NEWS: The Biden administration is willing to consider an “opportunity” to negotiate entry into the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Thursday...
NEWS: The Biden administration is willing to consider an “opportunity” to negotiate entry into the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Thursday...
Ministers are set to give the go-ahead to the use of gene editing in agriculture which could see altered produce on the supermarket shelves in five years time, i can reveal.
The Government is expected to issue its response to its own consultation on the technology at the end of the month that will give the green light to the “cautious exploration” of genetic engineering in farming.
The move will mark the biggest divergence by the UK away from existing European laws since leaving the EU, which has banned the technique for years amid fears it is unsafe.
NEWS: The Biden administration is willing to consider an “opportunity” to negotiate entry into the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Thursday...
NEWS: The Biden administration is willing to consider an “opportunity” to negotiate entry into the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Thursday...
NEWS: The Biden administration is willing to consider an “opportunity” to negotiate entry into the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Thursday...
Former French Ambassador to the US seems pretty chilled about the whole thing. Exuding Gallic sangfroid and a sense of "meh"
"“The US has trampled our national interest. What the US has done to our national interest is a hostile act,” he said.
"“What we were doing with the Australians was a strategic choice and this strategic choice has been swept away not only by the Australians but also by the Americans.”
"He said the British involvement was immaterial because they were “poodles of the Americans, as usual”."
Biden has single-handedly taken a wrecking ball to the western alliances. Putin and Xi must wondering why the hell they bothered with that amateur Trump.
Biden has gone up, a lot, in my estimation. He instinctively senses that NATO is over. And it is
Russia is not a strategic threat to the West. It just isn't. Its economy is too small and its people too drunk
They might try another Crimea on the Baltics, but I doubt it. They export virtually nothing but conventional oil, which is increasingly worthless, as energy gets cheaper, because renewables, shale, etc.
Xi Jinping's China, by contrast, is the greatest "threat" the West has faced in a couple of centuries. Worse than Nazi Germany
All that matters is containing her (we cannot "defeat" her). And that means rock-solid alliances with close friends ensuring that we stand together, whatever. That is how you beat bullies
Yes, even though I think his economic policies are turning into a disaster and he is obviously losing his capabilities, when it comes to foreign affairs I have a lot of grudging respect for the fact that Biden has turned out to be so fundamentally ruthless and willing to break the cosy consensus. I’d be interested to see how long Blinken stays around
Yep. I think he is a bit senile, and foolish in some respects, but when it comes to foreign policy he has clear instincts and wise opinions: as to what is in America's interest, and he has a certain heartless brutality in seeing them done. If you want to boss a superpower, I guess that is important
So this will kill 100,000 Afghans? So be it. So this will kill off our relationship with France for 3 years? So be it
Etc. Not pretty, but maybe needed
It won't kill the US-French relationship.
The French are players. They are making massive scene out of this, so that the Americans throw them a bone in some other area.
I'm not so sure that will happen. The Biden administration has continually sidelined Europe. I just don't think they care and don't see any EU country as a potential ally in the looming cold war against China. I wrote out my thoughts just now, the world has realised that the EU is happy to kowtow to China for fear of losing money.
I think you're wrong on this. For a start, I think it would be a catastrophic mistake to cleave the Western European democracies (most of whom don't really want to "kowtow" to China) off from the Anglosphere.
Re the French, I'm thinking more of them getting US support for a French candidate to be next General Secretary of the United Nations, that kind of thing. It's the kind of quid pro quo that the French are very good at getting.
As I've been saying for a while, I take no joy from the fracturing of the western alliance. However, we need to be realistic. Germany controls the EU and Germany is a mercantile state, it is for sale to the highest bidder. They simply don't care to whom they sell BMWs or dishwashers as long as the bill is paid and Germans get jobs out of it.
I'm sure there will be grand words in a few months but the direction of travel has been clear for a while, even Obama was very sceptical of the "old world" as he termed it. What's changed is that with Brexit we've also become sceptical of the very same old world and now our interests are much more aligned with the US and looking towards the looming cold war with China in a way that Europe won't.
I'm sorry, I completely disagree.
Germany is not one thing, any more than the UK is one thing. It is grossly simplistic and demeaning to cast aside a Democratic country, with the rule of law, as somehow to sale for the highest bidder.
Surely, if you want any credibility on the causes of China Power and influence, you have to be tough on the real China Power and Influence? Otherwise, it’s all just looking a bit silly isn’t it? A charade? A 1984 style distraction for the populace. Tonites blogasm could be something you find in Iran everyday of the week. 🙂
NEWS: The Biden administration is willing to consider an “opportunity” to negotiate entry into the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Thursday...
My earlier scepticism may have been unwarranted. The question is can Biden bring along China-sceptic Republicans on board?
If he does bring the US into the TPP (and in turn if the UK joins), then a massive counter-weight to China will have been created.
I think this is the end goal of all these strategic moves that have been playing out since we left the EU and Trump pushed the anti-China rhetoric to the limit.
Both the UK and US inside the CPTPP would drag APAC back towards the west. It would create a trading alliance to dominate the region and markets that can thrive without relying on China.
The Commission is pushing a narrative that EU vaccine strategy has been a triumph. And how silly the media was, in spring, to point out how badly it misfired.
I respectufully disagree
Just because you ramp up vaccination quickly doesn't make up for a poor start.
One could equally argue that getting off to a good start with a vaccination programme is not much use if you allow it to drift in the latter stages.
France, Italy, Spain, Ireland have all vaccinated a larger proportion of their population than the UK. Our great start has been squandered.
I don't think it was squandered. All those that wanted to get vaccinated and at any risk, got vaccinated quickly.
Now, i would have wanted kids done quicker. But JCVI want to jab the world, dragged their feet like a toddler told no sweeties in the supermarket. the government could have just said sod them I suppose.
And in terms of the 5m hold outs, without going full vaccine passport, you will be unpersoned without, like France, i am not sure what more can be done. The government have made it trivial to get jabbed.
I think the thing is a quick start really is extremely crucial particularly when in the midst of a wave. So the impact from slowing up at the end, when less vulnerable are getting jabbed, is less than being slower to get to the most vulnerable.
Otherwise you're into the idea getting the highest number vaccinated is best even if it took 10 years.
Has everyone forgotten the creative accounting that the EU uses to count numbers of vaccinated?
I'm sorry, I think "one jab plus infection" is a perfectly sensible measure of fully vaccinated. It's not creative accounting, it's a sensible assessment that the protection you get is perfectly adequate.
If you want to take greater issue, I'd go with the use of the Janssens vaccine - which is barely more effective than the use of a single dose of Moderna/Pfizer.
It may be an adequate indicator of protection but they are using the statistics as a dick measuring contest. And not doing so consistently.
Ourworldindata (my source for relative vaccination rates) state that they do not include the "one jab plus infection" in their 'fully vaccinated' count.
NEWS: The Biden administration is willing to consider an “opportunity” to negotiate entry into the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Thursday...
My earlier scepticism may have been unwarranted. The question is can Biden bring along China-sceptic Republicans on board?
If he does bring the US into the TPP (and in turn if the UK joins), then a massive counter-weight to China will have been created.
China may have forced Biden's hand by responding* to AUKUS by putting in the TPP application
CPTPP with the UK and USA in it would be an incredible counterbalance against China which is exactly what Obama had designed it to be but even more with us there too. And fantastic for the UK too both geopolitically and economically. Would unambiguously crush the Brexit debate stone dead.
* May have been coincidental but a downright odd coincidence if so.
Former French Ambassador to the US seems pretty chilled about the whole thing. Exuding Gallic sangfroid and a sense of "meh"
"“The US has trampled our national interest. What the US has done to our national interest is a hostile act,” he said.
"“What we were doing with the Australians was a strategic choice and this strategic choice has been swept away not only by the Australians but also by the Americans.”
"He said the British involvement was immaterial because they were “poodles of the Americans, as usual”."
Biden has single-handedly taken a wrecking ball to the western alliances. Putin and Xi must wondering why the hell they bothered with that amateur Trump.
Biden has gone up, a lot, in my estimation. He instinctively senses that NATO is over. And it is
Russia is not a strategic threat to the West. It just isn't. Its economy is too small and its people too drunk
They might try another Crimea on the Baltics, but I doubt it. They export virtually nothing but conventional oil, which is increasingly worthless, as energy gets cheaper, because renewables, shale, etc.
Xi Jinping's China, by contrast, is the greatest "threat" the West has faced in a couple of centuries. Worse than Nazi Germany
All that matters is containing her (we cannot "defeat" her). And that means rock-solid alliances with close friends ensuring that we stand together, whatever. That is how you beat bullies
Yes, even though I think his economic policies are turning into a disaster and he is obviously losing his capabilities, when it comes to foreign affairs I have a lot of grudging respect for the fact that Biden has turned out to be so fundamentally ruthless and willing to break the cosy consensus. I’d be interested to see how long Blinken stays around
Yep. I think he is a bit senile, and foolish in some respects, but when it comes to foreign policy he has clear instincts and wise opinions: as to what is in America's interest, and he has a certain heartless brutality in seeing them done. If you want to boss a superpower, I guess that is important
So this will kill 100,000 Afghans? So be it. So this will kill off our relationship with France for 3 years? So be it
Etc. Not pretty, but maybe needed
It won't kill the US-French relationship.
The French are players. They are making massive scene out of this, so that the Americans throw them a bone in some other area.
I'm not so sure that will happen. The Biden administration has continually sidelined Europe. I just don't think they care and don't see any EU country as a potential ally in the looming cold war against China. I wrote out my thoughts just now, the world has realised that the EU is happy to kowtow to China for fear of losing money.
I think you're wrong on this. For a start, I think it would be a catastrophic mistake to cleave the Western European democracies (most of whom don't really want to "kowtow" to China) off from the Anglosphere.
Re the French, I'm thinking more of them getting US support for a French candidate to be next General Secretary of the United Nations, that kind of thing. It's the kind of quid pro quo that the French are very good at getting.
As I've been saying for a while, I take no joy from the fracturing of the western alliance. However, we need to be realistic. Germany controls the EU and Germany is a mercantile state, it is for sale to the highest bidder. They simply don't care to whom they sell BMWs or dishwashers as long as the bill is paid and Germans get jobs out of it.
I'm sure there will be grand words in a few months but the direction of travel has been clear for a while, even Obama was very sceptical of the "old world" as he termed it. What's changed is that with Brexit we've also become sceptical of the very same old world and now our interests are much more aligned with the US and looking towards the looming cold war with China in a way that Europe won't.
I'm sorry, I completely disagree.
Germany is not one thing, any more than the UK is one thing. It is grossly simplistic and demeaning to cast aside a Democratic country, with the rule of law, as somehow to sale for the highest bidder.
Maybe we are just lucky that we are so shit at exporting to China.
Former French Ambassador to the US seems pretty chilled about the whole thing. Exuding Gallic sangfroid and a sense of "meh"
"“The US has trampled our national interest. What the US has done to our national interest is a hostile act,” he said.
"“What we were doing with the Australians was a strategic choice and this strategic choice has been swept away not only by the Australians but also by the Americans.”
"He said the British involvement was immaterial because they were “poodles of the Americans, as usual”."
Biden has single-handedly taken a wrecking ball to the western alliances. Putin and Xi must wondering why the hell they bothered with that amateur Trump.
Biden has gone up, a lot, in my estimation. He instinctively senses that NATO is over. And it is
Russia is not a strategic threat to the West. It just isn't. Its economy is too small and its people too drunk
They might try another Crimea on the Baltics, but I doubt it. They export virtually nothing but conventional oil, which is increasingly worthless, as energy gets cheaper, because renewables, shale, etc.
Xi Jinping's China, by contrast, is the greatest "threat" the West has faced in a couple of centuries. Worse than Nazi Germany
All that matters is containing her (we cannot "defeat" her). And that means rock-solid alliances with close friends ensuring that we stand together, whatever. That is how you beat bullies
Yes, even though I think his economic policies are turning into a disaster and he is obviously losing his capabilities, when it comes to foreign affairs I have a lot of grudging respect for the fact that Biden has turned out to be so fundamentally ruthless and willing to break the cosy consensus. I’d be interested to see how long Blinken stays around
Yep. I think he is a bit senile, and foolish in some respects, but when it comes to foreign policy he has clear instincts and wise opinions: as to what is in America's interest, and he has a certain heartless brutality in seeing them done. If you want to boss a superpower, I guess that is important
So this will kill 100,000 Afghans? So be it. So this will kill off our relationship with France for 3 years? So be it
Etc. Not pretty, but maybe needed
It won't kill the US-French relationship.
The French are players. They are making massive scene out of this, so that the Americans throw them a bone in some other area.
I'm not so sure that will happen. The Biden administration has continually sidelined Europe. I just don't think they care and don't see any EU country as a potential ally in the looming cold war against China. I wrote out my thoughts just now, the world has realised that the EU is happy to kowtow to China for fear of losing money.
I think you're wrong on this. For a start, I think it would be a catastrophic mistake to cleave the Western European democracies (most of whom don't really want to "kowtow" to China) off from the Anglosphere.
Re the French, I'm thinking more of them getting US support for a French candidate to be next General Secretary of the United Nations, that kind of thing. It's the kind of quid pro quo that the French are very good at getting.
As I've been saying for a while, I take no joy from the fracturing of the western alliance. However, we need to be realistic. Germany controls the EU and Germany is a mercantile state, it is for sale to the highest bidder. They simply don't care to whom they sell BMWs or dishwashers as long as the bill is paid and Germans get jobs out of it.
I'm sure there will be grand words in a few months but the direction of travel has been clear for a while, even Obama was very sceptical of the "old world" as he termed it. What's changed is that with Brexit we've also become sceptical of the very same old world and now our interests are much more aligned with the US and looking towards the looming cold war with China in a way that Europe won't.
I'm sorry, I completely disagree.
Germany is not one thing, any more than the UK is one thing. It is grossly simplistic and demeaning to cast aside a Democratic country, with the rule of law, as somehow to sale for the highest bidder.
Max is right, regrettably.
If the Germans don't want to be classed as a country that can be sold to the highest bidder, then maybe they should stop electing and re-electing governments that are prepared to sell out to the highest bidder?
Biden administration is quite confusing...its all "only america" on one hand, retreating back, and on the other not.
Or maybe they are just pulling out of pointless unwinnable quagmires so they can focus on America's genuine strategic interests.
But even during getting out of Afghanistan, there was quite a lot of Only America. Biden for instance failed to even name check the likes of the UK and France in a number of press conferences, and reports US didn't tell people what they were doing and a lot we are only going to do x, stuff the rest of you.
NEWS: The Biden administration is willing to consider an “opportunity” to negotiate entry into the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Thursday...
My earlier scepticism may have been unwarranted. The question is can Biden bring along China-sceptic Republicans on board?
If he does bring the US into the TPP (and in turn if the UK joins), then a massive counter-weight to China will have been created.
I think this is the end goal of all these strategic moves that have been playing out since we left the EU and Trump pushed the anti-China rhetoric to the limit.
Both the UK and US inside the CPTPP would drag APAC back towards the west. It would create a trading alliance to dominate the region and markets that can thrive without relying on China.
But I was told the UK was no longer trusted by foreign countries, we had burned all our bridges and we were internationally isolated?
Former French Ambassador to the US seems pretty chilled about the whole thing. Exuding Gallic sangfroid and a sense of "meh"
"“The US has trampled our national interest. What the US has done to our national interest is a hostile act,” he said.
"“What we were doing with the Australians was a strategic choice and this strategic choice has been swept away not only by the Australians but also by the Americans.”
"He said the British involvement was immaterial because they were “poodles of the Americans, as usual”."
Biden has single-handedly taken a wrecking ball to the western alliances. Putin and Xi must wondering why the hell they bothered with that amateur Trump.
Biden has gone up, a lot, in my estimation. He instinctively senses that NATO is over. And it is
Russia is not a strategic threat to the West. It just isn't. Its economy is too small and its people too drunk
They might try another Crimea on the Baltics, but I doubt it. They export virtually nothing but conventional oil, which is increasingly worthless, as energy gets cheaper, because renewables, shale, etc.
Xi Jinping's China, by contrast, is the greatest "threat" the West has faced in a couple of centuries. Worse than Nazi Germany
All that matters is containing her (we cannot "defeat" her). And that means rock-solid alliances with close friends ensuring that we stand together, whatever. That is how you beat bullies
Yes, even though I think his economic policies are turning into a disaster and he is obviously losing his capabilities, when it comes to foreign affairs I have a lot of grudging respect for the fact that Biden has turned out to be so fundamentally ruthless and willing to break the cosy consensus. I’d be interested to see how long Blinken stays around
Yep. I think he is a bit senile, and foolish in some respects, but when it comes to foreign policy he has clear instincts and wise opinions: as to what is in America's interest, and he has a certain heartless brutality in seeing them done. If you want to boss a superpower, I guess that is important
So this will kill 100,000 Afghans? So be it. So this will kill off our relationship with France for 3 years? So be it
Etc. Not pretty, but maybe needed
It won't kill the US-French relationship.
The French are players. They are making massive scene out of this, so that the Americans throw them a bone in some other area.
I'm not so sure that will happen. The Biden administration has continually sidelined Europe. I just don't think they care and don't see any EU country as a potential ally in the looming cold war against China. I wrote out my thoughts just now, the world has realised that the EU is happy to kowtow to China for fear of losing money.
I think you're wrong on this. For a start, I think it would be a catastrophic mistake to cleave the Western European democracies (most of whom don't really want to "kowtow" to China) off from the Anglosphere.
Re the French, I'm thinking more of them getting US support for a French candidate to be next General Secretary of the United Nations, that kind of thing. It's the kind of quid pro quo that the French are very good at getting.
Indeed, especially as Putin is more of a direct threat to us than Xi is and we need French support within NATO for containing Russia.
Jihadi terrorism is also a direct threat to us we need French intelligence cooperation on
Former French Ambassador to the US seems pretty chilled about the whole thing. Exuding Gallic sangfroid and a sense of "meh"
"“The US has trampled our national interest. What the US has done to our national interest is a hostile act,” he said.
"“What we were doing with the Australians was a strategic choice and this strategic choice has been swept away not only by the Australians but also by the Americans.”
"He said the British involvement was immaterial because they were “poodles of the Americans, as usual”."
Biden has single-handedly taken a wrecking ball to the western alliances. Putin and Xi must wondering why the hell they bothered with that amateur Trump.
Biden has gone up, a lot, in my estimation. He instinctively senses that NATO is over. And it is
Russia is not a strategic threat to the West. It just isn't. Its economy is too small and its people too drunk
They might try another Crimea on the Baltics, but I doubt it. They export virtually nothing but conventional oil, which is increasingly worthless, as energy gets cheaper, because renewables, shale, etc.
Xi Jinping's China, by contrast, is the greatest "threat" the West has faced in a couple of centuries. Worse than Nazi Germany
All that matters is containing her (we cannot "defeat" her). And that means rock-solid alliances with close friends ensuring that we stand together, whatever. That is how you beat bullies
Yes, even though I think his economic policies are turning into a disaster and he is obviously losing his capabilities, when it comes to foreign affairs I have a lot of grudging respect for the fact that Biden has turned out to be so fundamentally ruthless and willing to break the cosy consensus. I’d be interested to see how long Blinken stays around
Yep. I think he is a bit senile, and foolish in some respects, but when it comes to foreign policy he has clear instincts and wise opinions: as to what is in America's interest, and he has a certain heartless brutality in seeing them done. If you want to boss a superpower, I guess that is important
So this will kill 100,000 Afghans? So be it. So this will kill off our relationship with France for 3 years? So be it
Etc. Not pretty, but maybe needed
It won't kill the US-French relationship.
The French are players. They are making massive scene out of this, so that the Americans throw them a bone in some other area.
I'm not so sure that will happen. The Biden administration has continually sidelined Europe. I just don't think they care and don't see any EU country as a potential ally in the looming cold war against China. I wrote out my thoughts just now, the world has realised that the EU is happy to kowtow to China for fear of losing money.
I think you're wrong on this. For a start, I think it would be a catastrophic mistake to cleave the Western European democracies (most of whom don't really want to "kowtow" to China) off from the Anglosphere.
Re the French, I'm thinking more of them getting US support for a French candidate to be next General Secretary of the United Nations, that kind of thing. It's the kind of quid pro quo that the French are very good at getting.
As I've been saying for a while, I take no joy from the fracturing of the western alliance. However, we need to be realistic. Germany controls the EU and Germany is a mercantile state, it is for sale to the highest bidder. They simply don't care to whom they sell BMWs or dishwashers as long as the bill is paid and Germans get jobs out of it.
I'm sure there will be grand words in a few months but the direction of travel has been clear for a while, even Obama was very sceptical of the "old world" as he termed it. What's changed is that with Brexit we've also become sceptical of the very same old world and now our interests are much more aligned with the US and looking towards the looming cold war with China in a way that Europe won't.
I'm sorry, I completely disagree.
Germany is not one thing, any more than the UK is one thing. It is grossly simplistic and demeaning to cast aside a Democratic country, with the rule of law, as somehow to sale for the highest bidder.
Ultimately, Merkel thought it was a good idea to get on stage with Xi and denounce the US. It was a huge error on their part but also gave us all incredible insight as to where Germany's interests lie. They will deal with the devil to do god's work, and for them god's work is the enrichment of the German state and people. Germany is a nation that will not take any economic hardship to pursue foreign policy goals. We know this. How can we rely on them as an ally when they've already been so unreliable. As long as they can make money and keep Germans employed by selling goods to China we have to count them out and, IMO, the rest of the EU.
NEWS: The Biden administration is willing to consider an “opportunity” to negotiate entry into the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Thursday...
My earlier scepticism may have been unwarranted. The question is can Biden bring along China-sceptic Republicans on board?
If he does bring the US into the TPP (and in turn if the UK joins), then a massive counter-weight to China will have been created.
China may have forced Biden's hand by responding* to AUKUS by putting in the TPP application
CPTPP with the UK and USA in it would be an incredible counterbalance against China which is exactly what Obama had designed it to be but even more with us there too. And fantastic for the UK too both geopolitically and economically. Would unambiguously crush the Brexit debate stone dead.
* May have been coincidental but a downright odd coincidence if so.
The Obama plan was to have effectively three free trade agreements that the US led - NAFTA (with Mexico and Canada), TPP (with the countries of Asia and Australiasia) and TTIP (with the EU).
Neither the US nor the EU seems particularly keen on reviving TTIP, but maybe (in an ideal world) the TPP becomes the de facto free trade bloc for the liberal democracies of the world.
Former French Ambassador to the US seems pretty chilled about the whole thing. Exuding Gallic sangfroid and a sense of "meh"
"“The US has trampled our national interest. What the US has done to our national interest is a hostile act,” he said.
"“What we were doing with the Australians was a strategic choice and this strategic choice has been swept away not only by the Australians but also by the Americans.”
"He said the British involvement was immaterial because they were “poodles of the Americans, as usual”."
Biden has single-handedly taken a wrecking ball to the western alliances. Putin and Xi must wondering why the hell they bothered with that amateur Trump.
Biden has gone up, a lot, in my estimation. He instinctively senses that NATO is over. And it is
Russia is not a strategic threat to the West. It just isn't. Its economy is too small and its people too drunk
They might try another Crimea on the Baltics, but I doubt it. They export virtually nothing but conventional oil, which is increasingly worthless, as energy gets cheaper, because renewables, shale, etc.
Xi Jinping's China, by contrast, is the greatest "threat" the West has faced in a couple of centuries. Worse than Nazi Germany
All that matters is containing her (we cannot "defeat" her). And that means rock-solid alliances with close friends ensuring that we stand together, whatever. That is how you beat bullies
Yes, even though I think his economic policies are turning into a disaster and he is obviously losing his capabilities, when it comes to foreign affairs I have a lot of grudging respect for the fact that Biden has turned out to be so fundamentally ruthless and willing to break the cosy consensus. I’d be interested to see how long Blinken stays around
Yep. I think he is a bit senile, and foolish in some respects, but when it comes to foreign policy he has clear instincts and wise opinions: as to what is in America's interest, and he has a certain heartless brutality in seeing them done. If you want to boss a superpower, I guess that is important
So this will kill 100,000 Afghans? So be it. So this will kill off our relationship with France for 3 years? So be it
Etc. Not pretty, but maybe needed
It won't kill the US-French relationship.
The French are players. They are making massive scene out of this, so that the Americans throw them a bone in some other area.
I'm not so sure that will happen. The Biden administration has continually sidelined Europe. I just don't think they care and don't see any EU country as a potential ally in the looming cold war against China. I wrote out my thoughts just now, the world has realised that the EU is happy to kowtow to China for fear of losing money.
I think you're wrong on this. For a start, I think it would be a catastrophic mistake to cleave the Western European democracies (most of whom don't really want to "kowtow" to China) off from the Anglosphere.
Re the French, I'm thinking more of them getting US support for a French candidate to be next General Secretary of the United Nations, that kind of thing. It's the kind of quid pro quo that the French are very good at getting.
As I've been saying for a while, I take no joy from the fracturing of the western alliance. However, we need to be realistic. Germany controls the EU and Germany is a mercantile state, it is for sale to the highest bidder. They simply don't care to whom they sell BMWs or dishwashers as long as the bill is paid and Germans get jobs out of it.
I'm sure there will be grand words in a few months but the direction of travel has been clear for a while, even Obama was very sceptical of the "old world" as he termed it. What's changed is that with Brexit we've also become sceptical of the very same old world and now our interests are much more aligned with the US and looking towards the looming cold war with China in a way that Europe won't.
I'm sorry, I completely disagree.
Germany is not one thing, any more than the UK is one thing. It is grossly simplistic and demeaning to cast aside a Democratic country, with the rule of law, as somehow to sale for the highest bidder.
Ultimately, Merkel thought it was a good idea to get on stage with Xi and denounce the US. It was a huge error on their part but also gave us all incredible insight as to where Germany's interests lie. They will deal with the devil to do god's work, and for them god's work is the enrichment of the German state and people. Germany is a nation that will not take any economic hardship to pursue foreign policy goals. We know this. How can we rely on them as an ally when they've already been so unreliable. As long as they can make money and keep Germans employed by selling goods to China we have to count them out and, IMO, the rest of the EU.
I think you are diagnosing the wrong cause. Germany's overriding lesson they took from the 20th Century is to not upset any great powers. Get on with everyone important. Avoid wars through dialogue.
"After calling the Biden administration’s failure to include France in the national security pact with the United Kingdom and Australia a “stab in the back,” French officials on Thursday canceled a gala at their Washington embassy, a new report says.
"French officials canceled the Friday affair, which was set to commemorate the “240th Anniversary of the Battle of the Capes” at the embassy and on a French frigate in Baltimore, Maryland, according to the New York Times.
"The cancellation comes one day after French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian called the newly announced AUKUS nuclear submarine pact “a stab in the back” to the country. "
Do you think during your 'journey' through various manifestations that you might manage occasionally an unpredictable observation on the zeitgeist? You know, D'Annunzio was a snaggle toothed narcissistic wee twat or that UK food is at best mediocre?
Former French Ambassador to the US seems pretty chilled about the whole thing. Exuding Gallic sangfroid and a sense of "meh"
"“The US has trampled our national interest. What the US has done to our national interest is a hostile act,” he said.
"“What we were doing with the Australians was a strategic choice and this strategic choice has been swept away not only by the Australians but also by the Americans.”
"He said the British involvement was immaterial because they were “poodles of the Americans, as usual”."
Biden has single-handedly taken a wrecking ball to the western alliances. Putin and Xi must wondering why the hell they bothered with that amateur Trump.
Biden has gone up, a lot, in my estimation. He instinctively senses that NATO is over. And it is
Russia is not a strategic threat to the West. It just isn't. Its economy is too small and its people too drunk
They might try another Crimea on the Baltics, but I doubt it. They export virtually nothing but conventional oil, which is increasingly worthless, as energy gets cheaper, because renewables, shale, etc.
Xi Jinping's China, by contrast, is the greatest "threat" the West has faced in a couple of centuries. Worse than Nazi Germany
All that matters is containing her (we cannot "defeat" her). And that means rock-solid alliances with close friends ensuring that we stand together, whatever. That is how you beat bullies
Yes, even though I think his economic policies are turning into a disaster and he is obviously losing his capabilities, when it comes to foreign affairs I have a lot of grudging respect for the fact that Biden has turned out to be so fundamentally ruthless and willing to break the cosy consensus. I’d be interested to see how long Blinken stays around
Yep. I think he is a bit senile, and foolish in some respects, but when it comes to foreign policy he has clear instincts and wise opinions: as to what is in America's interest, and he has a certain heartless brutality in seeing them done. If you want to boss a superpower, I guess that is important
So this will kill 100,000 Afghans? So be it. So this will kill off our relationship with France for 3 years? So be it
Etc. Not pretty, but maybe needed
It won't kill the US-French relationship.
The French are players. They are making massive scene out of this, so that the Americans throw them a bone in some other area.
I'm not so sure that will happen. The Biden administration has continually sidelined Europe. I just don't think they care and don't see any EU country as a potential ally in the looming cold war against China. I wrote out my thoughts just now, the world has realised that the EU is happy to kowtow to China for fear of losing money.
I think you're wrong on this. For a start, I think it would be a catastrophic mistake to cleave the Western European democracies (most of whom don't really want to "kowtow" to China) off from the Anglosphere.
Re the French, I'm thinking more of them getting US support for a French candidate to be next General Secretary of the United Nations, that kind of thing. It's the kind of quid pro quo that the French are very good at getting.
Indeed, especially as Putin is more of a direct threat to us than Xi is and we need French support within NATO for containing Russia.
Jihadi terrorism is also a direct threat to us we need French intelligence cooperation on
You need to catch up with the 21st century, Putin is not the threat to us.
Putin is like a spotty 4chan Incel troll in comparison to Xi.
Former French Ambassador to the US seems pretty chilled about the whole thing. Exuding Gallic sangfroid and a sense of "meh"
"“The US has trampled our national interest. What the US has done to our national interest is a hostile act,” he said.
"“What we were doing with the Australians was a strategic choice and this strategic choice has been swept away not only by the Australians but also by the Americans.”
"He said the British involvement was immaterial because they were “poodles of the Americans, as usual”."
Biden has single-handedly taken a wrecking ball to the western alliances. Putin and Xi must wondering why the hell they bothered with that amateur Trump.
Biden has gone up, a lot, in my estimation. He instinctively senses that NATO is over. And it is
Russia is not a strategic threat to the West. It just isn't. Its economy is too small and its people too drunk
They might try another Crimea on the Baltics, but I doubt it. They export virtually nothing but conventional oil, which is increasingly worthless, as energy gets cheaper, because renewables, shale, etc.
Xi Jinping's China, by contrast, is the greatest "threat" the West has faced in a couple of centuries. Worse than Nazi Germany
All that matters is containing her (we cannot "defeat" her). And that means rock-solid alliances with close friends ensuring that we stand together, whatever. That is how you beat bullies
Yes, even though I think his economic policies are turning into a disaster and he is obviously losing his capabilities, when it comes to foreign affairs I have a lot of grudging respect for the fact that Biden has turned out to be so fundamentally ruthless and willing to break the cosy consensus. I’d be interested to see how long Blinken stays around
Yep. I think he is a bit senile, and foolish in some respects, but when it comes to foreign policy he has clear instincts and wise opinions: as to what is in America's interest, and he has a certain heartless brutality in seeing them done. If you want to boss a superpower, I guess that is important
So this will kill 100,000 Afghans? So be it. So this will kill off our relationship with France for 3 years? So be it
Etc. Not pretty, but maybe needed
It won't kill the US-French relationship.
The French are players. They are making massive scene out of this, so that the Americans throw them a bone in some other area.
I'm not so sure that will happen. The Biden administration has continually sidelined Europe. I just don't think they care and don't see any EU country as a potential ally in the looming cold war against China. I wrote out my thoughts just now, the world has realised that the EU is happy to kowtow to China for fear of losing money.
I think you're wrong on this. For a start, I think it would be a catastrophic mistake to cleave the Western European democracies (most of whom don't really want to "kowtow" to China) off from the Anglosphere.
Re the French, I'm thinking more of them getting US support for a French candidate to be next General Secretary of the United Nations, that kind of thing. It's the kind of quid pro quo that the French are very good at getting.
As I've been saying for a while, I take no joy from the fracturing of the western alliance. However, we need to be realistic. Germany controls the EU and Germany is a mercantile state, it is for sale to the highest bidder. They simply don't care to whom they sell BMWs or dishwashers as long as the bill is paid and Germans get jobs out of it.
I'm sure there will be grand words in a few months but the direction of travel has been clear for a while, even Obama was very sceptical of the "old world" as he termed it. What's changed is that with Brexit we've also become sceptical of the very same old world and now our interests are much more aligned with the US and looking towards the looming cold war with China in a way that Europe won't.
I'm sorry, I completely disagree.
Germany is not one thing, any more than the UK is one thing. It is grossly simplistic and demeaning to cast aside a Democratic country, with the rule of law, as somehow to sale for the highest bidder.
Ultimately, Merkel thought it was a good idea to get on stage with Xi and denounce the US. It was a huge error on their part but also gave us all incredible insight as to where Germany's interests lie. They will deal with the devil to do god's work, and for them god's work is the enrichment of the German state and people. Germany is a nation that will not take any economic hardship to pursue foreign policy goals. We know this. How can we rely on them as an ally when they've already been so unreliable. As long as they can make money and keep Germans employed by selling goods to China we have to count them out and, IMO, the rest of the EU.
Ultimately, every country has been unreliable at one point or another. Ask the White Cossacks if the UK kept their promises.
Germany is a liberal democracy.
Our time would be better spent persuading them their interests lie in being part of the Western alliance, rather than denouncing them.
Is why its best for former PMs to leave the stage left and not hang around on the backbenchers for long.
Nonsense. If they have their own perspective to offer and enjoy and are good at backbench or legislative/policy scrutiny (even if they were no good as a PM) then absolutely they should stick around. Some might make it back into government as a Minister perhaps.
Becoming PM need not mean your days in politics are numbered once you stop. If they end up making themselves look bitter who cares? Better that than ex PMs have no prospect of political contribution, particularly when they have so many years to live and will be criticised if they cash in.
May regularly asks Johnson more difficult questions than Starmer - on policy - not politics.
May is asking a very good question, btw.
The orgasmic sighs last night about this deal from PB Tories were hilarious.
On balance I think this sounds like a good thing for the U.K., but it does raise all sorts of questions.
In what way is it a "very good question". A fucking toddler on a cider bender knows that China invading Taiwan is a real risk (AUKUS or no AUKUS) and that we would have a horrible dilemma whether to intervene or not.
Taiwan is super strategic.
Yesterday's pact just means we have a better chance of deterring that invasion. That's one reason why it is a good thing
Personally... I think it's quite hard for China to invade Taiwan.
It's
(a) quite a long way from Mainland China,
Your comment is entirely correct, in my view, but for those who don’t realise, not all of Taiwan is a long way away:
Former French Ambassador to the US seems pretty chilled about the whole thing. Exuding Gallic sangfroid and a sense of "meh"
"“The US has trampled our national interest. What the US has done to our national interest is a hostile act,” he said.
"“What we were doing with the Australians was a strategic choice and this strategic choice has been swept away not only by the Australians but also by the Americans.”
"He said the British involvement was immaterial because they were “poodles of the Americans, as usual”."
Biden has single-handedly taken a wrecking ball to the western alliances. Putin and Xi must wondering why the hell they bothered with that amateur Trump.
Biden has gone up, a lot, in my estimation. He instinctively senses that NATO is over. And it is
Russia is not a strategic threat to the West. It just isn't. Its economy is too small and its people too drunk
They might try another Crimea on the Baltics, but I doubt it. They export virtually nothing but conventional oil, which is increasingly worthless, as energy gets cheaper, because renewables, shale, etc.
Xi Jinping's China, by contrast, is the greatest "threat" the West has faced in a couple of centuries. Worse than Nazi Germany
All that matters is containing her (we cannot "defeat" her). And that means rock-solid alliances with close friends ensuring that we stand together, whatever. That is how you beat bullies
Yes, even though I think his economic policies are turning into a disaster and he is obviously losing his capabilities, when it comes to foreign affairs I have a lot of grudging respect for the fact that Biden has turned out to be so fundamentally ruthless and willing to break the cosy consensus. I’d be interested to see how long Blinken stays around
Yep. I think he is a bit senile, and foolish in some respects, but when it comes to foreign policy he has clear instincts and wise opinions: as to what is in America's interest, and he has a certain heartless brutality in seeing them done. If you want to boss a superpower, I guess that is important
So this will kill 100,000 Afghans? So be it. So this will kill off our relationship with France for 3 years? So be it
Etc. Not pretty, but maybe needed
It won't kill the US-French relationship.
The French are players. They are making massive scene out of this, so that the Americans throw them a bone in some other area.
I'm not so sure that will happen. The Biden administration has continually sidelined Europe. I just don't think they care and don't see any EU country as a potential ally in the looming cold war against China. I wrote out my thoughts just now, the world has realised that the EU is happy to kowtow to China for fear of losing money.
I think you're wrong on this. For a start, I think it would be a catastrophic mistake to cleave the Western European democracies (most of whom don't really want to "kowtow" to China) off from the Anglosphere.
Re the French, I'm thinking more of them getting US support for a French candidate to be next General Secretary of the United Nations, that kind of thing. It's the kind of quid pro quo that the French are very good at getting.
Indeed, especially as Putin is more of a direct threat to us than Xi is and we need French support within NATO for containing Russia.
Jihadi terrorism is also a direct threat to us we need French intelligence cooperation on
The narrative is moving on and I doubt NATO as we know it will be recognisable soon
You simply do not see that the threat is China not Russia, and as far as France is concerned while they will not be in the tripartite agreement, both France and Canada and others will have a role to play in the South China seas
Former French Ambassador to the US seems pretty chilled about the whole thing. Exuding Gallic sangfroid and a sense of "meh"
"“The US has trampled our national interest. What the US has done to our national interest is a hostile act,” he said.
"“What we were doing with the Australians was a strategic choice and this strategic choice has been swept away not only by the Australians but also by the Americans.”
"He said the British involvement was immaterial because they were “poodles of the Americans, as usual”."
Biden has single-handedly taken a wrecking ball to the western alliances. Putin and Xi must wondering why the hell they bothered with that amateur Trump.
Biden has gone up, a lot, in my estimation. He instinctively senses that NATO is over. And it is
Russia is not a strategic threat to the West. It just isn't. Its economy is too small and its people too drunk
They might try another Crimea on the Baltics, but I doubt it. They export virtually nothing but conventional oil, which is increasingly worthless, as energy gets cheaper, because renewables, shale, etc.
Xi Jinping's China, by contrast, is the greatest "threat" the West has faced in a couple of centuries. Worse than Nazi Germany
All that matters is containing her (we cannot "defeat" her). And that means rock-solid alliances with close friends ensuring that we stand together, whatever. That is how you beat bullies
Yes, even though I think his economic policies are turning into a disaster and he is obviously losing his capabilities, when it comes to foreign affairs I have a lot of grudging respect for the fact that Biden has turned out to be so fundamentally ruthless and willing to break the cosy consensus. I’d be interested to see how long Blinken stays around
Yep. I think he is a bit senile, and foolish in some respects, but when it comes to foreign policy he has clear instincts and wise opinions: as to what is in America's interest, and he has a certain heartless brutality in seeing them done. If you want to boss a superpower, I guess that is important
So this will kill 100,000 Afghans? So be it. So this will kill off our relationship with France for 3 years? So be it
Etc. Not pretty, but maybe needed
It won't kill the US-French relationship.
The French are players. They are making massive scene out of this, so that the Americans throw them a bone in some other area.
I'm not so sure that will happen. The Biden administration has continually sidelined Europe. I just don't think they care and don't see any EU country as a potential ally in the looming cold war against China. I wrote out my thoughts just now, the world has realised that the EU is happy to kowtow to China for fear of losing money.
I think you're wrong on this. For a start, I think it would be a catastrophic mistake to cleave the Western European democracies (most of whom don't really want to "kowtow" to China) off from the Anglosphere.
Re the French, I'm thinking more of them getting US support for a French candidate to be next General Secretary of the United Nations, that kind of thing. It's the kind of quid pro quo that the French are very good at getting.
Indeed, especially as Putin is more of a direct threat to us than Xi is and we need French support within NATO for containing Russia.
Jihadi terrorism is also a direct threat to us we need French intelligence cooperation on
You need to catch up with the 21st century, Putin is not the threat to us.
Putin is like a spotty 4chan Incel troll in comparison to Xi.
He does have the ability to create mischief, though, and does need to be opposed. In particular, the Russian funding and support for groups that oppose fracking in the UK (to use one example) should be exposed. We cannot allow them to interfere in our democratic systems for their own benefit.
NEWS: The Biden administration is willing to consider an “opportunity” to negotiate entry into the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Thursday...
My earlier scepticism may have been unwarranted. The question is can Biden bring along China-sceptic Republicans on board?
If he does bring the US into the TPP (and in turn if the UK joins), then a massive counter-weight to China will have been created.
I think this is the end goal of all these strategic moves that have been playing out since we left the EU and Trump pushed the anti-China rhetoric to the limit.
Both the UK and US inside the CPTPP would drag APAC back towards the west. It would create a trading alliance to dominate the region and markets that can thrive without relying on China.
It must be remembered though that 56% of UK exports still go to the EU, Switzerland and China
Former French Ambassador to the US seems pretty chilled about the whole thing. Exuding Gallic sangfroid and a sense of "meh"
"“The US has trampled our national interest. What the US has done to our national interest is a hostile act,” he said.
"“What we were doing with the Australians was a strategic choice and this strategic choice has been swept away not only by the Australians but also by the Americans.”
"He said the British involvement was immaterial because they were “poodles of the Americans, as usual”."
Biden has single-handedly taken a wrecking ball to the western alliances. Putin and Xi must wondering why the hell they bothered with that amateur Trump.
Biden has gone up, a lot, in my estimation. He instinctively senses that NATO is over. And it is
Russia is not a strategic threat to the West. It just isn't. Its economy is too small and its people too drunk
They might try another Crimea on the Baltics, but I doubt it. They export virtually nothing but conventional oil, which is increasingly worthless, as energy gets cheaper, because renewables, shale, etc.
Xi Jinping's China, by contrast, is the greatest "threat" the West has faced in a couple of centuries. Worse than Nazi Germany
All that matters is containing her (we cannot "defeat" her). And that means rock-solid alliances with close friends ensuring that we stand together, whatever. That is how you beat bullies
Yes, even though I think his economic policies are turning into a disaster and he is obviously losing his capabilities, when it comes to foreign affairs I have a lot of grudging respect for the fact that Biden has turned out to be so fundamentally ruthless and willing to break the cosy consensus. I’d be interested to see how long Blinken stays around
Yep. I think he is a bit senile, and foolish in some respects, but when it comes to foreign policy he has clear instincts and wise opinions: as to what is in America's interest, and he has a certain heartless brutality in seeing them done. If you want to boss a superpower, I guess that is important
So this will kill 100,000 Afghans? So be it. So this will kill off our relationship with France for 3 years? So be it
Etc. Not pretty, but maybe needed
It won't kill the US-French relationship.
The French are players. They are making massive scene out of this, so that the Americans throw them a bone in some other area.
I'm not so sure that will happen. The Biden administration has continually sidelined Europe. I just don't think they care and don't see any EU country as a potential ally in the looming cold war against China. I wrote out my thoughts just now, the world has realised that the EU is happy to kowtow to China for fear of losing money.
I think you're wrong on this. For a start, I think it would be a catastrophic mistake to cleave the Western European democracies (most of whom don't really want to "kowtow" to China) off from the Anglosphere.
Re the French, I'm thinking more of them getting US support for a French candidate to be next General Secretary of the United Nations, that kind of thing. It's the kind of quid pro quo that the French are very good at getting.
As I've been saying for a while, I take no joy from the fracturing of the western alliance. However, we need to be realistic. Germany controls the EU and Germany is a mercantile state, it is for sale to the highest bidder. They simply don't care to whom they sell BMWs or dishwashers as long as the bill is paid and Germans get jobs out of it.
I'm sure there will be grand words in a few months but the direction of travel has been clear for a while, even Obama was very sceptical of the "old world" as he termed it. What's changed is that with Brexit we've also become sceptical of the very same old world and now our interests are much more aligned with the US and looking towards the looming cold war with China in a way that Europe won't.
I'm sorry, I completely disagree.
Germany is not one thing, any more than the UK is one thing. It is grossly simplistic and demeaning to cast aside a Democratic country, with the rule of law, as somehow to sale for the highest bidder.
Ultimately, Merkel thought it was a good idea to get on stage with Xi and denounce the US. It was a huge error on their part but also gave us all incredible insight as to where Germany's interests lie. They will deal with the devil to do god's work, and for them god's work is the enrichment of the German state and people. Germany is a nation that will not take any economic hardship to pursue foreign policy goals. We know this. How can we rely on them as an ally when they've already been so unreliable. As long as they can make money and keep Germans employed by selling goods to China we have to count them out and, IMO, the rest of the EU.
Ultimately, every country has been unreliable at one point or another. Ask the White Cossacks if the UK kept their promises.
Germany is a liberal democracy.
Our time would be better spent persuading them their interests lie in being part of the Western alliance, rather than denouncing them.
Our time would be better spent dealing with the nations we can rely on first and laying the first building blocks of what needs to be the 21st century's Cold War.
Germany are not reliable. We don't need to denounce them, nor do we need to prioritise them as a priority either. We need to work without them and work with those we can trust.
If we can persuade Germany to join our side in this then we can do so, but that is not the first or best use of our time.
NEWS: The Biden administration is willing to consider an “opportunity” to negotiate entry into the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Thursday...
My earlier scepticism may have been unwarranted. The question is can Biden bring along China-sceptic Republicans on board?
If he does bring the US into the TPP (and in turn if the UK joins), then a massive counter-weight to China will have been created.
I think this is the end goal of all these strategic moves that have been playing out since we left the EU and Trump pushed the anti-China rhetoric to the limit.
Both the UK and US inside the CPTPP would drag APAC back towards the west. It would create a trading alliance to dominate the region and markets that can thrive without relying on China.
It must be remembered though that 56% of UK exports still go to the EU, Switzerland and China
You really are showing your remain credentials when the world is moving on
Former French Ambassador to the US seems pretty chilled about the whole thing. Exuding Gallic sangfroid and a sense of "meh"
"“The US has trampled our national interest. What the US has done to our national interest is a hostile act,” he said.
"“What we were doing with the Australians was a strategic choice and this strategic choice has been swept away not only by the Australians but also by the Americans.”
"He said the British involvement was immaterial because they were “poodles of the Americans, as usual”."
Biden has single-handedly taken a wrecking ball to the western alliances. Putin and Xi must wondering why the hell they bothered with that amateur Trump.
Biden has gone up, a lot, in my estimation. He instinctively senses that NATO is over. And it is
Russia is not a strategic threat to the West. It just isn't. Its economy is too small and its people too drunk
They might try another Crimea on the Baltics, but I doubt it. They export virtually nothing but conventional oil, which is increasingly worthless, as energy gets cheaper, because renewables, shale, etc.
Xi Jinping's China, by contrast, is the greatest "threat" the West has faced in a couple of centuries. Worse than Nazi Germany
All that matters is containing her (we cannot "defeat" her). And that means rock-solid alliances with close friends ensuring that we stand together, whatever. That is how you beat bullies
Yes, even though I think his economic policies are turning into a disaster and he is obviously losing his capabilities, when it comes to foreign affairs I have a lot of grudging respect for the fact that Biden has turned out to be so fundamentally ruthless and willing to break the cosy consensus. I’d be interested to see how long Blinken stays around
Yep. I think he is a bit senile, and foolish in some respects, but when it comes to foreign policy he has clear instincts and wise opinions: as to what is in America's interest, and he has a certain heartless brutality in seeing them done. If you want to boss a superpower, I guess that is important
So this will kill 100,000 Afghans? So be it. So this will kill off our relationship with France for 3 years? So be it
Etc. Not pretty, but maybe needed
It won't kill the US-French relationship.
The French are players. They are making massive scene out of this, so that the Americans throw them a bone in some other area.
I'm not so sure that will happen. The Biden administration has continually sidelined Europe. I just don't think they care and don't see any EU country as a potential ally in the looming cold war against China. I wrote out my thoughts just now, the world has realised that the EU is happy to kowtow to China for fear of losing money.
I think you're wrong on this. For a start, I think it would be a catastrophic mistake to cleave the Western European democracies (most of whom don't really want to "kowtow" to China) off from the Anglosphere.
Re the French, I'm thinking more of them getting US support for a French candidate to be next General Secretary of the United Nations, that kind of thing. It's the kind of quid pro quo that the French are very good at getting.
As I've been saying for a while, I take no joy from the fracturing of the western alliance. However, we need to be realistic. Germany controls the EU and Germany is a mercantile state, it is for sale to the highest bidder. They simply don't care to whom they sell BMWs or dishwashers as long as the bill is paid and Germans get jobs out of it.
I'm sure there will be grand words in a few months but the direction of travel has been clear for a while, even Obama was very sceptical of the "old world" as he termed it. What's changed is that with Brexit we've also become sceptical of the very same old world and now our interests are much more aligned with the US and looking towards the looming cold war with China in a way that Europe won't.
I'm sorry, I completely disagree.
Germany is not one thing, any more than the UK is one thing. It is grossly simplistic and demeaning to cast aside a Democratic country, with the rule of law, as somehow to sale for the highest bidder.
Ultimately, Merkel thought it was a good idea to get on stage with Xi and denounce the US. It was a huge error on their part but also gave us all incredible insight as to where Germany's interests lie. They will deal with the devil to do god's work, and for them god's work is the enrichment of the German state and people. Germany is a nation that will not take any economic hardship to pursue foreign policy goals. We know this. How can we rely on them as an ally when they've already been so unreliable. As long as they can make money and keep Germans employed by selling goods to China we have to count them out and, IMO, the rest of the EU.
Ultimately, every country has been unreliable at one point or another. Ask the White Cossacks if the UK kept their promises.
Germany is a liberal democracy.
Our time would be better spent persuading them their interests lie in being part of the Western alliance, rather than denouncing them.
There is a danger of making an alliance too broad. If members aren't there when push comes to shove, it undermines the alliance more than having fewer members. Because other members who would have kept the line follow their lead.
Former French Ambassador to the US seems pretty chilled about the whole thing. Exuding Gallic sangfroid and a sense of "meh"
"“The US has trampled our national interest. What the US has done to our national interest is a hostile act,” he said.
"“What we were doing with the Australians was a strategic choice and this strategic choice has been swept away not only by the Australians but also by the Americans.”
"He said the British involvement was immaterial because they were “poodles of the Americans, as usual”."
Biden has single-handedly taken a wrecking ball to the western alliances. Putin and Xi must wondering why the hell they bothered with that amateur Trump.
Biden has gone up, a lot, in my estimation. He instinctively senses that NATO is over. And it is
Russia is not a strategic threat to the West. It just isn't. Its economy is too small and its people too drunk
They might try another Crimea on the Baltics, but I doubt it. They export virtually nothing but conventional oil, which is increasingly worthless, as energy gets cheaper, because renewables, shale, etc.
Xi Jinping's China, by contrast, is the greatest "threat" the West has faced in a couple of centuries. Worse than Nazi Germany
All that matters is containing her (we cannot "defeat" her). And that means rock-solid alliances with close friends ensuring that we stand together, whatever. That is how you beat bullies
Yes, even though I think his economic policies are turning into a disaster and he is obviously losing his capabilities, when it comes to foreign affairs I have a lot of grudging respect for the fact that Biden has turned out to be so fundamentally ruthless and willing to break the cosy consensus. I’d be interested to see how long Blinken stays around
Yep. I think he is a bit senile, and foolish in some respects, but when it comes to foreign policy he has clear instincts and wise opinions: as to what is in America's interest, and he has a certain heartless brutality in seeing them done. If you want to boss a superpower, I guess that is important
So this will kill 100,000 Afghans? So be it. So this will kill off our relationship with France for 3 years? So be it
Etc. Not pretty, but maybe needed
It won't kill the US-French relationship.
The French are players. They are making massive scene out of this, so that the Americans throw them a bone in some other area.
I'm not so sure that will happen. The Biden administration has continually sidelined Europe. I just don't think they care and don't see any EU country as a potential ally in the looming cold war against China. I wrote out my thoughts just now, the world has realised that the EU is happy to kowtow to China for fear of losing money.
I think you're wrong on this. For a start, I think it would be a catastrophic mistake to cleave the Western European democracies (most of whom don't really want to "kowtow" to China) off from the Anglosphere.
Re the French, I'm thinking more of them getting US support for a French candidate to be next General Secretary of the United Nations, that kind of thing. It's the kind of quid pro quo that the French are very good at getting.
Indeed, especially as Putin is more of a direct threat to us than Xi is and we need French support within NATO for containing Russia.
Jihadi terrorism is also a direct threat to us we need French intelligence cooperation on
You need to catch up with the 21st century, Putin is not the threat to us.
Putin is like a spotty 4chan Incel troll in comparison to Xi.
He does have the ability to create mischief, though, and does need to be opposed. In particular, the Russian funding and support for groups that oppose fracking in the UK (to use one example) should be exposed. We cannot allow them to interfere in our democratic systems for their own benefit.
And the funding of a major political party of the UK, shocking that is.
Former French Ambassador to the US seems pretty chilled about the whole thing. Exuding Gallic sangfroid and a sense of "meh"
"“The US has trampled our national interest. What the US has done to our national interest is a hostile act,” he said.
"“What we were doing with the Australians was a strategic choice and this strategic choice has been swept away not only by the Australians but also by the Americans.”
"He said the British involvement was immaterial because they were “poodles of the Americans, as usual”."
Biden has single-handedly taken a wrecking ball to the western alliances. Putin and Xi must wondering why the hell they bothered with that amateur Trump.
Biden has gone up, a lot, in my estimation. He instinctively senses that NATO is over. And it is
Russia is not a strategic threat to the West. It just isn't. Its economy is too small and its people too drunk
They might try another Crimea on the Baltics, but I doubt it. They export virtually nothing but conventional oil, which is increasingly worthless, as energy gets cheaper, because renewables, shale, etc.
Xi Jinping's China, by contrast, is the greatest "threat" the West has faced in a couple of centuries. Worse than Nazi Germany
All that matters is containing her (we cannot "defeat" her). And that means rock-solid alliances with close friends ensuring that we stand together, whatever. That is how you beat bullies
Yes, even though I think his economic policies are turning into a disaster and he is obviously losing his capabilities, when it comes to foreign affairs I have a lot of grudging respect for the fact that Biden has turned out to be so fundamentally ruthless and willing to break the cosy consensus. I’d be interested to see how long Blinken stays around
Yep. I think he is a bit senile, and foolish in some respects, but when it comes to foreign policy he has clear instincts and wise opinions: as to what is in America's interest, and he has a certain heartless brutality in seeing them done. If you want to boss a superpower, I guess that is important
So this will kill 100,000 Afghans? So be it. So this will kill off our relationship with France for 3 years? So be it
Etc. Not pretty, but maybe needed
It won't kill the US-French relationship.
The French are players. They are making massive scene out of this, so that the Americans throw them a bone in some other area.
I'm not so sure that will happen. The Biden administration has continually sidelined Europe. I just don't think they care and don't see any EU country as a potential ally in the looming cold war against China. I wrote out my thoughts just now, the world has realised that the EU is happy to kowtow to China for fear of losing money.
I think you're wrong on this. For a start, I think it would be a catastrophic mistake to cleave the Western European democracies (most of whom don't really want to "kowtow" to China) off from the Anglosphere.
Re the French, I'm thinking more of them getting US support for a French candidate to be next General Secretary of the United Nations, that kind of thing. It's the kind of quid pro quo that the French are very good at getting.
Indeed, especially as Putin is more of a direct threat to us than Xi is and we need French support within NATO for containing Russia.
Jihadi terrorism is also a direct threat to us we need French intelligence cooperation on
You need to catch up with the 21st century, Putin is not the threat to us.
Putin is like a spotty 4chan Incel troll in comparison to Xi.
He does have the ability to create mischief, though, and does need to be opposed. In particular, the Russian funding and support for groups that oppose fracking in the UK (to use one example) should be exposed. We cannot allow them to interfere in our democratic systems for their own benefit.
Absolutely he can create mischief hence the 4chan Incel troll comment. Indeed hacking and blackmailing via ransomware etc is another way now how that Russia can get foreign currency in.
But the notion that Putin is a bigger or more existential threat than Xi? That's ignorant.
Biden administration is quite confusing...its all "only america" on one hand, retreating back, and on the other doing the opposite.
The answer to the riddle is that Bush and Cheney got panicked into doing a lot of stupid shit with massive costs and minimal strategic benefit, so if the Americans want to pursue their actual goals like containing China they need to stop doing the Bush-Cheney things.
Former French Ambassador to the US seems pretty chilled about the whole thing. Exuding Gallic sangfroid and a sense of "meh"
"“The US has trampled our national interest. What the US has done to our national interest is a hostile act,” he said.
"“What we were doing with the Australians was a strategic choice and this strategic choice has been swept away not only by the Australians but also by the Americans.”
"He said the British involvement was immaterial because they were “poodles of the Americans, as usual”."
Biden has single-handedly taken a wrecking ball to the western alliances. Putin and Xi must wondering why the hell they bothered with that amateur Trump.
Biden has gone up, a lot, in my estimation. He instinctively senses that NATO is over. And it is
Russia is not a strategic threat to the West. It just isn't. Its economy is too small and its people too drunk
They might try another Crimea on the Baltics, but I doubt it. They export virtually nothing but conventional oil, which is increasingly worthless, as energy gets cheaper, because renewables, shale, etc.
Xi Jinping's China, by contrast, is the greatest "threat" the West has faced in a couple of centuries. Worse than Nazi Germany
All that matters is containing her (we cannot "defeat" her). And that means rock-solid alliances with close friends ensuring that we stand together, whatever. That is how you beat bullies
Yes, even though I think his economic policies are turning into a disaster and he is obviously losing his capabilities, when it comes to foreign affairs I have a lot of grudging respect for the fact that Biden has turned out to be so fundamentally ruthless and willing to break the cosy consensus. I’d be interested to see how long Blinken stays around
Yep. I think he is a bit senile, and foolish in some respects, but when it comes to foreign policy he has clear instincts and wise opinions: as to what is in America's interest, and he has a certain heartless brutality in seeing them done. If you want to boss a superpower, I guess that is important
So this will kill 100,000 Afghans? So be it. So this will kill off our relationship with France for 3 years? So be it
Etc. Not pretty, but maybe needed
It won't kill the US-French relationship.
The French are players. They are making massive scene out of this, so that the Americans throw them a bone in some other area.
I'm not so sure that will happen. The Biden administration has continually sidelined Europe. I just don't think they care and don't see any EU country as a potential ally in the looming cold war against China. I wrote out my thoughts just now, the world has realised that the EU is happy to kowtow to China for fear of losing money.
I think you're wrong on this. For a start, I think it would be a catastrophic mistake to cleave the Western European democracies (most of whom don't really want to "kowtow" to China) off from the Anglosphere.
Re the French, I'm thinking more of them getting US support for a French candidate to be next General Secretary of the United Nations, that kind of thing. It's the kind of quid pro quo that the French are very good at getting.
Indeed, especially as Putin is more of a direct threat to us than Xi is and we need French support within NATO for containing Russia.
Jihadi terrorism is also a direct threat to us we need French intelligence cooperation on
You need to catch up with the 21st century, Putin is not the threat to us.
Putin is like a spotty 4chan Incel troll in comparison to Xi.
He does have the ability to create mischief, though, and does need to be opposed. In particular, the Russian funding and support for groups that oppose fracking in the UK (to use one example) should be exposed. We cannot allow them to interfere in our democratic systems for their own benefit.
Putin has been quiet for a number of years now when it comes to the West and even the Ukraine. He has issues on the domestic front which are more pressing.
He’s also got issues on the Eastern front with China. That relationship is not as close as some assume.
Former French Ambassador to the US seems pretty chilled about the whole thing. Exuding Gallic sangfroid and a sense of "meh"
"“The US has trampled our national interest. What the US has done to our national interest is a hostile act,” he said.
"“What we were doing with the Australians was a strategic choice and this strategic choice has been swept away not only by the Australians but also by the Americans.”
"He said the British involvement was immaterial because they were “poodles of the Americans, as usual”."
Biden has single-handedly taken a wrecking ball to the western alliances. Putin and Xi must wondering why the hell they bothered with that amateur Trump.
Biden has gone up, a lot, in my estimation. He instinctively senses that NATO is over. And it is
Russia is not a strategic threat to the West. It just isn't. Its economy is too small and its people too drunk
They might try another Crimea on the Baltics, but I doubt it. They export virtually nothing but conventional oil, which is increasingly worthless, as energy gets cheaper, because renewables, shale, etc.
Xi Jinping's China, by contrast, is the greatest "threat" the West has faced in a couple of centuries. Worse than Nazi Germany
All that matters is containing her (we cannot "defeat" her). And that means rock-solid alliances with close friends ensuring that we stand together, whatever. That is how you beat bullies
Yes, even though I think his economic policies are turning into a disaster and he is obviously losing his capabilities, when it comes to foreign affairs I have a lot of grudging respect for the fact that Biden has turned out to be so fundamentally ruthless and willing to break the cosy consensus. I’d be interested to see how long Blinken stays around
Yep. I think he is a bit senile, and foolish in some respects, but when it comes to foreign policy he has clear instincts and wise opinions: as to what is in America's interest, and he has a certain heartless brutality in seeing them done. If you want to boss a superpower, I guess that is important
So this will kill 100,000 Afghans? So be it. So this will kill off our relationship with France for 3 years? So be it
Etc. Not pretty, but maybe needed
It won't kill the US-French relationship.
The French are players. They are making massive scene out of this, so that the Americans throw them a bone in some other area.
I'm not so sure that will happen. The Biden administration has continually sidelined Europe. I just don't think they care and don't see any EU country as a potential ally in the looming cold war against China. I wrote out my thoughts just now, the world has realised that the EU is happy to kowtow to China for fear of losing money.
I think you're wrong on this. For a start, I think it would be a catastrophic mistake to cleave the Western European democracies (most of whom don't really want to "kowtow" to China) off from the Anglosphere.
Re the French, I'm thinking more of them getting US support for a French candidate to be next General Secretary of the United Nations, that kind of thing. It's the kind of quid pro quo that the French are very good at getting.
Indeed, especially as Putin is more of a direct threat to us than Xi is and we need French support within NATO for containing Russia.
Jihadi terrorism is also a direct threat to us we need French intelligence cooperation on
The narrative is moving on and I doubt NATO as we know it will be recognisable soon
You simply do not see that the threat is China not Russia, and as far as France is concerned while they will not be in the tripartite agreement, both France and Canada and others will have a role to play in the South China seas
For us into isn't, Putin if he wanted could invade most of Europe tomorrow and probably capture most of it pretty swiftly too.
Only UK and French forces combined and the US troops still based there would really be able to hold him back.
China is on the other side of the world to us and Beiing is more interested in Taiwan than Europe and since the Hong Kong handover we have no territory in the Far East.
Yes we can play a supportive role to the US, Australia, Japan etc there but Xi is not a direct threat to our national security to the extent Putin is, see also Salisbury and the Russian naval manoeuvres around our coast
NEWS: The Biden administration is willing to consider an “opportunity” to negotiate entry into the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Thursday...
My earlier scepticism may have been unwarranted. The question is can Biden bring along China-sceptic Republicans on board?
If he does bring the US into the TPP (and in turn if the UK joins), then a massive counter-weight to China will have been created.
I think this is the end goal of all these strategic moves that have been playing out since we left the EU and Trump pushed the anti-China rhetoric to the limit.
Both the UK and US inside the CPTPP would drag APAC back towards the west. It would create a trading alliance to dominate the region and markets that can thrive without relying on China.
It must be remembered though that 56% of UK exports still go to the EU, Switzerland and China
You really are showing your remain credentials when the world is moving on
Former French Ambassador to the US seems pretty chilled about the whole thing. Exuding Gallic sangfroid and a sense of "meh"
"“The US has trampled our national interest. What the US has done to our national interest is a hostile act,” he said.
"“What we were doing with the Australians was a strategic choice and this strategic choice has been swept away not only by the Australians but also by the Americans.”
"He said the British involvement was immaterial because they were “poodles of the Americans, as usual”."
Biden has single-handedly taken a wrecking ball to the western alliances. Putin and Xi must wondering why the hell they bothered with that amateur Trump.
Biden has gone up, a lot, in my estimation. He instinctively senses that NATO is over. And it is
Russia is not a strategic threat to the West. It just isn't. Its economy is too small and its people too drunk
They might try another Crimea on the Baltics, but I doubt it. They export virtually nothing but conventional oil, which is increasingly worthless, as energy gets cheaper, because renewables, shale, etc.
Xi Jinping's China, by contrast, is the greatest "threat" the West has faced in a couple of centuries. Worse than Nazi Germany
All that matters is containing her (we cannot "defeat" her). And that means rock-solid alliances with close friends ensuring that we stand together, whatever. That is how you beat bullies
Yes, even though I think his economic policies are turning into a disaster and he is obviously losing his capabilities, when it comes to foreign affairs I have a lot of grudging respect for the fact that Biden has turned out to be so fundamentally ruthless and willing to break the cosy consensus. I’d be interested to see how long Blinken stays around
Yep. I think he is a bit senile, and foolish in some respects, but when it comes to foreign policy he has clear instincts and wise opinions: as to what is in America's interest, and he has a certain heartless brutality in seeing them done. If you want to boss a superpower, I guess that is important
So this will kill 100,000 Afghans? So be it. So this will kill off our relationship with France for 3 years? So be it
Etc. Not pretty, but maybe needed
It won't kill the US-French relationship.
The French are players. They are making massive scene out of this, so that the Americans throw them a bone in some other area.
I'm not so sure that will happen. The Biden administration has continually sidelined Europe. I just don't think they care and don't see any EU country as a potential ally in the looming cold war against China. I wrote out my thoughts just now, the world has realised that the EU is happy to kowtow to China for fear of losing money.
I think you're wrong on this. For a start, I think it would be a catastrophic mistake to cleave the Western European democracies (most of whom don't really want to "kowtow" to China) off from the Anglosphere.
Re the French, I'm thinking more of them getting US support for a French candidate to be next General Secretary of the United Nations, that kind of thing. It's the kind of quid pro quo that the French are very good at getting.
As I've been saying for a while, I take no joy from the fracturing of the western alliance. However, we need to be realistic. Germany controls the EU and Germany is a mercantile state, it is for sale to the highest bidder. They simply don't care to whom they sell BMWs or dishwashers as long as the bill is paid and Germans get jobs out of it.
I'm sure there will be grand words in a few months but the direction of travel has been clear for a while, even Obama was very sceptical of the "old world" as he termed it. What's changed is that with Brexit we've also become sceptical of the very same old world and now our interests are much more aligned with the US and looking towards the looming cold war with China in a way that Europe won't.
I'm sorry, I completely disagree.
Germany is not one thing, any more than the UK is one thing. It is grossly simplistic and demeaning to cast aside a Democratic country, with the rule of law, as somehow to sale for the highest bidder.
Ultimately, Merkel thought it was a good idea to get on stage with Xi and denounce the US. It was a huge error on their part but also gave us all incredible insight as to where Germany's interests lie. They will deal with the devil to do god's work, and for them god's work is the enrichment of the German state and people. Germany is a nation that will not take any economic hardship to pursue foreign policy goals. We know this. How can we rely on them as an ally when they've already been so unreliable. As long as they can make money and keep Germans employed by selling goods to China we have to count them out and, IMO, the rest of the EU.
Ultimately, every country has been unreliable at one point or another. Ask the White Cossacks if the UK kept their promises.
Germany is a liberal democracy.
Our time would be better spent persuading them their interests lie in being part of the Western alliance, rather than denouncing them.
Our time would be better spent dealing with the nations we can rely on first and laying the first building blocks of what needs to be the 21st century's Cold War.
Germany are not reliable. We don't need to denounce them, nor do we need to prioritise them as a priority either. We need to work without them and work with those we can trust.
If we can persuade Germany to join our side in this then we can do so, but that is not the first or best use of our time.
I'm not quite sure exactly what this "reliability" you seek looks like in concrete terms. What is it you think Germany might do? Renege on sovereign debts? Nationalise British firms trading in Germany? Invade Suriname?
You need to catch up with the 21st century, Putin is not the threat to us.
Putin is like a spotty 4chan Incel troll in comparison to Xi.
He does have the ability to create mischief, though, and does need to be opposed. In particular, the Russian funding and support for groups that oppose fracking in the UK (to use one example) should be exposed. We cannot allow them to interfere in our democratic systems for their own benefit.
They see it as tit-for-tat for Western-financed NGOs trying to foment revolution in Russia and its near abroad.
The best way to reduce China’s dominance would be for the West to make more stuff and have less made in China.
If you want to reduce China's dominance you need more people. One billion Americans (Yglesias wrote a book on the specifics), one billion Europeans, 200 millions Brits.
Biden administration is quite confusing...its all "only america" on one hand, retreating back, and on the other doing the opposite.
The answer to the riddle is that Bush and Cheney got panicked into doing a lot of stupid shit with massive costs and minimal strategic benefit, so if the Americans want to pursue their actual goals like containing China they need to stop doing the Bush-Cheney things.
Former French Ambassador to the US seems pretty chilled about the whole thing. Exuding Gallic sangfroid and a sense of "meh"
"“The US has trampled our national interest. What the US has done to our national interest is a hostile act,” he said.
"“What we were doing with the Australians was a strategic choice and this strategic choice has been swept away not only by the Australians but also by the Americans.”
"He said the British involvement was immaterial because they were “poodles of the Americans, as usual”."
Biden has single-handedly taken a wrecking ball to the western alliances. Putin and Xi must wondering why the hell they bothered with that amateur Trump.
Biden has gone up, a lot, in my estimation. He instinctively senses that NATO is over. And it is
Russia is not a strategic threat to the West. It just isn't. Its economy is too small and its people too drunk
They might try another Crimea on the Baltics, but I doubt it. They export virtually nothing but conventional oil, which is increasingly worthless, as energy gets cheaper, because renewables, shale, etc.
Xi Jinping's China, by contrast, is the greatest "threat" the West has faced in a couple of centuries. Worse than Nazi Germany
All that matters is containing her (we cannot "defeat" her). And that means rock-solid alliances with close friends ensuring that we stand together, whatever. That is how you beat bullies
Yes, even though I think his economic policies are turning into a disaster and he is obviously losing his capabilities, when it comes to foreign affairs I have a lot of grudging respect for the fact that Biden has turned out to be so fundamentally ruthless and willing to break the cosy consensus. I’d be interested to see how long Blinken stays around
Yep. I think he is a bit senile, and foolish in some respects, but when it comes to foreign policy he has clear instincts and wise opinions: as to what is in America's interest, and he has a certain heartless brutality in seeing them done. If you want to boss a superpower, I guess that is important
So this will kill 100,000 Afghans? So be it. So this will kill off our relationship with France for 3 years? So be it
Etc. Not pretty, but maybe needed
It won't kill the US-French relationship.
The French are players. They are making massive scene out of this, so that the Americans throw them a bone in some other area.
I'm not so sure that will happen. The Biden administration has continually sidelined Europe. I just don't think they care and don't see any EU country as a potential ally in the looming cold war against China. I wrote out my thoughts just now, the world has realised that the EU is happy to kowtow to China for fear of losing money.
I think you're wrong on this. For a start, I think it would be a catastrophic mistake to cleave the Western European democracies (most of whom don't really want to "kowtow" to China) off from the Anglosphere.
Re the French, I'm thinking more of them getting US support for a French candidate to be next General Secretary of the United Nations, that kind of thing. It's the kind of quid pro quo that the French are very good at getting.
Indeed, especially as Putin is more of a direct threat to us than Xi is and we need French support within NATO for containing Russia.
Jihadi terrorism is also a direct threat to us we need French intelligence cooperation on
The narrative is moving on and I doubt NATO as we know it will be recognisable soon
You simply do not see that the threat is China not Russia, and as far as France is concerned while they will not be in the tripartite agreement, both France and Canada and others will have a role to play in the South China seas
For us into isn't, Putin if he wanted could invade most of Europe tomorrow and probably capture most of it pretty swiftly too.
Only UK and French forces combined would really be able to hold him back.
China is on the other side of the world to us and Beiing is more interested in Taiwan than Europe and since the Hong Kong handover we have no territory in the Far East.
Yes we can play a supportive role to the US, Australia, Japan etc there but Xi is not a direct threat to our national security as Putin is, see also Salisbury and the Russian naval manoeuvres around our coast
I am afraid you are not in the new changing world
Also as a self appointed spokesperson for Boris why are you at odds with his strategy
NEWS: The Biden administration is willing to consider an “opportunity” to negotiate entry into the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Thursday...
My earlier scepticism may have been unwarranted. The question is can Biden bring along China-sceptic Republicans on board?
If he does bring the US into the TPP (and in turn if the UK joins), then a massive counter-weight to China will have been created.
China may have forced Biden's hand by responding* to AUKUS by putting in the TPP application
CPTPP with the UK and USA in it would be an incredible counterbalance against China which is exactly what Obama had designed it to be but even more with us there too. And fantastic for the UK too both geopolitically and economically. Would unambiguously crush the Brexit debate stone dead.
* May have been coincidental but a downright odd coincidence if so.
NEWS: The Biden administration is willing to consider an “opportunity” to negotiate entry into the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Thursday...
My earlier scepticism may have been unwarranted. The question is can Biden bring along China-sceptic Republicans on board?
If he does bring the US into the TPP (and in turn if the UK joins), then a massive counter-weight to China will have been created.
China may have forced Biden's hand by responding* to AUKUS by putting in the TPP application
CPTPP with the UK and USA in it would be an incredible counterbalance against China which is exactly what Obama had designed it to be but even more with us there too. And fantastic for the UK too both geopolitically and economically. Would unambiguously crush the Brexit debate stone dead.
* May have been coincidental but a downright odd coincidence if so.
Yes. I suspect this too. Earlier in the evening folk were blithely assuming the current 11 members would be thoroughly delighted with UK as members and reject the PRC out of hand. That would make zero political or economic sense for any of them whatsoever. The USA and UK rather than PRC is another matter entirely. Whether Biden has the numbers is yet another matter again though.
Former French Ambassador to the US seems pretty chilled about the whole thing. Exuding Gallic sangfroid and a sense of "meh"
"“The US has trampled our national interest. What the US has done to our national interest is a hostile act,” he said.
"“What we were doing with the Australians was a strategic choice and this strategic choice has been swept away not only by the Australians but also by the Americans.”
"He said the British involvement was immaterial because they were “poodles of the Americans, as usual”."
Biden has single-handedly taken a wrecking ball to the western alliances. Putin and Xi must wondering why the hell they bothered with that amateur Trump.
Biden has gone up, a lot, in my estimation. He instinctively senses that NATO is over. And it is
Russia is not a strategic threat to the West. It just isn't. Its economy is too small and its people too drunk
They might try another Crimea on the Baltics, but I doubt it. They export virtually nothing but conventional oil, which is increasingly worthless, as energy gets cheaper, because renewables, shale, etc.
Xi Jinping's China, by contrast, is the greatest "threat" the West has faced in a couple of centuries. Worse than Nazi Germany
All that matters is containing her (we cannot "defeat" her). And that means rock-solid alliances with close friends ensuring that we stand together, whatever. That is how you beat bullies
Yes, even though I think his economic policies are turning into a disaster and he is obviously losing his capabilities, when it comes to foreign affairs I have a lot of grudging respect for the fact that Biden has turned out to be so fundamentally ruthless and willing to break the cosy consensus. I’d be interested to see how long Blinken stays around
Yep. I think he is a bit senile, and foolish in some respects, but when it comes to foreign policy he has clear instincts and wise opinions: as to what is in America's interest, and he has a certain heartless brutality in seeing them done. If you want to boss a superpower, I guess that is important
So this will kill 100,000 Afghans? So be it. So this will kill off our relationship with France for 3 years? So be it
Etc. Not pretty, but maybe needed
It won't kill the US-French relationship.
The French are players. They are making massive scene out of this, so that the Americans throw them a bone in some other area.
I'm not so sure that will happen. The Biden administration has continually sidelined Europe. I just don't think they care and don't see any EU country as a potential ally in the looming cold war against China. I wrote out my thoughts just now, the world has realised that the EU is happy to kowtow to China for fear of losing money.
I think you're wrong on this. For a start, I think it would be a catastrophic mistake to cleave the Western European democracies (most of whom don't really want to "kowtow" to China) off from the Anglosphere.
Re the French, I'm thinking more of them getting US support for a French candidate to be next General Secretary of the United Nations, that kind of thing. It's the kind of quid pro quo that the French are very good at getting.
Indeed, especially as Putin is more of a direct threat to us than Xi is and we need French support within NATO for containing Russia.
Jihadi terrorism is also a direct threat to us we need French intelligence cooperation on
The narrative is moving on and I doubt NATO as we know it will be recognisable soon
You simply do not see that the threat is China not Russia, and as far as France is concerned while they will not be in the tripartite agreement, both France and Canada and others will have a role to play in the South China seas
Why should we be fannying around in the South China Sea? I doubt we'd want the Chinese navy steaming up and down the English Channel. This kind of imperial delusion is embarrassing, and will only end in tears like it always does. It's like Suez, or for that matter Iraq, never happened. If we've got money to waste on these stupid dick-waving exercises, how about we pay our nurses properly, or fund education adequately, or don't cut universal credit?
Former French Ambassador to the US seems pretty chilled about the whole thing. Exuding Gallic sangfroid and a sense of "meh"
"“The US has trampled our national interest. What the US has done to our national interest is a hostile act,” he said.
"“What we were doing with the Australians was a strategic choice and this strategic choice has been swept away not only by the Australians but also by the Americans.”
"He said the British involvement was immaterial because they were “poodles of the Americans, as usual”."
Biden has single-handedly taken a wrecking ball to the western alliances. Putin and Xi must wondering why the hell they bothered with that amateur Trump.
Biden has gone up, a lot, in my estimation. He instinctively senses that NATO is over. And it is
Russia is not a strategic threat to the West. It just isn't. Its economy is too small and its people too drunk
They might try another Crimea on the Baltics, but I doubt it. They export virtually nothing but conventional oil, which is increasingly worthless, as energy gets cheaper, because renewables, shale, etc.
Xi Jinping's China, by contrast, is the greatest "threat" the West has faced in a couple of centuries. Worse than Nazi Germany
All that matters is containing her (we cannot "defeat" her). And that means rock-solid alliances with close friends ensuring that we stand together, whatever. That is how you beat bullies
Yes, even though I think his economic policies are turning into a disaster and he is obviously losing his capabilities, when it comes to foreign affairs I have a lot of grudging respect for the fact that Biden has turned out to be so fundamentally ruthless and willing to break the cosy consensus. I’d be interested to see how long Blinken stays around
Yep. I think he is a bit senile, and foolish in some respects, but when it comes to foreign policy he has clear instincts and wise opinions: as to what is in America's interest, and he has a certain heartless brutality in seeing them done. If you want to boss a superpower, I guess that is important
So this will kill 100,000 Afghans? So be it. So this will kill off our relationship with France for 3 years? So be it
Etc. Not pretty, but maybe needed
It won't kill the US-French relationship.
The French are players. They are making massive scene out of this, so that the Americans throw them a bone in some other area.
I'm not so sure that will happen. The Biden administration has continually sidelined Europe. I just don't think they care and don't see any EU country as a potential ally in the looming cold war against China. I wrote out my thoughts just now, the world has realised that the EU is happy to kowtow to China for fear of losing money.
I think you're wrong on this. For a start, I think it would be a catastrophic mistake to cleave the Western European democracies (most of whom don't really want to "kowtow" to China) off from the Anglosphere.
Re the French, I'm thinking more of them getting US support for a French candidate to be next General Secretary of the United Nations, that kind of thing. It's the kind of quid pro quo that the French are very good at getting.
Indeed, especially as Putin is more of a direct threat to us than Xi is and we need French support within NATO for containing Russia.
Jihadi terrorism is also a direct threat to us we need French intelligence cooperation on
You need to catch up with the 21st century, Putin is not the threat to us.
Putin is like a spotty 4chan Incel troll in comparison to Xi.
He does have the ability to create mischief, though, and does need to be opposed. In particular, the Russian funding and support for groups that oppose fracking in the UK (to use one example) should be exposed. We cannot allow them to interfere in our democratic systems for their own benefit.
Putin has been quiet for a number of years now when it comes to the West and even the Ukraine. He has issues on the domestic front which are more pressing.
He’s also got issues on the Eastern front with China. That relationship is not as close as some assume.
Russia is a failed state. Its economy and its demographics are atrocious. Putin has coped until now by ramping ever higher proportion of the Russian economy into the military in order to be perceived as strong but he risks it all failing in the same way it failed in the 80s.
Ultimately Russia can't afford to be a power anymore. The country is broken and he's pissing it away and driving wealth out of the nation. If it weren't for certain states in Europe being content to rely upon Russian gas the entire house of cards could come tumbling down.
Russia will collapse again at some point. China is the real threat.
Former French Ambassador to the US seems pretty chilled about the whole thing. Exuding Gallic sangfroid and a sense of "meh"
"“The US has trampled our national interest. What the US has done to our national interest is a hostile act,” he said.
"“What we were doing with the Australians was a strategic choice and this strategic choice has been swept away not only by the Australians but also by the Americans.”
"He said the British involvement was immaterial because they were “poodles of the Americans, as usual”."
Biden has single-handedly taken a wrecking ball to the western alliances. Putin and Xi must wondering why the hell they bothered with that amateur Trump.
Biden has gone up, a lot, in my estimation. He instinctively senses that NATO is over. And it is
Russia is not a strategic threat to the West. It just isn't. Its economy is too small and its people too drunk
They might try another Crimea on the Baltics, but I doubt it. They export virtually nothing but conventional oil, which is increasingly worthless, as energy gets cheaper, because renewables, shale, etc.
Xi Jinping's China, by contrast, is the greatest "threat" the West has faced in a couple of centuries. Worse than Nazi Germany
All that matters is containing her (we cannot "defeat" her). And that means rock-solid alliances with close friends ensuring that we stand together, whatever. That is how you beat bullies
Yes, even though I think his economic policies are turning into a disaster and he is obviously losing his capabilities, when it comes to foreign affairs I have a lot of grudging respect for the fact that Biden has turned out to be so fundamentally ruthless and willing to break the cosy consensus. I’d be interested to see how long Blinken stays around
Yep. I think he is a bit senile, and foolish in some respects, but when it comes to foreign policy he has clear instincts and wise opinions: as to what is in America's interest, and he has a certain heartless brutality in seeing them done. If you want to boss a superpower, I guess that is important
So this will kill 100,000 Afghans? So be it. So this will kill off our relationship with France for 3 years? So be it
Etc. Not pretty, but maybe needed
It won't kill the US-French relationship.
The French are players. They are making massive scene out of this, so that the Americans throw them a bone in some other area.
I'm not so sure that will happen. The Biden administration has continually sidelined Europe. I just don't think they care and don't see any EU country as a potential ally in the looming cold war against China. I wrote out my thoughts just now, the world has realised that the EU is happy to kowtow to China for fear of losing money.
I think you're wrong on this. For a start, I think it would be a catastrophic mistake to cleave the Western European democracies (most of whom don't really want to "kowtow" to China) off from the Anglosphere.
Re the French, I'm thinking more of them getting US support for a French candidate to be next General Secretary of the United Nations, that kind of thing. It's the kind of quid pro quo that the French are very good at getting.
Indeed, especially as Putin is more of a direct threat to us than Xi is and we need French support within NATO for containing Russia.
Jihadi terrorism is also a direct threat to us we need French intelligence cooperation on
The narrative is moving on and I doubt NATO as we know it will be recognisable soon
You simply do not see that the threat is China not Russia, and as far as France is concerned while they will not be in the tripartite agreement, both France and Canada and others will have a role to play in the South China seas
For us into isn't, Putin if he wanted could invade most of Europe tomorrow and probably capture most of it pretty swiftly too.
Only UK and French forces combined and the US troops still based there would really be able to hold him back.
China is on the other side of the world to us and Beiing is more interested in Taiwan than Europe and since the Hong Kong handover we have no territory in the Far East.
Yes we can play a supportive role to the US, Australia, Japan etc there but Xi is not a direct threat to our national security to the extent Putin is, see also Salisbury and the Russian naval manoeuvres around our coast
Christ, hell must have frozen over but I've found myself agreeing with a post by HYUFD.
Former French Ambassador to the US seems pretty chilled about the whole thing. Exuding Gallic sangfroid and a sense of "meh"
"“The US has trampled our national interest. What the US has done to our national interest is a hostile act,” he said.
"“What we were doing with the Australians was a strategic choice and this strategic choice has been swept away not only by the Australians but also by the Americans.”
"He said the British involvement was immaterial because they were “poodles of the Americans, as usual”."
Biden has single-handedly taken a wrecking ball to the western alliances. Putin and Xi must wondering why the hell they bothered with that amateur Trump.
Biden has gone up, a lot, in my estimation. He instinctively senses that NATO is over. And it is
Russia is not a strategic threat to the West. It just isn't. Its economy is too small and its people too drunk
They might try another Crimea on the Baltics, but I doubt it. They export virtually nothing but conventional oil, which is increasingly worthless, as energy gets cheaper, because renewables, shale, etc.
Xi Jinping's China, by contrast, is the greatest "threat" the West has faced in a couple of centuries. Worse than Nazi Germany
All that matters is containing her (we cannot "defeat" her). And that means rock-solid alliances with close friends ensuring that we stand together, whatever. That is how you beat bullies
Yes, even though I think his economic policies are turning into a disaster and he is obviously losing his capabilities, when it comes to foreign affairs I have a lot of grudging respect for the fact that Biden has turned out to be so fundamentally ruthless and willing to break the cosy consensus. I’d be interested to see how long Blinken stays around
Yep. I think he is a bit senile, and foolish in some respects, but when it comes to foreign policy he has clear instincts and wise opinions: as to what is in America's interest, and he has a certain heartless brutality in seeing them done. If you want to boss a superpower, I guess that is important
So this will kill 100,000 Afghans? So be it. So this will kill off our relationship with France for 3 years? So be it
Etc. Not pretty, but maybe needed
It won't kill the US-French relationship.
The French are players. They are making massive scene out of this, so that the Americans throw them a bone in some other area.
I'm not so sure that will happen. The Biden administration has continually sidelined Europe. I just don't think they care and don't see any EU country as a potential ally in the looming cold war against China. I wrote out my thoughts just now, the world has realised that the EU is happy to kowtow to China for fear of losing money.
I think you're wrong on this. For a start, I think it would be a catastrophic mistake to cleave the Western European democracies (most of whom don't really want to "kowtow" to China) off from the Anglosphere.
Re the French, I'm thinking more of them getting US support for a French candidate to be next General Secretary of the United Nations, that kind of thing. It's the kind of quid pro quo that the French are very good at getting.
As I've been saying for a while, I take no joy from the fracturing of the western alliance. However, we need to be realistic. Germany controls the EU and Germany is a mercantile state, it is for sale to the highest bidder. They simply don't care to whom they sell BMWs or dishwashers as long as the bill is paid and Germans get jobs out of it.
I'm sure there will be grand words in a few months but the direction of travel has been clear for a while, even Obama was very sceptical of the "old world" as he termed it. What's changed is that with Brexit we've also become sceptical of the very same old world and now our interests are much more aligned with the US and looking towards the looming cold war with China in a way that Europe won't.
I'm sorry, I completely disagree.
Germany is not one thing, any more than the UK is one thing. It is grossly simplistic and demeaning to cast aside a Democratic country, with the rule of law, as somehow to sale for the highest bidder.
Ultimately, Merkel thought it was a good idea to get on stage with Xi and denounce the US. It was a huge error on their part but also gave us all incredible insight as to where Germany's interests lie. They will deal with the devil to do god's work, and for them god's work is the enrichment of the German state and people. Germany is a nation that will not take any economic hardship to pursue foreign policy goals. We know this. How can we rely on them as an ally when they've already been so unreliable. As long as they can make money and keep Germans employed by selling goods to China we have to count them out and, IMO, the rest of the EU.
Ultimately, every country has been unreliable at one point or another. Ask the White Cossacks if the UK kept their promises.
Germany is a liberal democracy.
Our time would be better spent persuading them their interests lie in being part of the Western alliance, rather than denouncing them.
No doubt about it, nations will pursue policies they see as being in their interests. The US, UK, Australia and most of Asia are agreed that Chinese hegemony is bad for, it's bad for the whole democratic world. We're now playing our hand, that involves new military alliances, renewing the bonds of friendship with old allies, gathering support in the region for our agenda and loads of other stuff.
On the flip side there are countries who don't care as long as they can profit from the situation. Somehow, Germany has become that nation and where Germany leads the rest of the EU will follow. It isn't an issue for Switzerland to hold to that, no one cares what a landlocked nation of 8m people does and doesn't do.
We need to recognise the problem first and work from there. We can't rebuild the western alliance by hoping that Germany will realise that impoverishing itself is a good idea. I don't know how we do it, once again, I am without answers. I would suggest that our relationship with Germany, and therefore the EU, should (and already does, IMO) reflect the reality of the situation rather than what we'd like it to be.
NEWS: The Biden administration is willing to consider an “opportunity” to negotiate entry into the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Thursday...
My earlier scepticism may have been unwarranted. The question is can Biden bring along China-sceptic Republicans on board?
If he does bring the US into the TPP (and in turn if the UK joins), then a massive counter-weight to China will have been created.
It just makes perfect sense. If the US sees China as the main threat, which it does, then the US a should be part of the block. The U.K. being part also makes sense for all sides as well given the economic and defence implications.
Personally, I would pull in the French as, despite the fact they can be unreliable at the best of times, they have an effective military capability and I think are quite desperate to escape Germany’s orbit.
Former French Ambassador to the US seems pretty chilled about the whole thing. Exuding Gallic sangfroid and a sense of "meh"
"“The US has trampled our national interest. What the US has done to our national interest is a hostile act,” he said.
"“What we were doing with the Australians was a strategic choice and this strategic choice has been swept away not only by the Australians but also by the Americans.”
"He said the British involvement was immaterial because they were “poodles of the Americans, as usual”."
Biden has single-handedly taken a wrecking ball to the western alliances. Putin and Xi must wondering why the hell they bothered with that amateur Trump.
Biden has gone up, a lot, in my estimation. He instinctively senses that NATO is over. And it is
Russia is not a strategic threat to the West. It just isn't. Its economy is too small and its people too drunk
They might try another Crimea on the Baltics, but I doubt it. They export virtually nothing but conventional oil, which is increasingly worthless, as energy gets cheaper, because renewables, shale, etc.
Xi Jinping's China, by contrast, is the greatest "threat" the West has faced in a couple of centuries. Worse than Nazi Germany
All that matters is containing her (we cannot "defeat" her). And that means rock-solid alliances with close friends ensuring that we stand together, whatever. That is how you beat bullies
Yes, even though I think his economic policies are turning into a disaster and he is obviously losing his capabilities, when it comes to foreign affairs I have a lot of grudging respect for the fact that Biden has turned out to be so fundamentally ruthless and willing to break the cosy consensus. I’d be interested to see how long Blinken stays around
Yep. I think he is a bit senile, and foolish in some respects, but when it comes to foreign policy he has clear instincts and wise opinions: as to what is in America's interest, and he has a certain heartless brutality in seeing them done. If you want to boss a superpower, I guess that is important
So this will kill 100,000 Afghans? So be it. So this will kill off our relationship with France for 3 years? So be it
Etc. Not pretty, but maybe needed
It won't kill the US-French relationship.
The French are players. They are making massive scene out of this, so that the Americans throw them a bone in some other area.
I'm not so sure that will happen. The Biden administration has continually sidelined Europe. I just don't think they care and don't see any EU country as a potential ally in the looming cold war against China. I wrote out my thoughts just now, the world has realised that the EU is happy to kowtow to China for fear of losing money.
I think you're wrong on this. For a start, I think it would be a catastrophic mistake to cleave the Western European democracies (most of whom don't really want to "kowtow" to China) off from the Anglosphere.
Re the French, I'm thinking more of them getting US support for a French candidate to be next General Secretary of the United Nations, that kind of thing. It's the kind of quid pro quo that the French are very good at getting.
Indeed, especially as Putin is more of a direct threat to us than Xi is and we need French support within NATO for containing Russia.
Jihadi terrorism is also a direct threat to us we need French intelligence cooperation on
You need to catch up with the 21st century, Putin is not the threat to us.
Putin is like a spotty 4chan Incel troll in comparison to Xi.
He does have the ability to create mischief, though, and does need to be opposed. In particular, the Russian funding and support for groups that oppose fracking in the UK (to use one example) should be exposed. We cannot allow them to interfere in our democratic systems for their own benefit.
Putin has been quiet for a number of years now when it comes to the West and even the Ukraine. He has issues on the domestic front which are more pressing.
He’s also got issues on the Eastern front with China. That relationship is not as close as some assume.
Russia is a failed state. Its economy and its demographics are atrocious. Putin has coped until now by ramping ever higher proportion of the Russian economy into the military in order to be perceived as strong but he risks it all failing in the same way it failed in the 80s.
Ultimately Russia can't afford to be a power anymore. The country is broken and he's pissing it away and driving wealth out of the nation. If it weren't for certain states in Europe being content to rely upon Russian gas the entire house of cards could come tumbling down.
Russia will collapse again at some point. China is the real threat.
It has to be said that a collapsing country with a large military is almost the definition of a regional threat.
NEWS: The Biden administration is willing to consider an “opportunity” to negotiate entry into the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Thursday...
My earlier scepticism may have been unwarranted. The question is can Biden bring along China-sceptic Republicans on board?
If he does bring the US into the TPP (and in turn if the UK joins), then a massive counter-weight to China will have been created.
I think this is the end goal of all these strategic moves that have been playing out since we left the EU and Trump pushed the anti-China rhetoric to the limit.
Both the UK and US inside the CPTPP would drag APAC back towards the west. It would create a trading alliance to dominate the region and markets that can thrive without relying on China.
It must be remembered though that 56% of UK exports still go to the EU, Switzerland and China
You really are showing your remain credentials when the world is moving on
Geography has not really moved on from when I voted Remain, we are a European and Atlantic state, not an East Asian or Oceanic state.
The most important trading relationships we have still are with the EU and then the US, Asian nations are less than a third of our export destinations and the largest of those is China
Former French Ambassador to the US seems pretty chilled about the whole thing. Exuding Gallic sangfroid and a sense of "meh"
"“The US has trampled our national interest. What the US has done to our national interest is a hostile act,” he said.
"“What we were doing with the Australians was a strategic choice and this strategic choice has been swept away not only by the Australians but also by the Americans.”
"He said the British involvement was immaterial because they were “poodles of the Americans, as usual”."
Biden has single-handedly taken a wrecking ball to the western alliances. Putin and Xi must wondering why the hell they bothered with that amateur Trump.
Biden has gone up, a lot, in my estimation. He instinctively senses that NATO is over. And it is
Russia is not a strategic threat to the West. It just isn't. Its economy is too small and its people too drunk
They might try another Crimea on the Baltics, but I doubt it. They export virtually nothing but conventional oil, which is increasingly worthless, as energy gets cheaper, because renewables, shale, etc.
Xi Jinping's China, by contrast, is the greatest "threat" the West has faced in a couple of centuries. Worse than Nazi Germany
All that matters is containing her (we cannot "defeat" her). And that means rock-solid alliances with close friends ensuring that we stand together, whatever. That is how you beat bullies
Yes, even though I think his economic policies are turning into a disaster and he is obviously losing his capabilities, when it comes to foreign affairs I have a lot of grudging respect for the fact that Biden has turned out to be so fundamentally ruthless and willing to break the cosy consensus. I’d be interested to see how long Blinken stays around
Yep. I think he is a bit senile, and foolish in some respects, but when it comes to foreign policy he has clear instincts and wise opinions: as to what is in America's interest, and he has a certain heartless brutality in seeing them done. If you want to boss a superpower, I guess that is important
So this will kill 100,000 Afghans? So be it. So this will kill off our relationship with France for 3 years? So be it
Etc. Not pretty, but maybe needed
It won't kill the US-French relationship.
The French are players. They are making massive scene out of this, so that the Americans throw them a bone in some other area.
I'm not so sure that will happen. The Biden administration has continually sidelined Europe. I just don't think they care and don't see any EU country as a potential ally in the looming cold war against China. I wrote out my thoughts just now, the world has realised that the EU is happy to kowtow to China for fear of losing money.
I think you're wrong on this. For a start, I think it would be a catastrophic mistake to cleave the Western European democracies (most of whom don't really want to "kowtow" to China) off from the Anglosphere.
Re the French, I'm thinking more of them getting US support for a French candidate to be next General Secretary of the United Nations, that kind of thing. It's the kind of quid pro quo that the French are very good at getting.
As I've been saying for a while, I take no joy from the fracturing of the western alliance. However, we need to be realistic. Germany controls the EU and Germany is a mercantile state, it is for sale to the highest bidder. They simply don't care to whom they sell BMWs or dishwashers as long as the bill is paid and Germans get jobs out of it.
I'm sure there will be grand words in a few months but the direction of travel has been clear for a while, even Obama was very sceptical of the "old world" as he termed it. What's changed is that with Brexit we've also become sceptical of the very same old world and now our interests are much more aligned with the US and looking towards the looming cold war with China in a way that Europe won't.
I'm sorry, I completely disagree.
Germany is not one thing, any more than the UK is one thing. It is grossly simplistic and demeaning to cast aside a Democratic country, with the rule of law, as somehow to sale for the highest bidder.
Ultimately, Merkel thought it was a good idea to get on stage with Xi and denounce the US. It was a huge error on their part but also gave us all incredible insight as to where Germany's interests lie. They will deal with the devil to do god's work, and for them god's work is the enrichment of the German state and people. Germany is a nation that will not take any economic hardship to pursue foreign policy goals. We know this. How can we rely on them as an ally when they've already been so unreliable. As long as they can make money and keep Germans employed by selling goods to China we have to count them out and, IMO, the rest of the EU.
Ultimately, every country has been unreliable at one point or another. Ask the White Cossacks if the UK kept their promises.
Germany is a liberal democracy.
Our time would be better spent persuading them their interests lie in being part of the Western alliance, rather than denouncing them.
Our time would be better spent dealing with the nations we can rely on first and laying the first building blocks of what needs to be the 21st century's Cold War.
Germany are not reliable. We don't need to denounce them, nor do we need to prioritise them as a priority either. We need to work without them and work with those we can trust.
If we can persuade Germany to join our side in this then we can do so, but that is not the first or best use of our time.
I'm not quite sure exactly what this "reliability" you seek looks like in concrete terms. What is it you think Germany might do? Renege on sovereign debts? Nationalise British firms trading in Germany? Invade Suriname?
What they could do if reliable:
Stop sharing a stage with Xi? Cancel Nord Stream 2? Contribute to NATO?
Instead they're like the Swiss in WWII. They'll deal with cash but they won't take a side.
NEWS: The Biden administration is willing to consider an “opportunity” to negotiate entry into the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Thursday...
My earlier scepticism may have been unwarranted. The question is can Biden bring along China-sceptic Republicans on board?
If he does bring the US into the TPP (and in turn if the UK joins), then a massive counter-weight to China will have been created.
I think this is the end goal of all these strategic moves that have been playing out since we left the EU and Trump pushed the anti-China rhetoric to the limit.
Both the UK and US inside the CPTPP would drag APAC back towards the west. It would create a trading alliance to dominate the region and markets that can thrive without relying on China.
It must be remembered though that 56% of UK exports still go to the EU, Switzerland and China
You really are showing your remain credentials when the world is moving on
Former French Ambassador to the US seems pretty chilled about the whole thing. Exuding Gallic sangfroid and a sense of "meh"
"“The US has trampled our national interest. What the US has done to our national interest is a hostile act,” he said.
"“What we were doing with the Australians was a strategic choice and this strategic choice has been swept away not only by the Australians but also by the Americans.”
"He said the British involvement was immaterial because they were “poodles of the Americans, as usual”."
Biden has single-handedly taken a wrecking ball to the western alliances. Putin and Xi must wondering why the hell they bothered with that amateur Trump.
Biden has gone up, a lot, in my estimation. He instinctively senses that NATO is over. And it is
Russia is not a strategic threat to the West. It just isn't. Its economy is too small and its people too drunk
They might try another Crimea on the Baltics, but I doubt it. They export virtually nothing but conventional oil, which is increasingly worthless, as energy gets cheaper, because renewables, shale, etc.
Xi Jinping's China, by contrast, is the greatest "threat" the West has faced in a couple of centuries. Worse than Nazi Germany
All that matters is containing her (we cannot "defeat" her). And that means rock-solid alliances with close friends ensuring that we stand together, whatever. That is how you beat bullies
Yes, even though I think his economic policies are turning into a disaster and he is obviously losing his capabilities, when it comes to foreign affairs I have a lot of grudging respect for the fact that Biden has turned out to be so fundamentally ruthless and willing to break the cosy consensus. I’d be interested to see how long Blinken stays around
Yep. I think he is a bit senile, and foolish in some respects, but when it comes to foreign policy he has clear instincts and wise opinions: as to what is in America's interest, and he has a certain heartless brutality in seeing them done. If you want to boss a superpower, I guess that is important
So this will kill 100,000 Afghans? So be it. So this will kill off our relationship with France for 3 years? So be it
Etc. Not pretty, but maybe needed
It won't kill the US-French relationship.
The French are players. They are making massive scene out of this, so that the Americans throw them a bone in some other area.
I'm not so sure that will happen. The Biden administration has continually sidelined Europe. I just don't think they care and don't see any EU country as a potential ally in the looming cold war against China. I wrote out my thoughts just now, the world has realised that the EU is happy to kowtow to China for fear of losing money.
I think you're wrong on this. For a start, I think it would be a catastrophic mistake to cleave the Western European democracies (most of whom don't really want to "kowtow" to China) off from the Anglosphere.
Re the French, I'm thinking more of them getting US support for a French candidate to be next General Secretary of the United Nations, that kind of thing. It's the kind of quid pro quo that the French are very good at getting.
Indeed, especially as Putin is more of a direct threat to us than Xi is and we need French support within NATO for containing Russia.
Jihadi terrorism is also a direct threat to us we need French intelligence cooperation on
The narrative is moving on and I doubt NATO as we know it will be recognisable soon
You simply do not see that the threat is China not Russia, and as far as France is concerned while they will not be in the tripartite agreement, both France and Canada and others will have a role to play in the South China seas
For us into isn't, Putin if he wanted could invade most of Europe tomorrow and probably capture most of it pretty swiftly too.
Only UK and French forces combined and the US troops still based there would really be able to hold him back.
China is on the other side of the world to us and Beiing is more interested in Taiwan than Europe and since the Hong Kong handover we have no territory in the Far East.
Yes we can play a supportive role to the US, Australia, Japan etc there but Xi is not a direct threat to our national security to the extent Putin is, see also Salisbury and the Russian naval manoeuvres around our coast
Christ, hell must have frozen over but I've found myself agreeing with a post by HYUFD.
HYUFD is entirely incorrect, so of course you have.
The best way to reduce China’s dominance would be for the West to make more stuff and have less made in China.
If you want to reduce China's dominance you need more people. One billion Americans (Yglesias wrote a book on the specifics), one billion Europeans, 200 millions Brits.
Really not true. In about 10-20 years, 30 max, the advent of true AI, bots, AR, auto-drones, Alexas, self drive cars, etc etc, will see the triumph of the hi-tech nations over the high-population nations.
So much will be done, and done better, by robots, your basic-dumb-fuck-number population will be near-irrelevant
China's superiority will happen but it will be brief. They surely realise this, hence the quite histrionic reactions now, to rivals caucusing against them
Former French Ambassador to the US seems pretty chilled about the whole thing. Exuding Gallic sangfroid and a sense of "meh"
"“The US has trampled our national interest. What the US has done to our national interest is a hostile act,” he said.
"“What we were doing with the Australians was a strategic choice and this strategic choice has been swept away not only by the Australians but also by the Americans.”
"He said the British involvement was immaterial because they were “poodles of the Americans, as usual”."
Biden has single-handedly taken a wrecking ball to the western alliances. Putin and Xi must wondering why the hell they bothered with that amateur Trump.
Biden has gone up, a lot, in my estimation. He instinctively senses that NATO is over. And it is
Russia is not a strategic threat to the West. It just isn't. Its economy is too small and its people too drunk
They might try another Crimea on the Baltics, but I doubt it. They export virtually nothing but conventional oil, which is increasingly worthless, as energy gets cheaper, because renewables, shale, etc.
Xi Jinping's China, by contrast, is the greatest "threat" the West has faced in a couple of centuries. Worse than Nazi Germany
All that matters is containing her (we cannot "defeat" her). And that means rock-solid alliances with close friends ensuring that we stand together, whatever. That is how you beat bullies
Yes, even though I think his economic policies are turning into a disaster and he is obviously losing his capabilities, when it comes to foreign affairs I have a lot of grudging respect for the fact that Biden has turned out to be so fundamentally ruthless and willing to break the cosy consensus. I’d be interested to see how long Blinken stays around
Yep. I think he is a bit senile, and foolish in some respects, but when it comes to foreign policy he has clear instincts and wise opinions: as to what is in America's interest, and he has a certain heartless brutality in seeing them done. If you want to boss a superpower, I guess that is important
So this will kill 100,000 Afghans? So be it. So this will kill off our relationship with France for 3 years? So be it
Etc. Not pretty, but maybe needed
It won't kill the US-French relationship.
The French are players. They are making massive scene out of this, so that the Americans throw them a bone in some other area.
I'm not so sure that will happen. The Biden administration has continually sidelined Europe. I just don't think they care and don't see any EU country as a potential ally in the looming cold war against China. I wrote out my thoughts just now, the world has realised that the EU is happy to kowtow to China for fear of losing money.
I think you're wrong on this. For a start, I think it would be a catastrophic mistake to cleave the Western European democracies (most of whom don't really want to "kowtow" to China) off from the Anglosphere.
Re the French, I'm thinking more of them getting US support for a French candidate to be next General Secretary of the United Nations, that kind of thing. It's the kind of quid pro quo that the French are very good at getting.
Indeed, especially as Putin is more of a direct threat to us than Xi is and we need French support within NATO for containing Russia.
Jihadi terrorism is also a direct threat to us we need French intelligence cooperation on
The narrative is moving on and I doubt NATO as we know it will be recognisable soon
You simply do not see that the threat is China not Russia, and as far as France is concerned while they will not be in the tripartite agreement, both France and Canada and others will have a role to play in the South China seas
Why should we be fannying around in the South China Sea? I doubt we'd want the Chinese navy steaming up and down the English Channel. This kind of imperial delusion is embarrassing, and will only end in tears like it always does. It's like Suez, or for that matter Iraq, never happened. If we've got money to waste on these stupid dick-waving exercises, how about we pay our nurses properly, or fund education adequately, or don't cut universal credit?
I am afraid that the world is global now and our trading and prosperity will come from the huge markets of the Trans Pacific which in turn will fund our public services in the future
I would just comment that Keir Starmer has pledged his full support as indeed have most EU countries
Even Blackford of all people was generous in his support
Former French Ambassador to the US seems pretty chilled about the whole thing. Exuding Gallic sangfroid and a sense of "meh"
"“The US has trampled our national interest. What the US has done to our national interest is a hostile act,” he said.
"“What we were doing with the Australians was a strategic choice and this strategic choice has been swept away not only by the Australians but also by the Americans.”
"He said the British involvement was immaterial because they were “poodles of the Americans, as usual”."
Biden has single-handedly taken a wrecking ball to the western alliances. Putin and Xi must wondering why the hell they bothered with that amateur Trump.
Biden has gone up, a lot, in my estimation. He instinctively senses that NATO is over. And it is
Russia is not a strategic threat to the West. It just isn't. Its economy is too small and its people too drunk
They might try another Crimea on the Baltics, but I doubt it. They export virtually nothing but conventional oil, which is increasingly worthless, as energy gets cheaper, because renewables, shale, etc.
Xi Jinping's China, by contrast, is the greatest "threat" the West has faced in a couple of centuries. Worse than Nazi Germany
All that matters is containing her (we cannot "defeat" her). And that means rock-solid alliances with close friends ensuring that we stand together, whatever. That is how you beat bullies
Yes, even though I think his economic policies are turning into a disaster and he is obviously losing his capabilities, when it comes to foreign affairs I have a lot of grudging respect for the fact that Biden has turned out to be so fundamentally ruthless and willing to break the cosy consensus. I’d be interested to see how long Blinken stays around
Yep. I think he is a bit senile, and foolish in some respects, but when it comes to foreign policy he has clear instincts and wise opinions: as to what is in America's interest, and he has a certain heartless brutality in seeing them done. If you want to boss a superpower, I guess that is important
So this will kill 100,000 Afghans? So be it. So this will kill off our relationship with France for 3 years? So be it
Etc. Not pretty, but maybe needed
It won't kill the US-French relationship.
The French are players. They are making massive scene out of this, so that the Americans throw them a bone in some other area.
I'm not so sure that will happen. The Biden administration has continually sidelined Europe. I just don't think they care and don't see any EU country as a potential ally in the looming cold war against China. I wrote out my thoughts just now, the world has realised that the EU is happy to kowtow to China for fear of losing money.
I think you're wrong on this. For a start, I think it would be a catastrophic mistake to cleave the Western European democracies (most of whom don't really want to "kowtow" to China) off from the Anglosphere.
Re the French, I'm thinking more of them getting US support for a French candidate to be next General Secretary of the United Nations, that kind of thing. It's the kind of quid pro quo that the French are very good at getting.
Indeed, especially as Putin is more of a direct threat to us than Xi is and we need French support within NATO for containing Russia.
Jihadi terrorism is also a direct threat to us we need French intelligence cooperation on
You need to catch up with the 21st century, Putin is not the threat to us.
Putin is like a spotty 4chan Incel troll in comparison to Xi.
He does have the ability to create mischief, though, and does need to be opposed. In particular, the Russian funding and support for groups that oppose fracking in the UK (to use one example) should be exposed. We cannot allow them to interfere in our democratic systems for their own benefit.
Putin has been quiet for a number of years now when it comes to the West and even the Ukraine. He has issues on the domestic front which are more pressing.
He’s also got issues on the Eastern front with China. That relationship is not as close as some assume.
Russia is a failed state. Its economy and its demographics are atrocious. Putin has coped until now by ramping ever higher proportion of the Russian economy into the military in order to be perceived as strong but he risks it all failing in the same way it failed in the 80s.
Ultimately Russia can't afford to be a power anymore. The country is broken and he's pissing it away and driving wealth out of the nation. If it weren't for certain states in Europe being content to rely upon Russian gas the entire house of cards could come tumbling down.
Russia will collapse again at some point. China is the real threat.
It has to be said that a collapsing country with a large military is almost the definition of a regional threat.
Thank goodness the UK is as strong and stable as ever.
NEWS: The Biden administration is willing to consider an “opportunity” to negotiate entry into the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Thursday...
But what are the rules for deciding who can join? The article vaguely says "Existing members", but is it a majority vote, a weighted majority or unanimity?
EDIT: Unanimity, apparently. Can't see that China has any chance in that case.
Former French Ambassador to the US seems pretty chilled about the whole thing. Exuding Gallic sangfroid and a sense of "meh"
"“The US has trampled our national interest. What the US has done to our national interest is a hostile act,” he said.
"“What we were doing with the Australians was a strategic choice and this strategic choice has been swept away not only by the Australians but also by the Americans.”
"He said the British involvement was immaterial because they were “poodles of the Americans, as usual”."
Biden has single-handedly taken a wrecking ball to the western alliances. Putin and Xi must wondering why the hell they bothered with that amateur Trump.
Biden has gone up, a lot, in my estimation. He instinctively senses that NATO is over. And it is
Russia is not a strategic threat to the West. It just isn't. Its economy is too small and its people too drunk
They might try another Crimea on the Baltics, but I doubt it. They export virtually nothing but conventional oil, which is increasingly worthless, as energy gets cheaper, because renewables, shale, etc.
Xi Jinping's China, by contrast, is the greatest "threat" the West has faced in a couple of centuries. Worse than Nazi Germany
All that matters is containing her (we cannot "defeat" her). And that means rock-solid alliances with close friends ensuring that we stand together, whatever. That is how you beat bullies
Yes, even though I think his economic policies are turning into a disaster and he is obviously losing his capabilities, when it comes to foreign affairs I have a lot of grudging respect for the fact that Biden has turned out to be so fundamentally ruthless and willing to break the cosy consensus. I’d be interested to see how long Blinken stays around
Yep. I think he is a bit senile, and foolish in some respects, but when it comes to foreign policy he has clear instincts and wise opinions: as to what is in America's interest, and he has a certain heartless brutality in seeing them done. If you want to boss a superpower, I guess that is important
So this will kill 100,000 Afghans? So be it. So this will kill off our relationship with France for 3 years? So be it
Etc. Not pretty, but maybe needed
It won't kill the US-French relationship.
The French are players. They are making massive scene out of this, so that the Americans throw them a bone in some other area.
I'm not so sure that will happen. The Biden administration has continually sidelined Europe. I just don't think they care and don't see any EU country as a potential ally in the looming cold war against China. I wrote out my thoughts just now, the world has realised that the EU is happy to kowtow to China for fear of losing money.
I think you're wrong on this. For a start, I think it would be a catastrophic mistake to cleave the Western European democracies (most of whom don't really want to "kowtow" to China) off from the Anglosphere.
Re the French, I'm thinking more of them getting US support for a French candidate to be next General Secretary of the United Nations, that kind of thing. It's the kind of quid pro quo that the French are very good at getting.
Indeed, especially as Putin is more of a direct threat to us than Xi is and we need French support within NATO for containing Russia.
Jihadi terrorism is also a direct threat to us we need French intelligence cooperation on
You need to catch up with the 21st century, Putin is not the threat to us.
Putin is like a spotty 4chan Incel troll in comparison to Xi.
He does have the ability to create mischief, though, and does need to be opposed. In particular, the Russian funding and support for groups that oppose fracking in the UK (to use one example) should be exposed. We cannot allow them to interfere in our democratic systems for their own benefit.
And the funding of a major political party of the UK, shocking that is.
If you take the view Putin wants to create as much mischief for the West by political meddling, the most logical party to support in the U.K. is the SNP as an independent - and non-aligned - Scotland creates massive headaches for NATO.
NEWS: The Biden administration is willing to consider an “opportunity” to negotiate entry into the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Thursday...
My earlier scepticism may have been unwarranted. The question is can Biden bring along China-sceptic Republicans on board?
If he does bring the US into the TPP (and in turn if the UK joins), then a massive counter-weight to China will have been created.
I think this is the end goal of all these strategic moves that have been playing out since we left the EU and Trump pushed the anti-China rhetoric to the limit.
Both the UK and US inside the CPTPP would drag APAC back towards the west. It would create a trading alliance to dominate the region and markets that can thrive without relying on China.
It must be remembered though that 56% of UK exports still go to the EU, Switzerland and China
You really are showing your remain credentials when the world is moving on
This is exactly the "no true Scotsman" fallacy that HYUFD gets (rightly) accused of all the time. His Remain vote does not scratch the point he's making: geography still matters.
Former French Ambassador to the US seems pretty chilled about the whole thing. Exuding Gallic sangfroid and a sense of "meh"
"“The US has trampled our national interest. What the US has done to our national interest is a hostile act,” he said.
"“What we were doing with the Australians was a strategic choice and this strategic choice has been swept away not only by the Australians but also by the Americans.”
"He said the British involvement was immaterial because they were “poodles of the Americans, as usual”."
Biden has single-handedly taken a wrecking ball to the western alliances. Putin and Xi must wondering why the hell they bothered with that amateur Trump.
Biden has gone up, a lot, in my estimation. He instinctively senses that NATO is over. And it is
Russia is not a strategic threat to the West. It just isn't. Its economy is too small and its people too drunk
They might try another Crimea on the Baltics, but I doubt it. They export virtually nothing but conventional oil, which is increasingly worthless, as energy gets cheaper, because renewables, shale, etc.
Xi Jinping's China, by contrast, is the greatest "threat" the West has faced in a couple of centuries. Worse than Nazi Germany
All that matters is containing her (we cannot "defeat" her). And that means rock-solid alliances with close friends ensuring that we stand together, whatever. That is how you beat bullies
Yes, even though I think his economic policies are turning into a disaster and he is obviously losing his capabilities, when it comes to foreign affairs I have a lot of grudging respect for the fact that Biden has turned out to be so fundamentally ruthless and willing to break the cosy consensus. I’d be interested to see how long Blinken stays around
Yep. I think he is a bit senile, and foolish in some respects, but when it comes to foreign policy he has clear instincts and wise opinions: as to what is in America's interest, and he has a certain heartless brutality in seeing them done. If you want to boss a superpower, I guess that is important
So this will kill 100,000 Afghans? So be it. So this will kill off our relationship with France for 3 years? So be it
Etc. Not pretty, but maybe needed
It won't kill the US-French relationship.
The French are players. They are making massive scene out of this, so that the Americans throw them a bone in some other area.
I'm not so sure that will happen. The Biden administration has continually sidelined Europe. I just don't think they care and don't see any EU country as a potential ally in the looming cold war against China. I wrote out my thoughts just now, the world has realised that the EU is happy to kowtow to China for fear of losing money.
I think you're wrong on this. For a start, I think it would be a catastrophic mistake to cleave the Western European democracies (most of whom don't really want to "kowtow" to China) off from the Anglosphere.
Re the French, I'm thinking more of them getting US support for a French candidate to be next General Secretary of the United Nations, that kind of thing. It's the kind of quid pro quo that the French are very good at getting.
Indeed, especially as Putin is more of a direct threat to us than Xi is and we need French support within NATO for containing Russia.
Jihadi terrorism is also a direct threat to us we need French intelligence cooperation on
The narrative is moving on and I doubt NATO as we know it will be recognisable soon
You simply do not see that the threat is China not Russia, and as far as France is concerned while they will not be in the tripartite agreement, both France and Canada and others will have a role to play in the South China seas
For us into isn't, Putin if he wanted could invade most of Europe tomorrow and probably capture most of it pretty swiftly too.
Only UK and French forces combined and the US troops still based there would really be able to hold him back.
China is on the other side of the world to us and Beiing is more interested in Taiwan than Europe and since the Hong Kong handover we have no territory in the Far East.
Yes we can play a supportive role to the US, Australia, Japan etc there but Xi is not a direct threat to our national security to the extent Putin is, see also Salisbury and the Russian naval manoeuvres around our coast
Christ, hell must have frozen over but I've found myself agreeing with a post by HYUFD.
HYUFD is entirely incorrect, so of course you have.
Former French Ambassador to the US seems pretty chilled about the whole thing. Exuding Gallic sangfroid and a sense of "meh"
"“The US has trampled our national interest. What the US has done to our national interest is a hostile act,” he said.
"“What we were doing with the Australians was a strategic choice and this strategic choice has been swept away not only by the Australians but also by the Americans.”
"He said the British involvement was immaterial because they were “poodles of the Americans, as usual”."
Biden has single-handedly taken a wrecking ball to the western alliances. Putin and Xi must wondering why the hell they bothered with that amateur Trump.
Biden has gone up, a lot, in my estimation. He instinctively senses that NATO is over. And it is
Russia is not a strategic threat to the West. It just isn't. Its economy is too small and its people too drunk
They might try another Crimea on the Baltics, but I doubt it. They export virtually nothing but conventional oil, which is increasingly worthless, as energy gets cheaper, because renewables, shale, etc.
Xi Jinping's China, by contrast, is the greatest "threat" the West has faced in a couple of centuries. Worse than Nazi Germany
All that matters is containing her (we cannot "defeat" her). And that means rock-solid alliances with close friends ensuring that we stand together, whatever. That is how you beat bullies
Yes, even though I think his economic policies are turning into a disaster and he is obviously losing his capabilities, when it comes to foreign affairs I have a lot of grudging respect for the fact that Biden has turned out to be so fundamentally ruthless and willing to break the cosy consensus. I’d be interested to see how long Blinken stays around
Yep. I think he is a bit senile, and foolish in some respects, but when it comes to foreign policy he has clear instincts and wise opinions: as to what is in America's interest, and he has a certain heartless brutality in seeing them done. If you want to boss a superpower, I guess that is important
So this will kill 100,000 Afghans? So be it. So this will kill off our relationship with France for 3 years? So be it
Etc. Not pretty, but maybe needed
It won't kill the US-French relationship.
The French are players. They are making massive scene out of this, so that the Americans throw them a bone in some other area.
I'm not so sure that will happen. The Biden administration has continually sidelined Europe. I just don't think they care and don't see any EU country as a potential ally in the looming cold war against China. I wrote out my thoughts just now, the world has realised that the EU is happy to kowtow to China for fear of losing money.
I think you're wrong on this. For a start, I think it would be a catastrophic mistake to cleave the Western European democracies (most of whom don't really want to "kowtow" to China) off from the Anglosphere.
Re the French, I'm thinking more of them getting US support for a French candidate to be next General Secretary of the United Nations, that kind of thing. It's the kind of quid pro quo that the French are very good at getting.
Indeed, especially as Putin is more of a direct threat to us than Xi is and we need French support within NATO for containing Russia.
Jihadi terrorism is also a direct threat to us we need French intelligence cooperation on
The narrative is moving on and I doubt NATO as we know it will be recognisable soon
You simply do not see that the threat is China not Russia, and as far as France is concerned while they will not be in the tripartite agreement, both France and Canada and others will have a role to play in the South China seas
Why should we be fannying around in the South China Sea? I doubt we'd want the Chinese navy steaming up and down the English Channel. This kind of imperial delusion is embarrassing, and will only end in tears like it always does. It's like Suez, or for that matter Iraq, never happened. If we've got money to waste on these stupid dick-waving exercises, how about we pay our nurses properly, or fund education adequately, or don't cut universal credit?
Because the South China Sea matters for our own economy and the entire global trading system and does not belong to China. The English Channel is our territorial waters.
We aren't messing around in Chinese waters but we sure as hell need to ensure that international waters through which our 21st century trading system is built upon is kept free and open for all to use.
If Taiwan falls and the microchips they export are seized by China and blocked from export our entire economic system could collapse. Then we couldn't pay a fraction of what we pay now to our nurses, or teachers, or welfare.
Former French Ambassador to the US seems pretty chilled about the whole thing. Exuding Gallic sangfroid and a sense of "meh"
"“The US has trampled our national interest. What the US has done to our national interest is a hostile act,” he said.
"“What we were doing with the Australians was a strategic choice and this strategic choice has been swept away not only by the Australians but also by the Americans.”
"He said the British involvement was immaterial because they were “poodles of the Americans, as usual”."
Biden has single-handedly taken a wrecking ball to the western alliances. Putin and Xi must wondering why the hell they bothered with that amateur Trump.
Biden has gone up, a lot, in my estimation. He instinctively senses that NATO is over. And it is
Russia is not a strategic threat to the West. It just isn't. Its economy is too small and its people too drunk
They might try another Crimea on the Baltics, but I doubt it. They export virtually nothing but conventional oil, which is increasingly worthless, as energy gets cheaper, because renewables, shale, etc.
Xi Jinping's China, by contrast, is the greatest "threat" the West has faced in a couple of centuries. Worse than Nazi Germany
All that matters is containing her (we cannot "defeat" her). And that means rock-solid alliances with close friends ensuring that we stand together, whatever. That is how you beat bullies
Yes, even though I think his economic policies are turning into a disaster and he is obviously losing his capabilities, when it comes to foreign affairs I have a lot of grudging respect for the fact that Biden has turned out to be so fundamentally ruthless and willing to break the cosy consensus. I’d be interested to see how long Blinken stays around
Yep. I think he is a bit senile, and foolish in some respects, but when it comes to foreign policy he has clear instincts and wise opinions: as to what is in America's interest, and he has a certain heartless brutality in seeing them done. If you want to boss a superpower, I guess that is important
So this will kill 100,000 Afghans? So be it. So this will kill off our relationship with France for 3 years? So be it
Etc. Not pretty, but maybe needed
It won't kill the US-French relationship.
The French are players. They are making massive scene out of this, so that the Americans throw them a bone in some other area.
I'm not so sure that will happen. The Biden administration has continually sidelined Europe. I just don't think they care and don't see any EU country as a potential ally in the looming cold war against China. I wrote out my thoughts just now, the world has realised that the EU is happy to kowtow to China for fear of losing money.
I think you're wrong on this. For a start, I think it would be a catastrophic mistake to cleave the Western European democracies (most of whom don't really want to "kowtow" to China) off from the Anglosphere.
Re the French, I'm thinking more of them getting US support for a French candidate to be next General Secretary of the United Nations, that kind of thing. It's the kind of quid pro quo that the French are very good at getting.
Indeed, especially as Putin is more of a direct threat to us than Xi is and we need French support within NATO for containing Russia.
Jihadi terrorism is also a direct threat to us we need French intelligence cooperation on
The narrative is moving on and I doubt NATO as we know it will be recognisable soon
You simply do not see that the threat is China not Russia, and as far as France is concerned while they will not be in the tripartite agreement, both France and Canada and others will have a role to play in the South China seas
Why should we be fannying around in the South China Sea? I doubt we'd want the Chinese navy steaming up and down the English Channel. This kind of imperial delusion is embarrassing, and will only end in tears like it always does. It's like Suez, or for that matter Iraq, never happened. If we've got money to waste on these stupid dick-waving exercises, how about we pay our nurses properly, or fund education adequately, or don't cut universal credit?
I am afraid that the world is global now and our trading and prosperity will come from the huge markets of the Trans Pacific which in turn will fund our public services in the future
I would just comment that Keir Starmer has pledged his full support as indeed have most EU countries
Even Blackford of all people was generous in his support
I am all for trading with Asia, just against declaring war on them.
Former French Ambassador to the US seems pretty chilled about the whole thing. Exuding Gallic sangfroid and a sense of "meh"
"“The US has trampled our national interest. What the US has done to our national interest is a hostile act,” he said.
"“What we were doing with the Australians was a strategic choice and this strategic choice has been swept away not only by the Australians but also by the Americans.”
"He said the British involvement was immaterial because they were “poodles of the Americans, as usual”."
Biden has single-handedly taken a wrecking ball to the western alliances. Putin and Xi must wondering why the hell they bothered with that amateur Trump.
Biden has gone up, a lot, in my estimation. He instinctively senses that NATO is over. And it is
Russia is not a strategic threat to the West. It just isn't. Its economy is too small and its people too drunk
They might try another Crimea on the Baltics, but I doubt it. They export virtually nothing but conventional oil, which is increasingly worthless, as energy gets cheaper, because renewables, shale, etc.
Xi Jinping's China, by contrast, is the greatest "threat" the West has faced in a couple of centuries. Worse than Nazi Germany
All that matters is containing her (we cannot "defeat" her). And that means rock-solid alliances with close friends ensuring that we stand together, whatever. That is how you beat bullies
Yes, even though I think his economic policies are turning into a disaster and he is obviously losing his capabilities, when it comes to foreign affairs I have a lot of grudging respect for the fact that Biden has turned out to be so fundamentally ruthless and willing to break the cosy consensus. I’d be interested to see how long Blinken stays around
Yep. I think he is a bit senile, and foolish in some respects, but when it comes to foreign policy he has clear instincts and wise opinions: as to what is in America's interest, and he has a certain heartless brutality in seeing them done. If you want to boss a superpower, I guess that is important
So this will kill 100,000 Afghans? So be it. So this will kill off our relationship with France for 3 years? So be it
Etc. Not pretty, but maybe needed
It won't kill the US-French relationship.
The French are players. They are making massive scene out of this, so that the Americans throw them a bone in some other area.
I'm not so sure that will happen. The Biden administration has continually sidelined Europe. I just don't think they care and don't see any EU country as a potential ally in the looming cold war against China. I wrote out my thoughts just now, the world has realised that the EU is happy to kowtow to China for fear of losing money.
I think you're wrong on this. For a start, I think it would be a catastrophic mistake to cleave the Western European democracies (most of whom don't really want to "kowtow" to China) off from the Anglosphere.
Re the French, I'm thinking more of them getting US support for a French candidate to be next General Secretary of the United Nations, that kind of thing. It's the kind of quid pro quo that the French are very good at getting.
Indeed, especially as Putin is more of a direct threat to us than Xi is and we need French support within NATO for containing Russia.
Jihadi terrorism is also a direct threat to us we need French intelligence cooperation on
You need to catch up with the 21st century, Putin is not the threat to us.
Putin is like a spotty 4chan Incel troll in comparison to Xi.
He does have the ability to create mischief, though, and does need to be opposed. In particular, the Russian funding and support for groups that oppose fracking in the UK (to use one example) should be exposed. We cannot allow them to interfere in our democratic systems for their own benefit.
And the funding of a major political party of the UK, shocking that is.
If you take the view Putin wants to create as much mischief for the West by political meddling, the most logical party to support in the U.K. is the SNP as an independent - and non-aligned - Scotland creates massive headaches for NATO.
Just saying.
Not quite. An effective tactic, that is still being deployed, is to bolster two opposing sides. The SNP and the Conservatives, for example. The more bitter the infighting, the more likely it is people turn away from democratic means to solving their disputes. Strategically Putin would certainly like to see Scotland independent, but bitter division is a bigger goal.
Former French Ambassador to the US seems pretty chilled about the whole thing. Exuding Gallic sangfroid and a sense of "meh"
"“The US has trampled our national interest. What the US has done to our national interest is a hostile act,” he said.
"“What we were doing with the Australians was a strategic choice and this strategic choice has been swept away not only by the Australians but also by the Americans.”
"He said the British involvement was immaterial because they were “poodles of the Americans, as usual”."
Biden has single-handedly taken a wrecking ball to the western alliances. Putin and Xi must wondering why the hell they bothered with that amateur Trump.
Biden has gone up, a lot, in my estimation. He instinctively senses that NATO is over. And it is
Russia is not a strategic threat to the West. It just isn't. Its economy is too small and its people too drunk
They might try another Crimea on the Baltics, but I doubt it. They export virtually nothing but conventional oil, which is increasingly worthless, as energy gets cheaper, because renewables, shale, etc.
Xi Jinping's China, by contrast, is the greatest "threat" the West has faced in a couple of centuries. Worse than Nazi Germany
All that matters is containing her (we cannot "defeat" her). And that means rock-solid alliances with close friends ensuring that we stand together, whatever. That is how you beat bullies
Yes, even though I think his economic policies are turning into a disaster and he is obviously losing his capabilities, when it comes to foreign affairs I have a lot of grudging respect for the fact that Biden has turned out to be so fundamentally ruthless and willing to break the cosy consensus. I’d be interested to see how long Blinken stays around
Yep. I think he is a bit senile, and foolish in some respects, but when it comes to foreign policy he has clear instincts and wise opinions: as to what is in America's interest, and he has a certain heartless brutality in seeing them done. If you want to boss a superpower, I guess that is important
So this will kill 100,000 Afghans? So be it. So this will kill off our relationship with France for 3 years? So be it
Etc. Not pretty, but maybe needed
It won't kill the US-French relationship.
The French are players. They are making massive scene out of this, so that the Americans throw them a bone in some other area.
I'm not so sure that will happen. The Biden administration has continually sidelined Europe. I just don't think they care and don't see any EU country as a potential ally in the looming cold war against China. I wrote out my thoughts just now, the world has realised that the EU is happy to kowtow to China for fear of losing money.
I think you're wrong on this. For a start, I think it would be a catastrophic mistake to cleave the Western European democracies (most of whom don't really want to "kowtow" to China) off from the Anglosphere.
Re the French, I'm thinking more of them getting US support for a French candidate to be next General Secretary of the United Nations, that kind of thing. It's the kind of quid pro quo that the French are very good at getting.
Indeed, especially as Putin is more of a direct threat to us than Xi is and we need French support within NATO for containing Russia.
Jihadi terrorism is also a direct threat to us we need French intelligence cooperation on
The narrative is moving on and I doubt NATO as we know it will be recognisable soon
You simply do not see that the threat is China not Russia, and as far as France is concerned while they will not be in the tripartite agreement, both France and Canada and others will have a role to play in the South China seas
Why should we be fannying around in the South China Sea? I doubt we'd want the Chinese navy steaming up and down the English Channel. This kind of imperial delusion is embarrassing, and will only end in tears like it always does. It's like Suez, or for that matter Iraq, never happened. If we've got money to waste on these stupid dick-waving exercises, how about we pay our nurses properly, or fund education adequately, or don't cut universal credit?
I am afraid that the world is global now and our trading and prosperity will come from the huge markets of the Trans Pacific which in turn will fund our public services in the future
I would just comment that Keir Starmer has pledged his full support as indeed have most EU countries
Even Blackford of all people was generous in his support
I am all for trading with Asia, just against declaring war on them.
Nobody is proposing to declare war.
But keeping the peace and ensuring our trading partners and allies are able to stay free and to trade freely with us is very much in our own economic and geopolitical interest.
Former French Ambassador to the US seems pretty chilled about the whole thing. Exuding Gallic sangfroid and a sense of "meh"
"“The US has trampled our national interest. What the US has done to our national interest is a hostile act,” he said.
"“What we were doing with the Australians was a strategic choice and this strategic choice has been swept away not only by the Australians but also by the Americans.”
"He said the British involvement was immaterial because they were “poodles of the Americans, as usual”."
Biden has single-handedly taken a wrecking ball to the western alliances. Putin and Xi must wondering why the hell they bothered with that amateur Trump.
Biden has gone up, a lot, in my estimation. He instinctively senses that NATO is over. And it is
Russia is not a strategic threat to the West. It just isn't. Its economy is too small and its people too drunk
They might try another Crimea on the Baltics, but I doubt it. They export virtually nothing but conventional oil, which is increasingly worthless, as energy gets cheaper, because renewables, shale, etc.
Xi Jinping's China, by contrast, is the greatest "threat" the West has faced in a couple of centuries. Worse than Nazi Germany
All that matters is containing her (we cannot "defeat" her). And that means rock-solid alliances with close friends ensuring that we stand together, whatever. That is how you beat bullies
Yes, even though I think his economic policies are turning into a disaster and he is obviously losing his capabilities, when it comes to foreign affairs I have a lot of grudging respect for the fact that Biden has turned out to be so fundamentally ruthless and willing to break the cosy consensus. I’d be interested to see how long Blinken stays around
Yep. I think he is a bit senile, and foolish in some respects, but when it comes to foreign policy he has clear instincts and wise opinions: as to what is in America's interest, and he has a certain heartless brutality in seeing them done. If you want to boss a superpower, I guess that is important
So this will kill 100,000 Afghans? So be it. So this will kill off our relationship with France for 3 years? So be it
Etc. Not pretty, but maybe needed
It won't kill the US-French relationship.
The French are players. They are making massive scene out of this, so that the Americans throw them a bone in some other area.
I'm not so sure that will happen. The Biden administration has continually sidelined Europe. I just don't think they care and don't see any EU country as a potential ally in the looming cold war against China. I wrote out my thoughts just now, the world has realised that the EU is happy to kowtow to China for fear of losing money.
I think you're wrong on this. For a start, I think it would be a catastrophic mistake to cleave the Western European democracies (most of whom don't really want to "kowtow" to China) off from the Anglosphere.
Re the French, I'm thinking more of them getting US support for a French candidate to be next General Secretary of the United Nations, that kind of thing. It's the kind of quid pro quo that the French are very good at getting.
Indeed, especially as Putin is more of a direct threat to us than Xi is and we need French support within NATO for containing Russia.
Jihadi terrorism is also a direct threat to us we need French intelligence cooperation on
You need to catch up with the 21st century, Putin is not the threat to us.
Putin is like a spotty 4chan Incel troll in comparison to Xi.
He does have the ability to create mischief, though, and does need to be opposed. In particular, the Russian funding and support for groups that oppose fracking in the UK (to use one example) should be exposed. We cannot allow them to interfere in our democratic systems for their own benefit.
Putin has been quiet for a number of years now when it comes to the West and even the Ukraine. He has issues on the domestic front which are more pressing.
He’s also got issues on the Eastern front with China. That relationship is not as close as some assume.
Russia is a failed state. Its economy and its demographics are atrocious. Putin has coped until now by ramping ever higher proportion of the Russian economy into the military in order to be perceived as strong but he risks it all failing in the same way it failed in the 80s.
Ultimately Russia can't afford to be a power anymore. The country is broken and he's pissing it away and driving wealth out of the nation. If it weren't for certain states in Europe being content to rely upon Russian gas the entire house of cards could come tumbling down.
Russia will collapse again at some point. China is the real threat.
It’s a bit anti-consensual but I suspect the Russian arms build up (and some of their weaponry is impressive) is really aimed at China, and not the West. I think Putin know the days of trying to bully Eastern Europe and the Baltics are gone. If I was Russia, my bigger strategic concern would be the under populated East and the fact that China covets its resources.
NEWS: The Biden administration is willing to consider an “opportunity” to negotiate entry into the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Thursday...
My earlier scepticism may have been unwarranted. The question is can Biden bring along China-sceptic Republicans on board?
If he does bring the US into the TPP (and in turn if the UK joins), then a massive counter-weight to China will have been created.
I think this is the end goal of all these strategic moves that have been playing out since we left the EU and Trump pushed the anti-China rhetoric to the limit.
Both the UK and US inside the CPTPP would drag APAC back towards the west. It would create a trading alliance to dominate the region and markets that can thrive without relying on China.
It must be remembered though that 56% of UK exports still go to the EU, Switzerland and China
You really are showing your remain credentials when the world is moving on
Hang on, didn't you vote Remain too Big_G?
Yes but I have supported Brexit since the referendum
Furthermore I have travelling extensively in the Trans Pacific including Australia, NZ, Japan, South Korea, the South China Sea, and China and that is where the global trade of the future is going to happen
As has been said, tonight's announcement that the US is to open talks with the Trans Pacifuc trade area as well as UK will see in due course a huge trading block to compete directly with China
The best way to reduce China’s dominance would be for the West to make more stuff and have less made in China.
If you want to reduce China's dominance you need more people. One billion Americans (Yglesias wrote a book on the specifics), one billion Europeans, 200 millions Brits.
Really not true. In about 10-20 years, 30 max, the advent of true AI, bots, AR, auto-drones, Alexas, self drive cars, etc etc, will see the triumph of the hi-tech nations over the high-population nations.
So much will be done, and done better, by robots, your basic-dumb-fuck-number population will be near-irrelevant
China's superiority will happen but it will be brief. They surely realise this, hence the quite histrionic reactions now, to rivals caucusing against them
People have been saying 10 or 20 years ever since I was born. It was a big theme in my Dad's old Eagle annuals from the fifties too. And the tech we have now was unimaginable to even their wildest flights of fancy. Yet here we are. Labour shortage.
Former French Ambassador to the US seems pretty chilled about the whole thing. Exuding Gallic sangfroid and a sense of "meh"
"“The US has trampled our national interest. What the US has done to our national interest is a hostile act,” he said.
"“What we were doing with the Australians was a strategic choice and this strategic choice has been swept away not only by the Australians but also by the Americans.”
"He said the British involvement was immaterial because they were “poodles of the Americans, as usual”."
Biden has single-handedly taken a wrecking ball to the western alliances. Putin and Xi must wondering why the hell they bothered with that amateur Trump.
Biden has gone up, a lot, in my estimation. He instinctively senses that NATO is over. And it is
Russia is not a strategic threat to the West. It just isn't. Its economy is too small and its people too drunk
They might try another Crimea on the Baltics, but I doubt it. They export virtually nothing but conventional oil, which is increasingly worthless, as energy gets cheaper, because renewables, shale, etc.
Xi Jinping's China, by contrast, is the greatest "threat" the West has faced in a couple of centuries. Worse than Nazi Germany
All that matters is containing her (we cannot "defeat" her). And that means rock-solid alliances with close friends ensuring that we stand together, whatever. That is how you beat bullies
Yes, even though I think his economic policies are turning into a disaster and he is obviously losing his capabilities, when it comes to foreign affairs I have a lot of grudging respect for the fact that Biden has turned out to be so fundamentally ruthless and willing to break the cosy consensus. I’d be interested to see how long Blinken stays around
Yep. I think he is a bit senile, and foolish in some respects, but when it comes to foreign policy he has clear instincts and wise opinions: as to what is in America's interest, and he has a certain heartless brutality in seeing them done. If you want to boss a superpower, I guess that is important
So this will kill 100,000 Afghans? So be it. So this will kill off our relationship with France for 3 years? So be it
Etc. Not pretty, but maybe needed
It won't kill the US-French relationship.
The French are players. They are making massive scene out of this, so that the Americans throw them a bone in some other area.
I'm not so sure that will happen. The Biden administration has continually sidelined Europe. I just don't think they care and don't see any EU country as a potential ally in the looming cold war against China. I wrote out my thoughts just now, the world has realised that the EU is happy to kowtow to China for fear of losing money.
I think you're wrong on this. For a start, I think it would be a catastrophic mistake to cleave the Western European democracies (most of whom don't really want to "kowtow" to China) off from the Anglosphere.
Re the French, I'm thinking more of them getting US support for a French candidate to be next General Secretary of the United Nations, that kind of thing. It's the kind of quid pro quo that the French are very good at getting.
Indeed, especially as Putin is more of a direct threat to us than Xi is and we need French support within NATO for containing Russia.
Jihadi terrorism is also a direct threat to us we need French intelligence cooperation on
The narrative is moving on and I doubt NATO as we know it will be recognisable soon
You simply do not see that the threat is China not Russia, and as far as France is concerned while they will not be in the tripartite agreement, both France and Canada and others will have a role to play in the South China seas
Why should we be fannying around in the South China Sea? I doubt we'd want the Chinese navy steaming up and down the English Channel. This kind of imperial delusion is embarrassing, and will only end in tears like it always does. It's like Suez, or for that matter Iraq, never happened. If we've got money to waste on these stupid dick-waving exercises, how about we pay our nurses properly, or fund education adequately, or don't cut universal credit?
Because we're sticking two fingers up at the Frogs and Krauts, and pretending to have influence over the US. It's the Iraq War all over again.
Former French Ambassador to the US seems pretty chilled about the whole thing. Exuding Gallic sangfroid and a sense of "meh"
"“The US has trampled our national interest. What the US has done to our national interest is a hostile act,” he said.
"“What we were doing with the Australians was a strategic choice and this strategic choice has been swept away not only by the Australians but also by the Americans.”
"He said the British involvement was immaterial because they were “poodles of the Americans, as usual”."
Biden has single-handedly taken a wrecking ball to the western alliances. Putin and Xi must wondering why the hell they bothered with that amateur Trump.
Biden has gone up, a lot, in my estimation. He instinctively senses that NATO is over. And it is
Russia is not a strategic threat to the West. It just isn't. Its economy is too small and its people too drunk
They might try another Crimea on the Baltics, but I doubt it. They export virtually nothing but conventional oil, which is increasingly worthless, as energy gets cheaper, because renewables, shale, etc.
Xi Jinping's China, by contrast, is the greatest "threat" the West has faced in a couple of centuries. Worse than Nazi Germany
All that matters is containing her (we cannot "defeat" her). And that means rock-solid alliances with close friends ensuring that we stand together, whatever. That is how you beat bullies
Yes, even though I think his economic policies are turning into a disaster and he is obviously losing his capabilities, when it comes to foreign affairs I have a lot of grudging respect for the fact that Biden has turned out to be so fundamentally ruthless and willing to break the cosy consensus. I’d be interested to see how long Blinken stays around
Yep. I think he is a bit senile, and foolish in some respects, but when it comes to foreign policy he has clear instincts and wise opinions: as to what is in America's interest, and he has a certain heartless brutality in seeing them done. If you want to boss a superpower, I guess that is important
So this will kill 100,000 Afghans? So be it. So this will kill off our relationship with France for 3 years? So be it
Etc. Not pretty, but maybe needed
It won't kill the US-French relationship.
The French are players. They are making massive scene out of this, so that the Americans throw them a bone in some other area.
I'm not so sure that will happen. The Biden administration has continually sidelined Europe. I just don't think they care and don't see any EU country as a potential ally in the looming cold war against China. I wrote out my thoughts just now, the world has realised that the EU is happy to kowtow to China for fear of losing money.
I think you're wrong on this. For a start, I think it would be a catastrophic mistake to cleave the Western European democracies (most of whom don't really want to "kowtow" to China) off from the Anglosphere.
Re the French, I'm thinking more of them getting US support for a French candidate to be next General Secretary of the United Nations, that kind of thing. It's the kind of quid pro quo that the French are very good at getting.
Indeed, especially as Putin is more of a direct threat to us than Xi is and we need French support within NATO for containing Russia.
Jihadi terrorism is also a direct threat to us we need French intelligence cooperation on
The narrative is moving on and I doubt NATO as we know it will be recognisable soon
You simply do not see that the threat is China not Russia, and as far as France is concerned while they will not be in the tripartite agreement, both France and Canada and others will have a role to play in the South China seas
Why should we be fannying around in the South China Sea? I doubt we'd want the Chinese navy steaming up and down the English Channel. This kind of imperial delusion is embarrassing, and will only end in tears like it always does. It's like Suez, or for that matter Iraq, never happened. If we've got money to waste on these stupid dick-waving exercises, how about we pay our nurses properly, or fund education adequately, or don't cut universal credit?
Because the South China Sea matters for our own economy and the entire global trading system and does not belong to China. The English Channel is our territorial waters.
We aren't messing around in Chinese waters but we sure as hell need to ensure that international waters through which our 21st century trading system is built upon is kept free and open for all to use.
If Taiwan falls and the microchips they export are seized by China and blocked from export our entire economic system could collapse. Then we couldn't pay a fraction of what we pay now to our nurses, or teachers, or welfare.
Are you going to sign up then so you can do your duty and defend Taiwan? Why would China want to collapse the global economy, which they rely on far more than we do?
Former French Ambassador to the US seems pretty chilled about the whole thing. Exuding Gallic sangfroid and a sense of "meh"
"“The US has trampled our national interest. What the US has done to our national interest is a hostile act,” he said.
"“What we were doing with the Australians was a strategic choice and this strategic choice has been swept away not only by the Australians but also by the Americans.”
"He said the British involvement was immaterial because they were “poodles of the Americans, as usual”."
Biden has single-handedly taken a wrecking ball to the western alliances. Putin and Xi must wondering why the hell they bothered with that amateur Trump.
Biden has gone up, a lot, in my estimation. He instinctively senses that NATO is over. And it is
Russia is not a strategic threat to the West. It just isn't. Its economy is too small and its people too drunk
They might try another Crimea on the Baltics, but I doubt it. They export virtually nothing but conventional oil, which is increasingly worthless, as energy gets cheaper, because renewables, shale, etc.
Xi Jinping's China, by contrast, is the greatest "threat" the West has faced in a couple of centuries. Worse than Nazi Germany
All that matters is containing her (we cannot "defeat" her). And that means rock-solid alliances with close friends ensuring that we stand together, whatever. That is how you beat bullies
Yes, even though I think his economic policies are turning into a disaster and he is obviously losing his capabilities, when it comes to foreign affairs I have a lot of grudging respect for the fact that Biden has turned out to be so fundamentally ruthless and willing to break the cosy consensus. I’d be interested to see how long Blinken stays around
Yep. I think he is a bit senile, and foolish in some respects, but when it comes to foreign policy he has clear instincts and wise opinions: as to what is in America's interest, and he has a certain heartless brutality in seeing them done. If you want to boss a superpower, I guess that is important
So this will kill 100,000 Afghans? So be it. So this will kill off our relationship with France for 3 years? So be it
Etc. Not pretty, but maybe needed
It won't kill the US-French relationship.
The French are players. They are making massive scene out of this, so that the Americans throw them a bone in some other area.
I'm not so sure that will happen. The Biden administration has continually sidelined Europe. I just don't think they care and don't see any EU country as a potential ally in the looming cold war against China. I wrote out my thoughts just now, the world has realised that the EU is happy to kowtow to China for fear of losing money.
I think you're wrong on this. For a start, I think it would be a catastrophic mistake to cleave the Western European democracies (most of whom don't really want to "kowtow" to China) off from the Anglosphere.
Re the French, I'm thinking more of them getting US support for a French candidate to be next General Secretary of the United Nations, that kind of thing. It's the kind of quid pro quo that the French are very good at getting.
Indeed, especially as Putin is more of a direct threat to us than Xi is and we need French support within NATO for containing Russia.
Jihadi terrorism is also a direct threat to us we need French intelligence cooperation on
The narrative is moving on and I doubt NATO as we know it will be recognisable soon
You simply do not see that the threat is China not Russia, and as far as France is concerned while they will not be in the tripartite agreement, both France and Canada and others will have a role to play in the South China seas
Why should we be fannying around in the South China Sea? I doubt we'd want the Chinese navy steaming up and down the English Channel. This kind of imperial delusion is embarrassing, and will only end in tears like it always does. It's like Suez, or for that matter Iraq, never happened. If we've got money to waste on these stupid dick-waving exercises, how about we pay our nurses properly, or fund education adequately, or don't cut universal credit?
I am afraid that the world is global now and our trading and prosperity will come from the huge markets of the Trans Pacific which in turn will fund our public services in the future
I would just comment that Keir Starmer has pledged his full support as indeed have most EU countries
Even Blackford of all people was generous in his support
I am all for trading with Asia, just against declaring war on them.
We are not declaring war on anyone but ensuring all the trans pacific can go about their trade without constant threat from China
NEWS: The Biden administration is willing to consider an “opportunity” to negotiate entry into the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Thursday...
My earlier scepticism may have been unwarranted. The question is can Biden bring along China-sceptic Republicans on board?
If he does bring the US into the TPP (and in turn if the UK joins), then a massive counter-weight to China will have been created.
I think this is the end goal of all these strategic moves that have been playing out since we left the EU and Trump pushed the anti-China rhetoric to the limit.
Both the UK and US inside the CPTPP would drag APAC back towards the west. It would create a trading alliance to dominate the region and markets that can thrive without relying on China.
It must be remembered though that 56% of UK exports still go to the EU, Switzerland and China
You really are showing your remain credentials when the world is moving on
Geography has not really moved on from when I voted Remain, we are a European and Atlantic state, not an East Asian or Oceanic state.
The most important trading relationships we have still are with the EU and then the US, Asian nations are less than a third of our export destinations and the largest of those is China
And this is your failed Remainer logic showing.
Geography wasn't relevant in 2016 and its showing to be even less relevant now. Geography doesn't need to move on, technology has. Technology moved on decades ago in fact and it means that cash, goods or even missiles can rapidly cross the globe.
It makes no difference to us as a major, developed, global economy whether a threat to our peace and stability is in Europe, or Asia, or the Americas. There is no isolation that a few extra thousand miles grants when data can travel that distance in microseconds and goods, people and missiles within hours.
Former French Ambassador to the US seems pretty chilled about the whole thing. Exuding Gallic sangfroid and a sense of "meh"
"“The US has trampled our national interest. What the US has done to our national interest is a hostile act,” he said.
"“What we were doing with the Australians was a strategic choice and this strategic choice has been swept away not only by the Australians but also by the Americans.”
"He said the British involvement was immaterial because they were “poodles of the Americans, as usual”."
Biden has single-handedly taken a wrecking ball to the western alliances. Putin and Xi must wondering why the hell they bothered with that amateur Trump.
Biden has gone up, a lot, in my estimation. He instinctively senses that NATO is over. And it is
Russia is not a strategic threat to the West. It just isn't. Its economy is too small and its people too drunk
They might try another Crimea on the Baltics, but I doubt it. They export virtually nothing but conventional oil, which is increasingly worthless, as energy gets cheaper, because renewables, shale, etc.
Xi Jinping's China, by contrast, is the greatest "threat" the West has faced in a couple of centuries. Worse than Nazi Germany
All that matters is containing her (we cannot "defeat" her). And that means rock-solid alliances with close friends ensuring that we stand together, whatever. That is how you beat bullies
Yes, even though I think his economic policies are turning into a disaster and he is obviously losing his capabilities, when it comes to foreign affairs I have a lot of grudging respect for the fact that Biden has turned out to be so fundamentally ruthless and willing to break the cosy consensus. I’d be interested to see how long Blinken stays around
Yep. I think he is a bit senile, and foolish in some respects, but when it comes to foreign policy he has clear instincts and wise opinions: as to what is in America's interest, and he has a certain heartless brutality in seeing them done. If you want to boss a superpower, I guess that is important
So this will kill 100,000 Afghans? So be it. So this will kill off our relationship with France for 3 years? So be it
Etc. Not pretty, but maybe needed
It won't kill the US-French relationship.
The French are players. They are making massive scene out of this, so that the Americans throw them a bone in some other area.
I'm not so sure that will happen. The Biden administration has continually sidelined Europe. I just don't think they care and don't see any EU country as a potential ally in the looming cold war against China. I wrote out my thoughts just now, the world has realised that the EU is happy to kowtow to China for fear of losing money.
I think you're wrong on this. For a start, I think it would be a catastrophic mistake to cleave the Western European democracies (most of whom don't really want to "kowtow" to China) off from the Anglosphere.
Re the French, I'm thinking more of them getting US support for a French candidate to be next General Secretary of the United Nations, that kind of thing. It's the kind of quid pro quo that the French are very good at getting.
Indeed, especially as Putin is more of a direct threat to us than Xi is and we need French support within NATO for containing Russia.
Jihadi terrorism is also a direct threat to us we need French intelligence cooperation on
You need to catch up with the 21st century, Putin is not the threat to us.
Putin is like a spotty 4chan Incel troll in comparison to Xi.
He does have the ability to create mischief, though, and does need to be opposed. In particular, the Russian funding and support for groups that oppose fracking in the UK (to use one example) should be exposed. We cannot allow them to interfere in our democratic systems for their own benefit.
And the funding of a major political party of the UK, shocking that is.
If you take the view Putin wants to create as much mischief for the West by political meddling, the most logical party to support in the U.K. is the SNP as an independent - and non-aligned - Scotland creates massive headaches for NATO.
Just saying.
Not quite. An effective tactic, that is still being deployed, is to bolster two opposing sides. The SNP and the Conservatives, for example. The more bitter the infighting, the more likely it is people turn away from democratic means to solving their disputes. Strategically Putin would certainly like to see Scotland independent, but bitter division is a bigger goal.
Yes, but the Scottish-rUK is not really that problematic - it’s not causing riots, major political problems etc. It’s entirely manageable.
What is a big problem though is if Scotland tells the U.K. that it’s nuclear subs must leave and refuses to allow NATO planes to use its air bases. That leaves a major gap in NATO defences.
Former French Ambassador to the US seems pretty chilled about the whole thing. Exuding Gallic sangfroid and a sense of "meh"
"“The US has trampled our national interest. What the US has done to our national interest is a hostile act,” he said.
"“What we were doing with the Australians was a strategic choice and this strategic choice has been swept away not only by the Australians but also by the Americans.”
"He said the British involvement was immaterial because they were “poodles of the Americans, as usual”."
Biden has single-handedly taken a wrecking ball to the western alliances. Putin and Xi must wondering why the hell they bothered with that amateur Trump.
Biden has gone up, a lot, in my estimation. He instinctively senses that NATO is over. And it is
Russia is not a strategic threat to the West. It just isn't. Its economy is too small and its people too drunk
They might try another Crimea on the Baltics, but I doubt it. They export virtually nothing but conventional oil, which is increasingly worthless, as energy gets cheaper, because renewables, shale, etc.
Xi Jinping's China, by contrast, is the greatest "threat" the West has faced in a couple of centuries. Worse than Nazi Germany
All that matters is containing her (we cannot "defeat" her). And that means rock-solid alliances with close friends ensuring that we stand together, whatever. That is how you beat bullies
Yes, even though I think his economic policies are turning into a disaster and he is obviously losing his capabilities, when it comes to foreign affairs I have a lot of grudging respect for the fact that Biden has turned out to be so fundamentally ruthless and willing to break the cosy consensus. I’d be interested to see how long Blinken stays around
Yep. I think he is a bit senile, and foolish in some respects, but when it comes to foreign policy he has clear instincts and wise opinions: as to what is in America's interest, and he has a certain heartless brutality in seeing them done. If you want to boss a superpower, I guess that is important
So this will kill 100,000 Afghans? So be it. So this will kill off our relationship with France for 3 years? So be it
Etc. Not pretty, but maybe needed
It won't kill the US-French relationship.
The French are players. They are making massive scene out of this, so that the Americans throw them a bone in some other area.
I'm not so sure that will happen. The Biden administration has continually sidelined Europe. I just don't think they care and don't see any EU country as a potential ally in the looming cold war against China. I wrote out my thoughts just now, the world has realised that the EU is happy to kowtow to China for fear of losing money.
I think you're wrong on this. For a start, I think it would be a catastrophic mistake to cleave the Western European democracies (most of whom don't really want to "kowtow" to China) off from the Anglosphere.
Re the French, I'm thinking more of them getting US support for a French candidate to be next General Secretary of the United Nations, that kind of thing. It's the kind of quid pro quo that the French are very good at getting.
Indeed, especially as Putin is more of a direct threat to us than Xi is and we need French support within NATO for containing Russia.
Jihadi terrorism is also a direct threat to us we need French intelligence cooperation on
You need to catch up with the 21st century, Putin is not the threat to us.
Putin is like a spotty 4chan Incel troll in comparison to Xi.
He does have the ability to create mischief, though, and does need to be opposed. In particular, the Russian funding and support for groups that oppose fracking in the UK (to use one example) should be exposed. We cannot allow them to interfere in our democratic systems for their own benefit.
Putin has been quiet for a number of years now when it comes to the West and even the Ukraine. He has issues on the domestic front which are more pressing.
He’s also got issues on the Eastern front with China. That relationship is not as close as some assume.
Russia is a failed state. Its economy and its demographics are atrocious. Putin has coped until now by ramping ever higher proportion of the Russian economy into the military in order to be perceived as strong but he risks it all failing in the same way it failed in the 80s.
Ultimately Russia can't afford to be a power anymore. The country is broken and he's pissing it away and driving wealth out of the nation. If it weren't for certain states in Europe being content to rely upon Russian gas the entire house of cards could come tumbling down.
Russia will collapse again at some point. China is the real threat.
It has to be said that a collapsing country with a large military is almost the definition of a regional threat.
Thank goodness the UK is as strong and stable as ever.
Not what I was referring to, and, of course you exaggerate to good effect. But I take the serious point at the core of what you said: we also have the potential to pose a threat to our friends and neighbours. We've been lurching around fairly chaotically lately but mainly just making some other countries dislike us slightly. We're a way off becoming a failed state.
Former French Ambassador to the US seems pretty chilled about the whole thing. Exuding Gallic sangfroid and a sense of "meh"
"“The US has trampled our national interest. What the US has done to our national interest is a hostile act,” he said.
"“What we were doing with the Australians was a strategic choice and this strategic choice has been swept away not only by the Australians but also by the Americans.”
"He said the British involvement was immaterial because they were “poodles of the Americans, as usual”."
Biden has single-handedly taken a wrecking ball to the western alliances. Putin and Xi must wondering why the hell they bothered with that amateur Trump.
Biden has gone up, a lot, in my estimation. He instinctively senses that NATO is over. And it is
Russia is not a strategic threat to the West. It just isn't. Its economy is too small and its people too drunk
They might try another Crimea on the Baltics, but I doubt it. They export virtually nothing but conventional oil, which is increasingly worthless, as energy gets cheaper, because renewables, shale, etc.
Xi Jinping's China, by contrast, is the greatest "threat" the West has faced in a couple of centuries. Worse than Nazi Germany
All that matters is containing her (we cannot "defeat" her). And that means rock-solid alliances with close friends ensuring that we stand together, whatever. That is how you beat bullies
Yes, even though I think his economic policies are turning into a disaster and he is obviously losing his capabilities, when it comes to foreign affairs I have a lot of grudging respect for the fact that Biden has turned out to be so fundamentally ruthless and willing to break the cosy consensus. I’d be interested to see how long Blinken stays around
Yep. I think he is a bit senile, and foolish in some respects, but when it comes to foreign policy he has clear instincts and wise opinions: as to what is in America's interest, and he has a certain heartless brutality in seeing them done. If you want to boss a superpower, I guess that is important
So this will kill 100,000 Afghans? So be it. So this will kill off our relationship with France for 3 years? So be it
Etc. Not pretty, but maybe needed
It won't kill the US-French relationship.
The French are players. They are making massive scene out of this, so that the Americans throw them a bone in some other area.
I'm not so sure that will happen. The Biden administration has continually sidelined Europe. I just don't think they care and don't see any EU country as a potential ally in the looming cold war against China. I wrote out my thoughts just now, the world has realised that the EU is happy to kowtow to China for fear of losing money.
I think you're wrong on this. For a start, I think it would be a catastrophic mistake to cleave the Western European democracies (most of whom don't really want to "kowtow" to China) off from the Anglosphere.
Re the French, I'm thinking more of them getting US support for a French candidate to be next General Secretary of the United Nations, that kind of thing. It's the kind of quid pro quo that the French are very good at getting.
Indeed, especially as Putin is more of a direct threat to us than Xi is and we need French support within NATO for containing Russia.
Jihadi terrorism is also a direct threat to us we need French intelligence cooperation on
The narrative is moving on and I doubt NATO as we know it will be recognisable soon
You simply do not see that the threat is China not Russia, and as far as France is concerned while they will not be in the tripartite agreement, both France and Canada and others will have a role to play in the South China seas
Why should we be fannying around in the South China Sea? I doubt we'd want the Chinese navy steaming up and down the English Channel. This kind of imperial delusion is embarrassing, and will only end in tears like it always does. It's like Suez, or for that matter Iraq, never happened. If we've got money to waste on these stupid dick-waving exercises, how about we pay our nurses properly, or fund education adequately, or don't cut universal credit?
Because the South China Sea matters for our own economy and the entire global trading system and does not belong to China. The English Channel is our territorial waters.
We aren't messing around in Chinese waters but we sure as hell need to ensure that international waters through which our 21st century trading system is built upon is kept free and open for all to use.
If Taiwan falls and the microchips they export are seized by China and blocked from export our entire economic system could collapse. Then we couldn't pay a fraction of what we pay now to our nurses, or teachers, or welfare.
Are you going to sign up then so you can do your duty and defend Taiwan? Why would China want to collapse the global economy, which they rely on far more than we do?
No need to sign up since if we do this right there will be no actual fighting. That's the point of a Cold War in fact, to avoid the actual fighting. Containment works better through deterrence than through conflict and we and our allies have professionals to do that much better than you or I ever could.
China is a paranoid Communist dictatorship that has been flexing its muscles not a liberal free market democracy. Forgive me if I won't put my faith in China's goodwill.
Former French Ambassador to the US seems pretty chilled about the whole thing. Exuding Gallic sangfroid and a sense of "meh"
"“The US has trampled our national interest. What the US has done to our national interest is a hostile act,” he said.
"“What we were doing with the Australians was a strategic choice and this strategic choice has been swept away not only by the Australians but also by the Americans.”
"He said the British involvement was immaterial because they were “poodles of the Americans, as usual”."
Biden has single-handedly taken a wrecking ball to the western alliances. Putin and Xi must wondering why the hell they bothered with that amateur Trump.
Biden has gone up, a lot, in my estimation. He instinctively senses that NATO is over. And it is
Russia is not a strategic threat to the West. It just isn't. Its economy is too small and its people too drunk
They might try another Crimea on the Baltics, but I doubt it. They export virtually nothing but conventional oil, which is increasingly worthless, as energy gets cheaper, because renewables, shale, etc.
Xi Jinping's China, by contrast, is the greatest "threat" the West has faced in a couple of centuries. Worse than Nazi Germany
All that matters is containing her (we cannot "defeat" her). And that means rock-solid alliances with close friends ensuring that we stand together, whatever. That is how you beat bullies
Yes, even though I think his economic policies are turning into a disaster and he is obviously losing his capabilities, when it comes to foreign affairs I have a lot of grudging respect for the fact that Biden has turned out to be so fundamentally ruthless and willing to break the cosy consensus. I’d be interested to see how long Blinken stays around
Yep. I think he is a bit senile, and foolish in some respects, but when it comes to foreign policy he has clear instincts and wise opinions: as to what is in America's interest, and he has a certain heartless brutality in seeing them done. If you want to boss a superpower, I guess that is important
So this will kill 100,000 Afghans? So be it. So this will kill off our relationship with France for 3 years? So be it
Etc. Not pretty, but maybe needed
It won't kill the US-French relationship.
The French are players. They are making massive scene out of this, so that the Americans throw them a bone in some other area.
I'm not so sure that will happen. The Biden administration has continually sidelined Europe. I just don't think they care and don't see any EU country as a potential ally in the looming cold war against China. I wrote out my thoughts just now, the world has realised that the EU is happy to kowtow to China for fear of losing money.
I think you're wrong on this. For a start, I think it would be a catastrophic mistake to cleave the Western European democracies (most of whom don't really want to "kowtow" to China) off from the Anglosphere.
Re the French, I'm thinking more of them getting US support for a French candidate to be next General Secretary of the United Nations, that kind of thing. It's the kind of quid pro quo that the French are very good at getting.
Indeed, especially as Putin is more of a direct threat to us than Xi is and we need French support within NATO for containing Russia.
Jihadi terrorism is also a direct threat to us we need French intelligence cooperation on
You need to catch up with the 21st century, Putin is not the threat to us.
Putin is like a spotty 4chan Incel troll in comparison to Xi.
He does have the ability to create mischief, though, and does need to be opposed. In particular, the Russian funding and support for groups that oppose fracking in the UK (to use one example) should be exposed. We cannot allow them to interfere in our democratic systems for their own benefit.
And the funding of a major political party of the UK, shocking that is.
If you take the view Putin wants to create as much mischief for the West by political meddling, the most logical party to support in the U.K. is the SNP as an independent - and non-aligned - Scotland creates massive headaches for NATO.
Just saying.
Not quite. An effective tactic, that is still being deployed, is to bolster two opposing sides. The SNP and the Conservatives, for example. The more bitter the infighting, the more likely it is people turn away from democratic means to solving their disputes. Strategically Putin would certainly like to see Scotland independent, but bitter division is a bigger goal.
Yes, but the Scottish-rUK is not really that problematic - it’s not causing riots, major political problems etc. It’s entirely manageable.
What is a big problem though is if Scotland tells the U.K. that it’s nuclear subs must leave and refuses to allow NATO planes to use its air bases. That leaves a major gap in NATO defences.
I don't agree about the subs. The location of Trident's base is fairly unimportant to its use as deterrence. What matters on that front is that they are somewhere unknown whilst at sea. It would be a minor tactical adjustment to move them somewhere else.
Former French Ambassador to the US seems pretty chilled about the whole thing. Exuding Gallic sangfroid and a sense of "meh"
"“The US has trampled our national interest. What the US has done to our national interest is a hostile act,” he said.
"“What we were doing with the Australians was a strategic choice and this strategic choice has been swept away not only by the Australians but also by the Americans.”
"He said the British involvement was immaterial because they were “poodles of the Americans, as usual”."
Biden has single-handedly taken a wrecking ball to the western alliances. Putin and Xi must wondering why the hell they bothered with that amateur Trump.
Biden has gone up, a lot, in my estimation. He instinctively senses that NATO is over. And it is
Russia is not a strategic threat to the West. It just isn't. Its economy is too small and its people too drunk
They might try another Crimea on the Baltics, but I doubt it. They export virtually nothing but conventional oil, which is increasingly worthless, as energy gets cheaper, because renewables, shale, etc.
Xi Jinping's China, by contrast, is the greatest "threat" the West has faced in a couple of centuries. Worse than Nazi Germany
All that matters is containing her (we cannot "defeat" her). And that means rock-solid alliances with close friends ensuring that we stand together, whatever. That is how you beat bullies
Yes, even though I think his economic policies are turning into a disaster and he is obviously losing his capabilities, when it comes to foreign affairs I have a lot of grudging respect for the fact that Biden has turned out to be so fundamentally ruthless and willing to break the cosy consensus. I’d be interested to see how long Blinken stays around
Yep. I think he is a bit senile, and foolish in some respects, but when it comes to foreign policy he has clear instincts and wise opinions: as to what is in America's interest, and he has a certain heartless brutality in seeing them done. If you want to boss a superpower, I guess that is important
So this will kill 100,000 Afghans? So be it. So this will kill off our relationship with France for 3 years? So be it
Etc. Not pretty, but maybe needed
It won't kill the US-French relationship.
The French are players. They are making massive scene out of this, so that the Americans throw them a bone in some other area.
I'm not so sure that will happen. The Biden administration has continually sidelined Europe. I just don't think they care and don't see any EU country as a potential ally in the looming cold war against China. I wrote out my thoughts just now, the world has realised that the EU is happy to kowtow to China for fear of losing money.
I think you're wrong on this. For a start, I think it would be a catastrophic mistake to cleave the Western European democracies (most of whom don't really want to "kowtow" to China) off from the Anglosphere.
Re the French, I'm thinking more of them getting US support for a French candidate to be next General Secretary of the United Nations, that kind of thing. It's the kind of quid pro quo that the French are very good at getting.
Indeed, especially as Putin is more of a direct threat to us than Xi is and we need French support within NATO for containing Russia.
Jihadi terrorism is also a direct threat to us we need French intelligence cooperation on
The narrative is moving on and I doubt NATO as we know it will be recognisable soon
You simply do not see that the threat is China not Russia, and as far as France is concerned while they will not be in the tripartite agreement, both France and Canada and others will have a role to play in the South China seas
Why should we be fannying around in the South China Sea? I doubt we'd want the Chinese navy steaming up and down the English Channel. This kind of imperial delusion is embarrassing, and will only end in tears like it always does. It's like Suez, or for that matter Iraq, never happened. If we've got money to waste on these stupid dick-waving exercises, how about we pay our nurses properly, or fund education adequately, or don't cut universal credit?
Because we're sticking two fingers up at the Frogs and Krauts, and predending to have influence over the US. It's the Iraq War all over again.
Exactly so. Whatever challenge there is to China, Britain will play only a token role in it compared to the US. And if there is a challenge, as we've just seen in Iraq and Afghanistan, Britain will have no say in the key miliitary decisions whatsoever. It's essentially subordination in return for the illusion of power.
All this is entirely different to the role that the UK could exert as an equal, or even a first among equals, in any European military structure, of course, but the tory establishment have been happy with this subordinate, and underneath it all, in fact rather humiliating role for more than sixty years now, so there we are,
Former French Ambassador to the US seems pretty chilled about the whole thing. Exuding Gallic sangfroid and a sense of "meh"
"“The US has trampled our national interest. What the US has done to our national interest is a hostile act,” he said.
"“What we were doing with the Australians was a strategic choice and this strategic choice has been swept away not only by the Australians but also by the Americans.”
"He said the British involvement was immaterial because they were “poodles of the Americans, as usual”."
Biden has single-handedly taken a wrecking ball to the western alliances. Putin and Xi must wondering why the hell they bothered with that amateur Trump.
Biden has gone up, a lot, in my estimation. He instinctively senses that NATO is over. And it is
Russia is not a strategic threat to the West. It just isn't. Its economy is too small and its people too drunk
They might try another Crimea on the Baltics, but I doubt it. They export virtually nothing but conventional oil, which is increasingly worthless, as energy gets cheaper, because renewables, shale, etc.
Xi Jinping's China, by contrast, is the greatest "threat" the West has faced in a couple of centuries. Worse than Nazi Germany
All that matters is containing her (we cannot "defeat" her). And that means rock-solid alliances with close friends ensuring that we stand together, whatever. That is how you beat bullies
Yes, even though I think his economic policies are turning into a disaster and he is obviously losing his capabilities, when it comes to foreign affairs I have a lot of grudging respect for the fact that Biden has turned out to be so fundamentally ruthless and willing to break the cosy consensus. I’d be interested to see how long Blinken stays around
Yep. I think he is a bit senile, and foolish in some respects, but when it comes to foreign policy he has clear instincts and wise opinions: as to what is in America's interest, and he has a certain heartless brutality in seeing them done. If you want to boss a superpower, I guess that is important
So this will kill 100,000 Afghans? So be it. So this will kill off our relationship with France for 3 years? So be it
Etc. Not pretty, but maybe needed
It won't kill the US-French relationship.
The French are players. They are making massive scene out of this, so that the Americans throw them a bone in some other area.
I'm not so sure that will happen. The Biden administration has continually sidelined Europe. I just don't think they care and don't see any EU country as a potential ally in the looming cold war against China. I wrote out my thoughts just now, the world has realised that the EU is happy to kowtow to China for fear of losing money.
I think you're wrong on this. For a start, I think it would be a catastrophic mistake to cleave the Western European democracies (most of whom don't really want to "kowtow" to China) off from the Anglosphere.
Re the French, I'm thinking more of them getting US support for a French candidate to be next General Secretary of the United Nations, that kind of thing. It's the kind of quid pro quo that the French are very good at getting.
Indeed, especially as Putin is more of a direct threat to us than Xi is and we need French support within NATO for containing Russia.
Jihadi terrorism is also a direct threat to us we need French intelligence cooperation on
The narrative is moving on and I doubt NATO as we know it will be recognisable soon
You simply do not see that the threat is China not Russia, and as far as France is concerned while they will not be in the tripartite agreement, both France and Canada and others will have a role to play in the South China seas
Why should we be fannying around in the South China Sea? I doubt we'd want the Chinese navy steaming up and down the English Channel. This kind of imperial delusion is embarrassing, and will only end in tears like it always does. It's like Suez, or for that matter Iraq, never happened. If we've got money to waste on these stupid dick-waving exercises, how about we pay our nurses properly, or fund education adequately, or don't cut universal credit?
I am afraid that the world is global now and our trading and prosperity will come from the huge markets of the Trans Pacific which in turn will fund our public services in the future
I would just comment that Keir Starmer has pledged his full support as indeed have most EU countries
Even Blackford of all people was generous in his support
I am all for trading with Asia, just against declaring war on them.
We are not declaring war on anyone but ensuring all the trans pacific can go about their trade without constant threat from China
Is there anyone on here cockahoop about our gunboat diplomacy in the Pacific who wasn't also enthusiastically waving the flag in 2003? It's all such jingoistic nonsense, it's incredible how easy it is to find suckers ready and willing to get duped all over again.
Former French Ambassador to the US seems pretty chilled about the whole thing. Exuding Gallic sangfroid and a sense of "meh"
"“The US has trampled our national interest. What the US has done to our national interest is a hostile act,” he said.
"“What we were doing with the Australians was a strategic choice and this strategic choice has been swept away not only by the Australians but also by the Americans.”
"He said the British involvement was immaterial because they were “poodles of the Americans, as usual”."
Biden has single-handedly taken a wrecking ball to the western alliances. Putin and Xi must wondering why the hell they bothered with that amateur Trump.
Biden has gone up, a lot, in my estimation. He instinctively senses that NATO is over. And it is
Russia is not a strategic threat to the West. It just isn't. Its economy is too small and its people too drunk
They might try another Crimea on the Baltics, but I doubt it. They export virtually nothing but conventional oil, which is increasingly worthless, as energy gets cheaper, because renewables, shale, etc.
Xi Jinping's China, by contrast, is the greatest "threat" the West has faced in a couple of centuries. Worse than Nazi Germany
All that matters is containing her (we cannot "defeat" her). And that means rock-solid alliances with close friends ensuring that we stand together, whatever. That is how you beat bullies
Yes, even though I think his economic policies are turning into a disaster and he is obviously losing his capabilities, when it comes to foreign affairs I have a lot of grudging respect for the fact that Biden has turned out to be so fundamentally ruthless and willing to break the cosy consensus. I’d be interested to see how long Blinken stays around
Yep. I think he is a bit senile, and foolish in some respects, but when it comes to foreign policy he has clear instincts and wise opinions: as to what is in America's interest, and he has a certain heartless brutality in seeing them done. If you want to boss a superpower, I guess that is important
So this will kill 100,000 Afghans? So be it. So this will kill off our relationship with France for 3 years? So be it
Etc. Not pretty, but maybe needed
It won't kill the US-French relationship.
The French are players. They are making massive scene out of this, so that the Americans throw them a bone in some other area.
I'm not so sure that will happen. The Biden administration has continually sidelined Europe. I just don't think they care and don't see any EU country as a potential ally in the looming cold war against China. I wrote out my thoughts just now, the world has realised that the EU is happy to kowtow to China for fear of losing money.
I think you're wrong on this. For a start, I think it would be a catastrophic mistake to cleave the Western European democracies (most of whom don't really want to "kowtow" to China) off from the Anglosphere.
Re the French, I'm thinking more of them getting US support for a French candidate to be next General Secretary of the United Nations, that kind of thing. It's the kind of quid pro quo that the French are very good at getting.
Indeed, especially as Putin is more of a direct threat to us than Xi is and we need French support within NATO for containing Russia.
Jihadi terrorism is also a direct threat to us we need French intelligence cooperation on
You need to catch up with the 21st century, Putin is not the threat to us.
Putin is like a spotty 4chan Incel troll in comparison to Xi.
He does have the ability to create mischief, though, and does need to be opposed. In particular, the Russian funding and support for groups that oppose fracking in the UK (to use one example) should be exposed. We cannot allow them to interfere in our democratic systems for their own benefit.
Putin has been quiet for a number of years now when it comes to the West and even the Ukraine. He has issues on the domestic front which are more pressing.
He’s also got issues on the Eastern front with China. That relationship is not as close as some assume.
Russia is a failed state. Its economy and its demographics are atrocious. Putin has coped until now by ramping ever higher proportion of the Russian economy into the military in order to be perceived as strong but he risks it all failing in the same way it failed in the 80s.
Ultimately Russia can't afford to be a power anymore. The country is broken and he's pissing it away and driving wealth out of the nation. If it weren't for certain states in Europe being content to rely upon Russian gas the entire house of cards could come tumbling down.
Russia will collapse again at some point. China is the real threat.
It’s a bit anti-consensual but I suspect the Russian arms build up (and some of their weaponry is impressive) is really aimed at China, and not the West. I think Putin know the days of trying to bully Eastern Europe and the Baltics are gone. If I was Russia, my bigger strategic concern would be the under populated East and the fact that China covets its resources.
On this I can completely agree with you.
Hence another reason why Russia is no more than a meddling troll with us. Putin is far too far under Xi's shadow now to expose himself with a serious conflict with the West. Grabbing bits of Crimea to clean up his borders in his eyes when he knows Europe won't defend that is a different matter to actually fighting with the West.
Former French Ambassador to the US seems pretty chilled about the whole thing. Exuding Gallic sangfroid and a sense of "meh"
"“The US has trampled our national interest. What the US has done to our national interest is a hostile act,” he said.
"“What we were doing with the Australians was a strategic choice and this strategic choice has been swept away not only by the Australians but also by the Americans.”
"He said the British involvement was immaterial because they were “poodles of the Americans, as usual”."
Biden has single-handedly taken a wrecking ball to the western alliances. Putin and Xi must wondering why the hell they bothered with that amateur Trump.
Biden has gone up, a lot, in my estimation. He instinctively senses that NATO is over. And it is
Russia is not a strategic threat to the West. It just isn't. Its economy is too small and its people too drunk
They might try another Crimea on the Baltics, but I doubt it. They export virtually nothing but conventional oil, which is increasingly worthless, as energy gets cheaper, because renewables, shale, etc.
Xi Jinping's China, by contrast, is the greatest "threat" the West has faced in a couple of centuries. Worse than Nazi Germany
All that matters is containing her (we cannot "defeat" her). And that means rock-solid alliances with close friends ensuring that we stand together, whatever. That is how you beat bullies
Yes, even though I think his economic policies are turning into a disaster and he is obviously losing his capabilities, when it comes to foreign affairs I have a lot of grudging respect for the fact that Biden has turned out to be so fundamentally ruthless and willing to break the cosy consensus. I’d be interested to see how long Blinken stays around
Yep. I think he is a bit senile, and foolish in some respects, but when it comes to foreign policy he has clear instincts and wise opinions: as to what is in America's interest, and he has a certain heartless brutality in seeing them done. If you want to boss a superpower, I guess that is important
So this will kill 100,000 Afghans? So be it. So this will kill off our relationship with France for 3 years? So be it
Etc. Not pretty, but maybe needed
It won't kill the US-French relationship.
The French are players. They are making massive scene out of this, so that the Americans throw them a bone in some other area.
I'm not so sure that will happen. The Biden administration has continually sidelined Europe. I just don't think they care and don't see any EU country as a potential ally in the looming cold war against China. I wrote out my thoughts just now, the world has realised that the EU is happy to kowtow to China for fear of losing money.
I think you're wrong on this. For a start, I think it would be a catastrophic mistake to cleave the Western European democracies (most of whom don't really want to "kowtow" to China) off from the Anglosphere.
Re the French, I'm thinking more of them getting US support for a French candidate to be next General Secretary of the United Nations, that kind of thing. It's the kind of quid pro quo that the French are very good at getting.
Indeed, especially as Putin is more of a direct threat to us than Xi is and we need French support within NATO for containing Russia.
Jihadi terrorism is also a direct threat to us we need French intelligence cooperation on
The narrative is moving on and I doubt NATO as we know it will be recognisable soon
You simply do not see that the threat is China not Russia, and as far as France is concerned while they will not be in the tripartite agreement, both France and Canada and others will have a role to play in the South China seas
Why should we be fannying around in the South China Sea? I doubt we'd want the Chinese navy steaming up and down the English Channel. This kind of imperial delusion is embarrassing, and will only end in tears like it always does. It's like Suez, or for that matter Iraq, never happened. If we've got money to waste on these stupid dick-waving exercises, how about we pay our nurses properly, or fund education adequately, or don't cut universal credit?
I am afraid that the world is global now and our trading and prosperity will come from the huge markets of the Trans Pacific which in turn will fund our public services in the future
I would just comment that Keir Starmer has pledged his full support as indeed have most EU countries
Even Blackford of all people was generous in his support
I am all for trading with Asia, just against declaring war on them.
We are not declaring war on anyone but ensuring all the trans pacific can go about their trade without constant threat from China
With respect. How does our joining ensure that? Specifically? Sorry to be over cynical about this.
Former French Ambassador to the US seems pretty chilled about the whole thing. Exuding Gallic sangfroid and a sense of "meh"
"“The US has trampled our national interest. What the US has done to our national interest is a hostile act,” he said.
"“What we were doing with the Australians was a strategic choice and this strategic choice has been swept away not only by the Australians but also by the Americans.”
"He said the British involvement was immaterial because they were “poodles of the Americans, as usual”."
Biden has single-handedly taken a wrecking ball to the western alliances. Putin and Xi must wondering why the hell they bothered with that amateur Trump.
Biden has gone up, a lot, in my estimation. He instinctively senses that NATO is over. And it is
Russia is not a strategic threat to the West. It just isn't. Its economy is too small and its people too drunk
They might try another Crimea on the Baltics, but I doubt it. They export virtually nothing but conventional oil, which is increasingly worthless, as energy gets cheaper, because renewables, shale, etc.
Xi Jinping's China, by contrast, is the greatest "threat" the West has faced in a couple of centuries. Worse than Nazi Germany
All that matters is containing her (we cannot "defeat" her). And that means rock-solid alliances with close friends ensuring that we stand together, whatever. That is how you beat bullies
Yes, even though I think his economic policies are turning into a disaster and he is obviously losing his capabilities, when it comes to foreign affairs I have a lot of grudging respect for the fact that Biden has turned out to be so fundamentally ruthless and willing to break the cosy consensus. I’d be interested to see how long Blinken stays around
Yep. I think he is a bit senile, and foolish in some respects, but when it comes to foreign policy he has clear instincts and wise opinions: as to what is in America's interest, and he has a certain heartless brutality in seeing them done. If you want to boss a superpower, I guess that is important
So this will kill 100,000 Afghans? So be it. So this will kill off our relationship with France for 3 years? So be it
Etc. Not pretty, but maybe needed
It won't kill the US-French relationship.
The French are players. They are making massive scene out of this, so that the Americans throw them a bone in some other area.
I'm not so sure that will happen. The Biden administration has continually sidelined Europe. I just don't think they care and don't see any EU country as a potential ally in the looming cold war against China. I wrote out my thoughts just now, the world has realised that the EU is happy to kowtow to China for fear of losing money.
I think you're wrong on this. For a start, I think it would be a catastrophic mistake to cleave the Western European democracies (most of whom don't really want to "kowtow" to China) off from the Anglosphere.
Re the French, I'm thinking more of them getting US support for a French candidate to be next General Secretary of the United Nations, that kind of thing. It's the kind of quid pro quo that the French are very good at getting.
Indeed, especially as Putin is more of a direct threat to us than Xi is and we need French support within NATO for containing Russia.
Jihadi terrorism is also a direct threat to us we need French intelligence cooperation on
The narrative is moving on and I doubt NATO as we know it will be recognisable soon
You simply do not see that the threat is China not Russia, and as far as France is concerned while they will not be in the tripartite agreement, both France and Canada and others will have a role to play in the South China seas
Why should we be fannying around in the South China Sea? I doubt we'd want the Chinese navy steaming up and down the English Channel. This kind of imperial delusion is embarrassing, and will only end in tears like it always does. It's like Suez, or for that matter Iraq, never happened. If we've got money to waste on these stupid dick-waving exercises, how about we pay our nurses properly, or fund education adequately, or don't cut universal credit?
I am afraid that the world is global now and our trading and prosperity will come from the huge markets of the Trans Pacific which in turn will fund our public services in the future
I would just comment that Keir Starmer has pledged his full support as indeed have most EU countries
Even Blackford of all people was generous in his support
I am all for trading with Asia, just against declaring war on them.
We are not declaring war on anyone but ensuring all the trans pacific can go about their trade without constant threat from China
Is there anyone on here cockahoop about our gunboat diplomacy in the Pacific who wasn't also enthusiastically waving the flag in 2003? It's all such jingoistic nonsense, it's incredible how easy it is to find suckers ready and willing to get duped all over again.
Well seems the HoC and most of the EU together with the Trans Pacific including Japan, India, South Korea and other are fully in support of this new tripartite military agreement
Former French Ambassador to the US seems pretty chilled about the whole thing. Exuding Gallic sangfroid and a sense of "meh"
"“The US has trampled our national interest. What the US has done to our national interest is a hostile act,” he said.
"“What we were doing with the Australians was a strategic choice and this strategic choice has been swept away not only by the Australians but also by the Americans.”
"He said the British involvement was immaterial because they were “poodles of the Americans, as usual”."
Biden has single-handedly taken a wrecking ball to the western alliances. Putin and Xi must wondering why the hell they bothered with that amateur Trump.
Biden has gone up, a lot, in my estimation. He instinctively senses that NATO is over. And it is
Russia is not a strategic threat to the West. It just isn't. Its economy is too small and its people too drunk
They might try another Crimea on the Baltics, but I doubt it. They export virtually nothing but conventional oil, which is increasingly worthless, as energy gets cheaper, because renewables, shale, etc.
Xi Jinping's China, by contrast, is the greatest "threat" the West has faced in a couple of centuries. Worse than Nazi Germany
All that matters is containing her (we cannot "defeat" her). And that means rock-solid alliances with close friends ensuring that we stand together, whatever. That is how you beat bullies
Yes, even though I think his economic policies are turning into a disaster and he is obviously losing his capabilities, when it comes to foreign affairs I have a lot of grudging respect for the fact that Biden has turned out to be so fundamentally ruthless and willing to break the cosy consensus. I’d be interested to see how long Blinken stays around
Yep. I think he is a bit senile, and foolish in some respects, but when it comes to foreign policy he has clear instincts and wise opinions: as to what is in America's interest, and he has a certain heartless brutality in seeing them done. If you want to boss a superpower, I guess that is important
So this will kill 100,000 Afghans? So be it. So this will kill off our relationship with France for 3 years? So be it
Etc. Not pretty, but maybe needed
It won't kill the US-French relationship.
The French are players. They are making massive scene out of this, so that the Americans throw them a bone in some other area.
I'm not so sure that will happen. The Biden administration has continually sidelined Europe. I just don't think they care and don't see any EU country as a potential ally in the looming cold war against China. I wrote out my thoughts just now, the world has realised that the EU is happy to kowtow to China for fear of losing money.
I think you're wrong on this. For a start, I think it would be a catastrophic mistake to cleave the Western European democracies (most of whom don't really want to "kowtow" to China) off from the Anglosphere.
Re the French, I'm thinking more of them getting US support for a French candidate to be next General Secretary of the United Nations, that kind of thing. It's the kind of quid pro quo that the French are very good at getting.
Indeed, especially as Putin is more of a direct threat to us than Xi is and we need French support within NATO for containing Russia.
Jihadi terrorism is also a direct threat to us we need French intelligence cooperation on
The narrative is moving on and I doubt NATO as we know it will be recognisable soon
You simply do not see that the threat is China not Russia, and as far as France is concerned while they will not be in the tripartite agreement, both France and Canada and others will have a role to play in the South China seas
Why should we be fannying around in the South China Sea? I doubt we'd want the Chinese navy steaming up and down the English Channel. This kind of imperial delusion is embarrassing, and will only end in tears like it always does. It's like Suez, or for that matter Iraq, never happened. If we've got money to waste on these stupid dick-waving exercises, how about we pay our nurses properly, or fund education adequately, or don't cut universal credit?
Because we're sticking two fingers up at the Frogs and Krauts, and predending to have influence over the US. It's the Iraq War all over again.
Exactly so. Whatever challenge there is to China, Britain will play only a token role in it compared to the US. And if there is a challenge, as we've just seen n Iraq and Afghanistan, Britain will have no say in the key miliitary decisions. It's essentially subordination in return for the illusion of power.
All this is entirely different to the rule that the UK could exert as an equal, or even a first among equals in any European military structure, ofcourse, but the tory establishment have been happy with this subordinate, and underneath it all, in fact rather humiliating role for more than sixty years now, so there we are,
I would rather Britain plays a subordinate role in defending the free world, than an "equal partner" (where outside the Euro we were never equal) in arguing about the seating arrangement of who gets to sit in the fancy chair this week.
Former French Ambassador to the US seems pretty chilled about the whole thing. Exuding Gallic sangfroid and a sense of "meh"
"“The US has trampled our national interest. What the US has done to our national interest is a hostile act,” he said.
"“What we were doing with the Australians was a strategic choice and this strategic choice has been swept away not only by the Australians but also by the Americans.”
"He said the British involvement was immaterial because they were “poodles of the Americans, as usual”."
Biden has single-handedly taken a wrecking ball to the western alliances. Putin and Xi must wondering why the hell they bothered with that amateur Trump.
Biden has gone up, a lot, in my estimation. He instinctively senses that NATO is over. And it is
Russia is not a strategic threat to the West. It just isn't. Its economy is too small and its people too drunk
They might try another Crimea on the Baltics, but I doubt it. They export virtually nothing but conventional oil, which is increasingly worthless, as energy gets cheaper, because renewables, shale, etc.
Xi Jinping's China, by contrast, is the greatest "threat" the West has faced in a couple of centuries. Worse than Nazi Germany
All that matters is containing her (we cannot "defeat" her). And that means rock-solid alliances with close friends ensuring that we stand together, whatever. That is how you beat bullies
Yes, even though I think his economic policies are turning into a disaster and he is obviously losing his capabilities, when it comes to foreign affairs I have a lot of grudging respect for the fact that Biden has turned out to be so fundamentally ruthless and willing to break the cosy consensus. I’d be interested to see how long Blinken stays around
Yep. I think he is a bit senile, and foolish in some respects, but when it comes to foreign policy he has clear instincts and wise opinions: as to what is in America's interest, and he has a certain heartless brutality in seeing them done. If you want to boss a superpower, I guess that is important
So this will kill 100,000 Afghans? So be it. So this will kill off our relationship with France for 3 years? So be it
Etc. Not pretty, but maybe needed
It won't kill the US-French relationship.
The French are players. They are making massive scene out of this, so that the Americans throw them a bone in some other area.
I'm not so sure that will happen. The Biden administration has continually sidelined Europe. I just don't think they care and don't see any EU country as a potential ally in the looming cold war against China. I wrote out my thoughts just now, the world has realised that the EU is happy to kowtow to China for fear of losing money.
I think you're wrong on this. For a start, I think it would be a catastrophic mistake to cleave the Western European democracies (most of whom don't really want to "kowtow" to China) off from the Anglosphere.
Re the French, I'm thinking more of them getting US support for a French candidate to be next General Secretary of the United Nations, that kind of thing. It's the kind of quid pro quo that the French are very good at getting.
Indeed, especially as Putin is more of a direct threat to us than Xi is and we need French support within NATO for containing Russia.
Jihadi terrorism is also a direct threat to us we need French intelligence cooperation on
The narrative is moving on and I doubt NATO as we know it will be recognisable soon
You simply do not see that the threat is China not Russia, and as far as France is concerned while they will not be in the tripartite agreement, both France and Canada and others will have a role to play in the South China seas
Why should we be fannying around in the South China Sea? I doubt we'd want the Chinese navy steaming up and down the English Channel. This kind of imperial delusion is embarrassing, and will only end in tears like it always does. It's like Suez, or for that matter Iraq, never happened. If we've got money to waste on these stupid dick-waving exercises, how about we pay our nurses properly, or fund education adequately, or don't cut universal credit?
I am afraid that the world is global now and our trading and prosperity will come from the huge markets of the Trans Pacific which in turn will fund our public services in the future
I would just comment that Keir Starmer has pledged his full support as indeed have most EU countries
Even Blackford of all people was generous in his support
What? You can sleep at night whilst welcoming China’s investment into our public infrastructure whilst squaring up in a Cold War with them? Letting them buy our debt etc?
That position is the definition of madness. Like finding hairs growing on the palm of your hand.
Honest mistakes previously made are completely forgivable in my opinion.
Hypocrisy isn’t.
So we are in agreement then? Posturing like this for the cameras today, to place a fig leaf over the failure that has really been going on (which you don’t deny has been going on) if from any day hereafter we open arms to Chinese investment, lobby for Chinese investment, to come and buy this country up, invest in infrastructure, allowed to buy our debt, that’s such a serious crime against our country, it should be punishable by a custodial sentence?
Former French Ambassador to the US seems pretty chilled about the whole thing. Exuding Gallic sangfroid and a sense of "meh"
"“The US has trampled our national interest. What the US has done to our national interest is a hostile act,” he said.
"“What we were doing with the Australians was a strategic choice and this strategic choice has been swept away not only by the Australians but also by the Americans.”
"He said the British involvement was immaterial because they were “poodles of the Americans, as usual”."
Biden has single-handedly taken a wrecking ball to the western alliances. Putin and Xi must wondering why the hell they bothered with that amateur Trump.
Biden has gone up, a lot, in my estimation. He instinctively senses that NATO is over. And it is
Russia is not a strategic threat to the West. It just isn't. Its economy is too small and its people too drunk
They might try another Crimea on the Baltics, but I doubt it. They export virtually nothing but conventional oil, which is increasingly worthless, as energy gets cheaper, because renewables, shale, etc.
Xi Jinping's China, by contrast, is the greatest "threat" the West has faced in a couple of centuries. Worse than Nazi Germany
All that matters is containing her (we cannot "defeat" her). And that means rock-solid alliances with close friends ensuring that we stand together, whatever. That is how you beat bullies
Yes, even though I think his economic policies are turning into a disaster and he is obviously losing his capabilities, when it comes to foreign affairs I have a lot of grudging respect for the fact that Biden has turned out to be so fundamentally ruthless and willing to break the cosy consensus. I’d be interested to see how long Blinken stays around
Yep. I think he is a bit senile, and foolish in some respects, but when it comes to foreign policy he has clear instincts and wise opinions: as to what is in America's interest, and he has a certain heartless brutality in seeing them done. If you want to boss a superpower, I guess that is important
So this will kill 100,000 Afghans? So be it. So this will kill off our relationship with France for 3 years? So be it
Etc. Not pretty, but maybe needed
It won't kill the US-French relationship.
The French are players. They are making massive scene out of this, so that the Americans throw them a bone in some other area.
I'm not so sure that will happen. The Biden administration has continually sidelined Europe. I just don't think they care and don't see any EU country as a potential ally in the looming cold war against China. I wrote out my thoughts just now, the world has realised that the EU is happy to kowtow to China for fear of losing money.
I think you're wrong on this. For a start, I think it would be a catastrophic mistake to cleave the Western European democracies (most of whom don't really want to "kowtow" to China) off from the Anglosphere.
Re the French, I'm thinking more of them getting US support for a French candidate to be next General Secretary of the United Nations, that kind of thing. It's the kind of quid pro quo that the French are very good at getting.
Indeed, especially as Putin is more of a direct threat to us than Xi is and we need French support within NATO for containing Russia.
Jihadi terrorism is also a direct threat to us we need French intelligence cooperation on
You need to catch up with the 21st century, Putin is not the threat to us.
Putin is like a spotty 4chan Incel troll in comparison to Xi.
He does have the ability to create mischief, though, and does need to be opposed. In particular, the Russian funding and support for groups that oppose fracking in the UK (to use one example) should be exposed. We cannot allow them to interfere in our democratic systems for their own benefit.
Putin has been quiet for a number of years now when it comes to the West and even the Ukraine. He has issues on the domestic front which are more pressing.
He’s also got issues on the Eastern front with China. That relationship is not as close as some assume.
Russia is a failed state. Its economy and its demographics are atrocious. Putin has coped until now by ramping ever higher proportion of the Russian economy into the military in order to be perceived as strong but he risks it all failing in the same way it failed in the 80s.
Ultimately Russia can't afford to be a power anymore. The country is broken and he's pissing it away and driving wealth out of the nation. If it weren't for certain states in Europe being content to rely upon Russian gas the entire house of cards could come tumbling down.
Russia will collapse again at some point. China is the real threat.
It’s a bit anti-consensual but I suspect the Russian arms build up (and some of their weaponry is impressive) is really aimed at China, and not the West. I think Putin know the days of trying to bully Eastern Europe and the Baltics are gone. If I was Russia, my bigger strategic concern would be the under populated East and the fact that China covets its resources.
And indeed, there has been a wave of settlement of Chinese into the Far Siberia. Russians don't want to farm there. The Chinese do.
Former French Ambassador to the US seems pretty chilled about the whole thing. Exuding Gallic sangfroid and a sense of "meh"
"“The US has trampled our national interest. What the US has done to our national interest is a hostile act,” he said.
"“What we were doing with the Australians was a strategic choice and this strategic choice has been swept away not only by the Australians but also by the Americans.”
"He said the British involvement was immaterial because they were “poodles of the Americans, as usual”."
Biden has single-handedly taken a wrecking ball to the western alliances. Putin and Xi must wondering why the hell they bothered with that amateur Trump.
Biden has gone up, a lot, in my estimation. He instinctively senses that NATO is over. And it is
Russia is not a strategic threat to the West. It just isn't. Its economy is too small and its people too drunk
They might try another Crimea on the Baltics, but I doubt it. They export virtually nothing but conventional oil, which is increasingly worthless, as energy gets cheaper, because renewables, shale, etc.
Xi Jinping's China, by contrast, is the greatest "threat" the West has faced in a couple of centuries. Worse than Nazi Germany
All that matters is containing her (we cannot "defeat" her). And that means rock-solid alliances with close friends ensuring that we stand together, whatever. That is how you beat bullies
Yes, even though I think his economic policies are turning into a disaster and he is obviously losing his capabilities, when it comes to foreign affairs I have a lot of grudging respect for the fact that Biden has turned out to be so fundamentally ruthless and willing to break the cosy consensus. I’d be interested to see how long Blinken stays around
Yep. I think he is a bit senile, and foolish in some respects, but when it comes to foreign policy he has clear instincts and wise opinions: as to what is in America's interest, and he has a certain heartless brutality in seeing them done. If you want to boss a superpower, I guess that is important
So this will kill 100,000 Afghans? So be it. So this will kill off our relationship with France for 3 years? So be it
Etc. Not pretty, but maybe needed
It won't kill the US-French relationship.
The French are players. They are making massive scene out of this, so that the Americans throw them a bone in some other area.
I'm not so sure that will happen. The Biden administration has continually sidelined Europe. I just don't think they care and don't see any EU country as a potential ally in the looming cold war against China. I wrote out my thoughts just now, the world has realised that the EU is happy to kowtow to China for fear of losing money.
I think you're wrong on this. For a start, I think it would be a catastrophic mistake to cleave the Western European democracies (most of whom don't really want to "kowtow" to China) off from the Anglosphere.
Re the French, I'm thinking more of them getting US support for a French candidate to be next General Secretary of the United Nations, that kind of thing. It's the kind of quid pro quo that the French are very good at getting.
Indeed, especially as Putin is more of a direct threat to us than Xi is and we need French support within NATO for containing Russia.
Jihadi terrorism is also a direct threat to us we need French intelligence cooperation on
The narrative is moving on and I doubt NATO as we know it will be recognisable soon
You simply do not see that the threat is China not Russia, and as far as France is concerned while they will not be in the tripartite agreement, both France and Canada and others will have a role to play in the South China seas
Why should we be fannying around in the South China Sea? I doubt we'd want the Chinese navy steaming up and down the English Channel. This kind of imperial delusion is embarrassing, and will only end in tears like it always does. It's like Suez, or for that matter Iraq, never happened. If we've got money to waste on these stupid dick-waving exercises, how about we pay our nurses properly, or fund education adequately, or don't cut universal credit?
Because the South China Sea matters for our own economy and the entire global trading system and does not belong to China. The English Channel is our territorial waters.
We aren't messing around in Chinese waters but we sure as hell need to ensure that international waters through which our 21st century trading system is built upon is kept free and open for all to use.
If Taiwan falls and the microchips they export are seized by China and blocked from export our entire economic system could collapse. Then we couldn't pay a fraction of what we pay now to our nurses, or teachers, or welfare.
Are you going to sign up then so you can do your duty and defend Taiwan? Why would China want to collapse the global economy, which they rely on far more than we do?
No need to sign up since if we do this right there will be no actual fighting. That's the point of a Cold War in fact, to avoid the actual fighting. Containment works better through deterrence than through conflict and we and our allies have professionals to do that much better than you or I ever could.
China is a paranoid Communist dictatorship that has been flexing its muscles not a liberal free market democracy. Forgive me if I won't put my faith in China's goodwill.
Goodwill and self interest are two different things. Xi is a repulsive scumbag but his party's hold on power relies on delivering stability and prosperity, and he's not going to jeopardise that by doing anything crazy. Historically speaking we are a far more aggressive, violent, murderous and expansionary culture than China is. They should be more afraid of us than vice versa.
The gravity theory of trace is still highly explanatory in terms of explaining how likely you are to trade goods with another country, and a bit less but still pretty good for explaining trade in services.
I’m all for the CPTPP, but we’re kind of stuck with 50+% of our trade being with EEA countries for quite some time.
Former French Ambassador to the US seems pretty chilled about the whole thing. Exuding Gallic sangfroid and a sense of "meh"
"“The US has trampled our national interest. What the US has done to our national interest is a hostile act,” he said.
"“What we were doing with the Australians was a strategic choice and this strategic choice has been swept away not only by the Australians but also by the Americans.”
"He said the British involvement was immaterial because they were “poodles of the Americans, as usual”."
Biden has single-handedly taken a wrecking ball to the western alliances. Putin and Xi must wondering why the hell they bothered with that amateur Trump.
Biden has gone up, a lot, in my estimation. He instinctively senses that NATO is over. And it is
Russia is not a strategic threat to the West. It just isn't. Its economy is too small and its people too drunk
They might try another Crimea on the Baltics, but I doubt it. They export virtually nothing but conventional oil, which is increasingly worthless, as energy gets cheaper, because renewables, shale, etc.
Xi Jinping's China, by contrast, is the greatest "threat" the West has faced in a couple of centuries. Worse than Nazi Germany
All that matters is containing her (we cannot "defeat" her). And that means rock-solid alliances with close friends ensuring that we stand together, whatever. That is how you beat bullies
Yes, even though I think his economic policies are turning into a disaster and he is obviously losing his capabilities, when it comes to foreign affairs I have a lot of grudging respect for the fact that Biden has turned out to be so fundamentally ruthless and willing to break the cosy consensus. I’d be interested to see how long Blinken stays around
Yep. I think he is a bit senile, and foolish in some respects, but when it comes to foreign policy he has clear instincts and wise opinions: as to what is in America's interest, and he has a certain heartless brutality in seeing them done. If you want to boss a superpower, I guess that is important
So this will kill 100,000 Afghans? So be it. So this will kill off our relationship with France for 3 years? So be it
Etc. Not pretty, but maybe needed
It won't kill the US-French relationship.
The French are players. They are making massive scene out of this, so that the Americans throw them a bone in some other area.
I'm not so sure that will happen. The Biden administration has continually sidelined Europe. I just don't think they care and don't see any EU country as a potential ally in the looming cold war against China. I wrote out my thoughts just now, the world has realised that the EU is happy to kowtow to China for fear of losing money.
I think you're wrong on this. For a start, I think it would be a catastrophic mistake to cleave the Western European democracies (most of whom don't really want to "kowtow" to China) off from the Anglosphere.
Re the French, I'm thinking more of them getting US support for a French candidate to be next General Secretary of the United Nations, that kind of thing. It's the kind of quid pro quo that the French are very good at getting.
Indeed, especially as Putin is more of a direct threat to us than Xi is and we need French support within NATO for containing Russia.
Jihadi terrorism is also a direct threat to us we need French intelligence cooperation on
The narrative is moving on and I doubt NATO as we know it will be recognisable soon
You simply do not see that the threat is China not Russia, and as far as France is concerned while they will not be in the tripartite agreement, both France and Canada and others will have a role to play in the South China seas
Why should we be fannying around in the South China Sea? I doubt we'd want the Chinese navy steaming up and down the English Channel. This kind of imperial delusion is embarrassing, and will only end in tears like it always does. It's like Suez, or for that matter Iraq, never happened. If we've got money to waste on these stupid dick-waving exercises, how about we pay our nurses properly, or fund education adequately, or don't cut universal credit?
I am afraid that the world is global now and our trading and prosperity will come from the huge markets of the Trans Pacific which in turn will fund our public services in the future
I would just comment that Keir Starmer has pledged his full support as indeed have most EU countries
Even Blackford of all people was generous in his support
I am all for trading with Asia, just against declaring war on them.
We are not declaring war on anyone but ensuring all the trans pacific can go about their trade without constant threat from China
With respect. How does our joining ensure that? Specifically? Sorry to be over cynical about this.
Economically or militarily?
Militarily we are doing more to defend the Pacific recently, hence last night's announcement of support for Australian nuclear submarines as well as relocating much of our own assets over there, with the US doing the same.
Economically ensuring there is a strong and stable economic system that keeps the Pacific regions trading with us and able to stand up to and not be subordinate to China does that too.
Its worth remembering from history that much of the British Empire became such without official national bullets being fired. Companies like the East India Trading Company etc were able to purchase, subordinate and economically dominate regions from which the military and politics could then follow. China has been attempting the same trick with much of the world and we and the US have woken up to this and need to ensure they don't get away with it.
Former French Ambassador to the US seems pretty chilled about the whole thing. Exuding Gallic sangfroid and a sense of "meh"
"“The US has trampled our national interest. What the US has done to our national interest is a hostile act,” he said.
"“What we were doing with the Australians was a strategic choice and this strategic choice has been swept away not only by the Australians but also by the Americans.”
"He said the British involvement was immaterial because they were “poodles of the Americans, as usual”."
Biden has single-handedly taken a wrecking ball to the western alliances. Putin and Xi must wondering why the hell they bothered with that amateur Trump.
Biden has gone up, a lot, in my estimation. He instinctively senses that NATO is over. And it is
Russia is not a strategic threat to the West. It just isn't. Its economy is too small and its people too drunk
They might try another Crimea on the Baltics, but I doubt it. They export virtually nothing but conventional oil, which is increasingly worthless, as energy gets cheaper, because renewables, shale, etc.
Xi Jinping's China, by contrast, is the greatest "threat" the West has faced in a couple of centuries. Worse than Nazi Germany
All that matters is containing her (we cannot "defeat" her). And that means rock-solid alliances with close friends ensuring that we stand together, whatever. That is how you beat bullies
Yes, even though I think his economic policies are turning into a disaster and he is obviously losing his capabilities, when it comes to foreign affairs I have a lot of grudging respect for the fact that Biden has turned out to be so fundamentally ruthless and willing to break the cosy consensus. I’d be interested to see how long Blinken stays around
Yep. I think he is a bit senile, and foolish in some respects, but when it comes to foreign policy he has clear instincts and wise opinions: as to what is in America's interest, and he has a certain heartless brutality in seeing them done. If you want to boss a superpower, I guess that is important
So this will kill 100,000 Afghans? So be it. So this will kill off our relationship with France for 3 years? So be it
Etc. Not pretty, but maybe needed
It won't kill the US-French relationship.
The French are players. They are making massive scene out of this, so that the Americans throw them a bone in some other area.
I'm not so sure that will happen. The Biden administration has continually sidelined Europe. I just don't think they care and don't see any EU country as a potential ally in the looming cold war against China. I wrote out my thoughts just now, the world has realised that the EU is happy to kowtow to China for fear of losing money.
I think you're wrong on this. For a start, I think it would be a catastrophic mistake to cleave the Western European democracies (most of whom don't really want to "kowtow" to China) off from the Anglosphere.
Re the French, I'm thinking more of them getting US support for a French candidate to be next General Secretary of the United Nations, that kind of thing. It's the kind of quid pro quo that the French are very good at getting.
Indeed, especially as Putin is more of a direct threat to us than Xi is and we need French support within NATO for containing Russia.
Jihadi terrorism is also a direct threat to us we need French intelligence cooperation on
The narrative is moving on and I doubt NATO as we know it will be recognisable soon
You simply do not see that the threat is China not Russia, and as far as France is concerned while they will not be in the tripartite agreement, both France and Canada and others will have a role to play in the South China seas
Why should we be fannying around in the South China Sea? I doubt we'd want the Chinese navy steaming up and down the English Channel. This kind of imperial delusion is embarrassing, and will only end in tears like it always does. It's like Suez, or for that matter Iraq, never happened. If we've got money to waste on these stupid dick-waving exercises, how about we pay our nurses properly, or fund education adequately, or don't cut universal credit?
Because the South China Sea matters for our own economy and the entire global trading system and does not belong to China. The English Channel is our territorial waters.
We aren't messing around in Chinese waters but we sure as hell need to ensure that international waters through which our 21st century trading system is built upon is kept free and open for all to use.
If Taiwan falls and the microchips they export are seized by China and blocked from export our entire economic system could collapse. Then we couldn't pay a fraction of what we pay now to our nurses, or teachers, or welfare.
Are you going to sign up then so you can do your duty and defend Taiwan? Why would China want to collapse the global economy, which they rely on far more than we do?
All politics is local, and internal politics of countries with a powerful military can lead to actions that are objectively quite stupid, like Japan going to war with the US. I don't think we really know what the *current* Chinese leadership intends, let alone a future one in a future situation.
Former French Ambassador to the US seems pretty chilled about the whole thing. Exuding Gallic sangfroid and a sense of "meh"
"“The US has trampled our national interest. What the US has done to our national interest is a hostile act,” he said.
"“What we were doing with the Australians was a strategic choice and this strategic choice has been swept away not only by the Australians but also by the Americans.”
"He said the British involvement was immaterial because they were “poodles of the Americans, as usual”."
Biden has single-handedly taken a wrecking ball to the western alliances. Putin and Xi must wondering why the hell they bothered with that amateur Trump.
Biden has gone up, a lot, in my estimation. He instinctively senses that NATO is over. And it is
Russia is not a strategic threat to the West. It just isn't. Its economy is too small and its people too drunk
They might try another Crimea on the Baltics, but I doubt it. They export virtually nothing but conventional oil, which is increasingly worthless, as energy gets cheaper, because renewables, shale, etc.
Xi Jinping's China, by contrast, is the greatest "threat" the West has faced in a couple of centuries. Worse than Nazi Germany
All that matters is containing her (we cannot "defeat" her). And that means rock-solid alliances with close friends ensuring that we stand together, whatever. That is how you beat bullies
Yes, even though I think his economic policies are turning into a disaster and he is obviously losing his capabilities, when it comes to foreign affairs I have a lot of grudging respect for the fact that Biden has turned out to be so fundamentally ruthless and willing to break the cosy consensus. I’d be interested to see how long Blinken stays around
Yep. I think he is a bit senile, and foolish in some respects, but when it comes to foreign policy he has clear instincts and wise opinions: as to what is in America's interest, and he has a certain heartless brutality in seeing them done. If you want to boss a superpower, I guess that is important
So this will kill 100,000 Afghans? So be it. So this will kill off our relationship with France for 3 years? So be it
Etc. Not pretty, but maybe needed
It won't kill the US-French relationship.
The French are players. They are making massive scene out of this, so that the Americans throw them a bone in some other area.
I'm not so sure that will happen. The Biden administration has continually sidelined Europe. I just don't think they care and don't see any EU country as a potential ally in the looming cold war against China. I wrote out my thoughts just now, the world has realised that the EU is happy to kowtow to China for fear of losing money.
I think you're wrong on this. For a start, I think it would be a catastrophic mistake to cleave the Western European democracies (most of whom don't really want to "kowtow" to China) off from the Anglosphere.
Re the French, I'm thinking more of them getting US support for a French candidate to be next General Secretary of the United Nations, that kind of thing. It's the kind of quid pro quo that the French are very good at getting.
Indeed, especially as Putin is more of a direct threat to us than Xi is and we need French support within NATO for containing Russia.
Jihadi terrorism is also a direct threat to us we need French intelligence cooperation on
The narrative is moving on and I doubt NATO as we know it will be recognisable soon
You simply do not see that the threat is China not Russia, and as far as France is concerned while they will not be in the tripartite agreement, both France and Canada and others will have a role to play in the South China seas
Why should we be fannying around in the South China Sea? I doubt we'd want the Chinese navy steaming up and down the English Channel. This kind of imperial delusion is embarrassing, and will only end in tears like it always does. It's like Suez, or for that matter Iraq, never happened. If we've got money to waste on these stupid dick-waving exercises, how about we pay our nurses properly, or fund education adequately, or don't cut universal credit?
Because the South China Sea matters for our own economy and the entire global trading system and does not belong to China. The English Channel is our territorial waters.
We aren't messing around in Chinese waters but we sure as hell need to ensure that international waters through which our 21st century trading system is built upon is kept free and open for all to use.
If Taiwan falls and the microchips they export are seized by China and blocked from export our entire economic system could collapse. Then we couldn't pay a fraction of what we pay now to our nurses, or teachers, or welfare.
Are you going to sign up then so you can do your duty and defend Taiwan? Why would China want to collapse the global economy, which they rely on far more than we do?
No need to sign up since if we do this right there will be no actual fighting. That's the point of a Cold War in fact, to avoid the actual fighting. Containment works better through deterrence than through conflict and we and our allies have professionals to do that much better than you or I ever could.
China is a paranoid Communist dictatorship that has been flexing its muscles not a liberal free market democracy. Forgive me if I won't put my faith in China's goodwill.
Goodwill and self interest are two different things. Xi is a repulsive scumbag but his party's hold on power relies on delivering stability and prosperity, and he's not going to jeopardise that by doing anything crazy. Historically speaking we are a far more aggressive, violent, murderous and expansionary culture than China is. They should be more afraid of us than vice versa.
Imagine if China, Russia and Myanmar announced a “tech sharing defence alliance” focused on nuclear subs.
The gravity theory of trace is still highly explanatory in terms of explaining how likely you are to trade goods with another country, and a bit less but still pretty good for explaining trade in services.
I’m all for the CPTPP, but we’re kind of stuck with 50+% of our trade being with EEA countries for quite some time.
That'd be a good point.
Except its already below that. And falling. And that's before post-Brexit adjustments.
Former French Ambassador to the US seems pretty chilled about the whole thing. Exuding Gallic sangfroid and a sense of "meh"
"“The US has trampled our national interest. What the US has done to our national interest is a hostile act,” he said.
"“What we were doing with the Australians was a strategic choice and this strategic choice has been swept away not only by the Australians but also by the Americans.”
"He said the British involvement was immaterial because they were “poodles of the Americans, as usual”."
Biden has single-handedly taken a wrecking ball to the western alliances. Putin and Xi must wondering why the hell they bothered with that amateur Trump.
Biden has gone up, a lot, in my estimation. He instinctively senses that NATO is over. And it is
Russia is not a strategic threat to the West. It just isn't. Its economy is too small and its people too drunk
They might try another Crimea on the Baltics, but I doubt it. They export virtually nothing but conventional oil, which is increasingly worthless, as energy gets cheaper, because renewables, shale, etc.
Xi Jinping's China, by contrast, is the greatest "threat" the West has faced in a couple of centuries. Worse than Nazi Germany
All that matters is containing her (we cannot "defeat" her). And that means rock-solid alliances with close friends ensuring that we stand together, whatever. That is how you beat bullies
Yes, even though I think his economic policies are turning into a disaster and he is obviously losing his capabilities, when it comes to foreign affairs I have a lot of grudging respect for the fact that Biden has turned out to be so fundamentally ruthless and willing to break the cosy consensus. I’d be interested to see how long Blinken stays around
Yep. I think he is a bit senile, and foolish in some respects, but when it comes to foreign policy he has clear instincts and wise opinions: as to what is in America's interest, and he has a certain heartless brutality in seeing them done. If you want to boss a superpower, I guess that is important
So this will kill 100,000 Afghans? So be it. So this will kill off our relationship with France for 3 years? So be it
Etc. Not pretty, but maybe needed
It won't kill the US-French relationship.
The French are players. They are making massive scene out of this, so that the Americans throw them a bone in some other area.
I'm not so sure that will happen. The Biden administration has continually sidelined Europe. I just don't think they care and don't see any EU country as a potential ally in the looming cold war against China. I wrote out my thoughts just now, the world has realised that the EU is happy to kowtow to China for fear of losing money.
I think you're wrong on this. For a start, I think it would be a catastrophic mistake to cleave the Western European democracies (most of whom don't really want to "kowtow" to China) off from the Anglosphere.
Re the French, I'm thinking more of them getting US support for a French candidate to be next General Secretary of the United Nations, that kind of thing. It's the kind of quid pro quo that the French are very good at getting.
Indeed, especially as Putin is more of a direct threat to us than Xi is and we need French support within NATO for containing Russia.
Jihadi terrorism is also a direct threat to us we need French intelligence cooperation on
You need to catch up with the 21st century, Putin is not the threat to us.
Putin is like a spotty 4chan Incel troll in comparison to Xi.
He does have the ability to create mischief, though, and does need to be opposed. In particular, the Russian funding and support for groups that oppose fracking in the UK (to use one example) should be exposed. We cannot allow them to interfere in our democratic systems for their own benefit.
And the funding of a major political party of the UK, shocking that is.
If you take the view Putin wants to create as much mischief for the West by political meddling, the most logical party to support in the U.K. is the SNP as an independent - and non-aligned - Scotland creates massive headaches for NATO.
Just saying.
Not quite. An effective tactic, that is still being deployed, is to bolster two opposing sides. The SNP and the Conservatives, for example. The more bitter the infighting, the more likely it is people turn away from democratic means to solving their disputes. Strategically Putin would certainly like to see Scotland independent, but bitter division is a bigger goal.
Yes, but the Scottish-rUK is not really that problematic - it’s not causing riots, major political problems etc. It’s entirely manageable.
What is a big problem though is if Scotland tells the U.K. that it’s nuclear subs must leave and refuses to allow NATO planes to use its air bases. That leaves a major gap in NATO defences.
I don't agree about the subs. The location of Trident's base is fairly unimportant to its use as deterrence. What matters on that front is that they are somewhere unknown whilst at sea. It would be a minor tactical adjustment to move them somewhere else.
The gravity theory of trace is still highly explanatory in terms of explaining how likely you are to trade goods with another country, and a bit less but still pretty good for explaining trade in services.
I’m all for the CPTPP, but we’re kind of stuck with 50+% of our trade being with EEA countries for quite some time.
That'd be a good point.
Except its already below that. And falling. And that's before post-Brexit adjustments.
Not really. Last time I looked, EEA was still above 50% although I daren’t predict the effect of the pandemic.
The gravity theory of trace is still highly explanatory in terms of explaining how likely you are to trade goods with another country, and a bit less but still pretty good for explaining trade in services.
I’m all for the CPTPP, but we’re kind of stuck with 50+% of our trade being with EEA countries for quite some time.
That'd be a good point.
Except its already below that. And falling. And that's before post-Brexit adjustments.
Also, contra your batshit rhapsody upthread, Britain traded mostly with what is now the EEA even during the imperial preference era.
Former French Ambassador to the US seems pretty chilled about the whole thing. Exuding Gallic sangfroid and a sense of "meh"
"“The US has trampled our national interest. What the US has done to our national interest is a hostile act,” he said.
"“What we were doing with the Australians was a strategic choice and this strategic choice has been swept away not only by the Australians but also by the Americans.”
"He said the British involvement was immaterial because they were “poodles of the Americans, as usual”."
Biden has single-handedly taken a wrecking ball to the western alliances. Putin and Xi must wondering why the hell they bothered with that amateur Trump.
Biden has gone up, a lot, in my estimation. He instinctively senses that NATO is over. And it is
Russia is not a strategic threat to the West. It just isn't. Its economy is too small and its people too drunk
They might try another Crimea on the Baltics, but I doubt it. They export virtually nothing but conventional oil, which is increasingly worthless, as energy gets cheaper, because renewables, shale, etc.
Xi Jinping's China, by contrast, is the greatest "threat" the West has faced in a couple of centuries. Worse than Nazi Germany
All that matters is containing her (we cannot "defeat" her). And that means rock-solid alliances with close friends ensuring that we stand together, whatever. That is how you beat bullies
Yes, even though I think his economic policies are turning into a disaster and he is obviously losing his capabilities, when it comes to foreign affairs I have a lot of grudging respect for the fact that Biden has turned out to be so fundamentally ruthless and willing to break the cosy consensus. I’d be interested to see how long Blinken stays around
Yep. I think he is a bit senile, and foolish in some respects, but when it comes to foreign policy he has clear instincts and wise opinions: as to what is in America's interest, and he has a certain heartless brutality in seeing them done. If you want to boss a superpower, I guess that is important
So this will kill 100,000 Afghans? So be it. So this will kill off our relationship with France for 3 years? So be it
Etc. Not pretty, but maybe needed
It won't kill the US-French relationship.
The French are players. They are making massive scene out of this, so that the Americans throw them a bone in some other area.
I'm not so sure that will happen. The Biden administration has continually sidelined Europe. I just don't think they care and don't see any EU country as a potential ally in the looming cold war against China. I wrote out my thoughts just now, the world has realised that the EU is happy to kowtow to China for fear of losing money.
I think you're wrong on this. For a start, I think it would be a catastrophic mistake to cleave the Western European democracies (most of whom don't really want to "kowtow" to China) off from the Anglosphere.
Re the French, I'm thinking more of them getting US support for a French candidate to be next General Secretary of the United Nations, that kind of thing. It's the kind of quid pro quo that the French are very good at getting.
Indeed, especially as Putin is more of a direct threat to us than Xi is and we need French support within NATO for containing Russia.
Jihadi terrorism is also a direct threat to us we need French intelligence cooperation on
The narrative is moving on and I doubt NATO as we know it will be recognisable soon
You simply do not see that the threat is China not Russia, and as far as France is concerned while they will not be in the tripartite agreement, both France and Canada and others will have a role to play in the South China seas
Why should we be fannying around in the South China Sea? I doubt we'd want the Chinese navy steaming up and down the English Channel. This kind of imperial delusion is embarrassing, and will only end in tears like it always does. It's like Suez, or for that matter Iraq, never happened. If we've got money to waste on these stupid dick-waving exercises, how about we pay our nurses properly, or fund education adequately, or don't cut universal credit?
Because the South China Sea matters for our own economy and the entire global trading system and does not belong to China. The English Channel is our territorial waters.
We aren't messing around in Chinese waters but we sure as hell need to ensure that international waters through which our 21st century trading system is built upon is kept free and open for all to use.
If Taiwan falls and the microchips they export are seized by China and blocked from export our entire economic system could collapse. Then we couldn't pay a fraction of what we pay now to our nurses, or teachers, or welfare.
Are you going to sign up then so you can do your duty and defend Taiwan? Why would China want to collapse the global economy, which they rely on far more than we do?
No need to sign up since if we do this right there will be no actual fighting. That's the point of a Cold War in fact, to avoid the actual fighting. Containment works better through deterrence than through conflict and we and our allies have professionals to do that much better than you or I ever could.
China is a paranoid Communist dictatorship that has been flexing its muscles not a liberal free market democracy. Forgive me if I won't put my faith in China's goodwill.
Goodwill and self interest are two different things. Xi is a repulsive scumbag but his party's hold on power relies on delivering stability and prosperity, and he's not going to jeopardise that by doing anything crazy. Historically speaking we are a far more aggressive, violent, murderous and expansionary culture than China is. They should be more afraid of us than vice versa.
Imagine if China, Russia and Myanmar announced a “tech sharing defence alliance” focused on nuclear subs.
If they were liberal democracies, I wouldn't be worried. The problem is they are dictatorships that brutalize their own citizens, so are clearly pretty prone to violence which can also be directed externally.
Comments
@MrEd
My earlier scepticism may have been unwarranted. The question is can Biden bring along China-sceptic Republicans on board?
If he does bring the US into the TPP (and in turn if the UK joins), then a massive counter-weight to China will have been created.
The Government is expected to issue its response to its own consultation on the technology at the end of the month that will give the green light to the “cautious exploration” of genetic engineering in farming.
The move will mark the biggest divergence by the UK away from existing European laws since leaving the EU, which has banned the technique for years amid fears it is unsafe.
https://inews.co.uk/news/uk-gene-edited-livestock-crops-post-brexit-eu-policy-1202704
It is abundantly obvious that both the UK and US will be part of it in due course
Germany is not one thing, any more than the UK is one thing. It is grossly simplistic and demeaning to cast aside a Democratic country, with the rule of law, as somehow to sale for the highest bidder.
This so called game changing agreement is nothing but meaningless tripe, chaff, a smokescreen to cover up the truth.
Here’s the truth, explain it
Then?
https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2021-04-24/cameron-exploited-lobbying-loophole-to-discuss-1bn-china-fund-with-treasury
Where are we Now?
https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-politics/2020/07/china-s-ownership-uk-assets-exposes-britain-s-broken-model
And how does all this change Tomorrow?
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/china-now-owns-ps143bn-in-uk-assets-from-nuclear-power-to-pubs-and-schools-b1841056.html
Surely, if you want any credibility on the causes of China Power and influence, you have to be tough on the real China Power and Influence? Otherwise, it’s all just looking a bit silly isn’t it? A charade? A 1984 style distraction for the populace. Tonites blogasm could be something you find in Iran everyday of the week. 🙂
Both the UK and US inside the CPTPP would drag APAC back towards the west. It would create a trading alliance to dominate the region and markets that can thrive without relying on China.
CPTPP with the UK and USA in it would be an incredible counterbalance against China which is exactly what Obama had designed it to be but even more with us there too. And fantastic for the UK too both geopolitically and economically. Would unambiguously crush the Brexit debate stone dead.
* May have been coincidental but a downright odd coincidence if so.
If the Germans don't want to be classed as a country that can be sold to the highest bidder, then maybe they should stop electing and re-electing governments that are prepared to sell out to the highest bidder?
Jihadi terrorism is also a direct threat to us we need French intelligence cooperation on
Neither the US nor the EU seems particularly keen on reviving TTIP, but maybe (in an ideal world) the TPP becomes the de facto free trade bloc for the liberal democracies of the world.
Putin is like a spotty 4chan Incel troll in comparison to Xi.
Germany is a liberal democracy.
Our time would be better spent persuading them their interests lie in being part of the Western alliance, rather than denouncing them.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matsu_Islands
You simply do not see that the threat is China not Russia, and as far as France is concerned while they will not be in the tripartite agreement, both France and Canada and others will have a role to play in the South China seas
Germany are not reliable. We don't need to denounce them, nor do we need to prioritise them as a priority either. We need to work without them and work with those we can trust.
If we can persuade Germany to join our side in this then we can do so, but that is not the first or best use of our time.
But the notion that Putin is a bigger or more existential threat than Xi? That's ignorant.
He’s also got issues on the Eastern front with China. That relationship is not as close as some assume.
Only UK and French forces combined and the US troops still based there would really be able to hold him back.
China is on the other side of the world to us and Beiing is more interested in Taiwan than Europe and since the Hong Kong handover we have no territory in the Far East.
Yes we can play a supportive role to the US, Australia, Japan etc there but Xi is not a direct threat to our national security to the extent Putin is, see also Salisbury and the Russian naval manoeuvres around our coast
Also as a self appointed spokesperson for Boris why are you at odds with his strategy
Earlier in the evening folk were blithely assuming the current 11 members would be thoroughly delighted with UK as members and reject the PRC out of hand.
That would make zero political or economic sense for any of them whatsoever.
The USA and UK rather than PRC is another matter entirely.
Whether Biden has the numbers is yet another matter again though.
If we've got money to waste on these stupid dick-waving exercises, how about we pay our nurses properly, or fund education adequately, or don't cut universal credit?
Ultimately Russia can't afford to be a power anymore. The country is broken and he's pissing it away and driving wealth out of the nation. If it weren't for certain states in Europe being content to rely upon Russian gas the entire house of cards could come tumbling down.
Russia will collapse again at some point. China is the real threat.
On the flip side there are countries who don't care as long as they can profit from the situation. Somehow, Germany has become that nation and where Germany leads the rest of the EU will follow. It isn't an issue for Switzerland to hold to that, no one cares what a landlocked nation of 8m people does and doesn't do.
We need to recognise the problem first and work from there. We can't rebuild the western alliance by hoping that Germany will realise that impoverishing itself is a good idea. I don't know how we do it, once again, I am without answers. I would suggest that our relationship with Germany, and therefore the EU, should (and already does, IMO) reflect the reality of the situation rather than what we'd like it to be.
Personally, I would pull in the French as, despite the fact they can be unreliable at the best of times, they have an effective military capability and I think are quite desperate to escape Germany’s orbit.
The most important trading relationships we have still are with the EU and then the US, Asian nations are less than a third of our export destinations and the largest of those is China
Stop sharing a stage with Xi?
Cancel Nord Stream 2?
Contribute to NATO?
Instead they're like the Swiss in WWII. They'll deal with cash but they won't take a side.
Eric Topol
@EricTopol
The US, now ranked 37 on the list of fully vaccinated of total population, and dropping lower every week
https://ig.ft.com/coronavirus-vaccine-tracker/?areas=gbr&areas=isr&areas=usa&areas=eue&areas=can&areas=chn&areas=ind&cumulative=1&doses=total&populationAdjusted=1
https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1438620332718362635
UK is 15th.
But by far the most jabs in that top 15.
So much will be done, and done better, by robots, your basic-dumb-fuck-number population will be near-irrelevant
China's superiority will happen but it will be brief. They surely realise this, hence the quite histrionic reactions now, to rivals caucusing against them
I would just comment that Keir Starmer has pledged his full support as indeed have most EU countries
Even Blackford of all people was generous in his support
There's an interesting analysis here which anticipates Biden's remarks and China's application.
https://www.hinrichfoundation.com/research/article/ftas/expanding-the-cptpp/
But what are the rules for deciding who can join? The article vaguely says "Existing members", but is it a majority vote, a weighted majority or unanimity?
EDIT: Unanimity, apparently. Can't see that China has any chance in that case.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-17/china-applies-to-join-cptpp/100469342
Just saying.
We aren't messing around in Chinese waters but we sure as hell need to ensure that international waters through which our 21st century trading system is built upon is kept free and open for all to use.
If Taiwan falls and the microchips they export are seized by China and blocked from export our entire economic system could collapse. Then we couldn't pay a fraction of what we pay now to our nurses, or teachers, or welfare.
Now its a case of negotiating terms which Truss had already started talks on. I hope Trevelyan (is that the right spelling) can live up to her shoes.
Strategically Putin would certainly like to see Scotland independent, but bitter division is a bigger goal.
But keeping the peace and ensuring our trading partners and allies are able to stay free and to trade freely with us is very much in our own economic and geopolitical interest.
Furthermore I have travelling extensively in the Trans Pacific including Australia, NZ, Japan, South Korea, the South China Sea, and China and that is where the global trade of the future is going to happen
As has been said, tonight's announcement that the US is to open talks with the Trans Pacifuc trade area as well as UK will see in due course a huge trading block to compete directly with China
It was a big theme in my Dad's old Eagle annuals from the fifties too.
And the tech we have now was unimaginable to even their wildest flights of fancy.
Yet here we are. Labour shortage.
Why would China want to collapse the global economy, which they rely on far more than we do?
Geography wasn't relevant in 2016 and its showing to be even less relevant now. Geography doesn't need to move on, technology has. Technology moved on decades ago in fact and it means that cash, goods or even missiles can rapidly cross the globe.
It makes no difference to us as a major, developed, global economy whether a threat to our peace and stability is in Europe, or Asia, or the Americas. There is no isolation that a few extra thousand miles grants when data can travel that distance in microseconds and goods, people and missiles within hours.
What is a big problem though is if Scotland tells the U.K. that it’s nuclear subs must leave and refuses to allow NATO planes to use its air bases. That leaves a major gap in NATO defences.
China is a paranoid Communist dictatorship that has been flexing its muscles not a liberal free market democracy. Forgive me if I won't put my faith in China's goodwill.
All this is entirely different to the role that the UK could exert as an equal, or even a first among equals, in any European military structure, of course, but the tory establishment have been happy with this subordinate, and underneath it all, in fact rather humiliating role for more than sixty years now, so there we are,
Hence another reason why Russia is no more than a meddling troll with us. Putin is far too far under Xi's shadow now to expose himself with a serious conflict with the West. Grabbing bits of Crimea to clean up his borders in his eyes when he knows Europe won't defend that is a different matter to actually fighting with the West.
The CPTPP doesn’t have a permanent Commission HQ, but if it did then perhaps my hometown Auckland is a potential candidate?
The NZ government is the official “depositary” for the CPTPP (hence China’s application via the NZ govt), so why not?
Would do wonders for my modest real estate assets there.
That position is the definition of madness. Like finding hairs growing on the palm of your hand.
Then?
https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2021-04-24/cameron-exploited-lobbying-loophole-to-discuss-1bn-china-fund-with-treasury
Where are we Now?
https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-politics/2020/07/china-s-ownership-uk-assets-exposes-britain-s-broken-model
And how does all this change Tomorrow?
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/china-now-owns-ps143bn-in-uk-assets-from-nuclear-power-to-pubs-and-schools-b1841056.html
Honest mistakes previously made are completely forgivable in my opinion.
Hypocrisy isn’t.
So we are in agreement then? Posturing like this for the cameras today, to place a fig leaf over the failure that has really been going on (which you don’t deny has been going on) if from any day hereafter we open arms to Chinese investment, lobby for Chinese investment, to come and buy this country up, invest in infrastructure, allowed to buy our debt, that’s such a serious crime against our country, it should be punishable by a custodial sentence?
I’m asking, are you serious about this or not?
Historically speaking we are a far more aggressive, violent, murderous and expansionary culture than China is. They should be more afraid of us than vice versa.
The gravity theory of trace is still highly explanatory in terms of explaining how likely you are to trade goods with another country, and a bit less but still pretty good for explaining trade in services.
I’m all for the CPTPP, but we’re kind of stuck with 50+% of our trade being with EEA countries for quite some time.
Militarily we are doing more to defend the Pacific recently, hence last night's announcement of support for Australian nuclear submarines as well as relocating much of our own assets over there, with the US doing the same.
Economically ensuring there is a strong and stable economic system that keeps the Pacific regions trading with us and able to stand up to and not be subordinate to China does that too.
Its worth remembering from history that much of the British Empire became such without official national bullets being fired. Companies like the East India Trading Company etc were able to purchase, subordinate and economically dominate regions from which the military and politics could then follow. China has been attempting the same trick with much of the world and we and the US have woken up to this and need to ensure they don't get away with it.
Except its already below that. And falling. And that's before post-Brexit adjustments.
You can’t beat gravity.