Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Where is Baroness Ashton?

A couple of weeks ago Baroness Ashton was appointed as High Representative of the European Union. This is the most powerful foreign affairs position in the EU. You might therefore have thought she would have a view on the execution of a British citizen in China. You might have thought she would have made that view public. But as a commenter said in a previous thread...

Why hasn't Baroness Ashton, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy had anything to say?

Is it because:

1.Her job is irrelevent
2.She is a non-entity
3.She is incompetent
4.The EU couldn't give a toss about one of its citizens being executed
5.All of the above

I have done a Google search and looked at several major news sites, but I can find no record of any utterance from Baroness Ashton on the subject, even today. What's the point of her job if she had nothing to say on this?

Discuss.

35 comments:

  1. Out of Office:

    Thank you for your email. I am not at my desk at the moment as I am just finishing off the turkey curry and writing thank you letters. In accordance with EU working practice, will be back in the office on the 12th January 2010.

    If urgent then leave a message with Reception on ext. 209.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Whatis there to discuss .... both the job and the woman are irrelevant. Merkel and Sarkozy will continue to run the Franco-German Reich to suit themselves; Ashton is only there to keep the British Government in check on international affairs in case the Yanks plan another 'Iraq.'

    ReplyDelete
  3. Iain....perhaps a 6th option....."she's on holiday!!"

    ReplyDelete
  4. Would have thought it was obvious Iain, they don't want to annoy the Chinese, now do they???

    ReplyDelete
  5. or is that too cynical a view for the season of goodwill?

    ReplyDelete
  6. When a placeman or placewoman is given a job, perhaps they do not expect to have to DO anything?

    ReplyDelete
  7. She will have plenty to say on this issue as soon as Merkel and Sarkozy have given her the communique.

    ReplyDelete
  8. 6. She has more sense than to try to interfere with the judicial sovereignty of another country, involving persons born in a third country.

    ReplyDelete
  9. "The EU couldn't give a toss about one of its citizens being executed"

    What's an EU citizen?

    ReplyDelete
  10. eh, the EU did condemn the execution earlier today (via the Swedish presidency). Agree that Ashton is a complete waste of space though

    ReplyDelete
  11. Well yes we haven't heard from Baroness out of my depth but the EU did release a statement condemning the execution.

    So I am sure the Chinese are now shaking in there boots.

    ReplyDelete
  12. It's nothing to do with the EU...

    Can't have it both ways, either we want the EU to interfere with every little thing that comes up, or we want them to allow the countries to deal with matters like this...

    Barnoess who? lol lol lol

    ReplyDelete
  13. Top post - not sure about the West 'Am bits tho

    PS the verification seems a bit hopeful, Ian, "minestr"!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  14. OR 6 - There are over twenty different views>

    ReplyDelete
  15. Too busy polishing her Dalek.

    http://fxbites.blogspot.com/2009/11/once-dalek.html

    ReplyDelete
  16. Really? I am shocked. SHOCKED, I tell you. I am especially SHOCKED having just heard Mr Clegg on the PM programme.

    Mr Clegg 'used to negotiate with the Chinese at quite a senior level' you know, when he collected his weekly envelope from the EU.

    He states, apparently without fear of contradiction, that Britain can only exert influence on China by 'punching above its weight' through the European Union.

    Oh, I do hope Baroness Ashton turns up soon so that Britain can start influencing China again and we can all sleep peacefully in our beds without fear of the yellow peril.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Dear Sir,

    As she stated "In accordance with EU working practice, will be back in the office on the 12th January 2010." Those who work for the EU are unable to work outside of their directed office, it is the law after all.

    Now in regards to the story. In China smuggling drugs is punishable by the death penalty. He broke their laws, in their country, thus he should be punished under their law.

    We talk about zero tolerance, but we would be unable to follow through. Like I have quoted on my Blog, we should be aiming for the Chinese level of drug crime, and not be getting upset at how they keep it at such a lower level than ourselves.

    ReplyDelete
  18. The case of this unelected unknown droid Ashton is interesting to say the least, how are the Tories going to work with her should they be elected next year?
    Ashton is a socialist and bears a lifelong hatred and intolerance of right wing capitalist politics, the same can be said for all the other socialists placed into the EU over the last ten years or so.
    The mechanics of a Tory regime using a communications apparatus built by newlabour to approach Camerons new senior EU bosses brings up some very interesting questions doesnt it?
    When Cameron needs to deal with the EU bosses to receive his orders and directives he will have to go through and liaise with and take advice from people who are fierce political opponents and have just seen their party beaten at the UK regional polls.
    Its not going to be easy is it? Unless of course Cameron feels quite happy and content to deal with and make connections with his supposed political enemies.
    I can make a prediction now that Cameron far from being a euro sceptic is in fact every bit as keen on the federal EU project as newlabour and the libdems, I see him as extremely close and friendly relations with his new EU bosses, far from a different approach to the EU I predict that Cameron will if anything be as enthusiastic as Brown&Co.
    There will be lots of smiles and friendly get togethers and meetings of minds with group photos galore.
    Camerons regime will fit into the new federal EUSSR perfectly, it will be a give and take relationship, the EU takes and Camerons regional regime gives. There will be a free interchange of ideas where the EUSSR politburo gives the orders and Cameron obeys without question.
    From the second that Cameron walks through the door to No10 our sovereign nation dies and we become serfs of a foreign empire.
    Wait until Dave invites Mandelson into his big tent GOAT!

    ReplyDelete
  19. "Future History of England" This a mad statement. It must have been made by a mad person. Don't go to China: they execute mad people.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Alternatively

    6. Post is subject to confirmation by Parliament.


    Do I take it from this that you don't share your ex-boss's views on the rope?

    ReplyDelete
  21. I believe that Ashton does not officially take up her post until 1st January.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Iain, the only thing I know about Upholland (Baroness Ashton of...) is that it is home to an enclosed order of Carmelite nuns, a particularly rigorous order for which I have the highest respect,they having been reformed by the great St Teresa of Avila in the 16th cent. I suppose it's possible the Baroness has "taken the veil".But it's a harsh life of mortification- not something likely to appeal to Eurocrats used to life on expenses. Edward Sutherland.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Ashton is doing her job - which is keeping Mandelson's seat warm. In the meantime she's been told to do nothing which might draw attention to herself.

    On balance, given these criteria, she's doing quite well.

    ReplyDelete
  24. "Where is Baroness Ashton?"

    Minding her own business and staying out of a domestic legal matter in a foreign country?

    ReplyDelete
  25. Sorry Iain,

    But she was the first of my Labour Party Christmas tree decorations

    I'll send her back after twelfth night.

    ReplyDelete
  26. I think it was Farrage who referred to her as a `Political Pygmy`............indeed

    ReplyDelete
  27. You were not listening, Iain. Van Rompuy announced it in his first speech on TV.

    This is the era of One World Government.

    The EU is not a government. It is an executive regional branch of OWG.

    There is no need for an EU Foreign Representative as all decisions are taken centrally.

    The job of the EU is to ensure the countries in its section get into massive debt, and are rendered powerless thereby to resist the powerful elites who lend all the money to the world's local governments.

    The priority of OWG is the money, power and privilege of the people who control it. Ashton and Van Rompuy are mere employees.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Back to the future or rather 1979December 30, 2009 7:14 am

    Iain,

    You ARE gullible did you think that Cathy Ashton would actually have any REAL power ??


    Merckel/Sarkozy are the real players within the EU - Ashton is just a "front". As for Brown he's ignored by everybody - they just listen to his monologues- smile politely- and then continue their conversation as if nothing had happened. He's a total irrelevance on the World Stage however much he desperately tries to keep pushing in.

    ReplyDelete
  29. She serves The Machine, not the tiny cogs.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Surely an anti-English communist would stand with.....the anti-English communists.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Who cares?

    Given her stunning suitability for the job its probably better that we don't hear of her

    ReplyDelete
  32. All of the above!

    Tracy, Status Now

    ReplyDelete
  33. I suspect that you are correct in your view that she is a complete irrelevancy, but maybe (and hopefully) but maybe she quietly agrees with the majority of the UK population that he got what he deserved.

    ReplyDelete
  34. 1. Ashton officially took up her post only on 1 January.
    2. The EU did come out with a statement condemning the execution as soon as it happened.
    Seems like you missed these rather relavant facts.

    ReplyDelete