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‪@jaheale.bsky.social‬

NEW: Understand Scott Bessent and Nigel Farage discussed Diego Garcia and Chagos during their dinner at Davos. US Treasury Sec believed to have credited Farage for getting this issue in the President’s in-tray and subsequent Trump stance.

@jwsidders.bsky.social‬

In the extreme right world Farage inhabits, this will be seen as clever politics. But the vast majority of people in the UK will see this for what it is: conspiring with a hostile foreign power to harm British interests. The stuff traitors do, in other words.

Depends on whther you think giving the Chagos Islands to a random foreign country and paying them billions to take it is in Britain's interests. If that is the criteria for being a traitor then I would suggest Starmer is the treasonous one and any opposing him are standing up for Britain.

Well tough shit Richard - it's a decision for the UK parliament alone and we should never, ever tolerate any British citizen conspiring with a foreign state to facilitate its coercion - evidenced by the fact prior to Farage Trump was in favour of the deal. I'm firmly against the Chagos deal too but perversely I'd now be furious if it didn't go through. Trump and his minions can go fuck themselves; British democracy must always win.

And to think you're a Brexiteer.

Personally I don't agree with dragging Trump into this or supporting him in any way - as I am sure I have made clear. Same goes for Farage. But that doesn't change the fact that Starmer is doing enormous damage to Britain and to the rightful owners of the Chagos Islands (remember them, the ones who weren't even consulted about this treasonous deal) through his actions. The only saving grace is he is too fucking dumb to be doing it for personal monetary gain. Something that will always place him ahead of Trump.

@patrickwintour
For some reason the US tried to bury its national defence strategy published at 7pm in the US on Friday evening.
It contains no mention of Taiwan three of Greenland and says it seeks respectful relations with China. Israel is described as a “model ally.”
The priority, the document confirms, is homeland defence, burden sharing and preventing Chinese domination.
The strategy is predictably dismissive of Europe saying US allies in NATO have been allowed to behave more like dependencies, than partners. It also suggests Europe shouldn’t aspire to be a global power- stating “we will be clear with our European allies that their efforts and resources are best focused on Europe.”

Three other passages on Europe are noteworthy.

1 “Moscow is in no position to make a bid for European hegemony. European NATO dwarfs Russian economic scale, population, and, thus, latent military power. At the same time, although
Europe remains important, it has a smaller and decreasing share of global economic power. It follows that, although we are and will remain engaged
we must—and will—prioritise defending the U.S. Homeland and deterring China.
Fortunately our NATO allies are substantially more powerful than Russia—it is not even close.
Germany’s economy alone dwarfs that of Russia”. A table then shows non US NATO gdp is $26 trillion and Russia $2 trillion.

2 “Our NATO allies are strongly positioned to take primary responsibility for Europe’s conventional defense, with critical but more limited U.S. support. This includes taking the lead in supporting Ukraine’s defense.”

3 “In Europe and other theaters, allies will take the lead against threats that are less severe for us but more so for them, with critical but more limited support from the United States.
In all cases, we will be honest but clear about the urgent need for them to do their part and that it is in their own interests to do so without delay. We will incentivize and enable them to step up. This requires a change in tone and style from the past, but that is necessary not only for Americans but also for our allies and partners. For too long, allies and partners have been content to let us subsidize their defense. Our political establishment reaped the credit while regular Americans paid the bill. With President Trump, a new approach is in effect.”

Can’t disagree with points 1, 2 and 3 at all.