Starmer's faction would rather burn the Labour party to the ground than lose control. New column 👇

This is what they think of us, our culture and traditions! An unopened tin of Irn-Bru, a Tunnocks selection and a cheese roll staged in front of a backdrop showing an oil pipeline alongside a disinterested and vacant Starmer. Patronising and taunting. This fake Union is over. #ScottishIndependence

Is the penguin wearing shoes, or does Donald Trump have penguin feet?

“SM/CU membership” is not an option: horribly complex to negotiate, and almost certainly not on offer on any remotely acceptable terms. If you want membership (and that is what proponents of such ideas really want, for very good reasons), go for it, and fight and win the political battle.

24% of people who voted Labour at the last general election now plan to vote Green or Lib Dem. 0% of those who voted Reform at the last election now plan to vote Labour.

Nearly three quarters of Scots would vote to rejoin the European Union, according to a new poll. It's time to listen.

“I think we are past Munich now,” said one, referring to a 1938 meeting where Britain, France and Italy appeased Adolf Hitler by allowing him to annex Czechoslovakia. “We realize that appeasement is not the right policy anymore.” /15

🚨🚨"Our American Dream is dead": European governments have reached a difficult conclusion: The Americans are the baddies now. 🧵 www.politico.eu/article/eu-l...

From a decade ago, March 2016. And now here we are. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/don...

One reason I am gloomy about Britain’s ability to rise to this geopolitical moment is the sheer parochialism and unseriousness of much of its media. The Times, which used to be a serious paper, does not have a single comment piece today on the gravest international crisis in 80 years

The problem when trying to rehabilitate Trump’s attachment to old European alliances is that his politics and character are aligned with the dark forces that had to be defeated for those alliances to exist. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

An Arctic Mujahedeen, eh? What a time to be alive. Canada's Global & Mail: Military models Canadian response to hypothetical American invasion. www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/art...

In a speech to the World Economic Forum, Mark Carney says middle powers such as Canada must accept that the rules-based international order is effectively dead, and great power rivalry with is here to stay. Key excerpt:

Carney: "American hegemony in particular helped provide public goods, a stable financial system... this bargain no longer works. Let me be direct. We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition... recently, great powers have begun using economic integration as a weapon. Tariffs as leverage ... "

Excellent, and clarifying. And thinking of the situation as Mediaeval, add in other Mediaeval things atm - Varoufakis' TechnoFeudalism and the rentseeking MO that runs our states. As in your blogpost, consequence is all. But if our governments are serfs not rival Lords, what to do? A rent strike?

New blog post: Medieval advice on Greenland arcofprosperity.org/medieval-adv... #Trump #EU

It might sound silly, but I mean it: The easiest and most potent way for Europe to hurt Trump this year is to once again use its cultural soft power and to threaten a boycott of the World Cup. It would become a completely meaningless event and would hurt him where he is most vulnerable - his vanity.

Mr. Appeasement

Why the EU should – but won’t – fire its ‘trade bazooka’ at the US

Full on delusional emperor mode. One can only imagine the work going on in DC probably among his own team to try to stop the now obvious Lear-style insanity causing too much damage

U.S. tried to get Danish colleagues to hand over information about military facilities, ports, and airbases in Greenland last January.

[1/6] A reminder: Europe has cards to use against the US. Lots of them. To cite some examples: - Tighten screws on US digital giants (taxes, fines, even bans) - Export taxes disrupting US supply chains eg pharma - Exclude US firms from European procurement, inc defence ecfr.eu/publication/...

2024: can Europe defend itself ALONGSIDE America? 2025: can Europe defend itself WITHOUT America? 2026: can Europe defend itself AGAINST America?

1. Had Trump waited a bit the EP might have ratified the EU-US deal. What a fool. 2. Hopefully those who opposed the deal at the time will be strengthened at the expense of those who supported it. 3. Having the EP as a credible veto player should strengthen EU negotiating strength in the future.

The Europeans sending troops to Greenland were all very diplomatically saying that this was to counter possible Russian or Chinese aggression. We all knew that it was to counter possible US aggression, and one implication of Trump’s outburst today is that he understood that very well. And it worked!

Feels like something cracked today in the transatlantic alliance. Europeans have been swallowing their pride, bitting their tongues, and bending the knee. That strategy may have bought them time but it has now clearly failed. It also had a major cost - it has made the WH think Europe will cave. 1/

This by @neilmackay.bsky.social is so baffling. And it's true. Every time I was up in Scotland I was astonished about how badly under- and misrepresented the independence movemnt is on the BBC. While its still going strong. Ignore this at your own peril. Plus it also undermines the BBC's authority

Looking foolish is not really the major worry for Starmer, what with the end of Nato on the cards. The question is, what can he do to pivot? Asking Europe fot the security of a customs union should be the first step. 1

When we said NATO wasn't working we were derided. When we said a nuclear weapons system relying on the US is dangerous we were called stupid. The truth is the establishment are more interested in kissing US feet than keeping the UK safe. It's time for a rethink.

These so-called "patriotic" 🇬🇧newspapers who brought you Brexit were never really patriotic at all. They are driven by a disdain for Britain's European neighbours, and a fawning obsession with America. They do not really want 🇬🇧 to be sovereign. They're content being a 🇺🇸vassal.

Keir Starmer did everything he could to be US poodle and his strategy has ended in total humiliation. Both him and Farage are puppets of a hostile foreign nation. It's obvious that if someone is a bully - you don't just keep appeasing them. Disastrous strategy by Labour.

Trump won’t like it if the European Parliament ratifies Mercosur

Copenhagen town hall square, Denmark right now. Massive solidarity with Greenland demonstrations. Source: dr.dk

A personal award is not a transferable proprietary right. You cannot assign, say, an A-Level result or a Victoria Cross or a Noble prize to another. One may gift or sell the manifestation of the award - the certificate or physical medal - but the award stays with the person to whom it was awarded.

Reform seems on the decline with a mirroring rise in fortune for the Tories. Likewise Labour's decline and the Green Party's rise which, on their current trajectory, should see them equal by the end of January or the start of February. The LibDems are meandering around where they were in July '24.

BBC journalists have been banned from describing the kidnapped Venezuelan leader as having been kidnapped. The BBC News Editor has sent this to BBC journalists.

Starmer's failure to tell the truth about the Brexit disaster, and his determination to stick with a failed status quo have made him the most unpopular PM since records began. Piece from me on the crying need for this government to finally level with the public. substacktools.com/sharex/fsJgK...

If Russia invades Germany and kidnaps Chancellor Merz, I guess the EU response will be: "The legal assessment of the Russian intervention is complex and requires careful consideration. International law remains the guiding framework." www.zeit.de/politik/ausl...

A final point; I do think that all this play in Russia's and China's hands. They see their aggression as a god-willing given right to the mighty to impose their wills on neighbouring states. If the US is doing it with zero legal basis in international law they can and will follow the same logic.

WH sources say Venezuela's opposition leader committed the "ultimate sin": She accepted the Nobel Peace prize. “If she had turned it down and said, ‘I can’t accept it because it’s Donald Trump’s,’ she’d be the president of Venezuela today,” one said. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

A very long and important THREAD - The real reason the US is invading Venezuela goes back to a deal Henry Kissinger made with Saudi Arabia in 1974. And I'm going to explain why this is actually about the SURVIVAL of the US dollar itself. Not drugs. Not terrorism. Not "democracy." 1/

Moulton: "When we had briefings on Venezuela, we asked, 'Are you going to invade the country?' We were told no. 'Do you plan to put troops on the ground?' We were told no. 'Do you intend regime change in VZ?' We were told no. So in a sense, we have been briefed, we've just been completely lied to"

The European response to US intervention in Venezuela is a reminder that until we have an independent European defence industry, no country in Europe is sovereign

These freaks want territorial expansion and they know Trump will do everything he can to deliver. This isn’t just a tweet from some random asshole either. This is Stephen Miller’s wife. Miller was in the room with Trump during the kidnapping of Maduro.

And now we know. Everything Trump said in his press conference confirms the worst. Not even a pretense at supporting the democratic opposition, or allowing the people of Venezuela a say. Naked US grab of Venezuela’s assets. This is heading in a VERY bad direction.

Trump ran as an isolationist opposing foreign wars. Today's invasion of #Venezuela shows that was BS. Greenland may be next. Europeans need to wake up and understand the risk is much worse than they've been telling themselves. My piece from February:

I am following the situation in Venezuela with great concern. The European Union calls for de-escalation and a resolution in full respect of international law and the principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations.

Keir Starmer should condemn Trump’s illegal action in Venezuela. Maduro is a brutal and illegitimate dictator, but unlawful attacks like this make us all less safe. Trump is giving a green light to the likes of Putin and Xi to attack other countries with impunity.

Whatever you might think of Maduro, the seizure and kidnapping of a head of state takes us to a very dark place. Vast, arbitrary, extra-legal power, which could be exercised almost anywhere, regardless of the character of the target government.