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Wolfgang Munchau
15, April

Wolfgang Munchau: The main reason why European governments…

The main reason why European governments led by the far-right are failing is poor economic performance. One of the biggest differences between Trump and Orbán is that the US economy – so far – performs quite well, whereas the Hungarian economy is a basket case. What RN, AfD, and Reform have in common is lack of an economic strategy. If they don’t know how to raise growth, they will be blown away. http://eurointelligence.com
Dale Vince
15, April

Dale Vince: An amazing collection this…

An amazing collection this, of hope over reason. Britain just invested £600m into Rolls Royce’s ‘mini nuke’ program - that was always coming. But here we see it’s being done in the hope that these things can be built faster than the big versions that are famously slow and always late. Hope. This sentiment get’s worse when we hear that this mini nuke investment is intended as an answer to the middle east inspired - second fossil fuel crisis of this decade so far. The ‘hope’ is to have the first three up and running by 2035, nine whole years from now. This crisis will be over by then and the ones that will follow. How on earth can anyone think that something coming in ten years is an answer to a crisis we’re in right now? And that’s not all. Rachael Reeves is right to flag the importance of making our own energy here, to protect us from future crises - but she overlooks the elephant in the room (no not Trump) - we don't set the price of electricity made here, whether from the wind, sun or nuclear. Global fossil markets do. So these nukes could appear tomorrow, could even make affordable energy - but it won't affect our electricity bills at all - because all of the stuff we make here is priced somewhere else. Why won't Labour grasp this nettle - we need to break the link between the price of fossil gas and the price of all other forms of electricity made here. That (and only that) can bring bills down immediately. And protect us for the future. Legislation to do it exists - only the will seems missing. We can find £600m for tech that might help us in ten years (big bold announcement) - but not the courage to take on this foolish market mechanism. Shame. https://independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/rolls-royce-smr-nuclear-reactor-iran-b2957118.html
Franz-Stefan Gady
15, April

Franz-Stefan Gady: Iran secretly acquired a Chinese spy…

‚Iran secretly acquired a Chinese spy satellite that gave the Islamic republic a powerful new capability to target US military bases across the Middle East during the recent war, according to a Financial Times investigation. Leaked Iranian military documents show the satellite, known as TEE-01B, was acquired by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Aerospace Force in late 2024 after it was launched into space from China.‘
Deborah Haynes
15, April

Deborah Haynes: A decision by Lord George Robertson...

A decision by Lord George Robertson to call out the prime minister and his chancellor over their failure to rearm the UK at speed in the face of growing threats marks the most significant intervention on defence spending since the end of the Cold War. The key question now is whether it will have any effect on political debate and the wider public mood - or whether his bellowing cry for action will be wafted away by reassuring soundbites from Sir Keir Starmer and his team that they have defence and security covered. The former Labour defence secretary, former NATO chief and, most pertinently, lead author of the government's own defence review, said he was speaking out against his own party with a "heavy heart" and knowing full-well it would not go down well inside Downing Street. Yet Lord Robertson clearly felt that he had no choice but to put country before politics. He has waited patiently for almost a year for the government to turn his strategic defence review into a fully-funded plan that was rapidly getting the country - as the prime minister has said needs to happen - ready for war. Instead of a flood of activity, though, with defence factories churning out weapons and the Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force expanding their warfighting prowess, there has been paralysis as Sir Keir Starmer, Rachel Reeves and John Healey, the defence secretary, attempt to finalise a plan on how to pay for everything. The Defence Investment Plan should have been published last autumn. It is still on the prime minister's desk awaiting sign off. "There is a corrosive complacency today in Britain's political leadership," Lord Robertson said in a carefully crafted speech at the Guildhall in Salisbury to an audience of largely local residents and a sprinkling of journalists, including me. "Lip service is paid to the risks, the threats, the bright red signals of danger. But even a promised national conversation about defence can't be started." Full analysis ⬇️
Wolfgang Munchau
15, April

Wolfgang Munchau: The craziest thing the West…

The craziest thing the West is doing right now is funding its military expansion through debt. This is done in the name of security, but it creates massive security risks in itself, for example if a government under attack would face sudden fiscal constraints because it has no fiscal space available. Putin, by contrast, funds his military adventures mostly from revenues. Russia’s debt-to-GDP ratio is under 20%. If it ever came to a war, Putin’s biggest ally would be the bond market vigilantes. http://eurointelligence.com
Chris Williamson
15, April

Chris Williamson: I saw this message from an Aussie…

I saw this message from an Aussie telling some home truths to @realDonaldTrump following his rant about NATO not being there to help the US with it's illegal aggression against Iran... "Mate. You run a country with 600,000 homeless people sleeping on the street tonight. A country where 40% of adults can't cover a $400 emergency without borrowing money. A country where insulin costs more than a car payment and people are rationing it to survive. A country where medical debt is the number 1 cause of bankruptcy. A country where women are dying in hospital car parks because doctors are too scared of abortion laws to treat a miscarriage. You lock up more of your own citizens than any nation on earth. More than China. More than Russia. More than North Korea. The land of the free has 2 million people in cages, and a quarter of them haven't even been convicted of anything. They're just too poor to make bail. Your life expectancy is going backwards. You're the only developed nation where that's happening. Your infant mortality rate is worse than Cuba's. Your kids do active shooter drills between maths and English while you sell the gunmaker's stock to your mates. "Your minimum wage hasn't moved in 15 years. You've got teachers working 2 jobs and veterans sleeping under bridges and you just spent a trillion dollars flattening a country that didn't attack you. "And you’ve got a convicted felon, adjudicating raping, paedophile protecting, porn star shagging insurrectionist running the biggest dumpster fire war campaign since the Taliban thanked you very much for losing again. And you're calling Greenland poorly run? "Greenland has universal healthcare. Free education. One of the lowest incarceration rates in the world. Nobody goes bankrupt there because they got sick. Nobody dies in a waiting room because their insurance said no. "NATO wasn't there when we needed them." When exactly was that, champ? September 11? Because NATO invoked Article 5 for the first and only time in history FOR YOU. Soldiers from dozens of countries deployed, fought, bled, and died in Afghanistan FOR YOU. Australia wasn't even in NATO and we still showed up. For 20 years. And you pulled out at 2am without telling anyone and left them to deal with the mess. "So maybe before you start calling other countries poorly run, have a look at your own backyard, you spray-tanned aluminium siding salesman. The only thing poorly run is your mouth."
Robin Monotti
15, April

Robin Monotti: UK Arms Shipment to Israel Seized…

UK Arms Shipment to Israel Seized in Belgium Belgian authorities have refused to name the arms firms that exported the goods amid the opening of a criminal investigation into the matter, John McEvoy reports. "Two shipments of military components bound for Israel from the U.K. have been seized in Belgium, it can be revealed. This follows an alert issued to authorities in Brussels by Declassified, Belgian NGO Vredesactie, Irish news outlet The Ditch and the Palestinian Youth Movement. Belgium has strict laws on the transshipment of military items to Israel through its ports and airports, including a ban on overflights carrying weaponry through its airspace. Customs officials were notified last month of a suspicious military shipment travelling from Britain to Israel through Liege airport. The cargo was subsequently searched by a specialised engineer who found “the presence of fire control systems and spare parts for military aircraft.” Walloon Minister-President Adrien Dolimont said: “We have to see if the legislation has been respected. Here, in this case, it’s clear that it hasn’t.” Another Belgian government spokesperson told Declassified: “No transit licence request was issued; if it had been, it would have been refused.” The Shipment The two consignments arrived in Liege on March 24 and were scheduled for onward air transport to Tel Aviv on a Challenge Airlines service two days later, according to shipping documents seen by Declassified. The U.K. arms export codes associated with the goods were ML10 and ML5, which relate to military aircraft and fire control components. Hans Lammerant, a spokesperson for Vredesactie, [a peace advocacy group] said: “We also have information on 17 transits in the past. So it was clearly a regular transit from Bierset [Liege] to Israel.” The Belgian authorities have refused to name the arms firms who exported the goods amid the opening of a criminal investigation into the matter. However, a spokesperson for the Walloon government confirmed that the initial complaint focussed on Moog, a U.S. aerospace firm with factories across Britain, and did not refute that some of the seized items may have belonged to that company. Customs brokerage documents seen by Declassified indicate that some of the earlier shipments from Britain to Israel via Liege airport were sent by Moog. A post code associated with the company’s factory in Wolverhampton, for instance, sent items to Israel through Belgium last December with goods description “servo actuator.” Moog manufactures actuators for the M-346, an aircraft which is used to train Israeli pilots to fly advanced fighter aircraft including the F-35 and F-16. Actuators are machines that control the movement of other components, and can be used to help steer an aircraft."
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