If you thought RAF jets were owned by the RAF, think again.
The RAF squadron targeted for a repaint by Palestine Action due to its involvement in supplying Israel’s genocide, does not in fact belong to the RAF at all. It belongs ultimately to Polygon Global Partners LLP, a Hedge Fund.
Through a chain of seven cutout companies, which I will take you through, the direct ownership is with Airtanker Ltd, which gives its address as RAF Brize Norton. It owns, maintains and operates the RAF’s Voyager refuelling aircraft, which have been providing mid-air refuelling to the Israeli Defence Forces as well as carrying, in their cargo role, munitions to the IDF.
Note that Airtanker Ltd states that five of the Voyager aircraft while available to the RAF: “can also be made available to other parties. This can include providing military capability to other nations…”.
Whether the aircraft have been operated by the RAF on behalf of the Israelis, or whether they have been “provided to” the IDF direct, is an interesting question. Is this designed to build in plausible deniability for the UK government?
Eight of the Voyager Aircraft though fully painted in RAF livery, actually are the property of Airtanker Ltd.
It is not plain whether the other six – also the property of Airtanker Ltd but only occasionally used by the RAF – are also in RAF livery. The company does not show any photographs of jets not in RAF livery.
So who owns Airtanker Ltd? Well, the “person with significant control” on the Companies House register is Airtanker Holdings Ltd. They own over 75% but less than 100%. It would be interesting to know who owns the rest.
So who owns Airtanker Holdings Ltd? Well, it is owned – more than 25% and less than 50% – by Airbus, which provides the actual aircraft, and more than 25% and less than 50% by Equitix Capital Eurobond 6 Ltd, which presumably provides finance. As both own under 50% it would be interesting to know who owns the rest, and why.
So who owns Equitix Capital Eurobond 6 Ltd? Well, Equitix Capital Eurobond 6 Ltd is owned by Equitix Holdings Ltd, a company at the same address in the City of London.
So who owns Equitix Holdings Ltd? Well, Equitix Holdings Ltd is owned by Pace Bidco Ltd, a company curiously enough also at the same address.
So who owns Pace Bidco Ltd? Well, Pace Bidco Ltd is owned by Pace Topco Ltd, a company which turns out to be also at the same address!
So who owns Pace Topco Ltd? Well, here, we finally get the name of a human being. It is a Mr Reade Griffith whose address is given as Polygon Global Partners LLP, 4 Sloane St, London.
On another page of the register a Mr Reade Eugene Griffith is given as a Director of Pace Topco Ltd, presumably the same person. This would also appear to be the same individual as the E Griffith Reade who is listed as – amongst other interests – the 10% owner of Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc.
Polygon is a hedge fund. It would appear likely from the register to be either Polygon or Griffith’s umbrella hedge fund Tetragon that owns these liveried RAF aircraft. We have therefore simply no idea who the investors are: it could be anyone from BlackRock to Kim Jong Un. The true ownership is deliberately shrouded in secrecy.
This spaghetti tangle of ownership of RAF aircraft is rather surprising to those of us who naively believed that RAF military aircraft belonged to the RAF, and that the hundreds of billions of pounds the state lavishes on “defence” was used to do things like buy military jets, rather than make rich financiers still richer.
The long tree of subsidiary companies is not only to disguise ownership. At every single stage it provides opportunity for tax avoidance and for other forms of corruption, like consultancy contracts or directorships handed out to the contacts or nominated go-betweens of the politicians and senior civil servants. If you saw a company called Pace Bidco Ltd were giving a remunerative consultancy to the son of an ex-government minister, or to a firm registered to his local landlord, why would that ring alarm bells or connect to the RAF?
To be plain those are entirely hypothetical examples. I am not accusing Pace Bidco Ltd of anything. I merely explain the system.
Defence spending is more prone to corruption than any other form of spending and that is why venal politicians are always extremely keen to boost it. No UK politician has ever proposed to increase defence spending by more than Keir Starmer, who wants to lift it by £120 billion a year.
The RAF’s Voyager aircraft are effectively being provided under the Private Finance Initiative. Exactly how much money the hedge fund managers and this string of companies are taking out of the defence budget is hard to know.
One particularly surprising fact is that it is plain that the private companies are also providing the RAF ground crew. Who employs the flight crews is not entirely clear.
That such an obviously rotten and corrupt arrangement exists in the RAF I had no idea. Some British military personnel are in fact contracted mercenaries. It gives new context to the active RAF involvement in the Genocide in Gaza.
Palestine Action’s excellent act of resistance in vandalising this Hedge Fund Air Force has brought all of this to our attention. Which is yet a further reason to be grateful to Palestine Action.
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It’s refreshing to read some proper investigative journalism. Great work. Reading your article reminds me of another enormous cash cow, no doubt involving the same private equity companies who’ve enjoyed an uninterrupted revenue stream for the last 40+ years? The Falkland Islands!
Thank you craig x
No wonder Keir Starmer was so angry about Palestine Action’s spray paining these aircraft. It’s one thing to attack government property, but attacking property of a private hedge fund is beyond outrageous!
You beat me to it!
Great answer.
On a similar theme, ie. corruption, I read this article today.
https://www.rt.com/pop-culture/620555-war-thunder-manual-leak/
The bit that really annoys me is:
“The latest case involved a page from the Naval Air Training and Operating Procedures Standardization (NATOPS) manual for the AV-8B and TAV-8B Harrier jets, which are used by the US Navy and Marine Corps.”
Recall the harrier, a British plane, was essentially given away to the USA in 2011 as part of the deal to buy F35s. It was supposedly no longer fit for purpose, so we have two carriers with no planes, yet the USA 14 years later are still using the Harrier.
“Recall the harrier, a British plane, was essentially given away to the USA in 2011 as part of the deal to buy F35s.”
Hardly surprising when you consider that, after the war, the UK government not only gave the US all our computer knowledge, but prevented Flowers and Turing from telling anyone about it by making all the information secret, which led to the Yanks proudly displaying his own work to Turing and claiming it as theirs and Turing being unable to say anything.
So the US had a reason to have it in for Turing?
Very informative article. Thank you Craig for your extensive research across this spiderweb of companies linked to each other like Ukrainian dolls.
Meanwhile, RAF or not, there’s no refueling without fuel. I’m sure Palestine Action is aware of that, and will act accordingly. Several companies control the supply of kerosene to jets in the UK but one is apparently British.
https://www.bp.com/en/global/air-bp/news-and-views/air-bp-news/behind-the-refuelling-scene-at-london-heathrow.html
B.P. and Total are, wittingly or not, accessories to the crimes, and could also possibly use a good paint job.
Let’s hope that the focus can return to Gaza and the West Bank, now that the 12-day war with Iran is over (until the next round)…
“B.P. and Total .. could also possibly use a good paint job.”
You’re not suggesting that PA sabotage the fuel of BP and Total that is destined for the use of IDF in attacks on Gaza with paint (or sugar, as in Freddy Forsyth’s novels), making it unsafe and unuseable, surely? Holy Backfire, as Robin might say! They might be jailed for it if they get caught, you know.
I was simply trying to play on a level field with other comments here.
Besides, whatever they do, they will end up convicted !
That reminds me of something Bertrand Russell wrote about prisoners (he had been jailed over 100 years ago for opposing the first World War):
“I was rather interested in my fellow-prisoners, who seemed to me in no way morally inferior to the rest of the population, though they were on the whole slightly below the usual level of intelligence, as was shown by their having been caught.
I was much cheered, on my arrival, by the warder at the gate, who had to take particulars about me. He asked my religion and I replied “agnostic.” He asked how to spell it, and remarked with a sigh:
“Well, there are many religions, but I suppose they all worship the same God.”
This remark kept me cheerful for about a week.
One time, when I was reading, I laughed so loud that the warder came round to silence me, yelling:
“You must remember that prison is a place of punishment!”.
— Bertrand Russell, The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell (1967–1969), Ch. VIII: The First War, p. 257
Woody Allen was once asked whether he believed in a life after death. And he answered “I’m not sure, but if there is, do we need to bring extra underwear?”.
Bertrand Russell was right to oppose WW1 and right about some other things too, but he also came out with some absolute howlers. But he died in 1970 and I won’t get sidetracked ☺.
There are two up-to-date, 2025 examples of people who were previously involved with what I would call very questionable politics but who have wised up considerably and who are now doing admirable, courageous, highly worthwhile work.
One is Greta Thunberg, whose work against the genocide of the Palestinians has received a lot of publicity.
The other is Rosa Hicks, who has received much less. Hicks spent six months in a remand jail in England, charged with “conspiracy to cause a public nuisance” as part of Just Stop Oil’s campaign at airports. Sentenced to time already served, she is at liberty now and is active in Support Not Separation, having spoken at pickets of the Family Court. For those who don’t already know, the British regime carries out very large numbers of forced adoptions (disproportionately against ethnic minorities), including of newborn babies born to mothers who it has classified as “unfit to breed” – or as “unsuited to parenting” in SS-speak. Sometimes for example a laptop is flung down on their hospital beds shortly after they’ve given birth and they are basically told “You got something to say to the judge, girl? Here’s your chance”. Other countries ceased committing these crimes against humanity but the British state still commits them, even if it has spoken out of the side of its mouth to “apologise” for “historical” cases. Make no mistake – part of the population in Britain already lives under fascism. Hicks has spoken in particular against the sending of pregnant women to prison. The Support Not Separation blog is here:
https://supportnotseparation.blog/2025/06/13/stop-sending-pregnant-women-mothers-to-jail/
Note that there is currently an ongoing trial of a couple who were hunted down because the state wanted to capture their newborn baby, and who had no other option but to go on the run, in which conditions their baby sadly died – and the regime, doubtless terrified that oxygen might be given to criticism of the SS, has dared to put them on trial as if they were the ones who were responsible. I refer to Mark Gordon and Constance Marten, who have already spent almost 2.5 years in prison without being sentenced.
Woody Allen is a scumbag whose career was built up after the Six Day War as a vehicle for the previously unheard of stereotype of a weak and wimpy male “nebbish” Jew in New York.
Mark Gordon and Constance Marten sounds like a very sad case. They had four children who were put into care before Victoria, though, which may be worth bearing in mind.
Woody Allen to me is a talented comic genius. One of my favourite films of his is Sleeper. I remember reading him criticising the Israeli authorities after the First Intifada, speaking of his bewilderment at their breaking the hands of protestors so that they couldn’t throw stones. He sees the situation in Gaza as a terrible tragedy as well. But it may be that he didn’t find out about the ethnic cleansing of Palestine. Someone should give him a copy of the books of Ilan Pappé and Miko Peled.
“Make no mistake – part of the population in Britain already lives under fascism. ”
I don’t think it’s ever been any different with respect to women who are judged by the Patriarchy as being “unsuited to parenting”, so perhaps the word should be “still” rather than “already”.
It’s almost a perfect illustration of the way that global corporations, billionaires, in tandem with hedge funds and opaque tax haven entities have restructured the world in their own interests. Nation states are bit part players, if at all, in this game, bypassed and largely powerless, increasingly a charade of ‘democracy’, as the earth is pillaged and wrecked for the interests of a transnational network of the super rich, arrogant masters of the universe. The connections with zionism are strong, both feed off each other, and just for clarity many of these people are zionist with being necessarily Jewish.Jewishness, or lack of it, has nothing to do with the push for land, resources and power, and the corresponding impoverishment and climate catastrophe they are hellbent on.
if you want an example Peter Thiel is probably the most outstanding example of the superior race he believes he is part of. He has made it very clear, with the support of many of the Silicon Valley deadheads that democracy is dead, and anyway doesn’t work to his satisfaction, He is building a massive surveillance system for Trump, joining up every agency and every source of information they have on citizens. These people are way ahead of feeble governments like Starmer’s and many world wide. They have accumulated so much power and wealth that they can both manipulate governments, and ignore them when it suits them. Governments have willingly ceded information and key functions to these bloated demagogues, and this report is a very good example of how this system works. While most people absorb their ‘news’ from people portraying a world which has effectively vanished, one of nation states with sovereignty and control over their own spheres. It is massive charade, with most of Britain’s MP’s signed up for the bribes and favours they are easily bought with.Thus we have no real connection between the general population and those who purport to lead us. They are not leading us, they are just small cogs in a very big machine which is obscured from our view.
Very interesting analysis. Thank you.
Worth mentioning that the internet is not even pretend-democratic. There is no public-access internet. The internet is all private property.
The entrainment of young people to avoid behaving in ways that will cause private sector “moderators” to do the equivalent of banning them from the shopping centre is a major feature of modern society. Many soon back down and tell themselves that’s what they wanted.
Exactly the kind of piece our printed news should be writing..
To judge from the string of replies whitewashing the UK government of its active support of Israel’s genocidal activities the article has hit a raw nerve somewhere along the line.
Just waiting now for tenders asking for companies to bid for sponsorship of the nuclear bomb ready F – 35s, there are plenty of Dr Strangeloves out there who will relish the promotional opportunities this will afford..
The Voyager contract is indeed a PFI. It’s actually 9 aircraft that are permanently in RAF livery of the 14, with the option to ‘surge’ to 14 at the RAF’s behest/in times of conflict. The RAF have surged to 11 before.
The RAF have been made available for IDF fighters, among others, when defending against ballistic attack from Iran. The RAF has NOT supported any offensive action by Israel. The have however done airdrops to Gaza when humanitarian relief wasn’t getting through. Funny that this isn’t mentioned!
You are clearly an Iranian supporter trying to find a problem that doesn’t exist.
What Palestinian action did was to harm any humanitarian relief operations from taking place as the mood in the military is now anti-Palestinian due to the ungracious attitude they’ve demonstrated to the RAF.
The other 5 aircraft have mostly been operated by Jet 2, TUI and other holiday companies.
Operational aircrew are all serving military. Air Tanker aircrew do the Falklands and Cyprus routine resupply tasks.
Air Tanker have zero decision making influence over what the RAF uses its aircraft for. They have commercial rights, like any company, over the unused portion of the 14 aircraft. This is to save taxpayer money to only have aircraft on task when they are needed. Again, the value to the taxpayer is in the £Ms every year to subcontract whilst keeping overall control and access to a surge capability at short notice. Again, not mentioned in the article.
Under the circumstances a supporter of Iran is a supporter of humanity. How much of a ouanqueur does a person have to be to use ‘surge’ instead of ‘increase’?
The RAF are ‘anti-Palestinian due to the ungracious attitude they’ve demonstrated to the RAF’? Well fuck them, the mercenary arseholes, they’re siding with nazi genocide.
That’s the same RAF that didn’t want to hire any white boys, all in the name of diversity, the same RAF that is more concerned with LBGQWERTY than national defence. Fuck them. The battle of Britain heroes must be revolving like a spit roast in shame, though maybe not the same spit roast our armed services prefer nowadays !
“Air Tanker have zero decision making influence over what the RAF uses its aircraft for. ”
Exactly that is the whole point. They are not answerable to anyone. Their contract with RAF is safe but they have the flexibility to freelance. Why do you think we need to have a commercial component to a vital role of defense of the state? Is it not to obfuscate and to give money to our corporate friends. And presumably these corporate friends sit on some meetings which the paymaster, the tax payer, is not allowed anywhere near.
Geoff
Great to know that Daily Mail/Express readers are all heart underneath their tough me first veneer.
Re: getting food into Gaza:
Have any of the companies involved in getting Aid to Gaza asked Sir Kier to feed people?
Being as the Israeli’s policy is to shoot them by luring them for food.
Like Cheese on a Mouse – Trap?
I really believe that the answer is no.
And this ‘ Shooting Yourself in the Foot nonsense is just that – nonsense.
You do know that these protesters are actually ( not in fake terms ) applying the UN Rules vis: the Prevention of genocide?
As are the Yemenis.
You won’t read that in The Mail/Telegraph or Express which is why you don’t know it.
Until then, your honour, the chaps had been distraught for the crippled orphans of Gaza, dropping teddy bears and sweets. Anything the chaps might have done thereafter, they were forced to by Palestine Action terrorists.
“Again, the value to the taxpayer is in the £Ms every year to subcontract whilst keeping overall control and access to a surge capability at short notice.”
Strange use of “value” there. I think a better word to describe the £Ms paid every year to these subcontracting companies is “cost”. Please also explain why it is supposed to be cheaper for the RAF, who don’t have to make a profit, to hire kit from the private sector, who do have to make a profit, rather than the RAF owning the kit themselves. You get access to “surge capability” by having kit on standby. Someone has to maintain and store that kit. It is always going to be cheaper for the RAF to do that than have the private sector do it.
Bayard your argument applies equally to many public services including the NHS water , etc…. But capitalist teaching repeated without evidence is that private sector is always more competitive and efficient because of the magic of the “market”. This despite evidence to the contrary with many failing companies being bailed by the tax payers whilst paying large salaries and bonuses. Capitalism is all based on lies but these lies are not challenged because our investigative journalism are themselves capitalists.
“But capitalist teaching repeated without evidence is that private sector is always more competitive and efficient because of the magic of the “market”. ”
There is plenty of evidence for this, the main one being that all organisations tend to end up being run for the benefit of their senior management. While the senior management are the owners, this doesn’t impact anyone adversely, but where the senior management are bureaucrats or executives and directors not answerable in any effective way to the owners, i.e. the shareholders, both they, the owners, and the workers lose out. The only “magic of the market” is the process which removes through bankruptcy those organisations where all the free capital is extracted by the senior management and/or the organisation is run so badly that it no longer makes money or functions effectively, to replace them by other organisations which haven’t quite got to that stage yet. In the public sector, either the owner is the state and politicians don’t really care if the organisation is run effectively or not or the senior management are civil servants and so nearly untouchable. No matter how badly the organisation is run, it will continue to be funded by the state and cannot therefore go bust. It’s difficult to remember that the great nationalisations in the UK after WWII were intended were funnel the profits from these sectors of commerce into public coffers when after only fifteen years most of the cashflow was in the opposite direction.
If I understand correctly you are judging “success “ here as success for the organisation or corporation rather than added value to society.
But the inherent problem with the capitalist success model is that the final measure of that success is making money and the means to do so can change from being very beneficial to being tyrannical and oppressive depending on what they can get away with. But built into the capitalist model especially if it is running an essential public service like water for example, is that apart from running costs, research and development, they also have to add lucrative profits to their investors and shareholders. There is also the added costs of lavish hospitality, advertising and lobbying that add to the costs. This inherently makes them much less competitive against a well run public service in a socialist setting. Therefore these corporations cut costs as much as possible at the expense of providers and workers but also by charging more, as well as by controlling information and politicians.
There is little defence for the capitalist system; its success is always at the cost to humanity. The arguments used to defend capitalism are similar and run in parallel with the political and military supremacist way by which the west governs.
And if what you say about badly run public service is true the reasons for this do not justify privatisation. The answer is to reform these organisations. But this is another subterfuge. Instead of constructive reform governments have instead corrupted the system by introducing a false competition between public and private providers.They did this by financialising essential services and by creating a large managerial structure in the private sector to mimic that of corporations. In the NHs this was done slowly by converting the NHS from a government department to a pseudo business with many independent providers to introduce a false competition and open up competition by private providers. Each Trust has become a cost centre and instead of the free cooperation between hospitals in patients care and research and teaching, they charged each other for previously free exchanges. This also entailed a major increase of managerial staff in the NHS in order to manage this new monetisation. I know this is getting a bit off topic but just one final thought. One of the first major concessions of the Starmer government was to award Doctors a huge increase. That was essentially to buy the medical profession (which incidentally was so weakened professionally by way they allowed a purely medical and public health issue if the COVID epidemic, to be completely managed by politicians), in order to continue with stealth privatisation of the NHS.
“If I understand correctly you are judging “success “ here as success for the organisation or corporation rather than added value to society.”
“Success” is succeeding in doing what the organisation was set up to do. All commerce can add value to society by providing employment and providing things that people need to survive and enjoy themselves.
“But the inherent problem with the capitalist success model is that the final measure of that success is making money”
So you would prefer a society where no-one made any money? Where every part of commerce was run by the state and no-one was paid to do anything, but had all their needs provided for by the state, basically like everyone being in the army, just without the violence. Wouldn’t that be fun?
“Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made” Whatever we humans do, someone is going to do it badly. That is not a reason for not doing it at all. Yes, there are badly run organisations in all areas of life and business, but that doesn’t mean there are not also ones that are run well. The main problems we face are the same problems we have always faced since homo sapiens evolved from apes, which are greed, selfishness and laziness, not anything ending in “-ism”. The “-isms” are just the symptoms, not the disease. Remove, say, “capitalism” and you will simply be dealing with a different set of greedy, selfish and lazy people, just not the greedy selfish and lazy capitalist people. If you have a society where the greedy, lazy and unscrupulous are rewarded with riches, as most of the West does, then people are going to learn to be greedy, selfish and unscrupulous. Changing that means changing our society at a very fundamental level, which is far more difficult and complicated than getting rid of a few “-isms”.
Increasing inefficiency is an inescapable part of everything that happens on this planet. The second law of thermodynamics is that entropy (disorder) always increases. Everything wears out eventually. Increasing inefficiency in business is addressed either through action to make things more efficient again or by the collapse of the organisation. In the public sector, it can only be the former. Observation shows us that the latter is far more common than the former. In the private sector, the workers (in which I include the management, they work, too) can enjoy an immediate reward for the success of the organisation in the form of higher renumeration as well as the satisfaction of a job well done, whereas in the public sector they only have the satisfaction of a job well done. If the last 80 years have shown us anything it is that neither nationalisation nor privatisation is a panacea, not even if the processes are done well, which neither of them have been.
“One of the first major concessions of the Starmer government was to award Doctors a huge increase. That was essentially to buy the medical profession..”
Only following a far more illustrious example: when asked how he had got the doctors to agree to the setting up of the NHS, Aneurin Bevan replied “I stuffed their mouths with gold” . He made his declaration after he brokered a deal in which consultants were paid handsomely for their NHS work while allowing them to maintain private practices.
I’ve only just read this post of Craig’s. Freakin’ hell!
I learned early on that the US Energy Secretary and negotiators from British Gas Group had flown to Tel Aviv within days of the start of Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza. Within weeks, Israel had issued extraction licenses off the Gazan coast. Only recently did I start to become convinced that a commercial decision had been taken to completely erase Palestine, that it had been taken before the Hamas attack and raid of 7 September 2023, and that senior Israelis had decided to permit that Hamas action in order to provide a pretext. And now, in this latest post of Craig’s, I read this:
– “This would also appear to be the same individual as the E Griffith Reade who is listed as – amongst other interests – the 10% owner of Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc.”
E Griffith Reade is clearly Milo Minderbinder of Catch 22, and we have no idea which countries might be bombing their own runways. That’s hidden behind “commercial confidentiality”; Freedom of Information Acts don’t apply to the private sector.
What was it Trump said? Something along the lines of the USA now ‘owning’ Gaza, and it would be turned into an entertainment resort? Craig has shown that much of the ownership of the “RAF” aircraft, and the employers of their crew, remain unclear. So I have a suggestion. What is the chain of ownership of whichever company made that video of Gaza as a leisure resort?
“the Hamas attack and raid of 7 September 2023”
What a difference a day makes. In this case, it changed the ME for the foreseeable future.
Hopefully, thanks to people like Craig and you, we can still hope that the natural resources of Palestine won’t be confiscated by the West. Let alone Gaza become the next Disney resort.
It is underway and there is nobody to stop it. Absolutely no resistance to live streamed deliberate starvation and genocide. They will be ‘moved’ (abandoned) to Syria and/or Lebanon along with some crocodile tears and no compensation or help, while Israel destroys all the evidence. For Netanyahu and his war criminal gang, this is the ultimate prize, planned and prepared for, and they can’t believe their opportunity – no push back from the US, thanks to Biden and Trump. Previously the US had always ‘allowed’ incursions and destruction for a limited time, but had kept the Israelis from complete annihilation. Now there is no-one to help a beleaguered indigenous population who are being discarded and ground into the earth like quarantined cattle. And our ‘leaders’ keep silent. Absolutely despicable, inhumane barbarism – but we are told this is ‘civilisation’. With a straight face. The new holocaust, while plentiful food, medicine and hospital care is available in plenty a few miles away, as people watch from their sun loungers and bathing pools, thrilled by the human killing fields. The Zone of Interest was never more timely and pertinent.
Thanks to Iran, the bastard Israelis are now getting some well deserved blowback, occupy this you c*nts.
“– but we are told this is ‘civilisation’. With a straight face.”
Indeed it is:
https://i.redd.it/oey2qspw6qby.jpg
Thank you for your outrage Clark. I am all outraged out, and just grieve for the Palestinian people and the corruption and greed of our elected representatives. The blockade now means there is no fuel in Gaza. No way to transfer Aid. No fuel for ambulances. And the slaughter of those queuing for food and water continues daily. Ben Gvir and Smotrich have even said that being criticised by Trump means they can cut off even the aid that has been allowed in, up until now. And the law that Smotrich brought in, saying that Palestinians cannot sell their property to Jews, it has to be razed and stolen, is now operational, and bands of ‘settlers’ are burning homes and killing fleeing families in the West Bank.
BP were first in exploring and registering the gas under Gaza. They made agreements with the Palestinian Authority to extract it, but Israel said No. Next it was the Dutch, who started building the pipelines to take the gas to Greece and Turkey, and then north through Europe and East through Turkey. The Palestinian Authority said yes but Israel said No.
There are massive gas aquifers under Israel, but they are deep, and access is via the shallower gas fields under Gaza. There is enough gas to supply Europe and east for many decades to come. It belongs to the Palestinian Authority until there are no Palestinians left. The pipelines are all in place. The junction is at Cyprus where it divides east and west.
Shame and grief. Where is the international Court that can dispense justice in all this? It can’t, because a handful of billionaires has tied all the rest of the power brokers and nations, into being promised beneficiaries of this genocide. Bringing in a very powerful adversary at this point puts us all on notice. Iran is big enough to match whatever is thrown at it. And it has the advantage of being the injured party and so allies will join its cause. What is Israel doing right now? It has us over a barrel. It is calling the shots. It is reckless and presumes on the compliance of the nations which have committed to keeping it safe for so long. What is the end game? Does anybody know?
We’re not going to have evidence of what happens in Gaza now either – Israel is making a systematic effort to cut all communications, destroying all fibre optic lines and Internet hubs, and targetting technicians trying to fix them. This isn’t new, but the effort to stamp out all comms is being given priority now.
Taking down social media posts showing the carnage is also underway by Hasbara – often because it’s “obscene”. A blown up child, whose clothes have been ripped asunder, are tagged as child porn and duly removed. The very people who caused and excuse the carnage turn their attention now to flagging posts as ‘graphic’, ‘upsetting’ and violating the privacy of the now dead or severely wounded individuals.
How will this end? Much the same way as that other genocide by the US ended of native Americans – small enclaves, where people are allowed to exist far away from their ancestral homes, history re-written so it either didn’t happen at all, or somebody else did it, or people just upped and died, or decided to move away. They had little ties here anyway, and their numbers were small. Et cetera.
“Who were the Palestinians?” Well… they didn’t really ever exist. But some people living far away like to pretend that Israel’s land actually used to belong to their ancestors, although they can’t prove it of course. Can you believe the cheek of it? Doubtless they simply hate Jews and want to cause trouble.
Clark
Yes I remember that.
Yet I think the PA is ‘ officially ‘s in charge of licences.
One of the PA is a billionaire so, he’ll be consulted of course.
Everyone has forgotten what is in Gaza ( re: oil/gas) and what is in the Sea near Palestine.
I think The Leviathan Field is part of the PA’s alleged property too.
You have to sign things – you see then it’s all above board.
Apparently, Iran is now publishing videos of the downed F35s. Available via VT (Veterans Today) site.
Quality is a bit rubbish, so I’ll wait for someone else to publish these.
Who is funding the BBC? The BBC is also a weapon and probably far more effective than refuelling aircraft. I believe CM has a great deal of respect for Peter Obourne as a journalist. Jonathan Cook has written an article I have read at Consortium News entitled “The BBC’s Complicity in Genocide.”
https://consortiumnews.com/2025/06/25/jonathan-cook-the-bbcs-complicity-in-genocide/
Journalist Peter Oborne in a parliamentary meeting last week eviscerated the BBC over its shameful reporting.
It this piece he details the BBC bias in favour of the Israeli narrative and point by point exposed the BBC propaganda machine journalistic failures. All this at a parliamentary meeting attended by BBC’s executive news editor, Richard Burgess.
Who funds the BBC? You do with your TV license. Paint your license red.
And the power of the corporate lobbyists is made clear here:
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/dark-money-investigations/weak-uk-lobbying-laws-let-fossil-fuel-giants-influence-climate-policies/
Given that there is zero scientific evidence that burning fossil fuels influences climate change, that’s not really a problem. Indeed the fuel companies are to be applauded in trying to stop the government making fuel even more expensive than it is now.
“Zero scientific evidence.” You’ve been lied to if you believe this, Bayard.
It’s Bayard’s biggest blind spot. Despite being pretty right-on generally, he really lets himself down here.
Even more strange for one supposedly intellectually curious, he point blank refuses to discuss it. Just makes this blanket assertion and runs away, again and again – like a lot of shy climate change denialists.
I’m quite happy to discuss it, but only when I think there is the remotest chance that I might convince the other person that they may be wrong. Listening to a lecture as to why I am wrong is not my cup of tea. I have tried to explain my thinking before, but the replies have always been along the lines of “You are wrong, let me tell you how”.
““Zero scientific evidence.” You’ve been lied to if you believe this, Bayard.”
No belief required. Science doesn’t do belief. Theories either describe the phenomena or they don’t. I have not seen any scientific evidence apart from coincidence masquerading as causality that burning fossil fuels has any effect on the climate and plenty of evidence that it doesn’t. Belief is for religions.
B: “I have not seen any scientific evidence […]”
Not seeing evidence because you close your eyes and block your ears isn’t the same as there being no evidence.
Well, you’re not looking very hard. The science is robust, and being confirmed every year more comprehensively. But. as you say, a waste of time trying to convince people whose head is in the sand.
climate change is not dependent on you ‘believing’ it or not. The fossil fuel companies you laud have known it for decades.
ET;
Quite, and I for one am proud to say that many (thousands) of us here in Scotland (they refuse to say how many) decided to cancel our ‘licences’ in 2014 after the endless interference and lies of the ‘BBC’ during the indyref.
I haven’t watched any of the lying barstewards for 11 years now. Happy days.
Fergus Mason.
Are you the Fergus Mason who claims to have been a member of ISAF (International Security Assistance Force), “one of the largest international military coalitions in history, with troops from 51 NATO and partner nations”? The ISAF who were part of the occupation of Afghanistan 2001-2014, which although ostensibly sent to maintain security, evolved to participating in the broader military action in that benighted country, (gratuitously invaded by the US/NATO on a false pretext after 9/11) including fighting the Taliban?
Are you therefore, the Fergus Mason who claims to have “Security Clearance” including 13 endorsements from inter alia, Chris Anderson, an “intelligence analyst at HM Forces” and Andrew Tyler “a veteran army officer with 30 years experience in Intelligence Analysis and Planning”?
Are you therefore also the Fergus Mason who claims “expertise in intelligence analysis” endorsed by the same Andrew Tyler, and two others with an apparent military intelligence background, including Ralph Humphry, “Interoperability coordinator at NATO Reachback Analytical Cell”?
See:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/fergus-mason-8a828849/details/skills/?detailScreenTabIndex=0
Just asking, because it is important to others here to see where you might be coming from.
If so, should you really be breaking cover so blatantly?
Unless, of course it is all bullshit?
John O’Dowd
‘ Page not found ‘
He’s a spy or a bullshitter?
The two go together like Love and Marriage.
Some of them sit on red sofas and behind desks on the Sky News Zoo
in the morning.
One of them once said that 2k Israeli Bombs were only used to target Hamas Fighters.
Those types of analysts.
i think the word to use is paid ubiquitousness.
Put plainly – Have Bullshit – will travel.
Anyway we in the Spy Community never reveal ourselves.
What I’ve just said could be a double bluff.
Or in the case of Mr Skripal – a triple bluff.
Wonder where he and Julia are now?
Just musing.
Is there more that one Fergus Mason? There is this one here: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/fergus-mason-8a828849 author of 10 Weird Ways to Honor the Dead e-book or the one on Substack who declares he is a “Freelance writer and random pontificator. I mostly write about history, military matters and of course politics, from a right of centre point of view” Either way there is no need to take him seriously.
“We have therefore simply no idea who the investors are: it could be anyone from BlackRock to Kim Jong Un. The true ownership is deliberately shrouded in secrecy.”
It’s control that counts, not ownership. But the thing is that in this case we aren’t just talking about control over armaments but control over government money.
What the ministers, civil servants, intelligence and security officers, procurement specialists, senior officers in the armed forces, any judges involved, any “opposition” or trade union leaders on relevant committees, etc., care about is that their pockets get lined. “Venal” is definitely the word.
Britain is as corrupt as f***, just as corrupt as any other country, even if in the normal course of life an ordinary person in Britain doesn’t have to bribe the police or a university or a c*** at the local council or state hospital directly. The country is still a corrupt cesspit. What’s unusual is that the majority of the population don’t know it, or they don’t really know it. Mustn’t be rude about “Sir”.
And this level of unusual deference is, from the rulers’ point of view, most definitely an ASSET. One that soon they will cash in.
Brian. I like to think, maybe mistakenly, that it’s not Britain that’s corrupt, it’s the British establishment: the Lords, ladies, politicians, billionaires, industry leaders, experts. The man in the street doesn’t align themselves with these malignant traitors, IMO.
That was then, Stevie. Now the global billionaires are intent on dismantling our national sovereignty, and our elected representatives, or some of them, are well funded (bribed by lobbyists) to carry out the removal of the safeguards and autonomy over the land, entrenched in the Monarchy and the hereditary Lords, with their roots in the land, going back to 1066.
Wales is desperately poor today and needs to see some recompense for all its resources which are taken to serve England. Reform is feeding lies into its loss of income. Scotland is in a better position to invest its resources in its people. Scotland is getting control of its Crown Estates. Wales needs this too but is being denied. Post industrial towns in England are struggling to define their purpose when imports are so cheap, and coastal resorts have no visitors, just wealthy second home owners and a few AirBnB’s. Privatisation has stolen our national resources. Government could change this, if it could be a properly functioning representative democracy, but scrutiny is inadequate and watchdogs have been defunded. Asking civil servants to resign if they are too horrified by government agendas is the latest move.
Being woke means waking up to the situation that finds us looking to supporting our communities as volunteers when central funding is denied, joining hands around Parliament to show we have more in common than that which divides us, and showing we are all in this together in our multi racial multi cultural little country. Stand for election to your local council and be clear who funds you and who you represent and demand that others are transparent too. We have been very trusting in the honesty of public servants. Keep tabs on them and appreciate the time and responsibility they devote to local needs and priorities.
There are still some very good people in our democracy.
“There are still some very good people in our democracy.”
It isn’t a democracy. The power to replace one set of oligarch-chosen lawmakers with another every five years or so is not in any sense of the word, ruling.
The PFI procurement of these aircraft was dissected by the Commons Public Accounts Committee a whole 15 years ago and the PAC’s trenchant criticism was widely reported in the media at the time. If you didn’t know this, it’s because you didn’t care enough to pay attention. It isn’t “investigative journalism” to report it as a shock new discovery years after the likes of Private Eye have stopped writing about it.
https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmselect/cmpubacc/425/42502.htm
In which case whatever government there has been these last 15 years it does n’t see to have done much in response to the CPAC’s trenchant criticisms has it?
At 27 years, the contract is so long that no government can do anything about it until 2034. If you bothered to read the CPAC link I thoughtfully provided, you’ll find that its criticisms were of the process by which PFI was chosen as the procurement approach, and its recommendations were about avoiding repetition. Unless I missed something, the 2010-25 governments didn’t buy any more front line military aircraft using PFI.
Oh dear. Our new head of MI6 seems to have a similar past to various other high profile females, ie. Nazi grandfather – Constantine ‘the butcher’ another Ukrainian Nazi.
One might have thought vetting would preclude certain backgrounds, but no, it’s an asset in spyland.
The daily mail spin says :” ‘It is precisely this complex heritage which has contributed to her commitment to prevent conflict and protect the British public from modern threats from today’s hostile states, as the next chief of MI6.’
The Mail agrees – we could not be in safer hands ” !!
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14851451/grandfather-new-head-MI6-Nazi-spy-chief.html
And who is the ‘we’ here? not ordinary citizens, that’s for sure.
Interesting read.
This explanation as to why theMail are revealing all this made me chuckle : Because the public needs to hear the real truth rather than a deliberately distorted version of it.
Distorted version? How the fcuk could someone create a fictional version that’s any worse than the reality? In the Mail’s own description, he was “…a feared Nazi collaborator and spy chief in his native Ukraine. He spied and killed for Adolf Hitler’s Germany – even boasting of exterminating Jews”. Wouldn’t want anyone distorting things to muddy that legacy, would we?
Neither she nor MI6 can choose or control: who her forebears are. True, but I’d wager in class obsessed Britain, there have been rejected candidates on that basis.
The strangest thing is, she wasn’t even the favourite for the role, the UK’s UN perm rep Barbara Woodward was. No Nazi family backstory with her, afaik?
Maybe Metreweli’s ruthlessness impressed(?) – if, as some ventured, she was linked to the indiscriminate pagers attack on Hezbollah? Wonder who she inherited that trait from?
You could not be in safer, more sensible hands than those of a Ukrainian Nazi butcher’s granddaughter.
You can trust us…
An FCDO spokesperson said : “…Blaise’s ancestry is characterised by conflict and division and, as is the case for many with eastern European heritage, only partially understood.
“It is precisely this complex heritage which has contributed to her commitment to prevent conflict and protect the British public from modern threats from today’s hostile states, as the next chief of MI6.”
This dismissive view is being echoed by the right-wing press.
Complex heritage… hmm? That’s one way of putting it. But imagine were this Corbyn’s paternal grandfather, and further imagine this had emerged during his leadership. Does anyone believe the same right-wing press wouldn’t have made hay with this for weeks – insinuating the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree?
Wonder who the next head of MI5 will be, Fred West’s daughter perhaps?
I doubt it was a coincidence that a person with that very distinctive heritage was chosen above every other candidate.
Image seems AI generated. Heritage a bit confused father originally from Ukraine but name changed to a Georgian name. Person given honours for something unrelated to current appointment which was made despite of more qualified candidates.
Maybe her grandfather worked for MI6/CIA after the war !
Here’s a story about Corbyn’s great-great-grandfather which ’emerged’ in the Express in 2015:
REVEALED: The evil monster haunting Jeremy Corbyn’s past
JEREMY Corbyn’s great great grandfather was the master of a workhouse described as “a scandal and a curse to a country which calls itself civilised and Christian”.
By CAROLINE WHEELER POLITICAL EDITOR EXCLUSIVE
00:01, Sun, Sep 20, 2015 | UPDATED: 10:53, Sun, Sep 20, 2015
I can’t download the link, but Googling ‘Corbyn great great grandfather workhouse master’ brings it up immediately.
‘The monster’ (not an unreasonable description) was dismissed in 1876, after 14 years in post. Constant complaints of brutality and abuse, ignored throughout his tenure, were eventually the subject of a report in The Lancet.
Corbyn said that neither he nor his family had known anything about this man until the Express published the story.
“Oh dear. Our new head of MI6 seems to have a similar past to various other high profile females, ie. Nazi grandfather – Constantine ‘the butcher’ another Ukrainian Nazi.”
Ukranian? Splendid fellows, they had no truck with those bloody Commies!
Excellent Craig. Thanks very much for your effort in putting this together. I have nothing to say or add but my jaw hangs open!
It’s about money, surely. But it’s may also be about bypassing public procurement rules. Aircraft maintenance is quite expensive, and by law RAF would need to announce tenders for most parts or work required if it was them maintaining the machines. I imagine they don’t want to make public much of that stuff (tenders for military supplies can give a very accurate picture as we’ve already seen), and a private entity contracted for aircraft maintenance fits the objective quite well. That it enables uncontrolled kickbacks is also a plus…
Johnnie Moore, US evangelical Christian leader of GHF, the fake “humanitarian” organisation that is so heavily involved with the Zionist murder of Palestinians at food distribution hubs in Gaza, is an advisor to the Anti-Defamation League. This makes me wonder whether the pro-Zionist WASP Christian orgs in the USA, who we all know have so much money, are actually independent players at all. If all it was about was apocalypticist Christianity, they’d be more focused on northern Palestine, up near Lebanon and Syria. Perhaps the pro-Zionist moneyed evango-Christs are fronts for the Zionist effort in countries where they are active such as in Africa and Asia, including for exame North Korea, as well as richer countries where they have influence in academia.
The GHF job seems to involve Abu Shabab’s gang network a lot. All the more reason for genuine humanitarians to support Hamas, as I think is probably well known, even obvious, to Palestinians trapped in Gaza.
Haaretz pieces of relevance:
https://archive.is/68Ond
https://archive.is/JjSUt
Came across this about the ADL:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/1/22/adl-faces-backlash-for-defending-elon-musks-raised-arm-gesture
Seems the ADL is much more concerned about shielding Israel from criticism than anything else. Your link between this bastard Moore and the fake GHF makes this even more clear.
Isn’t it the case that the ADL was originally set up specifically to protect one zionist, it then just grew. ?
Breaking from the MoD:
The head of the hedge-fund air force, who has presided over spy flights for Israel throughout the Genocide, is to be appointed Britain’s top military officer.
“Air Chief Marshal Sir Rich Knighton is to be appointed the Chief of the Defence Staff with effect from September 2025. Defence Secretary John Healey MP congratulated Sir Rich on his appointment.”
https://x.com/DefenceHQ/status/1938558558385140066
Is Rich an Americanised short name for Richard or is it a description of his status?
Is it Richard, or does he prefer dick !
Sounds like a clue in the Guardian Quick Crossword …
Rich Knight On? (7) – answer: Starmer.
It might even qualify for cryptic
Cryptic is… something else !
This clue falls between two stools. It’s not a very straightforward definition clue like “national leader”, but if it’s meant to be a ‘cryptic definition’, what’s the dignificance of “On”? Here’s my untalented attempt at a proper cryptic clue (which should have both a ‘definition’ part and a ‘riddle’ part): ‘A broken armrest for a leader’ (7). Here ‘leader’ is the definition part, and the riddle part is an anagram of ARMREST as indicated by the word ‘broken’. Another try: ‘A holy arrow, for example, hesitates to reach this leader’ (7). The breakdown of the ‘riddle’ part here is ST/ARM/ER where ST = saint or holy, ARM is an arrow (for example) and ER is a hesitation.
Other readers might have fun making up their own cryptic clues for STARMER, till the Powers That Be censor the proceedings for being off topic. 😁
M.J. very good effort👏🏻
Sadly, it’s him trying to be blokey, like “Eddie” George or “Tony” Blair, he wasn’t named Rich by his parents in a fit of attempted nominative determinism.
Your comment that the ground crews are “mercenaries” shows both a sensationalist tendency and an inability to carry out basic research.
Airtanker personnel are required to be RAF reservists; they work as civilians in their day-to-day roles (eg at Brize Norton) but will work in their reserve role if deployed to a war zone, in order that all applicable laws of armed conflict are adhered to. In no way does any of that come even close to any accepted definition of a mercenary. They’re employed by Airtanker, as part of a “package deal” including the aircraft.
None of this is even remotely secret, so not sure how you failed to research it and instead posted half-baked speculation doesn’t reflect well on you.
“Your comment that the ground crews are “mercenaries” shows both a sensationalist tendency and an inability to carry out basic research.”
Where does he say that?
Matt
‘ in order that all applicable laws of armed conflict are adhered to’
On that basis they should stay well away from The Mid East anyway as all those ‘ laws ‘ flew out of the window (pardon the pun ) way before October the 7th.
Never mind after and now.
When it all kicks off again ( Netanyahu can’t not do it – otherwise he will be in jail) ) The Akrotiri Airbase will be in its ‘ lawful ‘ operational
phase and being as TUI et al never need refuelling mid – what then what is the purpose of these planes?
Who’s planes are they lawfully re-fuelling and for what purpose?
“what then what is the purpose of these planes?”
Airfreighting jet fuel from one place to another, probably.
Who exactly is the UK at war with ? Why would staff be deployed to a war zone ?
I’m sure the guys on the ground are just trying to do a job, but stepping back there are some major issues here.
Wikipedia confirms much of Craig’s report, and also that the pilots are “sponsored reservists” – MOD pay Jet2 pilots wages so they can switch to flying their planes when needed…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AirTanker_Services?wprov=sfti1
Craig is obviously much more knowledgeable than Wikipedia, and unlike this intelligence service cesspool has done a lot of research about this recent scandal. For good reason.
It’s really unfair to recall reports dating back 15 years ago, or to deny the game of smoke and mirrors that surrounds AirTanker.
Checkmatt…
I think the actions of the IDF in Gaza are very similar to tactics used in many fascists regimes throughout history and I suggest the label of Murder Squads should be applied to them for what is waiting for hungry people to collect food in order to kill them indiscriminately is other than Murder?
Now, as we all know, ‘refueling’ is also an issue in the nuclear industry. Since Iran never had, doesn’t have, and never will have intentions of building a nuclear weapon (atomic bomb), they have been offered a compromise by the country they recently defeated, the US of A.
The Donald and his minions have now repeatedly offered a pledge of 30 billion dollars a year to help Iran build civil nuclear plants, if it stops suspicious enrichment .That’s the price tag of several golf courses!
We’ll see what the answer is from the Supreme Leader. It’s a heartbreaking moment. Choosing between the development of his own country and the rightful stance in favor of the people of Palestine…
It probably won’t be a very hard choice, as one of the conditions is likely to be resuming the inspections of the IAEA.
Refuelling is a problem
We buy jets we cannot refuel
We build aircraft carriers but have no planes fit to use on them. Harriers.
https://theconversation.com/uks-f-35a-fighter-jet-deal-problem-the-raf-has-no-aircraft-to-refuel-them-in-mid-air-259821
“ The UK has decided to acquire at least 12 F-35A stealth fighters. These fighter jets should be able to carry out nuclear and conventional strikes from the air, a capability the Royal Air Force (RAF) has lacked since the 1990s. The deal also marks a significant move for the UK’s participation in Nato operations amid rising nuclear rhetoric from adversaries.
The F-35A brings notable advantages over the F-35B variant already in RAF service. It’s less expensive to buy and operate, has a greater combat radius (the furthest distance an aircraft can travel to a target and return without refuelling) – 679 miles (1093km) vs 517 miles (833km) – and supports a broader variety of weapons, including the nuclear-capable B61 bomb (with US agreement). Because it can spend longer in the air, it may also allow prospective RAF pilots to get through their pilot training quicker.
Yet while the F-35A offers greater range than many comparable fighter jets, it still requires in-flight refuelling to operate effectively over extended distances and to return home from such missions. This exposes a critical vulnerability that has been largely overlooked in public commentary: the RAF has no tanker aircraft capable of supporting the F-35A in this way. As a result, these fighter jets – carrying nuclear ordnance or otherwise – are limited in the types of operations they can carry out.
Unlike the F-35B which is compatible with the UK’s current fleet of tankers, the A-model depends exclusively on “flying boom” refuelling. Flying boom is one of two aerial refuelling methods. Favoured by the United States Air Force, it uses a rigid, extendable tube to deliver fuel at a high transfer rate and is generally easier for receiving pilots to operate.”
“ This shortfall imposes a growing reliance on allied tanker support. In crisis conditions, UK aircraft could be confined to American-led operations where such tankers exist.
This risk was manageable in previous decades; the possibility of operating without the Americans considered remote. But as the 2025 Strategic Defence Review concedes, the United States is clear that the “security of Europe is no longer its primary international focus”.
And while some Nato allies in Europe are increasing their flying boom capacity through a multinational fleet, the UK is not as yet part of those arrangements. Retrofitting the existing Voyager fleet remains an option, but it would require an extensive – and expensive – structural overhaul, prompting the question of whether acquiring new, compatible tankers might now be a more viable path.
Either way, until Britain invests in flying boom capability or secures assured access from allies, it will have to accept constraints to its military power. Buying frontline jets is only part of the equation. Without the means to sustain them in the air, the UK risks fielding a force that can’t reach its target, leaving it a spectator when it matters most.”
By all means prune this post, Mods. The text is in the link
Melrose
I disagree.
Because of Trump’s War Theatre he has managed to convince the Iranian Government that they need Nukes as that will stop any more attacks from anyone.
If they believe Donald’s ‘I promise ya ……..’ after him being in favour of The Supreme Leader being offed and the lying and passing of information from the IAEA directly to the UN as well as pretending you were negotiating whilst planning the ‘ obliteration ‘ of the Uranium Enrichment Plants I hope that will not be on the cards.
It would be utterly naive and stupid and if it happened wave goodbye to Iran.
It’s a bit like the US Gun carriers (and logically they are not wrong).
I have a gun because other US Citizens have a gun.
The North Koreans came round to that idea years ago.
The Yanks and others have Nukes – we want nukes.
The one’s who have them already should not complain.
We are now nearly equals.
I’m with the hard headed Mearsheimer on this one who is surprised that Iran didn’t develop nukes years ago.
They didn’t then but they need them now.
I like he believe that they now have no other option than to get them.
p.s Hand up if anyone has ever heard of the Posadists?
From discussions with online learners on course about the RAF mostly in the nuke-carrying 1950s to 1970s, I gather that it was involved in mercenary work in Africa (though the self-identifying ex-personnel rejected the label mercenaries). And perhaps Liz Windsor ordered one such to knock off the UN Sec Gen who was getting a bit anti-colonial for her liking. I mean, propping up all those puppet regimes took some props. And jets. Sure, there was often a blurred line between mercenaries and white supremacist militias (for hire). All done under the Royal Prerogatives, of course. But if you blow up a mercenary plane, is that still treason?
And what about all those RAF mutinies we hear so little about? Did they contribute to replacement by more psychotic mercenaries or just better selection of run-of-the-mill British professional killers?
Israel has no allies – it uses whomever and whatever nation is can to further ITS goals.
““Israel is not an ally” of Britain, former UK ambassador Sir Richard Dalton has told Declassified in a wide-ranging interview.
He also warns that Britain’s Israel lobby is getting “stronger” and exerts “a very powerful force in our society” including over politicians and political parties.
In a discussion on the current conflicts in the Middle East, Dalton, who served as Britain’s top official in Tehran from 2003-06, said that the United States and Israel together constituted “a greater threat to the stability of the region than Iran”.
He added that prime minister Keir Starmer’s backing of Israeli and American air strikes on Iran this month does “a disservice to Britain, and a disservice to the cause of preserving international law as guidance for nations in their interactions with each other”.
Dalton told Declassified that the contention that Iran was on the verge of developing nuclear arms is “false” and that “no such threat existed”.”
https://www.declassifieduk.org/israel-not-an-ally-says-former-british-ambassador/
Dalton says some good things, but IMO he is wrong about some of the other things, ie. Hamas and Oct 7th and Israel’s ‘right’ to a chunk of Palestine.
“Dystopia UK” indeed it is. We have the news today of the arrest of three people on terrorist charges with a fourth for “aiding and abetting an offence” suspected of painting and damaging these hedge fund owned sub – contracted to the RAF planes just a week before the Home Secretary’s planned proscription of Palestine Action. BBC amongst lots of other media reports:
“South East counter terrorism police have now arrested a 29-year-old woman of no fixed abode and two men, aged 36 and 24, both from London, on terror charges.
A 41-year-old woman, of no fixed abode, was arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender”.
Arrests under the Terrorism Act which means they can be kept in custody for quite a long time before being charged with lesser offences but still remanded in custody seems par for the police course these days – the Filton 18 were in a similar position.
At least the two of NFA will not have to sleep under hedges for a while.
Palestine Action seems to accept the idea that the actions were done on its behalf but false flag theory cannot be ruled out yet as there is something distinctly odd about this.
Anyone arrested these days must also endure having their case dealt with under a dysfunctional justice system with a reported backlog of 75,000 cases awaiting to be heard in a Crown Court.
Okay, Crispa, perhaps attacking RAF planes within an RAF site actually is Terrorism. The usual targets of the group are Israeli owned arms producing factories, which are clearly for the purpose of Israel’s agenda, with a bit of promised benefit for UK defence capabilities. Britain’s armed forces are clearly not in control of its Defence capabilities, and will need to have their own centralised control.
But surely this should be the function of a senior member of each the armed forces, representing the three branches of the armed forces, working under the guidance of government, not a businessman?
MI6 has a lot to answer for. They all need to step up and get it together, and respect in-house expertise and share what they know. Defence not Offence. Alliances. And international Rule of Law. Oh bother….
On a slight tangent…. Israel is hiding potentially deadly Oxycodone inside humanitarian aid flour bags in Gaza found at an aid distribution point.
The pills have been identified as Oxycodone 80mg, a highly addictive and deadly drug in larger doses, especially to children.
Another war crime by Israel.