Liz Truss tells US MAGA conference CPAC that Britain is becoming a "failed state" - and says it is entering a "dark age."
Worldview. MAGA and Trump genuinely believe that Europe in general, and UK in particular, underspend on armed forces, freeload on American protection, and imprison/fine people for free speech. They are entirely correct in this. They wish to alter our behaviour by the power of the purse, funding things they like and tariffing or even taxing those they don't like. The only question is what do we do about it.
I went thru the three options yesterday (fight, run/hide, kneel). I hope that we will fight but fear we will kneel. And central to this submission will be Brits who have transferred their loyalty from the UK to things like CANZUK, the Anglosphere, the Republicans, or the endless tribes of Twitter. They will see nothing wrong with kneeling to the dictates of Trump and will simply blame those who it affects, provided it's not them. There are always capos.
You hope we will fight for what?
To be an independent country and follow the dictates of our own hearts and institutions, and not duckspeak the latest nostrum from the United States
Finnish EPPGroup MEP, european parliament Foreign Affairs committee member and EPP EUDS coordinator Mika Aaltola:
"The United States has given us three weeks to agree on terms for Ukraine's surrender. If we don't, the United States will withdraw from Europe."
Trump's United States is a hostile power and we need to start treating it as such, painful as that may be.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall it was the policy of both the UK and US to help keep the USSR together.
You can condemn Putin's invasion on moral grounds without treating the location of the border between Russia and Ukraine as a core national interest of ours.
A psychotic gangster rampaging across the continent at will is a very serious concern for us though.
If Putin gets to claim a victory then it won't be long before he's back to finish Ukraine off, and then he'll come after the Eastern flank of the EU.
Russians are basically animals. We need to figure out how to cage them.
Is the EU incapable of defending itself? If so, why is it our job to do it?
Trump is doing to America what the Americans did to Iraq: dismantling all the power structures.
And the rest of the political class is just letting him do it.
GOP have just totally rolled over.
History will record the names of everyone of these scoundrels and cowards who for fear of the primary in two or four years time signed off day after day on this coup.
I know there's a lot of really terrible stuff happening in the World right now but Eon productions have just ceded artistic control of the Bond franchise to the same people that brought us Rings of Power...
Star Wars - fucked
Bond - fucked
Dr Who - apparently put in deep freeze for a decade....
I couldn't see a way forward for Bond without it being ruined. And I think Wilson/Broccoli had had enough.
It had become a prime battleground for identity politics.
There's your reboot:
The Bond Identity.
The name's Group. Focus Group.
Apparently the Bond novels start to go out of copyright in the US in 2030. Connery and Moore are both dead and someone will be looking to make some bank off of their images rights. Given that, at some point I’d expect someone to attempt ‘faithful’ adaptations with synthetic replacement of generic actors with familiar faces.
i have several Mokkatam anecdotes potentially worth relating, but this might be my favourite
Me and my photographer friend spent a day and a half there. It was brilliant (if you like disturbingly weird places) and he took some of the best photos of his life. I mainly remember thinking how unexpectedly beautiful the young Zabbaleen women were - with green/blue eyes and often fair or even blonde hair - as they stood knee and ankle deep in hideous garbage, trying to find stuff to recycle
ANYWAY at one point I had to take a leak, much as I didn’t want to. I wasn’t hopeful of the toiletting situation
So I asked a Coptic priest - seemed best - where can I take a pee?
He said, oh there’s a public loo behind the UN hut (or something), I braced myself but it was actually not the worst loo ever and all I wanted was a pee
However as I was micturating - I do not lie - a rat jumped on my shoulder (from where???) ran down my arm, down my leg - all this with me in mid stream - and then he jumped from my ankle and began to disappear down the toilet hole, which meant that I was pissing directly on the top of his head
At this point the rat literally stopped and turned around and gave me a look which said, unmistakeably
“Why the FUCK are you pissing on me?”
But then I gave him a pretty hard stare back - I don’t mind admitting this - a look which said
“Mate, we’re in the city of trash, you just ran down my leg, you’re in a urinal and now you’re disappearing down the toilet hole even as I take a leak, and you are, to be brutally honest, a rat - WHAT DID YOU EXPECT?”
At this moment he seemed to pensively shrug, if rats can pensively shrug, like he’d thought about it and pondered my point and then he silently accepted the argument, and he disappeared into the sewers of Cairo
The Loser's honeymoon is over: "Trump’s approval ratings this week in a series of polls — including the Post-Ipsos poll and others from Reuters, Quinnipiac University, CNN and Gallup — has ranged from 44 to 47 percent. In all of them, more disapprove than approve of him.
That’s a reversal from the vast majority of previous polls, which showed Trump in net-positive territory.
And in the Post-Ipsos poll, significantly more Americans strongly disapprove of Trump (39 percent) than strongly approve of him (27 percent)."
(It wasn't much of a honeymoon to begin with. His approval ratings were higher than in his first term -- but lower than the approval ratings for every other recent president.)
Why the fuck did they vote for him the second time? (Shakes head)
Finnish EPPGroup MEP, european parliament Foreign Affairs committee member and EPP EUDS coordinator Mika Aaltola:
"The United States has given us three weeks to agree on terms for Ukraine's surrender. If we don't, the United States will withdraw from Europe."
Trump's United States is a hostile power and we need to start treating it as such, painful as that may be.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall it was the policy of both the UK and US to help keep the USSR together.
You can condemn Putin's invasion on moral grounds without treating the location of the border between Russia and Ukraine as a core national interest of ours.
A psychotic gangster rampaging across the continent at will is a very serious concern for us though.
If Putin gets to claim a victory then it won't be long before he's back to finish Ukraine off, and then he'll come after the Eastern flank of the EU.
Russians are basically animals. We need to figure out how to cage them.
Is the EU incapable of defending itself? If so, why is it our job to do it?
It's better for us if the eastern flank of the EU remains free rather than occupied by Russian forces.
I think if the US step back from Europe and NATO, then Putin has won. He has won with the help of traitors at the head of reform UK and the MAGA crowd.
Finnish EPPGroup MEP, european parliament Foreign Affairs committee member and EPP EUDS coordinator Mika Aaltola:
"The United States has given us three weeks to agree on terms for Ukraine's surrender. If we don't, the United States will withdraw from Europe."
Trump's United States is a hostile power and we need to start treating it as such, painful as that may be.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall it was the policy of both the UK and US to help keep the USSR together.
You can condemn Putin's invasion on moral grounds without treating the location of the border between Russia and Ukraine as a core national interest of ours.
A psychotic gangster rampaging across the continent at will is a very serious concern for us though.
If Putin gets to claim a victory then it won't be long before he's back to finish Ukraine off, and then he'll come after the Eastern flank of the EU.
Russians are basically animals. We need to figure out how to cage them.
Is the EU incapable of defending itself? If so, why is it our job to do it?
It's better for us if the eastern flank of the EU remains free rather than occupied by Russian forces.
Does that mean it's our job to defend it? The EU has much more men than us. It has much more money than us. It has much more resources than us.
The Liar of the Exchequer has another misrepresentation revealed. But, no doubt, her apologists will claimthyat being an inveterate liar is not a disbarment in Sir Keir Boring's government that promised to clean up politics after the lies of Boris Johnson:
The Loser's honeymoon is over: "Trump’s approval ratings this week in a series of polls — including the Post-Ipsos poll and others from Reuters, Quinnipiac University, CNN and Gallup — has ranged from 44 to 47 percent. In all of them, more disapprove than approve of him.
That’s a reversal from the vast majority of previous polls, which showed Trump in net-positive territory.
And in the Post-Ipsos poll, significantly more Americans strongly disapprove of Trump (39 percent) than strongly approve of him (27 percent)."
(It wasn't much of a honeymoon to begin with. His approval ratings were higher than in his first term -- but lower than the approval ratings for every other recent president.)
Why the fuck did they vote for him the second time? (Shakes head)
I know there's a lot of really terrible stuff happening in the World right now but Eon productions have just ceded artistic control of the Bond franchise to the same people that brought us Rings of Power...
Star Wars - fucked
Bond - fucked
Dr Who - apparently put in deep freeze for a decade....
I couldn't see a way forward for Bond without it being ruined. And I think Wilson/Broccoli had had enough...
The last time I looked into this a few months back, I think there wasn't anybody in the next generation of Wilson/Broccolis who wanted the job and Amazon were being shits. Given that Michael G Wilson is 83 and Barbara Broccoli is 64, it's not surprising they went "fuck it" and handed it to my second-most-disliked billionaire.
I tell you, we didn't get half as much shit from Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. All they did was twitch autistically and treat their employees like shit. They didn't make their employees piss in a bottle or threaten countries.
After he called the Ukrainian leader a "dictator", several Republican senators have hit back in disagreement.
Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski says she would "never refer to President Zelensky as a dictator", while Maine Senator Susan Collins says that Zelensky is not to blame for Moscow's invasion "in any way".
For North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis, suggesting that anyone in Ukraine has responsibility for the ongoing war "forgets the fact that Putin lied".
"He [Putin] has lied every step of the way, and I believe any resolution in Ukraine that makes him feel like he won or just pushed to a tie is a bad idea," Tillis says.
Trump's own former vice president, Mike Pence, went on to remind the US president that "Ukraine did not 'start' this war" - instead, "Russia launched an unprovoked and brutal invasion claiming hundreds of thousands of lives".
"The road to peace must be built on truth," Pence says."
Murkowski and Collins are the usual suspects here. I doubt their comments will have much impact. Both repeatedly criticise Trump, but then vote following the party line. They both voted for Gabbard.
Finnish EPPGroup MEP, european parliament Foreign Affairs committee member and EPP EUDS coordinator Mika Aaltola:
"The United States has given us three weeks to agree on terms for Ukraine's surrender. If we don't, the United States will withdraw from Europe."
Trump's United States is a hostile power and we need to start treating it as such, painful as that may be.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall it was the policy of both the UK and US to help keep the USSR together.
You can condemn Putin's invasion on moral grounds without treating the location of the border between Russia and Ukraine as a core national interest of ours.
A psychotic gangster rampaging across the continent at will is a very serious concern for us though.
If Putin gets to claim a victory then it won't be long before he's back to finish Ukraine off, and then he'll come after the Eastern flank of the EU.
Russians are basically animals. We need to figure out how to cage them.
Is the EU incapable of defending itself? If so, why is it our job to do it?
When you did your volte face from EU Federalist to MAGA apologist, did this conversion also enable you to be an appeaser to the child stealing, murderous psychopath Vladimir Putin?
Finnish EPPGroup MEP, european parliament Foreign Affairs committee member and EPP EUDS coordinator Mika Aaltola:
"The United States has given us three weeks to agree on terms for Ukraine's surrender. If we don't, the United States will withdraw from Europe."
Trump's United States is a hostile power and we need to start treating it as such, painful as that may be.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall it was the policy of both the UK and US to help keep the USSR together.
You can condemn Putin's invasion on moral grounds without treating the location of the border between Russia and Ukraine as a core national interest of ours.
A psychotic gangster rampaging across the continent at will is a very serious concern for us though.
If Putin gets to claim a victory then it won't be long before he's back to finish Ukraine off, and then he'll come after the Eastern flank of the EU.
Russians are basically animals. We need to figure out how to cage them.
Is the EU incapable of defending itself? If so, why is it our job to do it?
It's better for us if the eastern flank of the EU remains free rather than occupied by Russian forces.
Does that mean it's our job to defend it? The EU has much more men than us. It has much more money than us. It has much more resources than us.
I think I'd appreciate it if we avoided calling any races/nationalities 'bàsically animals'. Leaving aside the fact that we're all animals, it's pretty icky.
Finnish EPPGroup MEP, european parliament Foreign Affairs committee member and EPP EUDS coordinator Mika Aaltola:
"The United States has given us three weeks to agree on terms for Ukraine's surrender. If we don't, the United States will withdraw from Europe."
Trump's United States is a hostile power and we need to start treating it as such, painful as that may be.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall it was the policy of both the UK and US to help keep the USSR together.
You can condemn Putin's invasion on moral grounds without treating the location of the border between Russia and Ukraine as a core national interest of ours.
A psychotic gangster rampaging across the continent at will is a very serious concern for us though.
If Putin gets to claim a victory then it won't be long before he's back to finish Ukraine off, and then he'll come after the Eastern flank of the EU.
Russians are basically animals. We need to figure out how to cage them.
Is the EU incapable of defending itself? If so, why is it our job to do it?
It's better for us if the eastern flank of the EU remains free rather than occupied by Russian forces.
Does that mean it's our job to defend it? The EU has much more men than us. It has much more money than us. It has much more resources than us.
We should work with the EU on matters of mutual interest, as here.
After he called the Ukrainian leader a "dictator", several Republican senators have hit back in disagreement.
Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski says she would "never refer to President Zelensky as a dictator", while Maine Senator Susan Collins says that Zelensky is not to blame for Moscow's invasion "in any way".
For North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis, suggesting that anyone in Ukraine has responsibility for the ongoing war "forgets the fact that Putin lied".
"He [Putin] has lied every step of the way, and I believe any resolution in Ukraine that makes him feel like he won or just pushed to a tie is a bad idea," Tillis says.
Trump's own former vice president, Mike Pence, went on to remind the US president that "Ukraine did not 'start' this war" - instead, "Russia launched an unprovoked and brutal invasion claiming hundreds of thousands of lives".
"The road to peace must be built on truth," Pence says."
Morkowski and Collins are the usual suspects here. I doubt their comments will have much impact. Both repeatedly criticise Trump, but then vote following the party line. They both voted for Gabbard.
And with Pence's intervention the MAGAs simply accused him of taking Ukrainian bribes.
Finnish EPPGroup MEP, european parliament Foreign Affairs committee member and EPP EUDS coordinator Mika Aaltola:
"The United States has given us three weeks to agree on terms for Ukraine's surrender. If we don't, the United States will withdraw from Europe."
Trump's United States is a hostile power and we need to start treating it as such, painful as that may be.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall it was the policy of both the UK and US to help keep the USSR together.
You can condemn Putin's invasion on moral grounds without treating the location of the border between Russia and Ukraine as a core national interest of ours.
A psychotic gangster rampaging across the continent at will is a very serious concern for us though.
If Putin gets to claim a victory then it won't be long before he's back to finish Ukraine off, and then he'll come after the Eastern flank of the EU.
Russians are basically animals. We need to figure out how to cage them.
Is the EU incapable of defending itself? If so, why is it our job to do it?
It's better for us if the eastern flank of the EU remains free rather than occupied by Russian forces.
Does that mean it's our job to defend it? The EU has much more men than us. It has much more money than us. It has much more resources than us.
Well, as Lincoln said, you can hang together, or you can hang separately. I'd rather we took our chances, fighting alongside friendly states, than let them go under one after another, because we think it's "just good business."
The Liar of the Exchequer has another misrepresentation revealed. But, no doubt, her apologists will claimthyat being an inveterate liar is not a disbarment in Sir Keir Boring's government that promised to clean up politics after the lies of Boris Johnson:
Finnish EPPGroup MEP, european parliament Foreign Affairs committee member and EPP EUDS coordinator Mika Aaltola:
"The United States has given us three weeks to agree on terms for Ukraine's surrender. If we don't, the United States will withdraw from Europe."
Trump's United States is a hostile power and we need to start treating it as such, painful as that may be.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall it was the policy of both the UK and US to help keep the USSR together.
You can condemn Putin's invasion on moral grounds without treating the location of the border between Russia and Ukraine as a core national interest of ours.
A psychotic gangster rampaging across the continent at will is a very serious concern for us though.
If Putin gets to claim a victory then it won't be long before he's back to finish Ukraine off, and then he'll come after the Eastern flank of the EU.
Russians are basically animals. We need to figure out how to cage them.
Is the EU incapable of defending itself? If so, why is it our job to do it?
It's better for us if the eastern flank of the EU remains free rather than occupied by Russian forces.
Does that mean it's our job to defend it? The EU has much more men than us. It has much more money than us. It has much more resources than us.
I think I'd appreciate it if we avoided calling any races/nationalities 'bàsically animals'. Leaving aside the fact that we're all animals, it's pretty icky.
Most animals have greater restraint and morals than the Russian "soldiers" who raped Bucha, probably with the encouragement of the Kremlin
Finnish EPPGroup MEP, european parliament Foreign Affairs committee member and EPP EUDS coordinator Mika Aaltola:
"The United States has given us three weeks to agree on terms for Ukraine's surrender. If we don't, the United States will withdraw from Europe."
Trump's United States is a hostile power and we need to start treating it as such, painful as that may be.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall it was the policy of both the UK and US to help keep the USSR together.
You can condemn Putin's invasion on moral grounds without treating the location of the border between Russia and Ukraine as a core national interest of ours.
A psychotic gangster rampaging across the continent at will is a very serious concern for us though.
If Putin gets to claim a victory then it won't be long before he's back to finish Ukraine off, and then he'll come after the Eastern flank of the EU.
Russians are basically animals. We need to figure out how to cage them.
Is the EU incapable of defending itself? If so, why is it our job to do it?
The Americans might very well be about to abandon us but these are our friends. If the continent gradually collapsed in on itself - either through the use or threat of force - then our little island won't somehow flourish in isolation just because it has a handful of nuclear weapons. We'll be besieged and isolated.
If we don't hang together we risk hanging separately. This would be tragic, and unnecessary. Aside from nuclear weapons that it can only destroy itself by using, Russia is a middle power with extra cannon fodder. If made to fight on two fronts like the one on which it is currently struggling then it would collapse like a house of cards. What's left of NATO when you subtract the US needs to be able to demonstrate the ability to field forces on that scale to get that shit in the Kremlin to leave us alone and find someone weaker to kick about.
All those people who criticised the ending of No Time To Die should be eating their words today, the franchise is as dead as the character now. Good send off in the end. Amazon are going to ruin it.
The Loser's honeymoon is over: "Trump’s approval ratings this week in a series of polls — including the Post-Ipsos poll and others from Reuters, Quinnipiac University, CNN and Gallup — has ranged from 44 to 47 percent. In all of them, more disapprove than approve of him.
That’s a reversal from the vast majority of previous polls, which showed Trump in net-positive territory.
And in the Post-Ipsos poll, significantly more Americans strongly disapprove of Trump (39 percent) than strongly approve of him (27 percent)."
(It wasn't much of a honeymoon to begin with. His approval ratings were higher than in his first term -- but lower than the approval ratings for every other recent president.)
Why the fuck did they vote for him the second time? (Shakes head)
Finnish EPPGroup MEP, european parliament Foreign Affairs committee member and EPP EUDS coordinator Mika Aaltola:
"The United States has given us three weeks to agree on terms for Ukraine's surrender. If we don't, the United States will withdraw from Europe."
Trump's United States is a hostile power and we need to start treating it as such, painful as that may be.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall it was the policy of both the UK and US to help keep the USSR together.
You can condemn Putin's invasion on moral grounds without treating the location of the border between Russia and Ukraine as a core national interest of ours.
A psychotic gangster rampaging across the continent at will is a very serious concern for us though.
If Putin gets to claim a victory then it won't be long before he's back to finish Ukraine off, and then he'll come after the Eastern flank of the EU.
Russians are basically animals. We need to figure out how to cage them.
Is the EU incapable of defending itself? If so, why is it our job to do it?
It's better for us if the eastern flank of the EU remains free rather than occupied by Russian forces.
Does that mean it's our job to defend it? The EU has much more men than us. It has much more money than us. It has much more resources than us.
We should work with the EU on matters of mutual interest, as here.
No, we should work with European countries. The EU will fail to act because the likes of Orban will block any moves that work against Putin. The EU is too divided we, or Ukraine, can't hang around for 27 nations to be bought off. We should work with France and Poland directly, as well as anyone else who agrees to our agenda upfront. Those that don't should have no say on what we can and can't do, including Germany, Hungary, Spain and others who object to tooling up and telling Putin to get fucked.
The Loser's honeymoon is over: "Trump’s approval ratings this week in a series of polls — including the Post-Ipsos poll and others from Reuters, Quinnipiac University, CNN and Gallup — has ranged from 44 to 47 percent. In all of them, more disapprove than approve of him.
That’s a reversal from the vast majority of previous polls, which showed Trump in net-positive territory.
And in the Post-Ipsos poll, significantly more Americans strongly disapprove of Trump (39 percent) than strongly approve of him (27 percent)."
(It wasn't much of a honeymoon to begin with. His approval ratings were higher than in his first term -- but lower than the approval ratings for every other recent president.)
Why the fuck did they vote for him the second time? (Shakes head)
Is this the first time a US vice president has been relevant and in the thick of things, rather than just a placeholder?
Not really, if you believe the film Vice, concerning Dick Cheney. He was certainly driving a lot of US policy during the Bush years.
The difference with Vance is that he is articulate. I agree with very little that he says but his clarity in his recent speeches has made him the coherent voice of the Trump cavalcade who can at least provide a gloss or a rationale (of sorts) to what is going on.
I don't get the impression Vance is driving policy. He is seeking to justify it. He does not have any actual power in the way that Cheney did.
That is my impression too. It reminds me of New Labour, where Blair drove foreign policy, Brown decided domestic policy by funding or not funding departmental projects, and most of the Cabinet were managers rather than directors of their departments.
Trump is in charge but unpredictable, which is why Vance defends what Trump has said and done rather than what Trump will say and do. Domestic policy is being shaped mainly by the other VP, Elon Musk and his DOGE.
Vance's job is to defend the boss and wait patiently for his own turn.
All those people who criticised the ending of No Time To Die should be eating their words today, the franchise is as dead as the character now. Good send off in the end. Amazon are going to ruin it.
Finnish EPPGroup MEP, european parliament Foreign Affairs committee member and EPP EUDS coordinator Mika Aaltola:
"The United States has given us three weeks to agree on terms for Ukraine's surrender. If we don't, the United States will withdraw from Europe."
Trump's United States is a hostile power and we need to start treating it as such, painful as that may be.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall it was the policy of both the UK and US to help keep the USSR together.
You can condemn Putin's invasion on moral grounds without treating the location of the border between Russia and Ukraine as a core national interest of ours.
A psychotic gangster rampaging across the continent at will is a very serious concern for us though.
If Putin gets to claim a victory then it won't be long before he's back to finish Ukraine off, and then he'll come after the Eastern flank of the EU.
Russians are basically animals. We need to figure out how to cage them.
Is the EU incapable of defending itself? If so, why is it our job to do it?
The Americans might very well be about to abandon us but these are our friends. If the continent gradually collapsed in on itself - either through the use or threat of force - then our little island won't somehow flourish in isolation just because it has a handful of nuclear weapons. We'll be besieged and isolated.
If we don't hang together we risk hanging separately. This would be tragic, and unnecessary. Aside from nuclear weapons that it can only destroy itself by using, Russia is a middle power with extra cannon fodder. If made to fight on two fronts like the one on which it is currently struggling then it would collapse like a house of cards. What's left of NATO when you subtract the US needs to be able to demonstrate the ability to field forces on that scale to get that shit in the Kremlin to leave us alone and find someone weaker to kick about.
It seems very unrealistic to suppose that Russia could conquer Poland, let alone Germany. As @Dura_Ace pointed out, at present they can't even take back their own territory in Kursk.
Trump is doing to America what the Americans did to Iraq: dismantling all the power structures.
And the rest of the political class is just letting him do it.
GOP have just totally rolled over.
History will record the names of everyone of these scoundrels and cowards who for fear of the primary in two or four years time signed off day after day on this coup.
The GOP ‘insider’ just interviewed on R4 reckons many of their senators are extremely angry about the Trump position on Ukraine and will be waiting for the right moment to make their discontent known.
Yesterday so much changed after Trump’s anti Ukraine tirade, repeated in an hour long speech last night, that the mood of despair is palpable and many are not only worried but even scared, and there seems to be more techinness on this forum which in the circumstances is not really surprising
Just heard the dreadful Farage interviewed live at a conference in the US and he was simply pathetic and then followed by a clip of the awful Truss speaking to the gathering
It does seem that there is cross party support both on here and generally condemning Trump and siding with Zelensky and Ukraine, but also it is now time to call out Farage and Reform as the pro Trump-Putin party and also for the conservative party to cancel Truss's membership
I have no idea where the money is coming from but increased defence spending now tops the agenda, and it is not optional anymore
We are living in history changing times and for at least 4 years !!!!
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman is rallying fellow Arab leaders around a plan for postwar Gaza as an alternative to proposals put forward by Trump
Trump is doing to America what the Americans did to Iraq: dismantling all the power structures.
And the rest of the political class is just letting him do it.
GOP have just totally rolled over.
History will record the names of everyone of these scoundrels and cowards who for fear of the primary in two or four years time signed off day after day on this coup.
The GOP ‘insider’ just interviewed on R4 reckons many of their senators are extremely angry about the Trump position on Ukraine and will be waiting for the right moment to make their discontent known.
Is the right moment in their memoirs, published after Trump's death?
Liz Truss tells US MAGA conference CPAC that Britain is becoming a "failed state" - and says it is entering a "dark age."
Worldview. MAGA and Trump genuinely believe that Europe in general, and UK in particular, underspend on armed forces, freeload on American protection, and imprison/fine people for free speech. They are entirely correct in this. They wish to alter our behaviour by the power of the purse, funding things they like and tariffing or even taxing those they don't like. The only question is what do we do about it.
I went thru the three options yesterday (fight, run/hide, kneel). I hope that we will fight but fear we will kneel. And central to this submission will be Brits who have transferred their loyalty from the UK to things like CANZUK, the Anglosphere, the Republicans, or the endless tribes of Twitter. They will see nothing wrong with kneeling to the dictates of Trump and will simply blame those who it affects, provided it's not them. There are always capos.
As others have noted, this is one of those days when we must truly thank our deity of choice that Starmer is the man in the job.
Imagine BoZo, or Richi, or Truss
I don't 100% agree. Starmer has been an awful PM for the first six months, but fair dos, he's not really put a foot wrong wrt Trump and Ukraine. But I would argue that Rishi, and in particular Boris, also got it consiatently right on Ukraine,and Boris has been unequivocal recently that Trump is completely wrong on this. So full marks for Starmer, but we can't by implication criticise his predecessors.
@AndrewDesiderio New: The Pentagon has circulated to congressional Republicans a list of generals / flag officers that SecDef Pete Hegseth is interested in firing or replacing. Confirming @NatashaBertrand.
The list, per two sources who have seen it, includes Gen. C.Q. Brown, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs.
The Senate confirmed Brown to a 4-yr term in 2023. Vote was 83-11.
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman is rallying fellow Arab leaders around a plan for postwar Gaza as an alternative to proposals put forward by Trump
If nobody in the World either respects him or fears him it's going to be a lonely 4 years...
This is where the fun begins. He's going to leave the US as a pariah state with few allies left that aren't Russia or other despots.
I hope the Lords of Silicon Valley are beginning to realise that hitching their wagons to someone intent on burning all bridges with Europe is not going to end up well for them.
When you hear Trump or Vance talk about Europe, the dislike just isn’t rational. It’s bizarre.
They have been listening to Farage as well as Putin. It is apparent that Trump is either so stupid or so senile, or both, that whoever last gave him an opinion (Putin says Ukraine started the war and Zelensky is a dictator) that it becomes his world view.
I know there's a lot of really terrible stuff happening in the World right now but Eon productions have just ceded artistic control of the Bond franchise to the same people that brought us Rings of Power...
I think if the US step back from Europe and NATO, then Putin has won. He has won with the help of traitors at the head of reform UK and the MAGA crowd.
They are drowning in champagne in the Kremlin these days.
The shame on this generation of americans will echo long into the days.
The Loser's honeymoon is over: "Trump’s approval ratings this week in a series of polls — including the Post-Ipsos poll and others from Reuters, Quinnipiac University, CNN and Gallup — has ranged from 44 to 47 percent. In all of them, more disapprove than approve of him.
That’s a reversal from the vast majority of previous polls, which showed Trump in net-positive territory.
And in the Post-Ipsos poll, significantly more Americans strongly disapprove of Trump (39 percent) than strongly approve of him (27 percent)."
(It wasn't much of a honeymoon to begin with. His approval ratings were higher than in his first term -- but lower than the approval ratings for every other recent president.)
Why the fuck did they vote for him the second time? (Shakes head)
At least we Brits only fell for our lying clown the one time.
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman is rallying fellow Arab leaders around a plan for postwar Gaza as an alternative to proposals put forward by Trump
If nobody in the World either respects him or fears him it's going to be a lonely 4 years...
This is where the fun begins. He's going to leave the US as a pariah state with few allies left that aren't Russia or other despots.
If Trump has got the Arab nations at least thinking about the Palestinian problem, that is a start.
Trump hasn't gotten the Arab nations thinking about the Palestinian problem. The Arab nations have been thinking about the Palestinian problem for decades.
Finnish EPPGroup MEP, european parliament Foreign Affairs committee member and EPP EUDS coordinator Mika Aaltola:
"The United States has given us three weeks to agree on terms for Ukraine's surrender. If we don't, the United States will withdraw from Europe."
Trump's United States is a hostile power and we need to start treating it as such, painful as that may be.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall it was the policy of both the UK and US to help keep the USSR together.
You can condemn Putin's invasion on moral grounds without treating the location of the border between Russia and Ukraine as a core national interest of ours.
A psychotic gangster rampaging across the continent at will is a very serious concern for us though.
If Putin gets to claim a victory then it won't be long before he's back to finish Ukraine off, and then he'll come after the Eastern flank of the EU.
Russians are basically animals. We need to figure out how to cage them.
Is the EU incapable of defending itself? If so, why is it our job to do it?
It's better for us if the eastern flank of the EU remains free rather than occupied by Russian forces.
Does that mean it's our job to defend it? The EU has much more men than us. It has much more money than us. It has much more resources than us.
We should work with the EU on matters of mutual interest, as here.
No, we should work with European countries. The EU will fail to act because the likes of Orban will block any moves that work against Putin. The EU is too divided we, or Ukraine, can't hang around for 27 nations to be bought off. We should work with France and Poland directly, as well as anyone else who agrees to our agenda upfront. Those that don't should have no say on what we can and can't do, including Germany, Hungary, Spain and others who object to tooling up and telling Putin to get fucked.
Agreed. Not everything needs to be (or should be) done through the strait jacket of the EU for ideological reasons.
There can be many different European alliances and for different reasons.
I know there's a lot of really terrible stuff happening in the World right now but Eon productions have just ceded artistic control of the Bond franchise to the same people that brought us Rings of Power...
Bond can't be that far off entering the public domain.
So can we expect a Bond franchise? Spinoffs starring Q and Moneypenny? Sequels and prequels in no particular order? On the plus side, maybe they will adapt Fleming's plots and not just the titles.
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman is rallying fellow Arab leaders around a plan for postwar Gaza as an alternative to proposals put forward by Trump
If nobody in the World either respects him or fears him it's going to be a lonely 4 years...
This is where the fun begins. He's going to leave the US as a pariah state with few allies left that aren't Russia or other despots.
If Trump has got the Arab nations at least thinking about the Palestinian problem, that is a start.
Trump hasn't gotten the Arab nations thinking about the Palestinian problem. The Arab nations have been thinking about the Palestinian problem for decades.
Yes, they’ve been thinking: “we certainly don’t want them - let the Israelis deal with them”.
Liz Truss tells US MAGA conference CPAC that Britain is becoming a "failed state" - and says it is entering a "dark age."
Worldview. MAGA and Trump genuinely believe that Europe in general, and UK in particular, underspend on armed forces, freeload on American protection, and imprison/fine people for free speech. They are entirely correct in this. They wish to alter our behaviour by the power of the purse, funding things they like and tariffing or even taxing those they don't like. The only question is what do we do about it.
I went thru the three options yesterday (fight, run/hide, kneel). I hope that we will fight but fear we will kneel. And central to this submission will be Brits who have transferred their loyalty from the UK to things like CANZUK, the Anglosphere, the Republicans, or the endless tribes of Twitter. They will see nothing wrong with kneeling to the dictates of Trump and will simply blame those who it affects, provided it's not them. There are always capos.
As others have noted, this is one of those days when we must truly thank our deity of choice that Starmer is the man in the job.
Imagine BoZo, or Richi, or Truss
I don't 100% agree. Starmer has been an awful PM for the first six months, but fair dos, he's not really put a foot wrong wrt Trump and Ukraine. But I would argue that Rishi, and in particular Boris, also got it consiatently right on Ukraine,and Boris has been unequivocal recently that Trump is completely wrong on this. So full marks for Starmer, but we can't by implication criticise his predecessors.
Finnish EPPGroup MEP, european parliament Foreign Affairs committee member and EPP EUDS coordinator Mika Aaltola:
"The United States has given us three weeks to agree on terms for Ukraine's surrender. If we don't, the United States will withdraw from Europe."
Trump's United States is a hostile power and we need to start treating it as such, painful as that may be.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall it was the policy of both the UK and US to help keep the USSR together.
You can condemn Putin's invasion on moral grounds without treating the location of the border between Russia and Ukraine as a core national interest of ours.
A psychotic gangster rampaging across the continent at will is a very serious concern for us though.
If Putin gets to claim a victory then it won't be long before he's back to finish Ukraine off, and then he'll come after the Eastern flank of the EU.
Russians are basically animals. We need to figure out how to cage them.
Is the EU incapable of defending itself? If so, why is it our job to do it?
It's better for us if the eastern flank of the EU remains free rather than occupied by Russian forces.
Does that mean it's our job to defend it? The EU has much more men than us. It has much more money than us. It has much more resources than us.
We should work with the EU on matters of mutual interest, as here.
No, we should work with European countries. The EU will fail to act because the likes of Orban will block any moves that work against Putin. The EU is too divided we, or Ukraine, can't hang around for 27 nations to be bought off. We should work with France and Poland directly, as well as anyone else who agrees to our agenda upfront. Those that don't should have no say on what we can and can't do, including Germany, Hungary, Spain and others who object to tooling up and telling Putin to get fucked.
Agreed. Not everything needs to be (or should be) done through the strait jacket of the EU for ideological reasons.
There can be many different European alliances and for different reasons.
The comments above never spoke of cooperation with the EU to the exclusion of any other cooperation with European countries individually or in other agglomerations.
Finnish EPPGroup MEP, european parliament Foreign Affairs committee member and EPP EUDS coordinator Mika Aaltola:
"The United States has given us three weeks to agree on terms for Ukraine's surrender. If we don't, the United States will withdraw from Europe."
Trump's United States is a hostile power and we need to start treating it as such, painful as that may be.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall it was the policy of both the UK and US to help keep the USSR together.
You can condemn Putin's invasion on moral grounds without treating the location of the border between Russia and Ukraine as a core national interest of ours.
A psychotic gangster rampaging across the continent at will is a very serious concern for us though.
If Putin gets to claim a victory then it won't be long before he's back to finish Ukraine off, and then he'll come after the Eastern flank of the EU.
Russians are basically animals. We need to figure out how to cage them.
Is the EU incapable of defending itself? If so, why is it our job to do it?
The Americans might very well be about to abandon us but these are our friends. If the continent gradually collapsed in on itself - either through the use or threat of force - then our little island won't somehow flourish in isolation just because it has a handful of nuclear weapons. We'll be besieged and isolated.
If we don't hang together we risk hanging separately. This would be tragic, and unnecessary. Aside from nuclear weapons that it can only destroy itself by using, Russia is a middle power with extra cannon fodder. If made to fight on two fronts like the one on which it is currently struggling then it would collapse like a house of cards. What's left of NATO when you subtract the US needs to be able to demonstrate the ability to field forces on that scale to get that shit in the Kremlin to leave us alone and find someone weaker to kick about.
It seems very unrealistic to suppose that Russia could conquer Poland, let alone Germany. As @Dura_Ace pointed out, at present they can't even take back their own territory in Kursk.
That's a circular argument though.
They can't take back their own territory because of Western support for Ukraine.
It actually proves the opposite argument to the one @Dura_Ace thinks he was making.
Finnish EPPGroup MEP, european parliament Foreign Affairs committee member and EPP EUDS coordinator Mika Aaltola:
"The United States has given us three weeks to agree on terms for Ukraine's surrender. If we don't, the United States will withdraw from Europe."
Trump's United States is a hostile power and we need to start treating it as such, painful as that may be.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall it was the policy of both the UK and US to help keep the USSR together.
You can condemn Putin's invasion on moral grounds without treating the location of the border between Russia and Ukraine as a core national interest of ours.
A psychotic gangster rampaging across the continent at will is a very serious concern for us though.
If Putin gets to claim a victory then it won't be long before he's back to finish Ukraine off, and then he'll come after the Eastern flank of the EU.
Russians are basically animals. We need to figure out how to cage them.
Is the EU incapable of defending itself? If so, why is it our job to do it?
It's better for us if the eastern flank of the EU remains free rather than occupied by Russian forces.
Does that mean it's our job to defend it? The EU has much more men than us. It has much more money than us. It has much more resources than us.
We should work with the EU on matters of mutual interest, as here.
No, we should work with European countries. The EU will fail to act because the likes of Orban will block any moves that work against Putin. The EU is too divided we, or Ukraine, can't hang around for 27 nations to be bought off. We should work with France and Poland directly, as well as anyone else who agrees to our agenda upfront. Those that don't should have no say on what we can and can't do, including Germany, Hungary, Spain and others who object to tooling up and telling Putin to get fucked.
Absolutely agree. We need to form a new alliance and also start spending on defence like crazy. I am normally the last person to be in favour of tax rises, but a specific defence tax needs to be raised on all -not just people Labour doesn't like. Every citizen needs to understand how important this is.
(((Dan Hodges))) @DPJHodges · 2h Reform's foreign policy stance is now clear. When faced with aggression sue for peace, then place "everything on the table". And these are the guys who have been hammering Starmer for weeks over Chagos, capitulating to the Chinese, and the danger it presents to global security.
Finnish EPPGroup MEP, european parliament Foreign Affairs committee member and EPP EUDS coordinator Mika Aaltola:
"The United States has given us three weeks to agree on terms for Ukraine's surrender. If we don't, the United States will withdraw from Europe."
Trump's United States is a hostile power and we need to start treating it as such, painful as that may be.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall it was the policy of both the UK and US to help keep the USSR together.
You can condemn Putin's invasion on moral grounds without treating the location of the border between Russia and Ukraine as a core national interest of ours.
A psychotic gangster rampaging across the continent at will is a very serious concern for us though.
If Putin gets to claim a victory then it won't be long before he's back to finish Ukraine off, and then he'll come after the Eastern flank of the EU.
Russians are basically animals. We need to figure out how to cage them.
Is the EU incapable of defending itself? If so, why is it our job to do it?
It's better for us if the eastern flank of the EU remains free rather than occupied by Russian forces.
Does that mean it's our job to defend it? The EU has much more men than us. It has much more money than us. It has much more resources than us.
I think I'd appreciate it if we avoided calling any races/nationalities 'bàsically animals'. Leaving aside the fact that we're all animals, it's pretty icky.
I think we're some distance past being sensitive about the Russian people. It is a land of despotism that has menaced us for generations, full of alcoholics and nihilists and with an astonishing record of brutality in the current war. Say what you like about American led adventurism in years past but it didn't involve a systematic campaign to completely level cities, abduct children en masse, and murder, rape and mutilate as much of the population of Ukraine - man, woman and child - along the way as it went. And now we have to waste an immense amount of treasure turning ourselves back into an armed camp to deter these bastards, which means people here are going to end up living poorer, meaner lives - and those near the benighted country have to live with the worry of going the same way as its recent victims - most of them having also suffered ruinous occupation by the Soviet Union before.
So, sorry that I'm not saintly enough to see much good in Russia, but with respect, fuck em.
Liz Truss tells US MAGA conference CPAC that Britain is becoming a "failed state" - and says it is entering a "dark age."
Worldview. MAGA and Trump genuinely believe that Europe in general, and UK in particular, underspend on armed forces, freeload on American protection, and imprison/fine people for free speech. They are entirely correct in this. They wish to alter our behaviour by the power of the purse, funding things they like and tariffing or even taxing those they don't like. The only question is what do we do about it.
I went thru the three options yesterday (fight, run/hide, kneel). I hope that we will fight but fear we will kneel. And central to this submission will be Brits who have transferred their loyalty from the UK to things like CANZUK, the Anglosphere, the Republicans, or the endless tribes of Twitter. They will see nothing wrong with kneeling to the dictates of Trump and will simply blame those who it affects, provided it's not them. There are always capos.
As others have noted, this is one of those days when we must truly thank our deity of choice that Starmer is the man in the job.
Imagine BoZo, or Richi, or Truss
I don't 100% agree. Starmer has been an awful PM for the first six months, but fair dos, he's not really put a foot wrong wrt Trump and Ukraine. But I would argue that Rishi, and in particular Boris, also got it consiatently right on Ukraine,and Boris has been unequivocal recently that Trump is completely wrong on this. So full marks for Starmer, but we can't by implication criticise his predecessors.
Finnish EPPGroup MEP, european parliament Foreign Affairs committee member and EPP EUDS coordinator Mika Aaltola:
"The United States has given us three weeks to agree on terms for Ukraine's surrender. If we don't, the United States will withdraw from Europe."
Trump's United States is a hostile power and we need to start treating it as such, painful as that may be.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall it was the policy of both the UK and US to help keep the USSR together.
You can condemn Putin's invasion on moral grounds without treating the location of the border between Russia and Ukraine as a core national interest of ours.
A psychotic gangster rampaging across the continent at will is a very serious concern for us though.
If Putin gets to claim a victory then it won't be long before he's back to finish Ukraine off, and then he'll come after the Eastern flank of the EU.
Russians are basically animals. We need to figure out how to cage them.
Is the EU incapable of defending itself? If so, why is it our job to do it?
It's better for us if the eastern flank of the EU remains free rather than occupied by Russian forces.
Does that mean it's our job to defend it? The EU has much more men than us. It has much more money than us. It has much more resources than us.
We should work with the EU on matters of mutual interest, as here.
No, we should work with European countries. The EU will fail to act because the likes of Orban will block any moves that work against Putin. The EU is too divided we, or Ukraine, can't hang around for 27 nations to be bought off. We should work with France and Poland directly, as well as anyone else who agrees to our agenda upfront. Those that don't should have no say on what we can and can't do, including Germany, Hungary, Spain and others who object to tooling up and telling Putin to get fucked.
Agreed. Not everything needs to be (or should be) done through the strait jacket of the EU for ideological reasons.
There can be many different European alliances and for different reasons.
It won’t be because Hungary and Slovakia are Putin lovers . Any framework should exclude them .
Sure! Here are some Amazon-produced Bond film titles designed for a mass-market audience:
007: Prime Target – Bond goes rogue when MI6 is compromised by a global tech giant with its own intelligence network.
James Bond: Next-Day Lethal – A high-speed race against time as Bond battles a villain who can predict and intercept any move before it happens.
License to Subscribe – MI6 goes digital, but Bond is forced to operate off the grid when an AI-controlled security firm tries to replace human agents.
The Quantum Algorithm – A cybercriminal holds the world hostage with an AI capable of breaking every encryption on the planet.
No Returns, No Refunds – A mission gone wrong leaves Bond with a price on his head, and no way back to MI6.
Echoes of Spectre – The long-dead organization resurfaces in the form of a shadowy corporate conglomerate controlling global commerce.
The Billion-Dollar Man – Bond must infiltrate the elite world of trillionaire tech moguls to stop a hidden plot for digital world domination.
Fast and Cordless – A high-octane thriller where Bond must chase down a fleet of self-driving assassination drones.
SkyMall – A seemingly innocent global delivery service hides a sinister plot to control the world's supply chains.
Gold Prime – A modern-day Goldfinger uses a cryptocurrency scam to crash world economies—only Bond can stop him.
Would you watch any of these?
I just went to the cinema to see "Captain America: Brave New World", and it was absolutely pants. I yawned once in the middle, and I rarely yawn in a film. Even the only post-credits scene was fairly pathetic, and not worth waiting for.
If that's the best plot and writing $180 million can get, then Hollywood is screwed.
Finnish EPPGroup MEP, european parliament Foreign Affairs committee member and EPP EUDS coordinator Mika Aaltola:
"The United States has given us three weeks to agree on terms for Ukraine's surrender. If we don't, the United States will withdraw from Europe."
Trump's United States is a hostile power and we need to start treating it as such, painful as that may be.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall it was the policy of both the UK and US to help keep the USSR together.
You can condemn Putin's invasion on moral grounds without treating the location of the border between Russia and Ukraine as a core national interest of ours.
A psychotic gangster rampaging across the continent at will is a very serious concern for us though.
If Putin gets to claim a victory then it won't be long before he's back to finish Ukraine off, and then he'll come after the Eastern flank of the EU.
Russians are basically animals. We need to figure out how to cage them.
Is the EU incapable of defending itself? If so, why is it our job to do it?
It's better for us if the eastern flank of the EU remains free rather than occupied by Russian forces.
Does that mean it's our job to defend it? The EU has much more men than us. It has much more money than us. It has much more resources than us.
We should work with the EU on matters of mutual interest, as here.
No, we should work with European countries. The EU will fail to act because the likes of Orban will block any moves that work against Putin. The EU is too divided we, or Ukraine, can't hang around for 27 nations to be bought off. We should work with France and Poland directly, as well as anyone else who agrees to our agenda upfront. Those that don't should have no say on what we can and can't do, including Germany, Hungary, Spain and others who object to tooling up and telling Putin to get fucked.
Agreed. Not everything needs to be (or should be) done through the strait jacket of the EU for ideological reasons.
There can be many different European alliances and for different reasons.
It won’t be because Hungary and Slovakia are Putin lovers . Any framework should exclude them .
The framework exists and it is NATO
It was interesting that the conference in Norway earlier today between Healey and the Norwegian defence minister announced a new treaty between UK - Norway on military cooperation especially over the security of undersea cables, but they both referenced membership of NATO
Morgan Sweeney and co need hammer now at Farage's support for Trump and his unwillingness to argue against the new King of America and Greenland like the proverbial sailor on shoreleave...
The Liar of the Exchequer has another misrepresentation revealed. But, no doubt, her apologists will claimthyat being an inveterate liar is not a disbarment in Sir Keir Boring's government that promised to clean up politics after the lies of Boris Johnson:
We could really do with ditching Reeves, IMHO. Some very hard spending decisions to sell to the British public coming up in the next 2-3 years, and she’s not the right messenger.
She’s that person who took the heating money off granny and looks like a deer in the headlights whenever she’s questioned, robotically droning on about growth.
Are the rumours true that in the next Amazon produced film , Bond is revealed to be working for the Russians and our hero brings down the British state leading to the installation of Nigel Blofeld as pm and 50 years of glorious subservience?
The Liar of the Exchequer has another misrepresentation revealed. But, no doubt, her apologists will claimthyat being an inveterate liar is not a disbarment in Sir Keir Boring's government that promised to clean up politics after the lies of Boris Johnson:
That doesn't reveal another misrepresentation. It talks about the previously revealed ones.
I believe it refers to a claim that she had a publication in a more prestigious journal than she actually did. I think that is new.
She is an inveterate liar along with the man who claimed to be a solicitor when he was not, Johnathan Reynolds.
Ironic, as it was only a week or so since I discussed on here that Rachel Reeves claiming to be an "Economist" when her real job was in customer complaints was like someone with a law degree claiming to be a solicitor.
Labour frontbenchers are such low rent in their own minds that they have to lie about the relative importance of their previous jobs.
Sure! Here are some Amazon-produced Bond film titles designed for a mass-market audience:
007: Prime Target – Bond goes rogue when MI6 is compromised by a global tech giant with its own intelligence network.
James Bond: Next-Day Lethal – A high-speed race against time as Bond battles a villain who can predict and intercept any move before it happens.
License to Subscribe – MI6 goes digital, but Bond is forced to operate off the grid when an AI-controlled security firm tries to replace human agents.
The Quantum Algorithm – A cybercriminal holds the world hostage with an AI capable of breaking every encryption on the planet.
No Returns, No Refunds – A mission gone wrong leaves Bond with a price on his head, and no way back to MI6.
Echoes of Spectre – The long-dead organization resurfaces in the form of a shadowy corporate conglomerate controlling global commerce.
The Billion-Dollar Man – Bond must infiltrate the elite world of trillionaire tech moguls to stop a hidden plot for digital world domination.
Fast and Cordless – A high-octane thriller where Bond must chase down a fleet of self-driving assassination drones.
SkyMall – A seemingly innocent global delivery service hides a sinister plot to control the world's supply chains.
Gold Prime – A modern-day Goldfinger uses a cryptocurrency scam to crash world economies—only Bond can stop him.
Would you watch any of these?
I just went to the cinema to see "Captain America: Brave New World", and it was absolutely pants. I yawned once in the middle, and I rarely yawn in a film. Even the only post-credits scene was fairly pathetic, and not worth waiting for.
If that's the best plot and writing $180 million can get, then Hollywood is screwed.
It was disappointing. I didn't think it was terrible, but it was mid. Mackie, Ford, Haas all put in strong performances, but the storytelling was weak. The film went through major re-shoots, whole plot lines and characters cut, so it had a troubled production! I hope "Thunderbolts*" will be better; it hasn't had the same behind the scenes drama thankfully.
Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk says Europe should finance aid for Ukraine by taking from Russian assets which have been frozen.
"Enough talking, it's time to act!" Tusk says, in a social media post, before listing three actions he thinks should be taken on the conflict in Ukraine.
First, he suggests, Europe should "finance our aid for Ukraine from the Russian frozen assets".
Secondly, the Polish leader says air policing should be strengthened, as well as "EU borders with Russia".
And, Tusk finishes, Europe should "swiftly adopt new fiscal rules to finance the EU security and defence. Now!"
The Liar of the Exchequer has another misrepresentation revealed. But, no doubt, her apologists will claimthyat being an inveterate liar is not a disbarment in Sir Keir Boring's government that promised to clean up politics after the lies of Boris Johnson:
That doesn't reveal another misrepresentation. It talks about the previously revealed ones.
I believe it refers to a claim that she had a publication in a more prestigious journal than she actually did. I think that is new.
She is an inveterate liar along with the man who claimed to be a solicitor when he was not, Johnathan Reynolds.
Ironic, as it was only a week or so since I discussed on here that Rachel Reeves claiming to be an "Economist" when her real job was in customer complaints was like someone with a law degree claiming to be a solicitor.
Labour frontbenchers are such low rent in their own minds that they have to lie about the relative importance of their previous jobs.
The Who's Who error (to give the benefit of the doubt that it was an error) about the journal title came out yesterday, or the day before?
@AndrewDesiderio New: The Pentagon has circulated to congressional Republicans a list of generals / flag officers that SecDef Pete Hegseth is interested in firing or replacing. Confirming @NatashaBertrand.
The list, per two sources who have seen it, includes Gen. C.Q. Brown, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs.
The Senate confirmed Brown to a 4-yr term in 2023. Vote was 83-11.
Is it some new thing that elected politicians aren't supposed to fire public servants?
(((Dan Hodges))) @DPJHodges · 2h Reform's foreign policy stance is now clear. When faced with aggression sue for peace, then place "everything on the table". And these are the guys who have been hammering Starmer for weeks over Chagos, capitulating to the Chinese, and the danger it presents to global security.
Changed world. I wonder where all this leaves Matt Goodwin's new career as a former academic and rightish Trumpish populariser and £s per hour pundit?
General Kellogg - How can you take seriously someone named after a leading brand of breakfast cereal? 😂
That seems to have been the President's thought too, leaving Kellogg, like Vance, to try and rationalise whatever has been agreed between Trump and Putin.
Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk says Europe should finance aid for Ukraine by taking from Russian assets which have been frozen.
"Enough talking, it's time to act!" Tusk says, in a social media post, before listing three actions he thinks should be taken on the conflict in Ukraine.
First, he suggests, Europe should "finance our aid for Ukraine from the Russian frozen assets".
Secondly, the Polish leader says air policing should be strengthened, as well as "EU borders with Russia".
And, Tusk finishes, Europe should "swiftly adopt new fiscal rules to finance the EU security and defence. Now!"
This is an interesting article from May 24 re the problems with seizing Russian frozen assets
The Liar of the Exchequer has another misrepresentation revealed. But, no doubt, her apologists will claimthyat being an inveterate liar is not a disbarment in Sir Keir Boring's government that promised to clean up politics after the lies of Boris Johnson:
That doesn't reveal another misrepresentation. It talks about the previously revealed ones.
I believe it refers to a claim that she had a publication in a more prestigious journal than she actually did. I think that is new.
She is an inveterate liar along with the man who claimed to be a solicitor when he was not, Johnathan Reynolds.
Ironic, as it was only a week or so since I discussed on here that Rachel Reeves claiming to be an "Economist" when her real job was in customer complaints was like someone with a law degree claiming to be a solicitor.
Labour frontbenchers are such low rent in their own minds that they have to lie about the relative importance of their previous jobs.
The Who's Who error (to give the benefit of the doubt that it was an error) about the journal title came out yesterday, or the day before?
Possibly, but I had not seen that. The important fact is that her level of dishonesty is such that she should not remain as CoE, any more than Johnson should have been PM. The fact that Starmer has known about Reeves' dishonesty all this time (and now Johnathan Reynolds) and not acted shows both his weakness and/or his own underlying dishonesty, which was indicated by his acceptance of inappropriate gifts.
Farage is a Putin and Trump apologist, so no surprise there. He is the modern day Oswald Mosley in so many ways
Ed Davey has been quick off the block to criticise Farage over this. What is Badenoch going to do?
It's an open goal, really. An opportunity for the Tories to portray themselves as the sane party of the right. Come on Kemi. Shouldn't be hard to put out a statement of unequivocal support for Zelensky. One of those rare opportunities where the right thing to do is also the politically expedient thing to do.
Musk is calling for the ISS to be deorbited and the money spent on going to Mars.
It's all about his projects, isn't it? And with his friend in charge of NASA...
Maybe DOGE should take a look at the costs of going to Mars?
It's not a current project, so they cannot. NASA will cancel SLS and the Artemis program, leaving Musk to get all the money for Mars.
I wasn't expecting them to go after the ISS though. It'll be interesting to see how their international partners react.
ISS is long past its original out of service date and is literally cracking up. The vestibule to the Russian module has multiple, growing cracks. Much of the rest of the structure is well past its planned life.
The original deorbit date was 2016. Then 2020. The current planned deorbit date is 2030
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman is rallying fellow Arab leaders around a plan for postwar Gaza as an alternative to proposals put forward by Trump
If nobody in the World either respects him or fears him it's going to be a lonely 4 years...
This is where the fun begins. He's going to leave the US as a pariah state with few allies left that aren't Russia or other despots.
I hope the Lords of Silicon Valley are beginning to realise that hitching their wagons to someone intent on burning all bridges with Europe is not going to end up well for them.
When you hear Trump or Vance talk about Europe, the dislike just isn’t rational. It’s bizarre.
To be fair, the Pope lives in Europe, so you can understand Vance's feelings.
Sure! Here are some Amazon-produced Bond film titles designed for a mass-market audience:
007: Prime Target – Bond goes rogue when MI6 is compromised by a global tech giant with its own intelligence network.
James Bond: Next-Day Lethal – A high-speed race against time as Bond battles a villain who can predict and intercept any move before it happens.
License to Subscribe – MI6 goes digital, but Bond is forced to operate off the grid when an AI-controlled security firm tries to replace human agents.
The Quantum Algorithm – A cybercriminal holds the world hostage with an AI capable of breaking every encryption on the planet.
No Returns, No Refunds – A mission gone wrong leaves Bond with a price on his head, and no way back to MI6.
Echoes of Spectre – The long-dead organization resurfaces in the form of a shadowy corporate conglomerate controlling global commerce.
The Billion-Dollar Man – Bond must infiltrate the elite world of trillionaire tech moguls to stop a hidden plot for digital world domination.
Fast and Cordless – A high-octane thriller where Bond must chase down a fleet of self-driving assassination drones.
SkyMall – A seemingly innocent global delivery service hides a sinister plot to control the world's supply chains.
Gold Prime – A modern-day Goldfinger uses a cryptocurrency scam to crash world economies—only Bond can stop him.
Would you watch any of these?
AI is derivative rather than creative, so can endlessly recycle clichés. That would probably work for a while, but those invested in "the Bond Universe" are getting old, and fewer youngsters are interested at all. It's them though that go to the movies.
I could see a fairly authentic old school Bond paired with a more modern hipster partner working though. Something like the relationship between the main characters in "Life on Mars" for example. Mismatched buddy movies can work well.
"You do not have shared values if you're jailing people for saying we should close down our border. You don't have shared values if you cancel elections because you don't like the result. And that happened in Romania. You do not have shared values if you're so afraid of your own people that you silence them and shut them up."
Comments
I don't particularly want that to be the answer, but don't find 4-1 all that tempting.
GOP have just totally rolled over.
History will record the names of everyone of these scoundrels and cowards who for fear of the primary in two or four years time signed off day after day on this coup.
Of so, I'll go with Chatham.
Me and my photographer friend spent a day and a half there. It was brilliant (if you like disturbingly weird places) and he took some of the best photos of his life. I mainly remember thinking how unexpectedly beautiful the young Zabbaleen women were - with green/blue eyes and often fair or even blonde hair - as they stood knee and ankle deep in hideous garbage, trying to find stuff to recycle
ANYWAY at one point I had to take a leak, much as I didn’t want to. I wasn’t hopeful of the toiletting situation
So I asked a Coptic priest - seemed best - where can I take a pee?
He said, oh there’s a public loo behind the UN hut (or something), I braced myself but it was actually not the worst loo ever and all I wanted was a pee
However as I was micturating - I do not lie - a rat jumped on my shoulder (from where???) ran down my arm, down my leg - all this with me in mid stream - and then he jumped from my ankle and began to disappear down the toilet hole, which meant that I was pissing directly on the top of his head
At this point the rat literally stopped and turned around and gave me a look which said, unmistakeably
“Why the FUCK are you pissing on me?”
But then I gave him a pretty hard stare back - I don’t mind admitting this - a look which said
“Mate, we’re in the city of trash, you just ran down my leg, you’re in a urinal and now you’re disappearing down the toilet hole even as I take a leak, and you are, to be brutally honest, a rat - WHAT DID YOU EXPECT?”
At this moment he seemed to pensively shrug, if rats can pensively shrug, like he’d thought about it and pondered my point and then he silently accepted the argument, and he disappeared into the sewers of Cairo
Um.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/inside-rachel-reeves-research-paper-31-examples-that-suggest-chancellor-s-hypocrisy-as-her-record-is-questioned/ar-AA1zs7gx?ocid=entnewsntp&pc=DCTS&cvid=22999833e9084bd0e8ad557e2ea0ad85&ei=21
I tell you, we didn't get half as much shit from Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. All they did was twitch autistically and treat their employees like shit. They didn't make their employees piss in a bottle or threaten countries.
After he called the Ukrainian leader a "dictator", several Republican senators have hit back in disagreement.
Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski says she would "never refer to President Zelensky as a dictator", while Maine Senator Susan Collins says that Zelensky is not to blame for Moscow's invasion "in any way".
For North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis, suggesting that anyone in Ukraine has responsibility for the ongoing war "forgets the fact that Putin lied".
"He [Putin] has lied every step of the way, and I believe any resolution in Ukraine that makes him feel like he won or just pushed to a tie is a bad idea," Tillis says.
Trump's own former vice president, Mike Pence, went on to remind the US president that "Ukraine did not 'start' this war" - instead, "Russia launched an unprovoked and brutal invasion claiming hundreds of thousands of lives".
"The road to peace must be built on truth," Pence says."
Murkowski and Collins are the usual suspects here. I doubt their comments will have much impact. Both repeatedly criticise Trump, but then vote following the party line. They both voted for Gabbard.
If we don't hang together we risk hanging separately. This would be tragic, and unnecessary. Aside from nuclear weapons that it can only destroy itself by using, Russia is a middle power with extra cannon fodder. If made to fight on two fronts like the one on which it is currently struggling then it would collapse like a house of cards. What's left of NATO when you subtract the US needs to be able to demonstrate the ability to field forces on that scale to get that shit in the Kremlin to leave us alone and find someone weaker to kick about.
They won't though. They'll bling and dumb and make it achingly right-on.
Think Die Another Day never ending.
Trump is in charge but unpredictable, which is why Vance defends what Trump has said and done rather than what Trump will say and do. Domestic policy is being shaped mainly by the other VP, Elon Musk and his DOGE.
Vance's job is to defend the boss and wait patiently for his own turn.
Yesterday so much changed after Trump’s anti Ukraine tirade, repeated in an hour long speech last night, that the mood of despair is palpable and many are not only worried but even scared, and there seems to be more techinness on this forum which in the circumstances is not really surprising
Just heard the dreadful Farage interviewed live at a conference in the US and he was simply pathetic and then followed by a clip of the awful Truss speaking to the gathering
It does seem that there is cross party support both on here and generally condemning Trump and siding with Zelensky and Ukraine, but also it is now time to call out Farage and Reform as the pro Trump-Putin party and also for the conservative party to cancel Truss's membership
I have no idea where the money is coming from but increased defence spending now tops the agenda, and it is not optional anymore
We are living in history changing times and for at least 4 years !!!!
Starmer has been an awful PM for the first six months, but fair dos, he's not really put a foot wrong wrt Trump and Ukraine. But I would argue that Rishi, and in particular Boris, also got it consiatently right on Ukraine,and Boris has been unequivocal recently that Trump is completely wrong on this.
So full marks for Starmer, but we can't by implication criticise his predecessors.
@AndrewDesiderio
New: The Pentagon has circulated to congressional Republicans a list of generals / flag officers that SecDef Pete Hegseth is interested in firing or replacing. Confirming @NatashaBertrand.
The list, per two sources who have seen it, includes Gen. C.Q. Brown, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs.
The Senate confirmed Brown to a 4-yr term in 2023. Vote was 83-11.
The shame on this generation of americans will echo long into the days.
There can be many different European alliances and for different reasons.
@trussliz
@JDVance is right.
Europe’s governments – especially Britain’s – are treating George Orwell’s 1984 like an instruction manual.
That's why we are establishing a new free speech media network, with some help from our American allies.
More news soon....
It's all about his projects, isn't it? And with his friend in charge of NASA...
They can't take back their own territory because of Western support for Ukraine.
It actually proves the opposite argument to the one @Dura_Ace thinks he was making.
Sure! Here are some Amazon-produced Bond film titles designed for a mass-market audience:
007: Prime Target – Bond goes rogue when MI6 is compromised by a global tech giant with its own intelligence network.
James Bond: Next-Day Lethal – A high-speed race against time as Bond battles a villain who can predict and intercept any move before it happens.
License to Subscribe – MI6 goes digital, but Bond is forced to operate off the grid when an AI-controlled security firm tries to replace human agents.
The Quantum Algorithm – A cybercriminal holds the world hostage with an AI capable of breaking every encryption on the planet.
No Returns, No Refunds – A mission gone wrong leaves Bond with a price on his head, and no way back to MI6.
Echoes of Spectre – The long-dead organization resurfaces in the form of a shadowy corporate conglomerate controlling global commerce.
The Billion-Dollar Man – Bond must infiltrate the elite world of trillionaire tech moguls to stop a hidden plot for digital world domination.
Fast and Cordless – A high-octane thriller where Bond must chase down a fleet of self-driving assassination drones.
SkyMall – A seemingly innocent global delivery service hides a sinister plot to control the world's supply chains.
Gold Prime – A modern-day Goldfinger uses a cryptocurrency scam to crash world economies—only Bond can stop him.
Would you watch any of these?
(((Dan Hodges)))
@DPJHodges
·
2h
Reform's foreign policy stance is now clear. When faced with aggression sue for peace, then place "everything on the table". And these are the guys who have been hammering Starmer for weeks over Chagos, capitulating to the Chinese, and the danger it presents to global security.
As a political project it's doomed
So, sorry that I'm not saintly enough to see much good in Russia, but with respect, fuck em.
If that's the best plot and writing $180 million can get, then Hollywood is screwed.
I wasn't expecting them to go after the ISS though. It'll be interesting to see how their international partners react.
It was interesting that the conference in Norway earlier today between Healey and the Norwegian defence minister announced a new treaty between UK - Norway on military cooperation especially over the security of undersea cables, but they both referenced membership of NATO
Some things really matter to national morale.
Flood facebook etc
She’s that person who took the heating money off granny and looks like a deer in the headlights whenever she’s questioned, robotically droning on about growth.
No way he will give that up?
She is an inveterate liar along with the man who claimed to be a solicitor when he was not, Johnathan Reynolds.
Ironic, as it was only a week or so since I discussed on here that Rachel Reeves claiming to be an "Economist" when her real job was in customer complaints was like someone with a law degree claiming to be a solicitor.
Labour frontbenchers are such low rent in their own minds that they have to lie about the relative importance of their previous jobs.
Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk says Europe should finance aid for Ukraine by taking from Russian assets which have been frozen.
"Enough talking, it's time to act!" Tusk says, in a social media post, before listing three actions he thinks should be taken on the conflict in Ukraine.
First, he suggests, Europe should "finance our aid for Ukraine from the Russian frozen assets".
Secondly, the Polish leader says air policing should be strengthened, as well as "EU borders with Russia".
And, Tusk finishes, Europe should "swiftly adopt new fiscal rules to finance the EU security and defence. Now!"
An alleyway choked with trash has Camden Town written all over it.
If you are too scared to do the job then resign
https://www.politico.eu/article/russia-pay-ukraine-frozen-assets-united-states-europe-deal/
The original deorbit date was 2016. Then 2020. The current planned deorbit date is 2030
I could see a fairly authentic old school Bond paired with a more modern hipster partner working though. Something like the relationship between the main characters in "Life on Mars" for example. Mismatched buddy movies can work well.
https://x.com/behizytweets/status/1892603174428754059
"You do not have shared values if you're jailing people for saying we should close down our border. You don't have shared values if you cancel elections because you don't like the result. And that happened in Romania. You do not have shared values if you're so afraid of your own people that you silence them and shut them up."