"Almost every important decision of the past 36 years, by Labour, Tories and coalition Lib Dems alike – with the exception of some of John Major’s domestic reforms, the launch of auto-enrolled pensions, the legalisation of gay marriage, Michael Gove’s school reforms and Brexit – has been a disaster or backfired in catastrophic ways. Most will need to be reversed if Britain is to be saved."
Worth remembering when they did the bombing run before they sent two squadrons, one on a decoy towards Chagos and the one that did the business that was in the air for 40hrs (or whatever it was). There was all the chatter about will the UK let them land there if they are going to do a bombing run then, with the percieved wisdom was no. And of course the US kept the UK in the dark about it all being a decoy anyway.
The UK has arrested Andrew because of the Epstein files and over here the President signed an EO protecting cancer causing Glyphosate in our foods and we have zero Epstein related arrest and investigations since release of the files.
And we are on the verge of going to war against Iran.
That’s the current state of MAGA and MAHA.
I still find it distressing and confusing when MTG speaks sense.
One thing I'm struggling with is that I've seen images in the Epstein files that unambiguously show men abusing children and not a single one of those men has been arrested. How can the FBI get away with ignoring this? https://x.com/hashjenni/status/2024121497544163661
Because someone gave them a non-prosecution agreement, for no apparent reason, and without naming them (which in itself is unlawful).
That someone being Trump's former Cabinet member Alexander Acosta?
24 hours later and the obvious reason why Trump isn’t happy about Changos has appeared in the Times.
Surprise, surprise the issue is we are not letting the US use our Air Force bases to attack Iran
100% with Starmer on this.
We'll done Starmer
No use of our bases
No collaboration that includes Israel
Let Trump be the pussy.
Well apart from Fairfiord and Lakenheath.
The Yanks should be removed from there ASAP.
All historic and diplomatic permissions to there and any other US bases revoked
It's frankly ridiculous that 81 years after WW2 that they are still there.
They and Mildenhall should and could be handed to the Prison Estate initially to resolve all over crowding issues as Cat C and D open prisons and eventually in to New Towns.
So Skyr is destroying NATO and our major alliance and the pillar of Five Eyes so his corrupt and venal friends can giveaway British territory to China and make us pay billions for the pleasure
Pipe down.
NATO was destroyed by Trump and his Greenland bullshit.
Breaking news. An unnamed man in his 60s has been arrested on the Sandringham Estate on suspicion of misconduct in public office. Wonder who that might be? Intriguing.🧐
The usual silence on ethnicity, I see. They just never learn.
Anglo Greek?
Anglo Greek Danish?
Anyway, I think that just comes under White Other. A second generation immigrant of the sort that Matt Goodwin and Rupert Lowe will sort out.
"Almost every important decision of the past 36 years, by Labour, Tories and coalition Lib Dems alike – with the exception of some of John Major’s domestic reforms, the launch of auto-enrolled pensions, the legalisation of gay marriage, Michael Gove’s school reforms and Brexit – has been a disaster or backfired in catastrophic ways. Most will need to be reversed if Britain is to be saved."
Wow, that's quite a list he's put together there. ('the displacement of religious observance by secular ideologies such as Gaia worship, NHS idolatry and wokery'!) And, of course, there's only one man who can save from all this. The expectations they're piling on Nigel are enormous. It almost seems unfair.
"Almost every important decision of the past 36 years, by Labour, Tories and coalition Lib Dems alike – with the exception of some of John Major’s domestic reforms, the launch of auto-enrolled pensions, the legalisation of gay marriage, Michael Gove’s school reforms and Brexit – has been a disaster or backfired in catastrophic ways. Most will need to be reversed if Britain is to be saved."
"Almost every important decision of the past 36 years, by Labour, Tories and coalition Lib Dems alike – with the exception of some of John Major’s domestic reforms, the launch of auto-enrolled pensions, the legalisation of gay marriage, Michael Gove’s school reforms and Brexit – has been a disaster or backfired in catastrophic ways. Most will need to be reversed if Britain is to be saved."
It depends. If the Americans, uncharacteristically for them, have a coherent plan for Iran that might get a better government in there, then there might be a case for helping them.
If they're just doing what they usually do, drop a few bombs, kill some people but basically leave the regime intact and maybe even strengthened, then I don't see there's much point in letting them use our territory.
We all know America's in general, and Trump's in particular, capacity for policy development and strategic thought and profound understanding of the baffling complexities of the Middle East.
So Skyr is destroying NATO and our major alliance and the pillar of Five Eyes so his corrupt and venal friends can giveaway British territory to China and make us pay billions for the pleasure
How else are we going to get those two rather foolhardy travellers out? The two who were motorcycling to Australia via Iran.I must say I would have thought it almost safer to go through Russia!
"Almost every important decision of the past 36 years, by Labour, Tories and coalition Lib Dems alike – with the exception of some of John Major’s domestic reforms, the launch of auto-enrolled pensions, the legalisation of gay marriage, Michael Gove’s school reforms and Brexit – has been a disaster or backfired in catastrophic ways. Most will need to be reversed if Britain is to be saved."
Another exception he missed. The Autumn 2022 budget. As he said at the time...
"This was the best Budget I have ever heard a British Chancellor deliver, by a massive margin. The tax cuts were so huge and bold, the language so extraordinary, that at times, listening to Kwasi Kwarteng, I had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming, that I hadn't been transported to a distant land that actually believed in the economics of Milton Friedman and F A Hayek.
And one can lighten the mood during a crisis by shouting: "Romeo! Romeo! Where for art thou, Romeo?!"
Wherefore. As in "therefore", but with a "w".
What I like about "Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou, Romeo", perhaps the best known or at least top 2 Shakespeare quotation, is that there are three words in it and none of them really exist in modern English.
Doesn't wherefore mean why?
Yes. It's the question version of "therefore". She's asking why are you called Romeo, as the rest of the soliloquy makes clear.
O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name. Or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love And I’ll no longer be a Capulet. ‘Tis but thy name that is my enemy: Thou art thyself, though not a Montague. What’s Montague? It is nor hand nor foot Nor arm nor face nor any other part Belonging to a man. O be some other name. What’s in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet; So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call’d, Retain that dear perfection which he owes Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name, And for that name, which is no part of thee, Take all myself.
But we don't have "wherefore" in modern English, so modern ears presume she's asking, "Where are you, Romeo?" Which is why we should stop teaching Shakespeare in schools. QED.
By rights she should be called Juliet not Antonia.
Twas at the Christening they met Romeo and Juliet At any restaurant they beset Romeo'd what Juliet
That is quite a fire; it will take a long time to repair the damage.
The latest is that there’s now almost no storage available in Russia, so they’re going to have to start slowing down production in the next couple of weeks. Sanctions seem to be working.
The economic news out of Moscow is also terrible, it looks like they might only have 4-6 months before an implosion. The large cash payments they were making to military for signups and KIAs have been significantly reduced. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4l7YabZr7vw
The numbers of the shadow fleet of tankers are also sharply down and the Trump interventions there have made moving oil that way more hazardous.
The scenario of Russia actually losing the war, as opposed to being unable to win it, is hoving into view but we should be careful what we wish for. Russia as a failed state will be extremely dangerous.
The dodgy tankers are now severely curtailed, in recent days Trump has been playing tariff wars with India over Russian imports and the Indians have picked up three sanctioned tankers in their waters. UK and Europe could do better here as well, there’s still dodgy ships around the North Sea and Mediterranean.
Yes there is definitely a potential problem with a failed Russian state after the war, which will require international efforts when that time comes. The price will be a return to 1991 borders and severe demiliterisation.
A broken Russia is going to require huge intervention from either state banks/IMF, which is where massive cuts in the defence (more correctly, the offence) budget and the return to 1991 borders.
Alternatively, China bails out Moscow in return for huge tracts of land. Putin has already destroyed Russia's gold reserves and wealth funds and can't stop the hydrocarbons industry and markets being trashed. He might as well give up half of Russia to Xi so he can acquire the Donbas in Ukraine.
What a legacy Putin is going to have,
One day there will be a Putin autobiography, which will simply be called: Hubris, Nemesis.
Kathy Ruemmler shared nonpublic details with Jeffrey Epstein about the White House's* probe into a prostitution scandal that engulfed the Secret Service during her tenure as White House counsel, emails show. https://x.com/business/status/2024469858428108916
It depends. If the Americans, uncharacteristically for them, have a coherent plan for Iran that might get a better government in there, then there might be a case for helping them.
If they're just doing what they usually do, drop a few bombs, kill some people but basically leave the regime intact and maybe even strengthened, then I don't see there's much point in letting them use our territory.
We all know America's in general, and Trump's in particular, capacity for policy development and strategic thought and profound understanding of the baffling complexities of the Middle East.
Which is more likely?
Any change of government would be a better government.
Descending into anarchy would be better than the status quo.
We should be insisting upon regime change and not just a bombing run for the sake of it, on that I agree.
🚨 NEW: Journalist Roger Sollenberger reports that FBI interview records from a woman who accused Donald Trump of assault when she was 13–15 are now missing from the Epstein file releases.
According to the reporting, the FBI had conducted four interviews and considered her claims credible, yet three of those interview records are no longer in the disclosed files. https://x.com/allenanalysis/status/2024467128884027439
It depends. If the Americans, uncharacteristically for them, have a coherent plan for Iran that might get a better government in there, then there might be a case for helping them.
If they're just doing what they usually do, drop a few bombs, kill some people but basically leave the regime intact and maybe even strengthened, then I don't see there's much point in letting them use our territory.
We all know America's in general, and Trump's in particular, capacity for policy development and strategic thought and profound understanding of the baffling complexities of the Middle East.
Which is more likely?
Any change of government would be a better government.
Descending into anarchy would be better than the status quo.
We should be insisting upon regime change and not just a bombing run for the sake of it, on that I agree.
"Any change in government would be a better government."
🚨 NEW: Journalist Roger Sollenberger reports that FBI interview records from a woman who accused Donald Trump of assault when she was 13–15 are now missing from the Epstein file releases.
According to the reporting, the FBI had conducted four interviews and considered her claims credible, yet three of those interview records are no longer in the disclosed files. https://x.com/allenanalysis/status/2024467128884027439
They will, though, perhaps be on the independent backup websites.
Im not going to post the defection rumours i am reading on X as I suspect they may be horse doings i dont want to be assiciated with. However, if you like a bit of gossip, DYOR. If they happened to be true, i wouldn't stop laughing for a week
Twitter does seem to be a cesspit of fake defection announcements. I guess they are good at getting people's attention.
I can see why the particular rumour I think you are referring to would make you laugh, though.
That is quite a fire; it will take a long time to repair the damage.
The latest is that there’s now almost no storage available in Russia, so they’re going to have to start slowing down production in the next couple of weeks. Sanctions seem to be working.
The economic news out of Moscow is also terrible, it looks like they might only have 4-6 months before an implosion. The large cash payments they were making to military for signups and KIAs have been significantly reduced. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4l7YabZr7vw
The numbers of the shadow fleet of tankers are also sharply down and the Trump interventions there have made moving oil that way more hazardous.
The scenario of Russia actually losing the war, as opposed to being unable to win it, is hoving into view but we should be careful what we wish for. Russia as a failed state will be extremely dangerous.
The dodgy tankers are now severely curtailed, in recent days Trump has been playing tariff wars with India over Russian imports and the Indians have picked up three sanctioned tankers in their waters. UK and Europe could do better here as well, there’s still dodgy ships around the North Sea and Mediterranean.
Yes there is definitely a potential problem with a failed Russian state after the war, which will require international efforts when that time comes. The price will be a return to 1991 borders and severe demiliterisation.
A broken Russia is going to require huge intervention from either state banks/IMF, which is where massive cuts in the defence (more correctly, the offence) budget and the return to 1991 borders.
Alternatively, China bails out Moscow in return for huge tracts of land. Putin has already destroyed Russia's gold reserves and wealth funds and can't stop the hydrocarbons industry and markets being trashed. He might as well give up half of Russia to Xi so he can acquire the Donbas in Ukraine.
What a legacy Putin is going to have,
One day there will be a Putin autobiography, which will simply be called: Hubris, Nemesis.
Putin forgot that in the multipolar world that he sought, Russia would struggle to hold its own. Ironically US hegemony insulated it from its own weakness.
Meanwhile, neither the U.S. Justice Department or the Treasury Department seems to have made an effort to “follow the money” involving some of Epstein’s friends and associates.
Remember, Sen. Ron Wyden — who has been investigating Epstein’s finances for years — has hit a wall because President Trump’s Treasury Department hasn’t cooperated with his probe.
GOP leaders also seem to have their heads in the sand.
Why didn’t the DOJ investigate Epstein and his associates’ suspected money laundering? Isn’t it clear that banks were ignoring all the flags that pointed to him?
This story is bigger than politics; it is a global scandal with implications beyond the 21-page Powerpoint presentation the FBI put together on the case in July.
And now, we have the arrest of a former member of the Royal family..
🚨 NEW: Journalist Roger Sollenberger reports that FBI interview records from a woman who accused Donald Trump of assault when she was 13–15 are now missing from the Epstein file releases.
According to the reporting, the FBI had conducted four interviews and considered her claims credible, yet three of those interview records are no longer in the disclosed files. https://x.com/allenanalysis/status/2024467128884027439
Yes. I fail to see a significant difference between them
I think that there are several clear differences from what we know to date. Andrew was looking for advice about who he should meet or speak to and being typically indiscreet and stupid about what he was told at those meetings.
Mandelson was a Secretary of State at a time of financial crisis who was allegedly handing on price sensitive information about what the government was proposing to do in respect of stressed institutions. To suggest that they are just the same is to say that shoplifting is the same as grand larceny. They both involve criminal conduct but the scale is completely different.
Why Andrew has had his collar felt first is frankly a mystery.
So Skyr is destroying NATO and our major alliance and the pillar of Five Eyes so his corrupt and venal friends can giveaway British territory to China and make us pay billions for the pleasure
Pipe down.
NATO was destroyed by Trump and his Greenland bullshit.
FAFO.
Bellicose statements like ‘FAFO” would carry a little more weight if you didn’t live in SHEFFIELD with your MUM
It depends. If the Americans, uncharacteristically for them, have a coherent plan for Iran that might get a better government in there, then there might be a case for helping them.
If they're just doing what they usually do, drop a few bombs, kill some people but basically leave the regime intact and maybe even strengthened, then I don't see there's much point in letting them use our territory.
We all know America's in general, and Trump's in particular, capacity for policy development and strategic thought and profound understanding of the baffling complexities of the Middle East.
Which is more likely?
Any change of government would be a better government.
Descending into anarchy would be better than the status quo.
We should be insisting upon regime change and not just a bombing run for the sake of it, on that I agree.
"Any change in government would be a better government."
Ooookaaay than....
Isn't that what a lot of people in Iran thought in 1979?
Am I alone in thinking that KCIII seems to be coming out of the Andrew/Epstein affair reasonably well?
He did more than I expected in demoting his brother of his royal status and exiling him to Norfolk. It now appears he had a better sense of his brother's character than the politicians did, or at least he thought that the negative aspects of his character were worth considering and acting on.
Im not going to post the defection rumours i am reading on X as I suspect they may be horse doings i dont want to be assiciated with. However, if you like a bit of gossip, DYOR. If they happened to be true, i wouldn't stop laughing for a week
Twitter does seem to be a cesspit of fake defection announcements. I guess they are good at getting people's attention.
I can see why the particular rumour I think you are referring to would make you laugh, though.
Yes. I fail to see a significant difference between them
I think that there are several clear differences from what we know to date. Andrew was looking for advice about who he should meet or speak to and being typically indiscreet and stupid about what he was told at those meetings.
Mandelson was a Secretary of State at a time of financial crisis who was allegedly handing on price sensitive information about what the government was proposing to do in respect of stressed institutions. To suggest that they are just the same is to say that shoplifting is the same as grand larceny. They both involve criminal conduct but the scale is completely different.
Why Andrew has had his collar felt first is frankly a mystery.
Well yes, I agree
i was being unusually reticent for the sake of the mods and lawyers etc
Prima Facie Lord Mandypants looks way more culpable of serious crime - in this instance - that ex Prince Randy
🚨 NEW: Journalist Roger Sollenberger reports that FBI interview records from a woman who accused Donald Trump of assault when she was 13–15 are now missing from the Epstein file releases.
According to the reporting, the FBI had conducted four interviews and considered her claims credible, yet three of those interview records are no longer in the disclosed files. https://x.com/allenanalysis/status/2024467128884027439
Im not going to post the defection rumours i am reading on X as I suspect they may be horse doings i dont want to be assiciated with. However, if you like a bit of gossip, DYOR. If they happened to be true, i wouldn't stop laughing for a week
Twitter does seem to be a cesspit of fake defection announcements. I guess they are good at getting people's attention.
I can see why the particular rumour I think you are referring to would make you laugh, though.
‘ Breaking: @CityAM understands that Global Counsel, the top City lobbying and advisory firm founded by Peter Mandelson, will be placed into administration as soon as tomorrow. The firm employs around 130 people and counted major clients on its books.’
Yes. I fail to see a significant difference between them
I think that there are several clear differences from what we know to date. Andrew was looking for advice about who he should meet or speak to and being typically indiscreet and stupid about what he was told at those meetings.
Mandelson was a Secretary of State at a time of financial crisis who was allegedly handing on price sensitive information about what the government was proposing to do in respect of stressed institutions. To suggest that they are just the same is to say that shoplifting is the same as grand larceny. They both involve criminal conduct but the scale is completely different.
Why Andrew has had his collar felt first is frankly a mystery.
Because his friends, i.e his brother, washed his hands of him. Mandelson, on the other hand still has friends in high places. Quiet ones, at least at the moment, but they're still about.
Yes. I fail to see a significant difference between them
I think that there are several clear differences from what we know to date. Andrew was looking for advice about who he should meet or speak to and being typically indiscreet and stupid about what he was told at those meetings.
Mandelson was a Secretary of State at a time of financial crisis who was allegedly handing on price sensitive information about what the government was proposing to do in respect of stressed institutions. To suggest that they are just the same is to say that shoplifting is the same as grand larceny. They both involve criminal conduct but the scale is completely different.
Why Andrew has had his collar felt first is frankly a mystery.
Maybe the case against Mandelson is growing. Epstein probably wasn't the only person he was using his position in government to gain favour with.
Im not going to post the defection rumours i am reading on X as I suspect they may be horse doings i dont want to be assiciated with. However, if you like a bit of gossip, DYOR. If they happened to be true, i wouldn't stop laughing for a week
Twitter does seem to be a cesspit of fake defection announcements. I guess they are good at getting people's attention.
I can see why the particular rumour I think you are referring to would make you laugh, though.
The UK has arrested Andrew because of the Epstein files and over here the President signed an EO protecting cancer causing Glyphosate in our foods and we have zero Epstein related arrest and investigations since release of the files.
And we are on the verge of going to war against Iran.
That’s the current state of MAGA and MAHA.
I still find it distressing and confusing when MTG speaks sense.
It is the split between Trump and MAGA on foreign wars and Epstein. MTG and MAGA are true believers in whatever Trump said before it became convenient (and lucrative) to say something else.
His hobbies are Golf, strangling animals and masterbating.... .... Oh dear let himself down seriously on the hobbies, golf's not that popular round these parts.
Yes. I fail to see a significant difference between them
I think that there are several clear differences from what we know to date. Andrew was looking for advice about who he should meet or speak to and being typically indiscreet and stupid about what he was told at those meetings.
Mandelson was a Secretary of State at a time of financial crisis who was allegedly handing on price sensitive information about what the government was proposing to do in respect of stressed institutions. To suggest that they are just the same is to say that shoplifting is the same as grand larceny. They both involve criminal conduct but the scale is completely different.
Why Andrew has had his collar felt first is frankly a mystery.
Because Andrew is the easier mark, and thus the police will hope to use him to help them land Mandelson.
Yes. I fail to see a significant difference between them
I think that there are several clear differences from what we know to date. Andrew was looking for advice about who he should meet or speak to and being typically indiscreet and stupid about what he was told at those meetings.
Mandelson was a Secretary of State at a time of financial crisis who was allegedly handing on price sensitive information about what the government was proposing to do in respect of stressed institutions. To suggest that they are just the same is to say that shoplifting is the same as grand larceny. They both involve criminal conduct but the scale is completely different.
Why Andrew has had his collar felt first is frankly a mystery.
Because his friends, i.e his brother, washed his hands of him. Mandelson, on the other hand still has friends in high places. Quiet ones, at least at the moment, but they're still about.
More likely people who are at risk of serious embarrassment, like, to name someone at random, the PM.
Begs the question, why are we paying to keep the base, almost exclusively for American use, if we don't want them to utilise it anyway. The deal becomes more and more bizarre. Either get rid, or keep without paying for the privelidge.
No. We can’t block US from using Chagos base. If you look at TSE post, it says RAF bases.
Im not going to post the defection rumours i am reading on X as I suspect they may be horse doings i dont want to be assiciated with. However, if you like a bit of gossip, DYOR. If they happened to be true, i wouldn't stop laughing for a week
Twitter does seem to be a cesspit of fake defection announcements. I guess they are good at getting people's attention.
I can see why the particular rumour I think you are referring to would make you laugh, though.
It’s very very risky from Starmer. Hard to believe he said no.
It is a very big moment in UK US special relationship I think. Does anyone have any example of such a request turned down before? I think for Vietnam US never asked Labour government to use an RAF base at any point?
If Kemi says she would have given a different answer, straight away a huge and explosive differential between Conservative and Labour. Because, if any US plane goes down, with U’S service lives lost, anywhere in the battle space, Trump will blame the British Labour government for their deaths.
Blair is up to his eyebrows in Epstein Scandal. It all happened on his watch, involving his friends, and his big decisions. Why is he getting an easy ride?
Starmer has zero choice now. There must be a bigger enquiry to get to the bottom of all this Labour sleaze.
Private Eye code for Charles the Third, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of His other Realms and Territories, King, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith.
That is quite a fire; it will take a long time to repair the damage.
The latest is that there’s now almost no storage available in Russia, so they’re going to have to start slowing down production in the next couple of weeks. Sanctions seem to be working.
The economic news out of Moscow is also terrible, it looks like they might only have 4-6 months before an implosion. The large cash payments they were making to military for signups and KIAs have been significantly reduced. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4l7YabZr7vw
The numbers of the shadow fleet of tankers are also sharply down and the Trump interventions there have made moving oil that way more hazardous.
The scenario of Russia actually losing the war, as opposed to being unable to win it, is hoving into view but we should be careful what we wish for. Russia as a failed state will be extremely dangerous.
The dodgy tankers are now severely curtailed, in recent days Trump has been playing tariff wars with India over Russian imports and the Indians have picked up three sanctioned tankers in their waters. UK and Europe could do better here as well, there’s still dodgy ships around the North Sea and Mediterranean.
Yes there is definitely a potential problem with a failed Russian state after the war, which will require international efforts when that time comes. The price will be a return to 1991 borders and severe demiliterisation.
A broken Russia is going to require huge intervention from either state banks/IMF, which is where massive cuts in the defence (more correctly, the offence) budget and the return to 1991 borders.
Alternatively, China bails out Moscow in return for huge tracts of land. Putin has already destroyed Russia's gold reserves and wealth funds and can't stop the hydrocarbons industry and markets being trashed. He might as well give up half of Russia to Xi so he can acquire the Donbas in Ukraine.
What a legacy Putin is going to have,
One day there will be a Putin autobiography, which will simply be called: Hubris, Nemesis.
That is quite a fire; it will take a long time to repair the damage.
The latest is that there’s now almost no storage available in Russia, so they’re going to have to start slowing down production in the next couple of weeks. Sanctions seem to be working.
The economic news out of Moscow is also terrible, it looks like they might only have 4-6 months before an implosion. The large cash payments they were making to military for signups and KIAs have been significantly reduced. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4l7YabZr7vw
The numbers of the shadow fleet of tankers are also sharply down and the Trump interventions there have made moving oil that way more hazardous.
The scenario of Russia actually losing the war, as opposed to being unable to win it, is hoving into view but we should be careful what we wish for. Russia as a failed state will be extremely dangerous.
The dodgy tankers are now severely curtailed, in recent days Trump has been playing tariff wars with India over Russian imports and the Indians have picked up three sanctioned tankers in their waters. UK and Europe could do better here as well, there’s still dodgy ships around the North Sea and Mediterranean.
Yes there is definitely a potential problem with a failed Russian state after the war, which will require international efforts when that time comes. The price will be a return to 1991 borders and severe demiliterisation.
A broken Russia is going to require huge intervention from either state banks/IMF, which is where massive cuts in the defence (more correctly, the offence) budget and the return to 1991 borders.
Alternatively, China bails out Moscow in return for huge tracts of land. Putin has already destroyed Russia's gold reserves and wealth funds and can't stop the hydrocarbons industry and markets being trashed. He might as well give up half of Russia to Xi so he can acquire the Donbas in Ukraine.
What a legacy Putin is going to have,
One day there will be a Putin autobiography, which will simply be called: Hubris, Nemesis.
Comments
The last of the unreconstructed Thatcherites....
All historic and diplomatic permissions to there and any other US bases revoked
It's frankly ridiculous that 81 years after WW2 that they are still there.
They and Mildenhall should and could be handed to the Prison Estate initially to resolve all over crowding issues as Cat C and D open prisons and eventually in to New Towns.
All of the infrastructure is there
Except the new British paid for Mauritian Empire
Anyway, I think that just comes under White Other. A second generation immigrant of the sort that Matt Goodwin and Rupert Lowe will sort out.
Not compromised, utterly shit
Has he been cavorting with Douglas Carswell in Hazzard County?
If they're just doing what they usually do, drop a few bombs, kill some people but basically leave the regime intact and maybe even strengthened, then I don't see there's much point in letting them use our territory.
We all know America's in general, and Trump's in particular, capacity for policy development and strategic thought and profound understanding of the baffling complexities of the Middle East.
Which is more likely?
Edited because I didn't notice the autocorrect!
"This was the best Budget I have ever heard a British Chancellor deliver, by a massive margin. The tax cuts were so huge and bold, the language so extraordinary, that at times, listening to Kwasi Kwarteng, I had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming, that I hadn't been transported to a distant land that actually believed in the economics of Milton Friedman and F A Hayek.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/09/23/kwasi-kwartengs-budget-moment-history-will-radically-transform/
Twas at the Christening they met
Romeo and Juliet
At any restaurant they beset
Romeo'd what Juliet
Toppling the Ayatollah would make the world a much better place.
https://x.com/business/status/2024469858428108916
*Obama Administration.
Descending into anarchy would be better than the status quo.
We should be insisting upon regime change and not just a bombing run for the sake of it, on that I agree.
According to the reporting, the FBI had conducted four interviews and considered her claims credible, yet three of those interview records are no longer in the disclosed files.
https://x.com/allenanalysis/status/2024467128884027439
Ooookaaay than....
I can see why the particular rumour I think you are referring to would make you laugh, though.
https://jkbjournalist.substack.com/p/prince-andrews-arrest
..It’s astonishing how much accountability seems to be possible once you cross the Atlantic.
Meanwhile, neither the U.S. Justice Department or the Treasury Department seems to have made an effort to “follow the money” involving some of Epstein’s friends and associates.
Remember, Sen. Ron Wyden — who has been investigating Epstein’s finances for years — has hit a wall because President Trump’s Treasury Department hasn’t cooperated with his probe.
GOP leaders also seem to have their heads in the sand.
Why didn’t the DOJ investigate Epstein and his associates’ suspected money laundering? Isn’t it clear that banks were ignoring all the flags that pointed to him?
This story is bigger than politics; it is a global scandal with implications beyond the 21-page Powerpoint presentation the FBI put together on the case in July.
And now, we have the arrest of a former member of the Royal family..
Mandelson was a Secretary of State at a time of financial crisis who was allegedly handing on price sensitive information about what the government was proposing to do in respect of stressed institutions. To suggest that they are just the same is to say that shoplifting is the same as grand larceny. They both involve criminal conduct but the scale is completely different.
Why Andrew has had his collar felt first is frankly a mystery.
He did more than I expected in demoting his brother of his royal status and exiling him to Norfolk. It now appears he had a better sense of his brother's character than the politicians did, or at least he thought that the negative aspects of his character were worth considering and acting on.
i was being unusually reticent for the sake of the mods and lawyers etc
Prima Facie Lord Mandypants looks way more culpable of serious crime - in this instance - that ex Prince Randy
‘ Breaking: @CityAM understands that Global Counsel, the top City lobbying and advisory firm founded by Peter Mandelson, will be placed into administration as soon as tomorrow. The firm employs around 130 people and counted major clients on its books.’
https://x.com/christianjmay/status/2024487654562115961?s=61
Could this scandal engulf Blair as well?
*orders Taiwanese popcorn chicken*
NEW THREAD
It is a very big moment in UK US special relationship I think. Does anyone have any example of such a request turned down before? I think for Vietnam US never asked Labour government to use an RAF base at any point?
If Kemi says she would have given a different answer, straight away a huge and explosive differential between Conservative and Labour. Because, if any US plane goes down, with U’S service lives lost, anywhere in the battle space, Trump will blame the British Labour government for their deaths.
Blair is up to his eyebrows in Epstein Scandal. It all happened on his watch, involving his friends, and his big decisions. Why is he getting an easy ride?
Starmer has zero choice now. There must be a bigger enquiry to get to the bottom of all this Labour sleaze.
See! See! Just as I explained to you all earlier in the thread! In these people’s minds it’s all part of the “better agenda”!
Brian Gould???
It’s a riddle.