over the personal liberty issues at the centre of any debate about governments seeking to control anything.

The other big issue at the Foreign Ministers meeting will be Margaret Thatcher and her legacy because for better or worse she was one of the key architects of this new globalised world we find ouselves in. In fact her role in ending the Cold War is the main reason the G8 came into being by absorbing the newly capitalist Russia into the G7. You will note that tomorrow the UK's House of Commons has been recalled for a special session to hear tributes to Margaret Thatcher. In part this is to ensure that people in the UK have little to no idea that the G8 Foreign Ministers meeting is going on while at the same time allowing the UK to find out what our G8 visitors think about specific members of the House of Commons. As always any Labour MP attending deserves to be shot.

Also there is likely to be much discussion about Thatcher's funeral which is planned for next Wednesday (17/4/13). Apparently this is meant to be a ceremonial funeral which means it will look exactly like a state funeral but will be paid for by the private sector. This is something that the former Prime Minister famed for privatisation apparently insisted on in her will - so maybe not that senile after all. Thatcher also requested that she is to be cremated. As her war against the mining industry was supported by and led to a massive increase in the consumption of the UK's North Sea oil and gas reserves I'm waiting for someone to insist she has to buried instead because we've run out of gas.

Although in my current post-pub state I can't remember the exact route Thatcher's funeral procession will take I can remember that route will be lined by members of the UK armed forces. This serves the duel purpose of quelling what are now quite serious concerns about public disorder during the funeral and raising the issue of militarism which was one of the defining features of Thatcher's premiership. For example the London police riot squad the Territorial Support Group (TSG) are still known as "Thatchers Army" and her love of deploying the elite Special Air Service (SAS) was such that it led to the British army setting up a whole now elite special force known as the Increment because the SAS had got too famous. Seriously not only did Thatcher send in the SAS to break up the 1980 Iranian Embassy siege towards the end of her career Thatcher was sending in the SAS to break up prison riots which was the constitutionally troubling sight of UK special forces being deployed on the UK mainland against UK civilians. It is things like this that have led many to suggest that Thatcher's Falkland's war against Galtieri's Argentina was nothing more then a sibling quarrel.

Obviously Thatcher's use of UK special forces and the changes in them she forced will have quite a significant impact on discussions about the Libya conflict and the knock-on conflict in Mali along with the current conflict Syria. This issue will be made much more pressing by the attendance at the G8 Foreign Ministers meeting by representatives of the Syria opposition. Thatcher's militarism will has be an important factor in discussions about security for the main G8 Summit that will be held in county Fermangh because the effects of Thatcher's militarism most keenly felt in Northern Ireland where she was only able to travel under SAS protection. Seriously whatever they might choose to call themselves any home-grown terror group threatening the security of the G8 Summit are doing so with weapons that were provided to them through Loyalist para-military groups by Thatcher's government.

The main issue though will be a missile firing by the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) possibly during Rihanna's Anaheim concert. Nobody's that worried about this missile firing because it is a scheduled test fire and provided it manages to get of the launch pad it will land safely in the sea unmolested by missile defence systems. What everyone will be very interested in is the US's reaction to that missile firing. John Kerry is of course already in London so am I the only one wondering that if Team Breezy were alive in 1775 what side of that war would they be on?

(Originally Posted) 21:45 on 9/4/13.