There is speculation that 🇺🇸US special forces flying from the 🇬🇧UK will try to capture tanker MV Bella 1, now in the Western Atlantic.
The vessel was sanctioned by the US and has carried 🇻🇪Venezuelan crude oil. On 30th Dec, the ship was renamed MV Marinera and re-flagged as a 🇷🇺Russian vessel.
However, people analyzing the manifesto found peculiar wording, grammar errors and spelling errors indicating that the original text was not German, but originated in Russian.
Antifa? Who are these people, where is their headquarters? Are they a bit like SMERSH or SPECTRE?
Sandpit's link doesn't mention Antifa.
I would have thought a lot of people are Antifa, or anti fascist
I'm anti-Antifa as well as anti fascist (in the proper meaning of the word, not theirs).
Which word, Antifa or anti-fascist?
Antifa's definition of fascist is anyone who doesn't support their take on cultural marxism or, at times, their sheer nihilism.
They seem to enjoy being violent, and so have far more in common with actual fascists than they seem to realise - they just want an excuse.
Sounds scary - pray tell who is in charge of this band of nihilists?
You wouldn’t know them, they go to a different school.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch says US action in Venezuela was 'morally' the right thing to do.
She tells @bbcnickrobinson nations 'go through the motions' of rules-based order, but 'the world has changed'.
Dangerous and very cynical. Grovelling to Trump is bad politics and bad strategy.
Dangerous and cynical would be Ed Davey's approach of threatening the special relationship, which is music to Putin's ears.
International Law is very clear. Davey is not being cynical in defending it. The only special relationship Trump believes in is the degree of humiliation he intends to inflict on democratic governments. Putin's cuck - a treacherous friend- is far more dangerous than Putin himself.
There are three camps:
The Putin Trump Farage camp The spineless worms camp The International Law camp
Starmer is a worm, but at leat he recognises that the axis is doing bad things. I remain baffled by the people who shill for the Putin Trump Farage axis.
Lets be very clear here. Venezuela is the Rhineland. Listen to Miller. "Our back yard". "Our interests". Hitler instructed his generals to withdraw if the French stood up to them. France did not, Hitler thought ok who is next. Trumpler is of the same mindset, a gambler. And the more he gambles and wins, the higher the stakes he will risk.
Banhammers like Miller think they are king shit, and can do over anyone they like and we will not only do nothing, we will literally grovel for scraps. We will let them seize Greenland and perhaps Canada and will reward them by buying military hardware from them.
Are we going to equip the Starmer worm with a spine or what? There is an awful lot we can do to resist Trumpler's next moves, but we have to declare our intentions to do so. The US regime declared us their enemy in their new defence posture, they moved. We either respond or join the axis as some people clearly want us to do...
In partial defence of Starmer and other European leaders their approach is motivated by keeping Trump doing at least some things that benefit Ukraine: intelligence sharing; allowing weapons to be transferred to Ukraine; sanctions on Russia. All of which are put at risk in a complete ruptured with Trump.
But you're right, there's no excuse for Badenoch actually supporting Trump on the principle.
In defence of Badenoch, she has the luxury of opposition, and has to use it. Those who pay little attention - most people - will perhaps have noticed this:
1) A very bad person they never heard of has been toppled and brought to justice 2) Every liberal and internationalist is queueing up to say "He is a very bad person and he should not have been toppled and should not have been brought to justice. It's an outrage."
And concluded this does not make sense as they think bad people should be brought to justice.
Badenoch is addressing those people, who are not entirely wrong, and doing so with reasonable respect to law and justice.
"...Badenoch is addressing those people, who are not entirely wrong, and doing so with reasonable no respect to law and justice..."
FTFY
Maduro ending up before a court is absolutely reasonable with respect to law and justice.
The idea that criminals should be left free to run wild is a perversion of law and justice.
Trump making it all about oil instead of the proper election winner getting power and deciding how to proceed, is also a perversion of law and justice and contemptible.
Remind me again about the meaning of the word "jurisdiction"
Barty is a pirate at heart, as his moniker suggests.
"The Pirate Code is more what you'd call "guidelines" than actual rules!"
Dominic Michael Tripi @DMichaelTripi NEW: United States increasingly issuing work visas to OnlyFans models based on level of audience reach according to the Financial Times.
"Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark and part of the European Union..."
Except it isn't. Greenland had a referendum in 1982 to leave the EEC and officially left in 1985.
It's bad journalism to make lazy assumptions like that.
The Sky presenter when US raided Venezuela presumed the Vice President was male....its like google doesn't exist. Kept saying it until they got on a Venezualan journalist who immediately said you know its a women right.
The BBC had a reporter pronouncing Maria Machado's name with a hard k sound this morning, as if she were Italian.
There was a fad 20-odd years ago for pronouncing Uruguayan footballer Gus Poyet's name as if it were French!
Starmer also urged his ministers to ignore the polls
I do not underestimate the scale of the task. But I have no doubt about this team. Governments do not lose because polls go down. They lose when they lose belief or nerve. We will do neither.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch says US action in Venezuela was 'morally' the right thing to do.
She tells @bbcnickrobinson nations 'go through the motions' of rules-based order, but 'the world has changed'.
Dangerous and very cynical. Grovelling to Trump is bad politics and bad strategy.
Dangerous and cynical would be Ed Davey's approach of threatening the special relationship, which is music to Putin's ears.
International Law is very clear. Davey is not being cynical in defending it. The only special relationship Trump believes in is the degree of humiliation he intends to inflict on democratic governments. Putin's cuck - a treacherous friend- is far more dangerous than Putin himself.
There are three camps:
The Putin Trump Farage camp The spineless worms camp The International Law camp
Starmer is a worm, but at leat he recognises that the axis is doing bad things. I remain baffled by the people who shill for the Putin Trump Farage axis.
Lets be very clear here. Venezuela is the Rhineland. Listen to Miller. "Our back yard". "Our interests". Hitler instructed his generals to withdraw if the French stood up to them. France did not, Hitler thought ok who is next. Trumpler is of the same mindset, a gambler. And the more he gambles and wins, the higher the stakes he will risk.
Banhammers like Miller think they are king shit, and can do over anyone they like and we will not only do nothing, we will literally grovel for scraps. We will let them seize Greenland and perhaps Canada and will reward them by buying military hardware from them.
Are we going to equip the Starmer worm with a spine or what? There is an awful lot we can do to resist Trumpler's next moves, but we have to declare our intentions to do so. The US regime declared us their enemy in their new defence posture, they moved. We either respond or join the axis as some people clearly want us to do...
In partial defence of Starmer and other European leaders their approach is motivated by keeping Trump doing at least some things that benefit Ukraine: intelligence sharing; allowing weapons to be transferred to Ukraine; sanctions on Russia. All of which are put at risk in a complete ruptured with Trump.
But you're right, there's no excuse for Badenoch actually supporting Trump on the principle.
In defence of Badenoch, she has the luxury of opposition, and has to use it. Those who pay little attention - most people - will perhaps have noticed this:
1) A very bad person they never heard of has been toppled and brought to justice 2) Every liberal and internationalist is queueing up to say "He is a very bad person and he should not have been toppled and should not have been brought to justice. It's an outrage."
And concluded this does not make sense as they think bad people should be brought to justice.
Badenoch is addressing those people, who are not entirely wrong, and doing so with reasonable respect to law and justice.
"...Badenoch is addressing those people, who are not entirely wrong, and doing so with reasonable no respect to law and justice..."
FTFY
Maduro ending up before a court is absolutely reasonable with respect to law and justice.
The idea that criminals should be left free to run wild is a perversion of law and justice.
Trump making it all about oil instead of the proper election winner getting power and deciding how to proceed, is also a perversion of law and justice and contemptible.
Remind me again about the meaning of the word "jurisdiction"
Countries with power have long claimed jurisdiction over crimes by other nations leaders, for a variety of reasons. Have done for centuries.
Those with the power to implement said claims are able to do so, for good or ill, while those who don't can't.
Again, realpolitik matters here.
Jurisdiction also matters, when it comes to courts.
Reasons for courts to possibly free Maduro.
Sovereign Immunity: Maduro’s lawyers are expected to argue that as a sovereign head of state, he is immune from prosecution under international and U.S. law.
Legality of Capture: Defense attorneys may contest the legality of the military operation that brought him to the U.S., arguing it was conducted without congressional authorization and violated international law.
I keep thinking how Comey and James charges were dropped due to mistakes by the DOJ, and I’m thinking kidnapping a foreign leader without the express approval of Congress could very well derail the prosecution of Maduro.
The difference between this case and Noriega is that they had a ton of evidence against Noriega and my guess is the evidence against Maduro won’t hold up in court.
The illegal act of kidnapping Noriega is an international crime and the actions here at home appear to be unconstitutional if a court wants to see it that way.
The Ker-Frisbie Doctrine is not a guarantee in this case. This doctrine assumes the court doesn’t care how they got there and they are free to assume jurisdiction over Maduro. The fact that Trump sent this case to SDNY suggests they don’t care about the outcome. It’s just another show to buy time for Trump to make a deal with him and grant him a very expensive pardon. https://x.com/PrezLives2022/status/2007994740948500745
Hard to predict how the 92 year old judge (yes, really) will deal with this.
92 is bonkers. What an odd country. (No offence to some PBers).
What's the plan though if this judge just dismisses all the charges immediately? Surely Maduro doesn't go free.
Maduro would be held in custody while that decision was appealed.
Dominic Michael Tripi @DMichaelTripi NEW: United States increasingly issuing work visas to OnlyFans models based on level of audience reach according to the Financial Times.
@DrewPavlou Trump is literally doing the Ali G “Let The Fit Ones In” policy
I presume if you look the US have long issued work visas for adult "talent", its just now OnlyFans "influencer" is modern incarnation of the "actor". So I wouldn't be surprised if "actor" visas down, "influencer" visas up. They end up doing the same work its just many are cutting out the middle man.
I know of poker pros who got work visas under their exceptional talent visa programme when televised poker was all the rage. The US immigration system is quite odd in many respects.
Dominic Michael Tripi @DMichaelTripi NEW: United States increasingly issuing work visas to OnlyFans models based on level of audience reach according to the Financial Times.
"Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark and part of the European Union..."
Except it isn't. Greenland had a referendum in 1982 to leave the EEC and officially left in 1985.
It's bad journalism to make lazy assumptions like that.
The Sky presenter when US raided Venezuela presumed the Vice President was male....its like google doesn't exist. Kept saying it until they got on a Venezualan journalist who immediately said you know its a women right.
The BBC had a reporter pronouncing Maria Machado's name with a hard k sound this morning, as if she were Italian.
There was a fad 20-odd years ago for pronouncing Urugyuan footballer Gus Poyet's name as if it were French!
Australian F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo pronounces his own name "Ricardo". And Jose Mourinho got callled Hose not Zhose
And apparently Pinochet should be pronounced Pin--o-chet, not Pinoshay
Starmer also urged his ministers to ignore the polls
I do not underestimate the scale of the task. But I have no doubt about this team. Governments do not lose because polls go down. They lose when they lose belief or nerve. We will do neither.
If he's saying he has no doubt about his team then it's probably a sign there's going to be another reshuffle.
"Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark and part of the European Union..."
Except it isn't. Greenland had a referendum in 1982 to leave the EEC and officially left in 1985.
It's bad journalism to make lazy assumptions like that.
The Sky presenter when US raided Venezuela presumed the Vice President was male....its like google doesn't exist. Kept saying it until they got on a Venezualan journalist who immediately said you know its a women right.
The BBC had a reporter pronouncing Maria Machado's name with a hard k sound this morning, as if she were Italian.
There was a fad 20-odd years ago for pronouncing Urugyuan footballer Gus Poyet's name as if it were French!
Australian F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo pronounces his own name "Ricardo". And Jose Mourinho got callled Hose not Zhose
And apparently Pinochet should be pronounced Pin--o-chet, not Pinoshay
"Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark and part of the European Union..."
Except it isn't. Greenland had a referendum in 1982 to leave the EEC and officially left in 1985.
It's bad journalism to make lazy assumptions like that.
The Sky presenter when US raided Venezuela presumed the Vice President was male....its like google doesn't exist. Kept saying it until they got on a Venezualan journalist who immediately said you know its a women right.
The BBC had a reporter pronouncing Maria Machado's name with a hard k sound this morning, as if she were Italian.
There was a fad 20-odd years ago for pronouncing Uruguayan footballer Gus Poyet's name as if it were French!
It was always said that some English news reporter once pronounced Dundee United's ground as if it had an Italian name. Possibly apocryphal like the "dancing in the streets of Raith" quotation after the Kirkcaldy side's victory in some game.
There is speculation that 🇺🇸US special forces flying from the 🇬🇧UK will try to capture tanker MV Bella 1, now in the Western Atlantic.
The vessel was sanctioned by the US and has carried 🇻🇪Venezuelan crude oil. On 30th Dec, the ship was renamed MV Marinera and re-flagged as a 🇷🇺Russian vessel.
I don't know why you need SF (other than the fact that Hegseth likes big lads with tats) for this. Any armed naval vessel could board it and take it.
Dominic Michael Tripi @DMichaelTripi NEW: United States increasingly issuing work visas to OnlyFans models based on level of audience reach according to the Financial Times.
Protests have broken out in at least 17 of Iran's 31 provinces, presenting the largest challenge to the country's clerical establishment since 2022, a BBC Verify and BBC Persian analysis has found.
The BBC's analysis of protests includes only those for which we have verified video footage - the true number is almost certainly far higher. There are reports of protests in a further 11 provinces, external.
Crossover between Labour and the Lib Dems is getting quite close and would be extremely bearish for Labour. Starmer could be polling in single figures before he resigns.
"Fun fact for the RADICAL LEFT LUNATICS: the distance from Nuuk, Greenland to the GREAT CITY of Washington D,C. is 2,035 miles. The distance from Nuuk, Greenland to Denmark's capital Copenhagen is 2,200 miles. Thank you for your attention to this matter!"
And the distance from Greenland to Canada is, IIRC, 16 miles.
Protests have broken out in at least 17 of Iran's 31 provinces, presenting the largest challenge to the country's clerical establishment since 2022, a BBC Verify and BBC Persian analysis has found.
The BBC's analysis of protests includes only those for which we have verified video footage - the true number is almost certainly far higher. There are reports of protests in a further 11 provinces, external.
Crossover between Labour and the Lib Dems is getting quite close and would be extremely bearish for Labour. Starmer could be polling in single figures before he resigns.
More down to Labour crashing than LibDems rising though....
"Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark and part of the European Union..."
Except it isn't. Greenland had a referendum in 1982 to leave the EEC and officially left in 1985.
Greenexit?
Do they still have Remoaners in Nuuk 40 years on who still aren't happy about it?
Yep. 60% of Greenlanders want to rejoin the EU. It would be easier for them because in significant ways they remain part of the EU system through being an overseas territory of an EU member state.
"Fun fact for the RADICAL LEFT LUNATICS: the distance from Nuuk, Greenland to the GREAT CITY of Washington D,C. is 2,035 miles. The distance from Nuuk, Greenland to Denmark's capital Copenhagen is 2,200 miles. Thank you for your attention to this matter!"
And the distance from Greenland to Canada is, IIRC, 16 miles.
And there are lots of US states closer to other countries capitals than to Washington. By that logic must of the west should be ceded to Mexico and the north to Canada, and Florida to Cuba.
The Department of Health and Human Services has verified reporting that Abukar Dahir Osman, Somalia's Ambassador to the United Nations, was involved in a healthcare company convicted of Medicaid fraud.
His company's NPI appears on the HHS Office of Inspector General exclusion list under code 1128a1, meaning conviction of program-related crimes with a mandatory minimum 5-year exclusion from Medicare and Medicaid.
At what point is it no longer a strike and it is that the service just doesn't exist.
At what point do the residents stage a council tax strike?
At what point does this become a massive electoral liability for Labour in the City? If Labour are in dispute with their paymasters in the Unions, will the unions give them any public support in May? Add this fiasco to the appalling mess they have made procuring a new IT system for the City (rather than buying off the shelf) and it looks like votes could bleed away in several different directions - Gaza Independents, Your Party, the Greens and the Lib Dems all have some sort of a presence in the Council Chamber - and the Tories are not as abject there as they are in other large urban areas.
"Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark and part of the European Union..."
Except it isn't. Greenland had a referendum in 1982 to leave the EEC and officially left in 1985.
Greenexit?
Do they still have Remoaners in Nuuk 40 years on who still aren't happy about it?
Yep. 60% of Greenlanders want to rejoin the EU. It would be easier for them because in significant ways they remain part of the EU system through being an overseas territory of an EU member state.
"Fun fact for the RADICAL LEFT LUNATICS: the distance from Nuuk, Greenland to the GREAT CITY of Washington D,C. is 2,035 miles. The distance from Nuuk, Greenland to Denmark's capital Copenhagen is 2,200 miles. Thank you for your attention to this matter!"
And the distance from Greenland to Canada is, IIRC, 16 miles.
"Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark and part of the European Union..."
Except it isn't. Greenland had a referendum in 1982 to leave the EEC and officially left in 1985.
Greenexit?
Do they still have Remoaners in Nuuk 40 years on who still aren't happy about it?
Yep. 60% of Greenlanders want to rejoin the EU. It would be easier for them because in significant ways they remain part of the EU system through being an overseas territory of an EU member state.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch says US action in Venezuela was 'morally' the right thing to do.
She tells @bbcnickrobinson nations 'go through the motions' of rules-based order, but 'the world has changed'.
Dangerous and very cynical. Grovelling to Trump is bad politics and bad strategy.
Dangerous and cynical would be Ed Davey's approach of threatening the special relationship, which is music to Putin's ears.
International Law is very clear. Davey is not being cynical in defending it. The only special relationship Trump believes in is the degree of humiliation he intends to inflict on democratic governments. Putin's cuck - a treacherous friend- is far more dangerous than Putin himself.
There are three camps:
The Putin Trump Farage camp The spineless worms camp The International Law camp
Starmer is a worm, but at leat he recognises that the axis is doing bad things. I remain baffled by the people who shill for the Putin Trump Farage axis.
Lets be very clear here. Venezuela is the Rhineland. Listen to Miller. "Our back yard". "Our interests". Hitler instructed his generals to withdraw if the French stood up to them. France did not, Hitler thought ok who is next. Trumpler is of the same mindset, a gambler. And the more he gambles and wins, the higher the stakes he will risk.
Banhammers like Miller think they are king shit, and can do over anyone they like and we will not only do nothing, we will literally grovel for scraps. We will let them seize Greenland and perhaps Canada and will reward them by buying military hardware from them.
Are we going to equip the Starmer worm with a spine or what? There is an awful lot we can do to resist Trumpler's next moves, but we have to declare our intentions to do so. The US regime declared us their enemy in their new defence posture, they moved. We either respond or join the axis as some people clearly want us to do...
In partial defence of Starmer and other European leaders their approach is motivated by keeping Trump doing at least some things that benefit Ukraine: intelligence sharing; allowing weapons to be transferred to Ukraine; sanctions on Russia. All of which are put at risk in a complete ruptured with Trump.
But you're right, there's no excuse for Badenoch actually supporting Trump on the principle.
In defence of Badenoch, she has the luxury of opposition, and has to use it. Those who pay little attention - most people - will perhaps have noticed this:
1) A very bad person they never heard of has been toppled and brought to justice 2) Every liberal and internationalist is queueing up to say "He is a very bad person and he should not have been toppled and should not have been brought to justice. It's an outrage."
And concluded this does not make sense as they think bad people should be brought to justice.
Badenoch is addressing those people, who are not entirely wrong, and doing so with reasonable respect to law and justice.
Um. Who has Trump replaced this "bad person" by, supposedly in the American national interest? Now return to your points 1 and 2 and decide if they still apply, even if you are still disregarding the rule of law issue.
Address your question not to PBers but to Badenoch's audience who pay no attention. You are asking them to go beyond their attention span.
You said "in defence of Badenoch" so I thought you meant defence of the principle. But if it's just headline perceptions it's "mad dictator sending armies to foreign countries to change governments they don't like" versus "bad man arrested". The problem with the second one is that no-one has given a moment's thought to Maduro previously - they hadn't even heard of him - so they don't have a view on whether he's bad or not
I noticed that Kemi Badenoch, in her comments about Maduro etc., referenced her personal experience of living under a dictatorship in Nigeria. Through that lens, I guess, things look a little different. I wonder how important that personal background is in the formation of her politics.
I did read one Venezuelan exile saying "International law didn't give a f*ck about Maduro murdering and torturing us. But now, international law wants to protect him." That is hard to contest.
I think that is a very valid critique of international law.
The problem for said exile, however, is that Trump also doesn't give a f--- about Maduro, or now Rodriguez, murdering and torturing them either.
However, people analyzing the manifesto found peculiar wording, grammar errors and spelling errors indicating that the original text was not German, but originated in Russian.
Antifa? Who are these people, where is their headquarters? Are they a bit like SMERSH or SPECTRE?
Sandpit's link doesn't mention Antifa.
I would have thought a lot of people are Antifa, or anti fascist
Unfortunately not as many as we would like, hence the header.
(Vulkangruppe do publish letters on various left wing and anarchist sites, but seem to have no known membership or structure. Whether they truly exist is even questionable)
Antifa is rather nebulous except in the minds of panicked right wingers.
@stephenM to @jaketapper , arguing why the US running Venezuela: “We live in a world, in the real world, Jake, that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power. These are the iron laws of the world since the beginning of time.” Adds: "For them to do commerce, they need our permission. For them to run their economy, they need our permission." https://x.com/nickschifrin/status/2008516586064204249
Forget it Jake, it's Chinatown.
Miller's interview with Jake Tapper could become an incredibly important historical document for future generations should NATO collapse.
Starmer also urged his ministers to ignore the polls
I do not underestimate the scale of the task. But I have no doubt about this team. Governments do not lose because polls go down. They lose when they lose belief or nerve. We will do neither.
Trump: "I could have the most unbelievable four years -- and I guess I'm not allowed to run. I'm not sure. Is there a little something out there that I'm not allowed to run? But let's assume I was allowed to run. There's gonna be a constitutional movement."
"Fun fact for the RADICAL LEFT LUNATICS: the distance from Nuuk, Greenland to the GREAT CITY of Washington D,C. is 2,035 miles. The distance from Nuuk, Greenland to Denmark's capital Copenhagen is 2,200 miles. Thank you for your attention to this matter!"
And the distance from Greenland to Canada is, IIRC, 16 miles.
"Fun fact for the RADICAL LEFT LUNATICS: the distance from Nuuk, Greenland to the GREAT CITY of Washington D,C. is 2,035 miles. The distance from Nuuk, Greenland to Denmark's capital Copenhagen is 2,200 miles. Thank you for your attention to this matter!"
And the distance from Greenland to Canada is, IIRC, 16 miles.
The Department of Health and Human Services has verified reporting that Abukar Dahir Osman, Somalia's Ambassador to the United Nations, was involved in a healthcare company convicted of Medicaid fraud.
His company's NPI appears on the HHS Office of Inspector General exclusion list under code 1128a1, meaning conviction of program-related crimes with a mandatory minimum 5-year exclusion from Medicare and Medicaid.
You'll be shocked to her about the GOP senator involved in a $1.7bn Medicare fraud, then ?
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch says US action in Venezuela was 'morally' the right thing to do.
She tells @bbcnickrobinson nations 'go through the motions' of rules-based order, but 'the world has changed'.
Dangerous and very cynical. Grovelling to Trump is bad politics and bad strategy.
Dangerous and cynical would be Ed Davey's approach of threatening the special relationship, which is music to Putin's ears.
International Law is very clear. Davey is not being cynical in defending it. The only special relationship Trump believes in is the degree of humiliation he intends to inflict on democratic governments. Putin's cuck - a treacherous friend- is far more dangerous than Putin himself.
There are three camps:
The Putin Trump Farage camp The spineless worms camp The International Law camp
Starmer is a worm, but at leat he recognises that the axis is doing bad things. I remain baffled by the people who shill for the Putin Trump Farage axis.
Lets be very clear here. Venezuela is the Rhineland. Listen to Miller. "Our back yard". "Our interests". Hitler instructed his generals to withdraw if the French stood up to them. France did not, Hitler thought ok who is next. Trumpler is of the same mindset, a gambler. And the more he gambles and wins, the higher the stakes he will risk.
Banhammers like Miller think they are king shit, and can do over anyone they like and we will not only do nothing, we will literally grovel for scraps. We will let them seize Greenland and perhaps Canada and will reward them by buying military hardware from them.
Are we going to equip the Starmer worm with a spine or what? There is an awful lot we can do to resist Trumpler's next moves, but we have to declare our intentions to do so. The US regime declared us their enemy in their new defence posture, they moved. We either respond or join the axis as some people clearly want us to do...
In partial defence of Starmer and other European leaders their approach is motivated by keeping Trump doing at least some things that benefit Ukraine: intelligence sharing; allowing weapons to be transferred to Ukraine; sanctions on Russia. All of which are put at risk in a complete ruptured with Trump.
But you're right, there's no excuse for Badenoch actually supporting Trump on the principle.
In defence of Badenoch, she has the luxury of opposition, and has to use it. Those who pay little attention - most people - will perhaps have noticed this:
1) A very bad person they never heard of has been toppled and brought to justice 2) Every liberal and internationalist is queueing up to say "He is a very bad person and he should not have been toppled and should not have been brought to justice. It's an outrage."
And concluded this does not make sense as they think bad people should be brought to justice.
Badenoch is addressing those people, who are not entirely wrong, and doing so with reasonable respect to law and justice.
"...Badenoch is addressing those people, who are not entirely wrong, and doing so with reasonable no respect to law and justice..."
FTFY
Maduro ending up before a court is absolutely reasonable with respect to law and justice.
The idea that criminals should be left free to run wild is a perversion of law and justice.
Trump making it all about oil instead of the proper election winner getting power and deciding how to proceed, is also a perversion of law and justice and contemptible.
Do you think it would be ok for a country like Saudi Arabia to abduct, put on trial and execute a UK citizen who had gay sex in the UK?
Just admit that you adhere to the "might is right" principle. It would explain almost all your posts and positions on PB.
No, I would not, as I do not think it is reasonable to put people on trial for gay sex.
I do think it is reasonable to put people on trial for stealing elections and the plethora of other crimes Maduro has committed.
The difference is the crimes, not the involvement of third parties.
Might is not right, law is not right either. Right is right, wrong is wrong.
If might is abused, then that is bad. If law is abused, then that is bad too.
I adhere to the principle that might is real - and the way to prevent other people abusing their might is by investing in Defence, not a comfort blanket of 'law' that is a utopian fantasy.
The Saudis would disagree.
Which is why we should ensure we are never in a position to let them exert power over us.
If we fail, and they can, no law will protect us.
Neither law nor might are right. Right is right, and we need to determine for ourselves right from wrong.
We can use either law, or might, for good or ill. That's on our ethics, we can't outsource ethics to either soldiers or lawyers.
Is that what you'd advise the Venezuelans to do too to prevent the US meddling in their affairs?
If you don't want others meddling in your affairs you need to invest in Defence, yes.
That's always been true and always will be.
That would be small comfort to the gay man about to be executed by the Saudis.
No shit Sherlock, which is why we need to invest in Defence, to prevent that happening. Your own argument is proving my point.
Is this getting through your skull yet?
This is what you said: "Maduro ending up before a court is absolutely reasonable with respect to law and justice."
The problem is the Saudis might say the same: " This gay man ending up before our court is absolutely reasonable with respect to law and justice."
If you can defend the former then I don't see how you can't defend the latter.
The Saudis may say the same. I will disagree with them, because I disagree that gay sex is worthy of going before a court, as I already explained.
The principle of trying people for crimes that happened abroad, which is what you seem to object to, is one that was breached centuries ago. For hundreds of years we have done that.
The UK can try people before a court for 'crimes against humanity' that happened abroad and other issues we deem worthy of trying that happened abroad.
If we can do that, why can't the Saudis? Your own logic fails by our own law and case history.
The issue is not whether or not people can be brought before a court, the issue is why they are. For overthrowing democracy, corruption, smuggling drugs and arms and a plethora of other crimes that Maduro has committed - that is valid.
"Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark and part of the European Union..."
Except it isn't. Greenland had a referendum in 1982 to leave the EEC and officially left in 1985.
Greenexit?
Do they still have Remoaners in Nuuk 40 years on who still aren't happy about it?
Yep. 60% of Greenlanders want to rejoin the EU. It would be easier for them because in significant ways they remain part of the EU system through being an overseas territory of an EU member state.
Now would be an appropriate time to put in an application, wouldn't it!
I don't see how joining an EU hamstrung by Trump apologists like Orban would do the Greenlanders any good when it comes to dealing with Trump's desire to annex the place.
If the EU were to develop a sense of national identity and the organisation to go along with that then it would be different, but they've singularly failed to use the Ukraine crisis as a catalyst for establishing statehood. Oftentimes such crises have been the crucible in which nations are forged, but not so for Europe.
"Fun fact for the RADICAL LEFT LUNATICS: the distance from Nuuk, Greenland to the GREAT CITY of Washington D,C. is 2,035 miles. The distance from Nuuk, Greenland to Denmark's capital Copenhagen is 2,200 miles. Thank you for your attention to this matter!"
And the distance from Greenland to Canada is, IIRC, 16 miles.
"Fun fact for the RADICAL LEFT LUNATICS: the distance from Nuuk, Greenland to the GREAT CITY of Washington D,C. is 2,035 miles. The distance from Nuuk, Greenland to Denmark's capital Copenhagen is 2,200 miles. Thank you for your attention to this matter!"
And the distance from Greenland to Canada is, IIRC, 16 miles.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch says US action in Venezuela was 'morally' the right thing to do.
She tells @bbcnickrobinson nations 'go through the motions' of rules-based order, but 'the world has changed'.
Dangerous and very cynical. Grovelling to Trump is bad politics and bad strategy.
Dangerous and cynical would be Ed Davey's approach of threatening the special relationship, which is music to Putin's ears.
International Law is very clear. Davey is not being cynical in defending it. The only special relationship Trump believes in is the degree of humiliation he intends to inflict on democratic governments. Putin's cuck - a treacherous friend- is far more dangerous than Putin himself.
There are three camps:
The Putin Trump Farage camp The spineless worms camp The International Law camp
Starmer is a worm, but at leat he recognises that the axis is doing bad things. I remain baffled by the people who shill for the Putin Trump Farage axis.
Lets be very clear here. Venezuela is the Rhineland. Listen to Miller. "Our back yard". "Our interests". Hitler instructed his generals to withdraw if the French stood up to them. France did not, Hitler thought ok who is next. Trumpler is of the same mindset, a gambler. And the more he gambles and wins, the higher the stakes he will risk.
Banhammers like Miller think they are king shit, and can do over anyone they like and we will not only do nothing, we will literally grovel for scraps. We will let them seize Greenland and perhaps Canada and will reward them by buying military hardware from them.
Are we going to equip the Starmer worm with a spine or what? There is an awful lot we can do to resist Trumpler's next moves, but we have to declare our intentions to do so. The US regime declared us their enemy in their new defence posture, they moved. We either respond or join the axis as some people clearly want us to do...
In partial defence of Starmer and other European leaders their approach is motivated by keeping Trump doing at least some things that benefit Ukraine: intelligence sharing; allowing weapons to be transferred to Ukraine; sanctions on Russia. All of which are put at risk in a complete ruptured with Trump.
But you're right, there's no excuse for Badenoch actually supporting Trump on the principle.
In defence of Badenoch, she has the luxury of opposition, and has to use it. Those who pay little attention - most people - will perhaps have noticed this:
1) A very bad person they never heard of has been toppled and brought to justice 2) Every liberal and internationalist is queueing up to say "He is a very bad person and he should not have been toppled and should not have been brought to justice. It's an outrage."
And concluded this does not make sense as they think bad people should be brought to justice.
Badenoch is addressing those people, who are not entirely wrong, and doing so with reasonable respect to law and justice.
Um. Who has Trump replaced this "bad person" by, supposedly in the American national interest? Now return to your points 1 and 2 and decide if they still apply, even if you are still disregarding the rule of law issue.
Address your question not to PBers but to Badenoch's audience who pay no attention. You are asking them to go beyond their attention span.
You said "in defence of Badenoch" so I thought you meant defence of the principle. But if it's just headline perceptions it's "mad dictator sending armies to foreign countries to change governments they don't like" versus "bad man arrested". The problem with the second one is that no-one has given a moment's thought to Maduro previously - they hadn't even heard of him - so they don't have a view on whether he's bad or not
I noticed that Kemi Badenoch, in her comments about Maduro etc., referenced her personal experience of living under a dictatorship in Nigeria. Through that lens, I guess, things look a little different. I wonder how important that personal background is in the formation of her politics.
I did read one Venezuelan exile saying "International law didn't give a f*ck about Maduro murdering and torturing us. But now, international law wants to protect him." That is hard to contest.
I think that is a very valid critique of international law.
The problem for said exile, however, is that Trump also doesn't give a f--- about Maduro, or now Rodriguez, murdering and torturing them either.
Law, like so many things, relegates its hard questions to philosophy. In the philosophy of law it is perfectly possible to suggest that public international law necessarily exists to the extent only that it is enforceable within its entire putative domain. (Which in this case must, a fortiori, be planet wide.)
"Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark and part of the European Union..."
Except it isn't. Greenland had a referendum in 1982 to leave the EEC and officially left in 1985.
Greenexit?
Do they still have Remoaners in Nuuk 40 years on who still aren't happy about it?
Yep. 60% of Greenlanders want to rejoin the EU. It would be easier for them because in significant ways they remain part of the EU system through being an overseas territory of an EU member state.
Now would be an appropriate time to put in an application, wouldn't it!
I don't see how joining an EU hamstrung by Trump apologists like Orban would do the Greenlanders any good when it comes to dealing with Trump's desire to annex the place.
If the EU were to develop a sense of national identity and the organisation to go along with that then it would be different, but they've singularly failed to use the Ukraine crisis as a catalyst for establishing statehood. Oftentimes such crises have been the crucible in which nations are forged, but not so for Europe.
Simple - we make the expulsion of Orban a condition of joining. It's reasonably likely his electorate will do that for us this year, anyway.
The Department of Health and Human Services has verified reporting that Abukar Dahir Osman, Somalia's Ambassador to the United Nations, was involved in a healthcare company convicted of Medicaid fraud.
His company's NPI appears on the HHS Office of Inspector General exclusion list under code 1128a1, meaning conviction of program-related crimes with a mandatory minimum 5-year exclusion from Medicare and Medicaid.
You'll be shocked to her about the GOP senator involved in a $1.7bn Medicare fraud, then ?
"Fun fact for the RADICAL LEFT LUNATICS: the distance from Nuuk, Greenland to the GREAT CITY of Washington D,C. is 2,035 miles. The distance from Nuuk, Greenland to Denmark's capital Copenhagen is 2,200 miles. Thank you for your attention to this matter!"
And the distance from Greenland to Canada is, IIRC, 16 miles.
"Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark and part of the European Union..."
Except it isn't. Greenland had a referendum in 1982 to leave the EEC and officially left in 1985.
Greenexit?
Do they still have Remoaners in Nuuk 40 years on who still aren't happy about it?
Yep. 60% of Greenlanders want to rejoin the EU. It would be easier for them because in significant ways they remain part of the EU system through being an overseas territory of an EU member state.
Now would be an appropriate time to put in an application, wouldn't it!
I don't see how joining an EU hamstrung by Trump apologists like Orban would do the Greenlanders any good when it comes to dealing with Trump's desire to annex the place.
If the EU were to develop a sense of national identity and the organisation to go along with that then it would be different, but they've singularly failed to use the Ukraine crisis as a catalyst for establishing statehood. Oftentimes such crises have been the crucible in which nations are forged, but not so for Europe.
Well, I'd be very happy if the EU did develop that way, and even happier if we were part of it, but in the short term Greenland rejoining would have a good chance of REALLY annoying the lunatic in the White House.
It might also make his generals (etc) try (?even harder) to talk him out of military adventures.
The Mad King is holding a pep rally at which he muses about cancelling elections
Anybody who would rather have had Kamala than this is a boring c-nt. Are you not entertained?
To be fair, watching VP Tim Walz trying to defend the Minnesota daycare centre fraud would have been very entertaining!
Nobody normal gives a toss about that. It's just the permanently online alt-right fucc boi plat-du-jour and it'll be something else soon enough.
It is remarkable that this Minnesota story exercises the very people who dismiss the statutory rape of teenage girls by a cabal of older high profile men as a mere trifle.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch says US action in Venezuela was 'morally' the right thing to do.
She tells @bbcnickrobinson nations 'go through the motions' of rules-based order, but 'the world has changed'.
Dangerous and very cynical. Grovelling to Trump is bad politics and bad strategy.
Dangerous and cynical would be Ed Davey's approach of threatening the special relationship, which is music to Putin's ears.
International Law is very clear. Davey is not being cynical in defending it. The only special relationship Trump believes in is the degree of humiliation he intends to inflict on democratic governments. Putin's cuck - a treacherous friend- is far more dangerous than Putin himself.
There are three camps:
The Putin Trump Farage camp The spineless worms camp The International Law camp
Starmer is a worm, but at leat he recognises that the axis is doing bad things. I remain baffled by the people who shill for the Putin Trump Farage axis.
Lets be very clear here. Venezuela is the Rhineland. Listen to Miller. "Our back yard". "Our interests". Hitler instructed his generals to withdraw if the French stood up to them. France did not, Hitler thought ok who is next. Trumpler is of the same mindset, a gambler. And the more he gambles and wins, the higher the stakes he will risk.
Banhammers like Miller think they are king shit, and can do over anyone they like and we will not only do nothing, we will literally grovel for scraps. We will let them seize Greenland and perhaps Canada and will reward them by buying military hardware from them.
Are we going to equip the Starmer worm with a spine or what? There is an awful lot we can do to resist Trumpler's next moves, but we have to declare our intentions to do so. The US regime declared us their enemy in their new defence posture, they moved. We either respond or join the axis as some people clearly want us to do...
In partial defence of Starmer and other European leaders their approach is motivated by keeping Trump doing at least some things that benefit Ukraine: intelligence sharing; allowing weapons to be transferred to Ukraine; sanctions on Russia. All of which are put at risk in a complete ruptured with Trump.
But you're right, there's no excuse for Badenoch actually supporting Trump on the principle.
In defence of Badenoch, she has the luxury of opposition, and has to use it. Those who pay little attention - most people - will perhaps have noticed this:
1) A very bad person they never heard of has been toppled and brought to justice 2) Every liberal and internationalist is queueing up to say "He is a very bad person and he should not have been toppled and should not have been brought to justice. It's an outrage."
And concluded this does not make sense as they think bad people should be brought to justice.
Badenoch is addressing those people, who are not entirely wrong, and doing so with reasonable respect to law and justice.
Um. Who has Trump replaced this "bad person" by, supposedly in the American national interest? Now return to your points 1 and 2 and decide if they still apply, even if you are still disregarding the rule of law issue.
Address your question not to PBers but to Badenoch's audience who pay no attention. You are asking them to go beyond their attention span.
You said "in defence of Badenoch" so I thought you meant defence of the principle. But if it's just headline perceptions it's "mad dictator sending armies to foreign countries to change governments they don't like" versus "bad man arrested". The problem with the second one is that no-one has given a moment's thought to Maduro previously - they hadn't even heard of him - so they don't have a view on whether he's bad or not
I noticed that Kemi Badenoch, in her comments about Maduro etc., referenced her personal experience of living under a dictatorship in Nigeria. Through that lens, I guess, things look a little different. I wonder how important that personal background is in the formation of her politics.
I did read one Venezuelan exile saying "International law didn't give a f*ck about Maduro murdering and torturing us. But now, international law wants to protect him." That is hard to contest.
I think that is a very valid critique of international law.
The problem for said exile, however, is that Trump also doesn't give a f--- about Maduro, or now Rodriguez, murdering and torturing them either.
The thing about international law is that it's very libertarian. (You'd think @BartholomewRoberts would like it!) The basic principle is that countries leave each other alone, and what happens in your country is your business (unless it gets absolutely extreme, e.g. genocide).
The Mad King is holding a pep rally at which he muses about cancelling elections
Anybody who would rather have had Kamala than this is a boring c-nt. Are you not entertained?
No. Same plot of causing outrage on every show. All about "Trump" being heard abve the rest.
Can't wait for the fucking show to get cancelled.
Trump's latest argument that the Dems are so shit, GOP/Trump shouldn't have to fight them so elections should be cancelled is an odd one even by his standards.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch says US action in Venezuela was 'morally' the right thing to do.
She tells @bbcnickrobinson nations 'go through the motions' of rules-based order, but 'the world has changed'.
Dangerous and very cynical. Grovelling to Trump is bad politics and bad strategy.
Dangerous and cynical would be Ed Davey's approach of threatening the special relationship, which is music to Putin's ears.
International Law is very clear. Davey is not being cynical in defending it. The only special relationship Trump believes in is the degree of humiliation he intends to inflict on democratic governments. Putin's cuck - a treacherous friend- is far more dangerous than Putin himself.
There are three camps:
The Putin Trump Farage camp The spineless worms camp The International Law camp
Starmer is a worm, but at leat he recognises that the axis is doing bad things. I remain baffled by the people who shill for the Putin Trump Farage axis.
Lets be very clear here. Venezuela is the Rhineland. Listen to Miller. "Our back yard". "Our interests". Hitler instructed his generals to withdraw if the French stood up to them. France did not, Hitler thought ok who is next. Trumpler is of the same mindset, a gambler. And the more he gambles and wins, the higher the stakes he will risk.
Banhammers like Miller think they are king shit, and can do over anyone they like and we will not only do nothing, we will literally grovel for scraps. We will let them seize Greenland and perhaps Canada and will reward them by buying military hardware from them.
Are we going to equip the Starmer worm with a spine or what? There is an awful lot we can do to resist Trumpler's next moves, but we have to declare our intentions to do so. The US regime declared us their enemy in their new defence posture, they moved. We either respond or join the axis as some people clearly want us to do...
In partial defence of Starmer and other European leaders their approach is motivated by keeping Trump doing at least some things that benefit Ukraine: intelligence sharing; allowing weapons to be transferred to Ukraine; sanctions on Russia. All of which are put at risk in a complete ruptured with Trump.
But you're right, there's no excuse for Badenoch actually supporting Trump on the principle.
In defence of Badenoch, she has the luxury of opposition, and has to use it. Those who pay little attention - most people - will perhaps have noticed this:
1) A very bad person they never heard of has been toppled and brought to justice 2) Every liberal and internationalist is queueing up to say "He is a very bad person and he should not have been toppled and should not have been brought to justice. It's an outrage."
And concluded this does not make sense as they think bad people should be brought to justice.
Badenoch is addressing those people, who are not entirely wrong, and doing so with reasonable respect to law and justice.
Um. Who has Trump replaced this "bad person" by, supposedly in the American national interest? Now return to your points 1 and 2 and decide if they still apply, even if you are still disregarding the rule of law issue.
Address your question not to PBers but to Badenoch's audience who pay no attention. You are asking them to go beyond their attention span.
You said "in defence of Badenoch" so I thought you meant defence of the principle. But if it's just headline perceptions it's "mad dictator sending armies to foreign countries to change governments they don't like" versus "bad man arrested". The problem with the second one is that no-one has given a moment's thought to Maduro previously - they hadn't even heard of him - so they don't have a view on whether he's bad or not
I noticed that Kemi Badenoch, in her comments about Maduro etc., referenced her personal experience of living under a dictatorship in Nigeria. Through that lens, I guess, things look a little different. I wonder how important that personal background is in the formation of her politics.
I did read one Venezuelan exile saying "International law didn't give a f*ck about Maduro murdering and torturing us. But now, international law wants to protect him." That is hard to contest.
I think that is a very valid critique of international law.
The problem for said exile, however, is that Trump also doesn't give a f--- about Maduro, or now Rodriguez, murdering and torturing them either.
"Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark and part of the European Union..."
Except it isn't. Greenland had a referendum in 1982 to leave the EEC and officially left in 1985.
It's bad journalism to make lazy assumptions like that.
The Sky presenter when US raided Venezuela presumed the Vice President was male....its like google doesn't exist. Kept saying it until they got on a Venezualan journalist who immediately said you know its a women right.
The BBC had a reporter pronouncing Maria Machado's name with a hard k sound this morning, as if she were Italian.
There was a fad 20-odd years ago for pronouncing Urugyuan footballer Gus Poyet's name as if it were French!
Australian F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo pronounces his own name "Ricardo". And Jose Mourinho got callled Hose not Zhose
And apparently Pinochet should be pronounced Pin--o-chet, not Pinoshay
The Department of Health and Human Services has verified reporting that Abukar Dahir Osman, Somalia's Ambassador to the United Nations, was involved in a healthcare company convicted of Medicaid fraud.
His company's NPI appears on the HHS Office of Inspector General exclusion list under code 1128a1, meaning conviction of program-related crimes with a mandatory minimum 5-year exclusion from Medicare and Medicaid.
You'll be shocked to her about the GOP senator involved in a $1.7bn Medicare fraud, then ?
Put ‘em all in prison.
... and then let Trump pardon the ones he likes/who but a lot of TrumpCoin.
"Fun fact for the RADICAL LEFT LUNATICS: the distance from Nuuk, Greenland to the GREAT CITY of Washington D,C. is 2,035 miles. The distance from Nuuk, Greenland to Denmark's capital Copenhagen is 2,200 miles. Thank you for your attention to this matter!"
And the distance from Greenland to Canada is, IIRC, 16 miles.
The Mad King is holding a pep rally at which he muses about cancelling elections
Anybody who would rather have had Kamala than this is a boring c-nt. Are you not entertained?
No. Same plot of causing outrage on every show. All about "Trump" being heard abve the rest.
Can't wait for the fucking show to get cancelled.
Trump's latest argument that the Dems are so shit, GOP/Trump shouldn't have to fight them so elections should be cancelled is an odd one even by his standards.
It doesn't matter how absurd, his supporters will get there in time, as they have shifted their positions on pretty much everything over a decade. Often multiple times back and forth.
I don't think Reform are polling well enough or broadly enough across a wide enough range of issues, or that Nigel Farage is favourable enough, for them to win.
They are in the high 20s mid-term (which would undoubtedly be less following a GE campaign) and their support is strong on immigration/cultural issues, but they still haven't convinced on the economy. On top, Farage is better than he was but still very much marmite.
It sings to me of them getting c.150 seats, but not winning.
The YouGov vote shares are a nightmare for bettors, because hundreds of seats are going to be won on very low vote shares, and by very small margins.
About the only thing you can say with certainty is that - if they hold out- then the SNP will get 40-odd seats, and the LibDems will get around 100, given both those parties highly geographically concentrated vote share.
For Reform and the Conservatives, a lot depends on how efficient their vote is. If it is moderate efficient, they'll clean up. If it isn't, then I think 150-200 for Reform is probably about right.
Yes, I think so - but I'm not quite as bullish on the LDs as you are.
I'm just playing with the YouGov numbers: if they get 16%, then given they get close to zero in half the country, they'll be getting a decent number of seats mathematically.
Can you assume that the Lib Dem vote will always be efficient? In 2010 they got 23% for fewer seats than they have now.
There are two factors at work:
(1) How concentrated is your vote? The regional parties clearly have very concentrated votes, and -in recent times- the same has been true of the LibDems. They've done very well in prosperous Remainia, and very poorly in poorer Leavestan. If their vote were to equalize between the two it would become significantly less efficient. However, I don't think we've seen any sign of that yet.
(2) How well are your opponents scoring? In 2010, the LibDems may have got 23%, but the Conservative Party (with whom they compete most for seats) was 13 percentage points above them. On that YouGov poll, there's only 10 percentage points between the LibDems and Reform... and Reform is likely doing besrt in Leavestan.
That suggests to me that, if the YouGov shares hold, then the LDs will do reasonably well: not challening for government or anything, but probably piking up a few more seats, simply because their vote share is up, while the Conservative one is down. (And yes, they will of course lose some seats to Reform, but they are lucky that their main opposition is the Conservative Party.)
I know it's three years away, but my snapshot today, based on the current EMA of vote shares and my personal switching model with some tactical voting is as follows:
LDs retain all current 72 seats except Newton Abbot which they lose to Reform. LDs gain one seat from Labour - Sheffield Hallam LDs gain six seats from the Tories - E Hants, Farnham, Godalming, N Cotswolds, N Dorset and Romsey ending up with 78 seats.
Green gain one seat from the Tories - Tonbridge, and dozens more from Labour ending up with 58 seats.
"Green gain one seat from the Tories - Tonbridge"
Held by Tom Tugendhat who is 13,000 ahead of the Greens, who are in third place. Hmm.
FPT Based on % change in vote share:
Con 20,517 to 16,060 Grn 7,596 to 16,183 Ref 7,548 to 14,685
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch says US action in Venezuela was 'morally' the right thing to do.
She tells @bbcnickrobinson nations 'go through the motions' of rules-based order, but 'the world has changed'.
Dangerous and very cynical. Grovelling to Trump is bad politics and bad strategy.
Dangerous and cynical would be Ed Davey's approach of threatening the special relationship, which is music to Putin's ears.
International Law is very clear. Davey is not being cynical in defending it. The only special relationship Trump believes in is the degree of humiliation he intends to inflict on democratic governments. Putin's cuck - a treacherous friend- is far more dangerous than Putin himself.
There are three camps:
The Putin Trump Farage camp The spineless worms camp The International Law camp
Starmer is a worm, but at leat he recognises that the axis is doing bad things. I remain baffled by the people who shill for the Putin Trump Farage axis.
Lets be very clear here. Venezuela is the Rhineland. Listen to Miller. "Our back yard". "Our interests". Hitler instructed his generals to withdraw if the French stood up to them. France did not, Hitler thought ok who is next. Trumpler is of the same mindset, a gambler. And the more he gambles and wins, the higher the stakes he will risk.
Banhammers like Miller think they are king shit, and can do over anyone they like and we will not only do nothing, we will literally grovel for scraps. We will let them seize Greenland and perhaps Canada and will reward them by buying military hardware from them.
Are we going to equip the Starmer worm with a spine or what? There is an awful lot we can do to resist Trumpler's next moves, but we have to declare our intentions to do so. The US regime declared us their enemy in their new defence posture, they moved. We either respond or join the axis as some people clearly want us to do...
In partial defence of Starmer and other European leaders their approach is motivated by keeping Trump doing at least some things that benefit Ukraine: intelligence sharing; allowing weapons to be transferred to Ukraine; sanctions on Russia. All of which are put at risk in a complete ruptured with Trump.
But you're right, there's no excuse for Badenoch actually supporting Trump on the principle.
In defence of Badenoch, she has the luxury of opposition, and has to use it. Those who pay little attention - most people - will perhaps have noticed this:
1) A very bad person they never heard of has been toppled and brought to justice 2) Every liberal and internationalist is queueing up to say "He is a very bad person and he should not have been toppled and should not have been brought to justice. It's an outrage."
And concluded this does not make sense as they think bad people should be brought to justice.
Badenoch is addressing those people, who are not entirely wrong, and doing so with reasonable respect to law and justice.
Um. Who has Trump replaced this "bad person" by, supposedly in the American national interest? Now return to your points 1 and 2 and decide if they still apply, even if you are still disregarding the rule of law issue.
Address your question not to PBers but to Badenoch's audience who pay no attention. You are asking them to go beyond their attention span.
You said "in defence of Badenoch" so I thought you meant defence of the principle. But if it's just headline perceptions it's "mad dictator sending armies to foreign countries to change governments they don't like" versus "bad man arrested". The problem with the second one is that no-one has given a moment's thought to Maduro previously - they hadn't even heard of him - so they don't have a view on whether he's bad or not
I noticed that Kemi Badenoch, in her comments about Maduro etc., referenced her personal experience of living under a dictatorship in Nigeria. Through that lens, I guess, things look a little different. I wonder how important that personal background is in the formation of her politics.
I did read one Venezuelan exile saying "International law didn't give a f*ck about Maduro murdering and torturing us. But now, international law wants to protect him." That is hard to contest.
I think that is a very valid critique of international law.
The problem for said exile, however, is that Trump also doesn't give a f--- about Maduro, or now Rodriguez, murdering and torturing them either.
The thing about international law is that it's very libertarian. (You'd think @BartholomewRoberts would like it!) The basic principle is that countries leave each other alone, and what happens in your country is your business (unless it gets absolutely extreme, e.g. genocide).
International law is a very mixed bag of things, some good, some less so. At its best it regulates relationships between countries to their mutual benefit (eg trade agreements), standardises equipment with consequential gains to users and provides non violent ways of resolving disputes. At its worse it makes what is happening in other countries such as the destruction of the Uyghurs, the Burmese slaughter of the Rohingyas and the appalling behaviour of the IDF none of our business or at least provides no effective mechanisms to stop the outrages.
Trump's abduction and kidnapping of Maduro and his wife, along with the massacre of his supposed guards, is completely contrary to any rules based system. I really don't see a problem with pointing out that this is very damaging to international law and the prospects of peaceful resolution of future issues. I don't think it is a problem pointing out that this is not how we think things should be done and that this was a very bad thing. That is entirely independent of the question of whether Maduro is a very bad man or not (which is not much of a question really). Personally, I don't think that this is that complicated and the idea that opposing such criminal behaviour on the part of the US is somehow supporting Maduro is really for the hard of thinking.
Comments
https://x.com/NavyLookout/status/2008487426440712681
There is speculation that 🇺🇸US special forces flying from the 🇬🇧UK will try to capture tanker MV Bella 1, now in the Western Atlantic.
The vessel was sanctioned by the US and has carried 🇻🇪Venezuelan crude oil. On 30th Dec, the ship was renamed MV Marinera and re-flagged as a 🇷🇺Russian vessel.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1509kklkzvo
At what point is it no longer a strike and it is that the service just doesn't exist.
More public sector strikes to come this year if what the new Unison trades Union leader is saying comes to pass.
Dominic Michael Tripi
@DMichaelTripi
NEW: United States increasingly issuing work visas to OnlyFans models based on level of audience reach according to the Financial Times.
https://x.com/DrewPavlou/status/2008325412883992580
@DrewPavlou
Trump is literally doing the Ali G “Let The Fit Ones In” policy
I do not underestimate the scale of the task. But I have no doubt about this team. Governments do not lose because polls go down. They lose when they lose belief or nerve. We will do neither.
I know of poker pros who got work visas under their exceptional talent visa programme when televised poker was all the rage. The US immigration system is quite odd in many respects.
Crossover this year, anyone?
And apparently Pinochet should be pronounced Pin--o-chet, not Pinoshay
https://x.com/dhsgov/status/2008543534086029591?s=61
https://youtu.be/PDu9CvbrnlM?si=toxZMc70erx1sTQ8&t=117
The BBC's analysis of protests includes only those for which we have verified video footage - the true number is almost certainly far higher. There are reports of protests in a further 11 provinces, external.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cre28d2j2zxo
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_next_United_Kingdom_general_election#/media/File:Opinion_polling_graph_for_the_next_United_Kingdom_general_election_(post-2024).svg
Looks like the protests aren’t stopping anytime soon.
https://x.com/aliostad/status/2008472173623582744?s=61
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland_and_the_European_Union
https://x.com/marionawfal/status/2008314228277395777
The Department of Health and Human Services has verified reporting that Abukar Dahir Osman, Somalia's Ambassador to the United Nations, was involved in a healthcare company convicted of Medicaid fraud.
His company's NPI appears on the HHS Office of Inspector General exclusion list under code 1128a1, meaning conviction of program-related crimes with a mandatory minimum 5-year exclusion from Medicare and Medicaid.
The problem for said exile, however, is that Trump also doesn't give a f--- about Maduro, or now
Rodriguez, murdering and torturing them either.
Trump: "I could have the most unbelievable four years -- and I guess I'm not allowed to run. I'm not sure. Is there a little something out there that I'm not allowed to run? But let's assume I was allowed to run. There's gonna be a constitutional movement."
https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3mbrcbtibxe2q
The principle of trying people for crimes that happened abroad, which is what you seem to object to, is one that was breached centuries ago. For hundreds of years we have done that.
The UK can try people before a court for 'crimes against humanity' that happened abroad and other issues we deem worthy of trying that happened abroad.
If we can do that, why can't the Saudis? Your own logic fails by our own law and case history.
The issue is not whether or not people can be brought before a court, the issue is why they are. For overthrowing democracy, corruption, smuggling drugs and arms and a plethora of other crimes that Maduro has committed - that is valid.
For engaging in consensual sex - that is not.
If the EU were to develop a sense of national identity and the organisation to go along with that then it would be different, but they've singularly failed to use the Ukraine crisis as a catalyst for establishing statehood. Oftentimes such crises have been the crucible in which nations are forged, but not so for Europe.
It's reasonably likely his electorate will do that for us this year, anyway.
Can't wait for the fucking show to get cancelled.
It might also make his generals (etc) try (?even harder) to talk him out of military adventures.
NEW THREAD
International law is not good.
Trump is not good.
Do you want Greenland to remain in the European Communities?
Votes %
Yes 11,180 47.0%
No 12,615 53.0%
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1982_Greenlandic_European_Communities_membership_referendum
Con 20,517 to 16,060
Grn 7,596 to 16,183
Ref 7,548 to 14,685
Tight, I admit.
UK
Iceland
Norway
Greenland
Wonder if they'll ever learn?
Trump's abduction and kidnapping of Maduro and his wife, along with the massacre of his supposed guards, is completely contrary to any rules based system. I really don't see a problem with pointing out that this is very damaging to international law and the prospects of peaceful resolution of future issues. I don't think it is a problem pointing out that this is not how we think things should be done and that this was a very bad thing. That is entirely independent of the question of whether Maduro is a very bad man or not (which is not much of a question really). Personally, I don't think that this is that complicated and the idea that opposing such criminal behaviour on the part of the US is somehow supporting Maduro is really for the hard of thinking.