This is Northumberland Calling 21.2.25

The refusing to play vranyo edition

Hello America (Particularly Central Ohio) this is Northumberland Calling

Vranyo is a Russian term for a specific type of lie – basically someone bareface lies, the other person knows they are lying but because of the power of the first person who knows that the other person knows about the lie has to go along with the bareface lie. I refuse to play. It is part of the reason I loathe Gender Ideology where other people are expected to actively participate in someone else’s delusion. Putin is a master of it. It is a useful word to know imho https://glossophilia.org/2018/09/vranyo-a-previously-untranslatable-russian-word/

It surprised me that Trump indulged in vranyo this week. Maybe he wanted to test how much power he had with Europe. The answer was even the British government called him out on his barefaced lies as did the Conservative party and finally Nigel Farage and Reform. Farage tempered his with -- well Trump has bad blood with Ukrainian leaders and take him seriously not literally. Zelensky is not a dictator. His country is under siege in a way the US has never been. In WW2, no elections were held for ten years in Britain. Zelensky and Ukraine did not start the current conflict. Anymore than the US started the conflict with Germany by having the Rueben James and the Kearney on patrol (the reason Hitler gave for declaring war on the US after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor). It is vranyo to claim otherwise. Maybe he wanted to test the loyalty of his inner circle (but is it loyal to simply parrot lies?)

Owen Matthews who wrote Overreach has done an excellent column in the Telegraph explaining the situation and why Zelensky is a hero rather than a dictator. You need to remember the Biden administrator expected Zelensky to run, tail between the legs. The fact that Ukraine stands and remains with its face towards the West is a win. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/02/19/zelensky-deserves-credit-miraculous-leadership-maga-scorn/ or https://archive.ph/VEsiS

Doug Murray in the NY Post is also very good at exposing the vranyo. https://nypost.com/2025/02/20/opinion/putin-is-the-dictator-and-9-other-ukraine-russia-war-truths-we-ignore-at-our-peril/

My fear is that in playing this game of vranyo, Trump has diminished the US, particularly the US defence industry in the longer term. Part of the US foreign policy has always been it is doing it for the greater good. Since the 1865 when the US Navy joined the British navy to actively suppress and then end the so-called Middle Passage transatlantic slave trade (thus the axiom that America joins late but gets the job done was born. A shame it is not more celebrated in the US), the US has engaged military actions not because its survival depended on it but because there was a moral imperative to do so. It is something which is written into the American psyche. And is one of the reasons the American way of doing business beats most everything else (As I am now a British citizen as well as being am American, I can also appreciate the British way of doing things). Has Trump upended it? This op ed from Gerald Baker in the Times is very good on the subject (ignores the stopping of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade though) and the longer term perils for America: https://www.thetimes.com/comment/columnists/article/donald-trump-americans-think-putin-russia-ukraine-z960m2kg6 or https://archive.ph/PmrLf

Europe will rearm but they are more than likely to do it using European suppliers rather than US ones. One thing the war has shown is what kit works and what doesn’t. Russian and Chinese kit currently doesn’t work (this is going to be a huge problem for Russia as defence kit was a major export) . The Israel conflicts have shown the absolute need to support a homegrown defence industry. The only reason why Israel was able to do what it did imho in the face of Biden administration pressure to accept a ceasefire was because of its highly specialized defence industry. This is John Healey on 18 Feb explaining about the reforms to British defence. Buried in there, as it was buried in the manifesto, is a commitment to use defence procurement as an engine for economic growth domestically and to dramatically increase its exports in this area (British like American kit does work btw). https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/defence-secretarys-speech-on-defence-reform--2

What Starmer appears to be proposing is an extension of the Joint Expeditionary Force or JEF mission to act as a safeguard. You can read about the JEF (which does not include the US btw) here: https://jefnations.org/about-the-jef/

Healey was in Norway discussing the bond between the UK and Norway and greater cooperation. No mention of the US military btw because they are not participating in Operation Baltic Sentry which started on 14 January 2025. This is the MoD announcement: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-and-norway-kickstart-new-defence-agreement-in-boost-for-european-security and this is the NATO declaration about Baltic Sentry which was started in response to Russian cutting undersea cables: https://www.presidentti.fi/joint-statement-of-the-baltic-sea-nato-allies-summit/

This is the Times on what Starmer appears to be proposing – a 30k reassurance force. The NATO Allied Reaction Force which is currently undertaking Operation Steadfast Dart will also most likely be involved. These is some overlap between the JEF and the ARF nations but the US military is not involved in either. https://www.thetimes.com/uk/defence/article/military-chiefs-propose-ukraine-peacekeeping-force-5rzcjt268 or https://archive.ph/dg57q

One of the interesting things people in the US may not realise is that Labour is a broad church. An important but often overlooked grouping is what is called ‘Blue Labour’. Why is it important? Morgan McSweeney who has fashioned Starmer’s government is very much a member. Lord Glasman who is one of the leading lights has become friends with Vance in weeks. It is a socially conservative Labour movement with many of its MPs coming from former conservative seats. I am sure their growing prominence is a reaction to Reform’s growth amongst the working class. Worth seeing what they stand for: https://www.bluelabour.org/about-us This is from LabourList about the grouping which now claims to have double digit MPs. https://labourlist.org/2025/02/reform-latest-polls-labour-party-immigration-blue-ads/

The Nurse Peggie repercussions continue. The GMC actively suppresses a doctor’s disciplinary record in the event of transition, a worrying fact uncovered by the Telegraph in light of testimony at the Peggie tribunal which cause the digging to happen. I have no idea if similar is happening in the US btw, but suspect it is. Wes Streeting the Health Secretary has condemned the practice and asked that the loophole be closed. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/02/20/wes-streeting-condemns-wiping-of-trans-doctors-records/ or https://archive.ph/W6lbJ

Surprise, surprise, not all the Pally Ally protests were benign. The ‘invasion’ at Cambridge resulted in sensitive information being specifically targeted and raided. Apparently the info has not been used but one has to wonder who has seen it and who ordered it. The Cambridge administration were naïve in the extreme it would seem. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/02/20/palestine-activists-steal-sensitive-documents-cambridge/ or https://archive.ph/hZi8S

And with the news about the Bibas family, one must wonder how calculating Hamas are. Forensic uncertainty has been used by terrorists in the past. Forensics has moved on in leaps and bounds in recent years(One of my objections to the GRC and being able to ‘change your sex’ is that governments need to eliminate forensic uncertainty in the identification of remains – part of their job and has been since the Trojan War. It is not just DNA. Aging can be done with jawbones etc. Israel are known to be at the forefront for obvious reasons. I don’t think it was an honest mistake and more of a taunt. I blame the Hamas leadership 100% for whatever must be surely coming. This thread is interesting on the subject: https://x.com/LucyGoBag/status/1892846854745841814

The so-called Gen Z, the school-strikers for the environment, travel more by airplane than the over 55s, according to a new poll. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/02/17/jet-setting-gen-z-fly-more-boomers-net-zero-piety/ or https://archive.ph/I8oPp

The tomb of the ‘lost pharaoh’ Thutmose II has been discovered. The first since Carter discovered King Tut. It is quite an incredible find: https://www.standard.co.uk/news/pharaoh-tomb-discovery-egypt-b1212212.html

I have started reworking an unsold ms which means I am doing a lot of revising exercises. I last looked at this one in 2014 and there are holes etc

Paddy as a puppy. Luckily he was cute…given the mischief

Paddy has fully recovered from his tail sprain. My youngest has spoken to a vet (part of his day job as he works for the Scottish SPCA) – apparently Springers (but spaniels in general) can have weak spines and it makes this sort of thing more likely. I am pleased to have my happy go luck spaniel back and not a quivering wreck who refuses to go more than 2 feet from me.

If you want to find me during the week, I have started putting things on Celia M’s Jottings in Purple

which is where a number of refuge FP commentators are hanging out as they dislike the current FP policy on comments. The discussion is usually lively as you might expect from former FP commentators. Depending on how firmly my Procrastination Princess tiara is attached (aka how well my actual writing is going), I may end up getting distracted.

Hopefully everyone else’s week was a good one. I look forward to seeing you in the comments.

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