He's also far from the sharpest knife in the drawer if, as has been suggested, he was advised to attack Mr Trump -- and was stupid enough to think that it would be a good idea to do so.
"If you want to know how much the US and the UK intelligence services are intertwined – this article on GCHQ etc scrubbing their association with Stonewall (something I approve of) demonstrates how much of DEI in the UK (which has come down heavily on free speech) was US-driven."
Yes, US driven under the same leftist trash who ran deviant chat rooms. But we are cleaning out our Augean Stable while you have a Biden clone in 10 Downing.
I am not saying the stable doesn't need to be cleaned out. I think it was far worse than anyone imagined. However, I don't think Starmer is a Biden clone. Thus far he is showing more backbone than I thought he would.
It would appear the UK, France and one or two others along with Ukraine are going to come up with a peace deal and present it to the US...negotiations behind the scenes. It is the longer term consequences I worry about re the US.
"Sir" Keir who presides over a censoring nanny state? If the UK and France manage to conjure a peace deal, great. But the notion that they will - or can - enforce it is more than a bit comical.
EXCLUSIVE: Meet the Grandma Arrested by Scotland’s Speech Police
Rose Docherty, 74, was handcuffed and taken into custody last month for violating Britain’s censorship laws. She tells The Free Press: ‘I’m an elderly woman. What are they afraid of?’
Rose Docherty, 74, from Bishopbriggs, Scotland, was arrested outside the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow last month. (Martin Shields for The Free Press)
By Madeleine Kearns PREVIEW
Rose Docherty, a 74-year-old grandmother, was put in handcuffs and arrested in Scotland last month.
Her crime?
Standing outside a Glasgow hospital where abortions are performed and holding up a sign that said: “Coercion is a crime, here to talk, only if you want.”...
UK law is supposed to prevent this sort of thing happening. The police were acting that way after under going DEI training -- the sort of training which originated in the US. They were encouraged to 'go beyond the law' or break the law. Stonewall as you know was part funded by the US government.
When these cases to come to court, the police or the institution lose, but the process is the punishment. Linzi has been through a great deal. Her business has suffered etc.
I have no doubt that this is happening in the US (see above) but it is not being reported on significantly. Toby Young has done a good thing with the FSU.
NO the UK does have freedom of expression laws. It is why Harry Miller of Fair Cop keeps winning cases. The problem is the police going 'beyond the law' something which Stonewall has encouraged.
Yes. As you admit. Police are part of, and controlled by government, both national and local. If the elected officials don't rein them in, that is government action through inaction.
In Putin's Russia there is no FSU, nor are the courts which consistently side with the victim and do make statements about freedom of expression. The fines have been considerable but institutions (including the police) keep ignoring them and directives from the government.
It is why groups like Fair Play For Women and Women Won't Wheest have taken the Scottish government to court. It is why Sandie Peggie has been able to take on NHS FIfe. It is why the Darlington Nurses are taking on NHS England and Rose Henderson. It is why Ursula Doyle is taking on Hatchette.
It is why Harry Miller and Fair Cop exist.
Citizens do have recourse to the law -- they don't end up defenestrated.
Citizens of a free nation should not have to instruct their government on the right to free speech. That is one of the reason why Biden's Democrats were sent packing. You should similarly show the demented "Sir" Keir the door.
Omg, Michelle. Zelensky was humiliated? Seriously? That guy asked for the treatment he got. He would not shut his yap. His body language showed petulance in the extreme. He should have been tossed out much earlier.
The Euros are now a Continent of Petulance. It's been subsidized for 80 years while it ignores its own defense but lavishes on itself social benefits. Maybe it's a good thing if the ""Atlantic relationship" takes a pause. Maybe then Europe will get a clue and deal with the rot within.
Europe always seems to get in a snit about America. It sees itself as the wise and experienced culture and America the junior in wisdom and culture.
Clearly a new day has arrived. It is not going to be a pleasant one for y'all.
The penalizing has come from US led initiatives. Stonewall for instance. Cancel culture came from the US. The academic trends came out of the US. This is much is clear by the ditching of DEI in the UK etc. It was all US led. It was against UK law and this is why GC women keep on winning --See Linzi v Northumbria police for example.
Vance tore up the Atlantic Charter at Munich. We are where we are.
That is not what I am talking about, but the ignoring came in part from the Macpherson report which was based on the assumption of systematic racism which was a US import, rather than incompetence. Blair hired Macpherson to write the report in the wake of the Stephen Lawrence murder. The police started receiving anti-racism training on steroids and really did not want to upset 'community leaders'. It is what the 2014 report was about -- how an excess of political correctness (again something which originated in the US) fuelled the scandal.
That may be correct, and I say may, but the Brits took to it on steroids. I can tell you one thing. Rape gangs of that magnitude would never ever have happened in the US even in the most blue of cities or states.
Nonsense, Michelle. Systemic racism (which I and many others view as utter hogwash) has its roots in Europe. Yes, Europe. The French INSEAD an ecole affiliated with the Sorbonne published an article tracing the idea to 15th Central Europe. https://knowledge.insead.edu/responsibility/unearthing-roots-systemic-racism.
Countries which have governments descended from aristocracy - much of Europe - have classism built into their genes, including their governmental genes. America's founding literally rejected that.
Blaming America for Europe's stupid ideas is not going to get you anywhere. Save maybe in eternal war, something the Euros seem to have a long history with.
Oh, FFS Michelle, you sound like a small child who complains that her sister told her to eat those cookies even though mom said not to.
Blaming America for your issues is insane. Do you folks have agency? We have stupid people here - mainly in the universities. If your excuse is that you are stupider I can't help.
There is agency and then there are academic grants and NGOs and global corporations and suppliers to global corporations which wish to keep supplying.
The interconnectedness has caused huge problems to my mind.
Much has been imported. Lecturing the UK on how they shouldn't have imported this when other sections of the US insisted that it was imported or you will not get funding grants/contracts is maddening. He who pays the piper does call the tune.
It is interesting to see it melting away.
The Jake Wallis Simpson op ed is good on the post DEI culture which is really a post-globalization culture.
And because this was all pervasive, it is far easier to see as these various institutions move to safeguard their income streams.
I read that Wallis Simon piece. He pretty much points the finger at Marxism (a European and especially British concept), other Euro nonsense (Italian Gramscian thought, stupid immigration ideas resulting from your Colonial Guilt, and self-inflicted cultural pusillanimity. I rather think America had nothing to with that - a few greenbacks tossed to existing British institutions already on their way to cultural and social Hell perhaps hastened the decline but as I wrote, it was in the genetics already
Because he told the CDC/CSU that they could not count on NATO if they did not include the AfD in coalition negotiations. A direct interference in a democratic sovereign country's internal affairs. He did it openly and not behind closed doors. Herr Merz said -- no, Germany will not kowtow, the firewall remains because those are our values -- the Holocaust was not just a speck of guano and SS officers were not nice guys (both views said by leaders in the AfD in the last 10 years). The SS remark caused National Rally to throw the AfD out of their caucus in the European parliament in 2023.
One of the US's great strengths was that it spoke softly and did not conduct struggle sessions in front of the media.
In Europe Vance is viewed as an Isolationist writ large now.
Her's is a common Euro reaction to Vance's Munich speech. All you need to do is to view the harrumphing of the attendees and the statements in the following days from the swells in Burssels (Thiery Breton's is one of my faves). The press was full of indignation over Vance's temerity. And in Munich, of all places! A few of the midwits in the US press had similar reactions. Margaret Brennan, the not-too-smart CBS News anchor claimed that Vance in his speech defended free speech - against Euro repression of same - while "standing on ground where free speech was weaponized to cause the Holocaust". There is a defect of mind in Europe and that descends from the Elites there.
Michelle - People have jumped to conclusions to fit their own narratives about the Oval Office Zelenskyy affair. Powerlineblog has multiple articles up today and yesterday giving different perspectives: That it was Zelenskyy’s own fault, he misread the room, he was pushed into it by Obama’s people like Victoria Nuland and Susan Rice wanting to paint Trump in a bad light, that all he had to do was stay in Kiev and sign the mineral deal but insisted on going to Washington to perform in public, etc. Sober commentators like Victor Davis Hanson, Clarice Feldman, Steve Hayward, Scott Johnson, Michael Goodwin are making these points. I suggest you leave the European and legacy media talking points and research the other side.
I don’t know what possessed Zelenskyy to recite a litany of complaints to the Secretary of State, the Vice President and the President of the United States instead of negotiating but it’s the last straw in the process of separating us from Europe.
I don’t want to appease Putin, I want the exact opposite. I want the EU which has a GDP 8.5 times Russia’s to fund their own defense to stop the thug. Why is that so hard to understand? Ukraine with assistance from Europe and the US has already destroyed a lot of Russia’s offensive capability and if Europe (which has its own nuclear arsenal) would just get their shit together they could easily create an overwhelming defense capability against a weakened enemy. That would allow the US to devote more resources to our own unmet domestic needs like education and healthcare.
Finally, everyone has to acknowledge that both the UK and Germany are actively suppressing the free speech of their citizens. That should be disqualifying for our continued military partnership. We need to pressure or persuade them to get back on track in this important area.
I think people in the US need to acknowledge how much US corporations and institutions were suppressing speech and indeed how interconnected most of this stuff is. In the UK, time after time, GC women and white men have been winning employment tribunals but it doesn't seem to matter, these companies go on flouting the law and the question is why. It has been a toxic brew. I am pleased the 2nd Trump admin is leading here as much happened in the first one to get us to this point (the Resistance if you will shares a good part of the blame to my mind)
The US for many years has quietly encouraged France and the UK not to worry about upgrading and Germany to stick with them. Nuclear disarmament was the watchword and we will look after you. Macron has been offering this shield for years, Sarkozy before him but the Germans wanted the US umbrella. Vance tore the fig leaf away. It is going to be interesting to see what comes out. People have been screaming about this for years in Europe. Don't me started on what Cameron did to the UK armed forces in favour of 'development aid.'
I certainly do not want to see Putin as the winner. Right now it appears like he is going to be rewarded.
Ms Styles: The US is not the same place as it was most of the time before January 20, 2017 and from January 20, 2021, to January 19. 2024. Until one grasps this, one comes across as confused, at best. The executive, a judiciary run amok notwithstanding, can have that sort of affect. US corporations and institutions are the same as those everywhere; they'll pay at least lip service to the party in power. Especially when, as turning over the USAID rock has revealed, many have been paid quite handsomely for doing so. As to your last point: NO ONE much outside Mr Putin's orbit wants Mr Putin "rewarded." If you have a way to prevent this that doesn't involve WWIII, please don't keep us in suspense!
"The defining challenge for this generation of political leaders in the western world is to confront a new axis of authoritarian states: Russia, China, Iran and others. If we fail to respond robustly to their aggression, we will face a bitter reckoning sooner or later."
In the GCHQ article, I was shocked to read "Stonewall’s largest funder in recent years has been the US state department."
That's a strong op-ed by Matthew Syed.
TY, so much Michelle, for this group of articles. Much appreciated.
I think Kemi will use Ukraine to put some distance between the Conservatives and Reform. The former leader of Reform Nathan Gill (I think he was leader for not v long btw) is appearing in court in Wales on the 14th charged with taking bribes to ask pro-Putin questions in the European parliament. He did not put in a plea last week.
Farage who is a close friend of Trump's is walking a tightrope. The British public are solidly behind Ukraine.
Starmer is behaving better than I thought he would (still time though to mess up). A lot happening behind the scenes. Meloni is also going to serve as a bridge to Trump as they get on.
VDH was great on this issue. However, I think the shittiness started earlier than Zelensky's attacking of Vance. That guy was trying negotiation from the get go.
I have mixed views on Jeffrey Sachs, whose views on number of things - like Covid origins and his internationalist sensibilities - trouble me, however, his sense on the war n Ukraine is described as follows in Wikipedia (not an unbiased source, but I doubt it takes Russia's side in this)"
At MCC Budapest Peace Forum 2023
In May 2022, Sachs said that the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 would be hard to beat and that Finland's moves to join NATO would undermine a negotiated peace: "All of this talk of defeating Russia, to my mind, is reckless."[69] In June 2022, he co-signed an open letter calling for a "ceasefire" in the war, questioning Western countries' continuing military support for Ukraine.[70]
In 2022, Sachs appeared several times on one of the top-rated shows funded by the Russian government, hosted by Vladimir Solovyov, to call for Ukraine to negotiate and step away from its "maximalist demands" of removing Russia from Ukrainian territory.[71]
Sachs has suggested that the U.S. was responsible for the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline. In February 2023, he was invited by the Russian government to address the United Nations Security Council about the topic.[72][26]
I encourage folks to watch the entire press conference. Zelensky was reneging on the deal from the get go. He is a stage comedian, not a statesman.
He's also far from the sharpest knife in the drawer if, as has been suggested, he was advised to attack Mr Trump -- and was stupid enough to think that it would be a good idea to do so.
"If you want to know how much the US and the UK intelligence services are intertwined – this article on GCHQ etc scrubbing their association with Stonewall (something I approve of) demonstrates how much of DEI in the UK (which has come down heavily on free speech) was US-driven."
Yes, US driven under the same leftist trash who ran deviant chat rooms. But we are cleaning out our Augean Stable while you have a Biden clone in 10 Downing.
I am not saying the stable doesn't need to be cleaned out. I think it was far worse than anyone imagined. However, I don't think Starmer is a Biden clone. Thus far he is showing more backbone than I thought he would.
It would appear the UK, France and one or two others along with Ukraine are going to come up with a peace deal and present it to the US...negotiations behind the scenes. It is the longer term consequences I worry about re the US.
"Sir" Keir who presides over a censoring nanny state? If the UK and France manage to conjure a peace deal, great. But the notion that they will - or can - enforce it is more than a bit comical.
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EXCLUSIVE: Meet the Grandma Arrested by Scotland’s Speech Police
Rose Docherty, 74, was handcuffed and taken into custody last month for violating Britain’s censorship laws. She tells The Free Press: ‘I’m an elderly woman. What are they afraid of?’
Rose Docherty, 74, from Bishopbriggs, Scotland, was arrested outside the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow last month. (Martin Shields for The Free Press)
By Madeleine Kearns PREVIEW
Rose Docherty, a 74-year-old grandmother, was put in handcuffs and arrested in Scotland last month.
Her crime?
Standing outside a Glasgow hospital where abortions are performed and holding up a sign that said: “Coercion is a crime, here to talk, only if you want.”...
Shall I mention what has happened in Portland OR which apparently still has the US Constitution? https://www.givesendgo.com/speakupforcensoredartist?utm_source=sharelink&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_campaign=speakupforcensoredartist
There is no point in having the first amendment if it is not going to be enforced. The process is the punishment.
I am well aware of what Scotland and the SNP have done. There are reasons why the FSU exists -- to ensure that ordinary citizens are able to speak.
The case of Linzi Smith is far more pertinent in police overreach but has been ignored in the US.
Northumbria Police made up a hypothetical victim and persecuted her on that basis. They have now 'apologised'.
https://x.com/SpeechUnion/status/1896169720719581522
https://x.com/GBNEWS/status/1896339603440689222
UK law is supposed to prevent this sort of thing happening. The police were acting that way after under going DEI training -- the sort of training which originated in the US. They were encouraged to 'go beyond the law' or break the law. Stonewall as you know was part funded by the US government.
When these cases to come to court, the police or the institution lose, but the process is the punishment. Linzi has been through a great deal. Her business has suffered etc.
I have no doubt that this is happening in the US (see above) but it is not being reported on significantly. Toby Young has done a good thing with the FSU.
You appear to confuse that the Constitution prohibits government from censoring, which was not the case in Oregon but was and Is the case in the UK.
NO the UK does have freedom of expression laws. It is why Harry Miller of Fair Cop keeps winning cases. The problem is the police going 'beyond the law' something which Stonewall has encouraged.
Yes. As you admit. Police are part of, and controlled by government, both national and local. If the elected officials don't rein them in, that is government action through inaction.
Wait - I thought Putin was the autocratic tyrant.....?
In Putin's Russia there is no FSU, nor are the courts which consistently side with the victim and do make statements about freedom of expression. The fines have been considerable but institutions (including the police) keep ignoring them and directives from the government.
It is why groups like Fair Play For Women and Women Won't Wheest have taken the Scottish government to court. It is why Sandie Peggie has been able to take on NHS FIfe. It is why the Darlington Nurses are taking on NHS England and Rose Henderson. It is why Ursula Doyle is taking on Hatchette.
It is why Harry Miller and Fair Cop exist.
Citizens do have recourse to the law -- they don't end up defenestrated.
Citizens of a free nation should not have to instruct their government on the right to free speech. That is one of the reason why Biden's Democrats were sent packing. You should similarly show the demented "Sir" Keir the door.
Omg, Michelle. Zelensky was humiliated? Seriously? That guy asked for the treatment he got. He would not shut his yap. His body language showed petulance in the extreme. He should have been tossed out much earlier.
The Euros are now a Continent of Petulance. It's been subsidized for 80 years while it ignores its own defense but lavishes on itself social benefits. Maybe it's a good thing if the ""Atlantic relationship" takes a pause. Maybe then Europe will get a clue and deal with the rot within.
Europe always seems to get in a snit about America. It sees itself as the wise and experienced culture and America the junior in wisdom and culture.
Clearly a new day has arrived. It is not going to be a pleasant one for y'all.
And on top Europe penalizes folks for bad words and bad thoughts. When Vance pointed this out on in Munich the Continent had a coronary and meltdown.
We are separated by more than an ocean.
The penalizing has come from US led initiatives. Stonewall for instance. Cancel culture came from the US. The academic trends came out of the US. This is much is clear by the ditching of DEI in the UK etc. It was all US led. It was against UK law and this is why GC women keep on winning --See Linzi v Northumbria police for example.
Vance tore up the Atlantic Charter at Munich. We are where we are.
I’m not sure that the police ignoring the grooming gangs beginning in 1997 was based on any US initiative.
That is not what I am talking about, but the ignoring came in part from the Macpherson report which was based on the assumption of systematic racism which was a US import, rather than incompetence. Blair hired Macpherson to write the report in the wake of the Stephen Lawrence murder. The police started receiving anti-racism training on steroids and really did not want to upset 'community leaders'. It is what the 2014 report was about -- how an excess of political correctness (again something which originated in the US) fuelled the scandal.
That may be correct, and I say may, but the Brits took to it on steroids. I can tell you one thing. Rape gangs of that magnitude would never ever have happened in the US even in the most blue of cities or states.
Nonsense, Michelle. Systemic racism (which I and many others view as utter hogwash) has its roots in Europe. Yes, Europe. The French INSEAD an ecole affiliated with the Sorbonne published an article tracing the idea to 15th Central Europe. https://knowledge.insead.edu/responsibility/unearthing-roots-systemic-racism.
Countries which have governments descended from aristocracy - much of Europe - have classism built into their genes, including their governmental genes. America's founding literally rejected that.
Blaming America for Europe's stupid ideas is not going to get you anywhere. Save maybe in eternal war, something the Euros seem to have a long history with.
Oh, FFS Michelle, you sound like a small child who complains that her sister told her to eat those cookies even though mom said not to.
Blaming America for your issues is insane. Do you folks have agency? We have stupid people here - mainly in the universities. If your excuse is that you are stupider I can't help.
There is agency and then there are academic grants and NGOs and global corporations and suppliers to global corporations which wish to keep supplying.
The interconnectedness has caused huge problems to my mind.
Much has been imported. Lecturing the UK on how they shouldn't have imported this when other sections of the US insisted that it was imported or you will not get funding grants/contracts is maddening. He who pays the piper does call the tune.
It is interesting to see it melting away.
The Jake Wallis Simpson op ed is good on the post DEI culture which is really a post-globalization culture.
And because this was all pervasive, it is far easier to see as these various institutions move to safeguard their income streams.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/03/01/its-time-to-begin-forging-our-new-post-dei-culture/ or https://archive.ph/tY9SR
I read that Wallis Simon piece. He pretty much points the finger at Marxism (a European and especially British concept), other Euro nonsense (Italian Gramscian thought, stupid immigration ideas resulting from your Colonial Guilt, and self-inflicted cultural pusillanimity. I rather think America had nothing to with that - a few greenbacks tossed to existing British institutions already on their way to cultural and social Hell perhaps hastened the decline but as I wrote, it was in the genetics already
You go, guy!
Curious, how do you believe VP Vance tore up the Atlantic Charter?
Because he told the CDC/CSU that they could not count on NATO if they did not include the AfD in coalition negotiations. A direct interference in a democratic sovereign country's internal affairs. He did it openly and not behind closed doors. Herr Merz said -- no, Germany will not kowtow, the firewall remains because those are our values -- the Holocaust was not just a speck of guano and SS officers were not nice guys (both views said by leaders in the AfD in the last 10 years). The SS remark caused National Rally to throw the AfD out of their caucus in the European parliament in 2023.
One of the US's great strengths was that it spoke softly and did not conduct struggle sessions in front of the media.
In Europe Vance is viewed as an Isolationist writ large now.
Her's is a common Euro reaction to Vance's Munich speech. All you need to do is to view the harrumphing of the attendees and the statements in the following days from the swells in Burssels (Thiery Breton's is one of my faves). The press was full of indignation over Vance's temerity. And in Munich, of all places! A few of the midwits in the US press had similar reactions. Margaret Brennan, the not-too-smart CBS News anchor claimed that Vance in his speech defended free speech - against Euro repression of same - while "standing on ground where free speech was weaponized to cause the Holocaust". There is a defect of mind in Europe and that descends from the Elites there.
The word is zelensky(no superfluous extra y) met with dems like Susan Rice beforehand and was told to fight Trump. If true, that worked out well.
The problem for the Trump haters is that as the whole thing was televised, we aren’t beholden to the leftist biased explainers in the DNC media.
Michelle - People have jumped to conclusions to fit their own narratives about the Oval Office Zelenskyy affair. Powerlineblog has multiple articles up today and yesterday giving different perspectives: That it was Zelenskyy’s own fault, he misread the room, he was pushed into it by Obama’s people like Victoria Nuland and Susan Rice wanting to paint Trump in a bad light, that all he had to do was stay in Kiev and sign the mineral deal but insisted on going to Washington to perform in public, etc. Sober commentators like Victor Davis Hanson, Clarice Feldman, Steve Hayward, Scott Johnson, Michael Goodwin are making these points. I suggest you leave the European and legacy media talking points and research the other side.
I don’t know what possessed Zelenskyy to recite a litany of complaints to the Secretary of State, the Vice President and the President of the United States instead of negotiating but it’s the last straw in the process of separating us from Europe.
I don’t want to appease Putin, I want the exact opposite. I want the EU which has a GDP 8.5 times Russia’s to fund their own defense to stop the thug. Why is that so hard to understand? Ukraine with assistance from Europe and the US has already destroyed a lot of Russia’s offensive capability and if Europe (which has its own nuclear arsenal) would just get their shit together they could easily create an overwhelming defense capability against a weakened enemy. That would allow the US to devote more resources to our own unmet domestic needs like education and healthcare.
Finally, everyone has to acknowledge that both the UK and Germany are actively suppressing the free speech of their citizens. That should be disqualifying for our continued military partnership. We need to pressure or persuade them to get back on track in this important area.
I think people in the US need to acknowledge how much US corporations and institutions were suppressing speech and indeed how interconnected most of this stuff is. In the UK, time after time, GC women and white men have been winning employment tribunals but it doesn't seem to matter, these companies go on flouting the law and the question is why. It has been a toxic brew. I am pleased the 2nd Trump admin is leading here as much happened in the first one to get us to this point (the Resistance if you will shares a good part of the blame to my mind)
Zelensky did what he did. Over here, people heard him as being reasonable and attempting to explain. They heard Vance as being overly aggressive. This Andrew Neil who is about American-phile as you get: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-14448165/ANDREW-NEIL-Starmer-Trump-White-House.html or https://archive.ph/aiVMc
Will this be a spur to Europe?
The US for many years has quietly encouraged France and the UK not to worry about upgrading and Germany to stick with them. Nuclear disarmament was the watchword and we will look after you. Macron has been offering this shield for years, Sarkozy before him but the Germans wanted the US umbrella. Vance tore the fig leaf away. It is going to be interesting to see what comes out. People have been screaming about this for years in Europe. Don't me started on what Cameron did to the UK armed forces in favour of 'development aid.'
I certainly do not want to see Putin as the winner. Right now it appears like he is going to be rewarded.
Ms Styles: The US is not the same place as it was most of the time before January 20, 2017 and from January 20, 2021, to January 19. 2024. Until one grasps this, one comes across as confused, at best. The executive, a judiciary run amok notwithstanding, can have that sort of affect. US corporations and institutions are the same as those everywhere; they'll pay at least lip service to the party in power. Especially when, as turning over the USAID rock has revealed, many have been paid quite handsomely for doing so. As to your last point: NO ONE much outside Mr Putin's orbit wants Mr Putin "rewarded." If you have a way to prevent this that doesn't involve WWIII, please don't keep us in suspense!
Hello Northumberland! What a rare treat!
I sure hope Kemi can become PM before long:
"The defining challenge for this generation of political leaders in the western world is to confront a new axis of authoritarian states: Russia, China, Iran and others. If we fail to respond robustly to their aggression, we will face a bitter reckoning sooner or later."
In the GCHQ article, I was shocked to read "Stonewall’s largest funder in recent years has been the US state department."
That's a strong op-ed by Matthew Syed.
TY, so much Michelle, for this group of articles. Much appreciated.
Hello JT -- I thought you'd be interested.
I think Kemi will use Ukraine to put some distance between the Conservatives and Reform. The former leader of Reform Nathan Gill (I think he was leader for not v long btw) is appearing in court in Wales on the 14th charged with taking bribes to ask pro-Putin questions in the European parliament. He did not put in a plea last week.
Farage who is a close friend of Trump's is walking a tightrope. The British public are solidly behind Ukraine.
Starmer is behaving better than I thought he would (still time though to mess up). A lot happening behind the scenes. Meloni is also going to serve as a bridge to Trump as they get on.
For a different perspective.
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2025/03/hanson-goldman-on-the-oval-office-showdown.php
And another. Maybe it's available to non-subscribers (hope so), but I find his roundup and take on things to be very well thought out and insightful.
https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/a-great-fall-saturday-march-1-2025
And VDH of course is solid gold, as always.
The C&C "timeline" was great.
VDH was great on this issue. However, I think the shittiness started earlier than Zelensky's attacking of Vance. That guy was trying negotiation from the get go.
I have mixed views on Jeffrey Sachs, whose views on number of things - like Covid origins and his internationalist sensibilities - trouble me, however, his sense on the war n Ukraine is described as follows in Wikipedia (not an unbiased source, but I doubt it takes Russia's side in this)"
At MCC Budapest Peace Forum 2023
In May 2022, Sachs said that the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 would be hard to beat and that Finland's moves to join NATO would undermine a negotiated peace: "All of this talk of defeating Russia, to my mind, is reckless."[69] In June 2022, he co-signed an open letter calling for a "ceasefire" in the war, questioning Western countries' continuing military support for Ukraine.[70]
In 2022, Sachs appeared several times on one of the top-rated shows funded by the Russian government, hosted by Vladimir Solovyov, to call for Ukraine to negotiate and step away from its "maximalist demands" of removing Russia from Ukrainian territory.[71]
Sachs has suggested that the U.S. was responsible for the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline. In February 2023, he was invited by the Russian government to address the United Nations Security Council about the topic.[72][26]
Very interesting articles. Many thanks.
Another take and an explanation of their war and the US IC's culpability. If you step back from your Russia, Russia, Russia paranoia, you can get a far better feel for the situation. https://www.thethinkingconservative.com/jeffrey-sachs-the-truth-about-the-ukraine-war-in-two-minutes/
I can't stop myself. here is another, rational take on Friday's event: https://responsiblestatecraft.org/zelensky/ Worth a read.