Friends fall out

by Chris Bertram on September 6, 2004

Those who have been following the decline and fall of the Conrad Black empire (a group which surely _must_ include those bloggers fond of quoting the ravings of his wife, Barbara Amiel ) will be amused to learn that “his friend Richard Perle has now deserted him”:http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/06/business/media/06perle.html?pagewanted=1&hp.

bq. … last week, Mr. Perle’s view of Lord Black changed. Issuing his first public statements since being heavily criticized in an internal report for rubber-stamping transactions that company investigators say led to the plundering of the company, Mr. Perle now says he was duped by his friend and business colleague.

Read the whole thing, as someone-or-other once said.

{ 16 comments }

1

WeSaferThemHealthier 09.06.04 at 6:43 pm

“From his vacation home in southern France late Friday, issuing the outlines of his legal defense for the first time, Mr. Perle ”

Did I read that right? France?!?

Nice to see unravelling and panicking from that bunch. Le Lord est mort! Vive le Lord!

2

dsquared 09.06.04 at 6:45 pm

How long before Steyn jumps ship? Anyone fancy a pool on this one?

3

Dick Durata 09.06.04 at 6:54 pm

If you’ll forgive me, he has just taken the logical step of putting Perle before swine.

4

jamie 09.06.04 at 7:59 pm

“How long before Steyn jumps ship? Anyone fancy a pool on this one?”

All Steyn’s media outlets are Hollinger owned, AFAIK. My guess is that he’ll have nothing al all to say about this in the hope that the new regime will forget about his previous role as Lord B’s court jester.

5

yabonn 09.06.04 at 8:45 pm

WeSaferThemHealthier :

Bremer too is a closet french real estate owner -along with a few other, i’d bet. I can even imagine the barbeuque with blair, who’s usually around for holidays.

As useful as these vulgar prejudices of the unwashed masses may be, they shouldn’t deter us from appreciating a good champagne in a nice place, should they?

6

WeSaferThemHealthier 09.06.04 at 9:00 pm

I saw an article from Steyn in the Atlantic Monthly, does that belong to Hollinger? I heard Hollinger may be sold to two conservatives, so he wouldn’t be out of place. Otherwise, he can just go from working from Black to working for Murdoch.

Yabonn,

” they shouldn’t deter us from appreciating a good champagne in a nice place, should they?”

Santé!

On the other hand, I think real patriots who want to show their solidarity with Israel in the WOT should switch from Beaujolais to Manischewitz.

7

yabonn 09.06.04 at 9:24 pm

WeSaferThemHealthier :

So i’m a real patriot. Anything But Beaujolpif.

8

WeSaferThemHealthier 09.06.04 at 9:37 pm

My complete and utter ignorance of wines has been unmasked then ( white is the type you can easily see through and red is the type you can’t right?.. ).

In any case, none of the above are as delicious as Beyerstein’s title.

9

abb1 09.06.04 at 9:50 pm

I’m surprised at the scale of this little sham: $1 to $6K a month on a credit card? Total of $5 million embezzled – by the guy who’s invading Mesopotamia, waging war on Baghdad, Babylon and Samara? Sheesh. Is this pathetic or what?

10

nick 09.06.04 at 10:16 pm

We can only assume that ‘Shit’ Steyn is now on a cast-iron long-term contract; or that he has the negatives.

11

yabonn 09.06.04 at 10:30 pm

white is the type you can easily see through and red is the type you can’t right?

I all depends after how many glasses you try.

About wine knowledge, imho, the only real question is : “do i like it”? …That, and avoiding beaujolais.

12

Jim Harrison 09.06.04 at 10:42 pm

A little theory: right wingers so often assume that their ideological enemies are abusing their political power to make money (think Whitewater) that they have come to think that financial fraud is what one is supposed to do when the opportunity presents itself.

13

dsquared 09.06.04 at 11:19 pm

I like Beaujolais and I buy loads of it every year. It may be out of fashion at the moment because it’s not big or tanniny, but it’s actually very good wine.

14

pj 09.07.04 at 1:23 am

I don’t read Steyn very often, so I can’t say where he writes, but Hollinger International owns very few major media outlets anymore. It sold its Canadian assets two years ago, while Black was still in charge. It sold the Telegraph to the Barclay Brothers last month. The core assets now consist of the Chicago Sun Times, the Jerusalem Post, a wad of cash and a billion dollar lawsuit against Black.

15

derrida derider 09.07.04 at 8:41 am

Poor Mr Perle. And after that nice Mr Chalabi let him down too. To lose one friend may be deemed unfortunate, to lose two …

16

yabonn 09.07.04 at 9:43 am

dsquared :

Ah, we’re back to rule n°1 “it’s good if you like it”, then.

Must admit i didn’t even try the thing these last years, simply because i’m used to bordeaux.

Comments on this entry are closed.