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America and the UK are standing shoulder to shoulder when it comes to not defending Israel
America and the UK are standing shoulder to shoulder when it comes to not defending Israel– politicalbetting.com
Would you support or oppose the United Kingdom helping to defend Israel by assisting in the shooting down of missiles and drones from Iran?Support: 25%Oppose: 49%yougov.co.uk/topics/inter…
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There might be legitimate reasons to attack Iran, particularly since we all know it's behind Hamas, Hezbollah and is closely linked to Russia. Saving the career and freedom of a tenth rate Fascist crook is not one of them.
https://bsky.app/profile/paleofuture.bsky.social/post/3lru3xs5uqc2f
I’ve no issue with what Israel is doing to Iran. However, the IDF is clearly guilty of war crimes in Gaza.
This explains so much.
Using AI makes you stupid, researchers find
Study reveals chatbots risk hampering development of critical thinking, memory and language skills
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/06/17/using-ai-makes-you-stupid-researchers-find/
It appears to have been a few wind up drones and a couple of missiles. There is no way these jokers have WMDs of any type
US President Trump left the G7 without speaking to Ukrainian President Zelenskyy after Russia launched its deadliest missile strike on Kyiv
He had nothing to say to Ukraine, said former Ukrainian Foreign Minister Volodymyr Ohryzko
https://x.com/EuromaidanPress/status/1935048720275398795
Previous US administrations prevented Netenyahu pursuing his lunatic plans. This one has been utterly humiliated by him, having to play catch up with an actor it cannot control or condemn. What we're seeing here is the reality of US decline.
https://bsky.app/profile/iandunt.bsky.social/post/3lrudslajck2k
But we should bear in mind a lot of Trump's support is isolationist and Trump will not welcome being bounced into a new war by Bibi and GOP neocons.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jun/17/plans-to-replace-2031-census-in-england-and-wales-set-to-be-abandoned-after-backlash
Failing which they can mine the strait
https://dknews.kz/en/articles-in-english/358679-kazakhstan-signs-new-cooperation-deals-with-the-uk
https://anewz.tv/world/world-news/8661/kazakhstan-and-uk-deepen-military-cooperation/news
I've been quite impressed with the way Kazakhstan has handled the Ukraine war. They've been nowhere near as pro-Russian as Putin may have hoped.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Praying_Mantis
DeepSeek is incredibly helpful... until you ask it about Xi Jinping.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/i3mvaKTJdDI
*And Israel, for the matter of that.
Whether they can physically close it is possibly less important than their ability to make shipping uninsurable.
There's some discussion of the practicalities on Wikipedia.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strait_of_Hormuz
You can build a bomb out of 60%, though the efficiency would be rubbish and you’d probably get a yield of a kiloton or so.
Little know fact - the Hiroshima bomb, which yielded 16Kt was (average) enriched to about 80%. The enrichment in different parts of the bullet and target actually varied.
But, analysis shows it was designed for 92% enriched material. Which would have give a yield of about 32Kt.
There is little documentation of who made the decision to “go early” - but the yield/enrichment was a frequently discussed by Oppenheimer and Groves.
Thrilling action scenes and a puppyishly charming leading man turn this officially branded Formula One film into rousing entertainment
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/f1-the-movie-review-brad-pitt/
That will keep @Morris_Dancer quiet for a couple of hours.
I'm happy to be corrected, but just because it's blue doesn't mean it's navigable.
Must be a nightmare for sane Trump wranglers managing him, though the evidence suggests the sane ones are got rid of pdq.
Even before that, the attacks against Israel were on a much smaller scale than previously. The Israeli Defence Force showing they are even more efficient at blowing stuff up than they are at shooting Palestinians at food aid stations...
Our latest voting intention has a Labour drop to third with joint lowest score we’ve recorded for them. Reform lead by 7.
➡️ REF UK 29% (+1)
🌳 CON 22% (+2)
🌹 LAB 21% (-3)
🔶 LIB DEM 13% (-1)
🌍 GREEN 9% (+2)
🟡 SNP 3% (nc)
N = 2,032 | Dates: 13 - 16 June | Change w 9 June
President’s ‘special military operation’ doesn’t go far enough, say Russian hardliners
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/06/18/putin-under-pressure-declare-war-ukraine-nationalists-kyiv/ (£££)
Gift share without paywall:-
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/885c7af540ca275d
Make America Weak Again.
Labour waking up to another rousing chorus from the terraces of "You don't know what you're doing..."
To get to 60% is a long slog. It’s taken them years. 60 to 80 will be much quicker. 80-90+ would be quite quick. Beyond 95%+ I think you hit diminishing returns - with most processes.
The leadership of Iran are appalling, particularly for Iranians, and I would welcome them gone but I think its generally a matter we should stay out of. There's a lot of things like this. We are not a great power any longer. We need to protect our interests but be much more focused on what those interests are.
I don't think the Israels need our help to defend them, and nor would they welcome it.
If labours drop repeats elsewhere then maybe the dam has burst. But as it is a chuckle for Weds morning
"Breaking: After 186 sessions over 3.5 years, a German court sentenced Dr. Alaa Mousa to life for crimes against humanity against patients in Syria for the Assad regime. He's one of many criminal medics who killed & tortured Syrians, including me. No safe haven, no impunity!"
https://x.com/MansourOmari/status/1934540684414816277
Also:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/16/german-court-sentences-syrian-doctor-alaa-mousa-to-life-in-jail-for-crimes-against-humanity
Not that the legal niceties mean anything. If Iran wants to close it, they surely can.
If Iran used a nuke on Israel, or was suspected to have done so, then Tehran would be destroyed in pretty short order.
As an example, at the end of March, the Conservatives led an MIC poll with 26% yet have been 16-17% with other pollsters so it may be the sampling and weighting used by MIC are different but as to whether they are "right", time will tell.
But I’m sure we will be back on it today.
I won’t. I’m off out to the toon.
When they had that lead on 26 they were on 22 (-4) with Opinium that week and 21 (-5) with YouGov - same differences this week too so the various methodologies are pretty consistent!
Edit: I said it yesterday (or perhaps didn't?) Kemi is having a good war on the issue. She is doing it right and coming into her own.
An oft repeated mistake is to think that every country has to go through the Fat Man/Little Boy design route.
Little Boy was initially designed to work with plutonium - the insertion speed for uranium is so low, you could do it by hand! So a modern gun type weapon would be much smaller than LB - a couple of hundred kilos would be possible. Mostly tungsten reflector. Length would be shorter. Easy fit on a missile. See South Africa, who did this.
Fat Man was designed by guesswork - John Von Neumann basically invented implosion theory as they went. The second stage of design (Swan primary) was the late 1950s - air lenses and flying plates. Much, much lighter and smaller. This was enabled by better computers, and better testing tech - really high speed x-ray movie photography. The third stage was to turn the problem round - instead of imploding inward, perfectly symmetrically, start with an odd shape that ends up as a sphere. This took 1970s computers to work out.
The final result is that a modern fission device is about the size of a bowling ball.
To test implosion you dry fire it with natural uranium, or similar. The high speed X-ray machine gives you a movie if what happened.
So - a modern gun type device would do the job. And requires no testing. See South Africa, which produced weapons small enough for missiles, without any real design effort. The main objection is the large amounts of fissile material they use - the material for one gun type weapon would make several implosion bombs.
An implosion bomb would almost certainly start with a flying plate/air lens design. So that would be missile capable as well.
So yes, the Iranians could deliver it. If their missiles still exist.
I assumed Tehran's pronouncement of an event "which should shake the world for centuries" would be Stodge finding a couple of winners at Royal Ascot....
Day Two beckons and after a dramatic opening day, the pace slackens a notch but nonetheless...
Queen Mary Stakes: SOCIETY MISS
Queen's Vase: DEVIL'S ADVOCATE
Duke of Cambridge Stakes: ONE LOOK
Prince of Wales's Stakes: LOS ANGELES
It's a good poll for Badenoch and will calm nerves but it's one poll and while for Conservative sympathisers, any bit of good news after the last three years will be welcome, the road back remains a long and hard one.
https://www.axios.com/2025/06/17/trump-tiktok-ban-deadline-etension
I missed the chat on here yesterday; I would have voted in favour.
That is the case with Iran.
They don't have them yet, let's keep it that way!
There are some nuances around the US Army's apparent slovenliness (aka "Malicious Compliance") on parade to be a mascot for Emperor Chump's vanity.
One of the tunes played was "Fortunate Son" by Creedence Clearwater Revival - a song about draft dodging from 1969. Fuck you, Mr President.
Nice one, US Army.
Recognising pop music played on military parades is not my forte, and I picked this up from press. Though I do recognise Those Magnificent Men when used to wind up the RAF when they are drilling, which is the correct beat, but distracting.
Deep link to the Whitehouse stream of the event:
https://youtu.be/LTH9p7Gl5ME?t=5138
Recording:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWijx_AgPiA
Lyrics:
Some folks are born made to wave the flag
Ooh, they're red, white and blue
And when the band plays "Hail to the chief"
Ooh, they point the cannon at you, Lord
It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no senator's son, son
It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no fortunate one, no
Some folks are born silver spoon in hand
Lord, don't they help themselves, oh
But when the taxman comes to the door
Lord, the house looks like a rummage sale, yes
It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no millionaire's son, no
It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no fortunate one, no
Some folks inherit star spangled eyes
Ooh, they send you down to war, Lord
And when you ask them, "How much should we give?"
Ooh, they only answer "More! More! More!" yoh
It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no military son, son
It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no fortunate one, one
It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no fortunate one, no no no
It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no fortunate son, no no no
I guess for Tories any number of seats if they remain HM loyal Oppo or perhaps if raw numbers 150? Any less and the old born to rule arrogance kicks in and theyd roll the dice.
I reckon the LDs would bank at 60
F1: pushed for time but contemplating backing Russell each way at 8 in Austria. Still concerned over the power unit.
50% of Americans consider Iran to be an "enemy" of the US and an additional 25% consider it unfriendly.
36% of Americans consider Israel to be an "ally" of the US and an additional 25% consider it friendly.
It shouldn't be too hard for a half-competent leader (even Trump) to sell Americans on the need to support their "ally" to defend itself against the mutual "enemy".
https://thehill.com/policy/international/5355706-half-in-new-survey-view-iran-as-enemy-to-us/
A fully scripted drama has more jeopardy and intrigue than the average F1 procession
Two wrongs don't make a right.
It was wrong to support Hamas in the past.
It is right to attack Hamas today.
Some people seem to think that Netanyahu was wrong to tolerate Hamas and wrong to attack them, there's no consistency there.
Why would Iran trust Trump and Netanyahu to keep to a deal? Netanyahu is calling for regime change anyway.
For example those simps who were hook, line and sinkered over the 'Minnesota shooter is a Dem' bullshit...
Ireland's lottery said it was the "biggest ever EuroMillions jackpot," and its chief executive said it would reveal the winning location soon. The winning numbers from Tuesday's draw - which had rolled over several times - were 13, 22, 23, 44 and 49, with lucky stars 3 and 5."
https://news.sky.com/story/single-ticket-holder-from-ireland-wins-euromillions-jackpot-13385031
I have no clue what is going to happen between now and 2028 or even 2029 (and let's be honest, the latter is probably more likely for Starmer and Labour at this moment). The current anti-Labour hysteria has echoes of the anti-Conservative hysteria of 1980-81. Governing is tough and an impatient electorate has little patience if they don't feel things are improving.
I don't have the visceral contempt for Starmer and Labour many on here do - I don't think he's doing much better or worse than Sunak - indeed, I'm thinking less of how much has changed but how little. Boris showed where charisma and levitas will take you but technocratic gravitas also has its limitations.
I do think performances like that of Emma Reynolds on LBC are part of the problem - you cannot go into the lion's den with an "Eat Me" sign round your neck which is basically what she did. You have to be combative and confident and that comes from a full understanding of your brief and the questions likely to be asked. You can't "wing it" with Nick Ferrari, who even lost patience when Tories tried to in the hope he would be sympathetic.
The 19-year-old died in 2019 after US state department employee Anne Sacoolas – who was driving a car on the wrong side of the road – hit his motorbike near RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire.
However, Sacoolas was not immediately arrested following the crash and was able to flee the country, claiming diplomatic immunity, because police did not believe a "necessity test" had been met."
https://news.sky.com/story/police-admit-failures-in-harry-dunn-case-after-report-finds-officers-prioritised-suspects-welfare-13385168
Also I can't believe the economists didn't seem to notice the chocolate price shock currently rumbling through shops and into the CPI basket. Really poor result considering how benign oil prices are (How much longer we shall see) and the relative strength of sterling compared to May 2024.
Anyway, back to this 'working', which I've decided is perverse. It's both annoying to have it and annoying to not have it.