Europe urgently needs to re-establish access to Russian oil and gas. Gas prices are high – as all UK energy consumers know – and German gas storage is at a record low for September. Gulf production is degraded, supplies are cut off and its long-term strategic stability undermined.
German manufacturing already suffered a 9.5% production loss from 2022 to 2026 following the Russian gas shutdown, with the loss in energy-intensive manufacturing (inc petrochemicals, chemicals, metals, glass/ceramics/stone, paper, mineral oil etc.) at 15.2%.
Western Europe can regain access to Russian hydrocarbons either by accepting a negotiated peace in Ukraine, or by attempting regime change in Russia. The political class in Europe have evidently decided to go all out for regime change.
It would of course be much easier, and much safer, to settle the Ukrainian conflict. We can identify the following reasons the European political “elite” is not taking that path:
- Loss of face and political capital by in situ leaders who have gone all in for conflict with Russia – von der Leyen, Kallas, Merz, Rutte, Stubb etc
- Generational family and national hatred of Russia by those wanting to reverse World War II in Eastern Europe – von der Leyen, Kallas, Merz, Stubb etc
- Deep common interests between the political personnel and the military-industrial complex
Note that none of these motives has anything to do with the welfare of their people, and still less “democracy.” I find it very hard to think of any occasion when a drive towards war had such little foundation.
Consider this. The United Kingdom, like many Western countries, is openly supplying the Ukraine with long-range missiles, manufacturing plans for long-range missiles, and personnel to service them, in the full knowledge that Ukraine is using those missiles in an attempt to devastate civilian infrastructure deep within Russia, killing many Russian civilians in the process.
Yet we are repeatedly told by both politicians and the media that Russia is the threat to the UK, when very plainly it is the opposite which is the truth. Until this year, Russia had in three hundred years of history never had any plans to invade or occupy the UK – while the UK invaded Russia in 1854 and 1917. I presume the Russians are currently working on defensive plans against the UK, given the disgraceful warmongering of our government.
The notion that the boundaries of a Ukrainian state, which had never existed in history until 1991, are so sacrosanct they cannot be adjusted to avoid World War III, is mad. They were only ever internal Soviet boundaries. Ukrainian is a new nationality, but the Ukrainians are entitled to a state if they wish one. What they are not entitled to do is insist on the old Soviet boundary, when they have:
- closed Russian schools, universities, bookshops, theatres, cinemas, libraries, kindergartens, banks and churches
- banned the Socialist Party, Communist Party, Left Party, eleven other parties and eight trade unions
- continued the systematic glorification of Nazi and genocidal figures from Ukraine’s past – alienating Poland in the process.
The notion that nuclear war should be fought over who is Mayor of Lugansk has so little public support that Russophobia is being assiduously stoked by Western governments and the EU itself. The latest episode is the extraordinarily thin gruel of the “Leipzig airport attack” story. Yesterday we had the most incredible release of coordinated statements by Western European leaders all telling us that the evidence is plain of a “hybrid attack” by Russia.
Every single one of them uses the same expression 'hybrid attack'.
Why? pic.twitter.com/pHJE2gJ2iZ
— John Laughland (@john_laughland) September 2, 2026
All accompanied by no evidence whatsoever.
The German state of course has history with this sort of false flag. On the night of 31 August/1 September 1939 it staged false flag attacks by Polish forces on the German border post at Gliwice (Gleiwitz), and a couple of other locations. Murdered corpses of political prisoners were dressed in Polish uniforms and spread around. A radio broadcast was transmitted in Polish. This “attack” was the justification for the German invasion of Poland the next day.
Now the “Russian attack” on Leipzig Halle airport was on 4 August, and yet the carefully coordinated attribution to Russia, with identical statements from all western European powers, was not launched until 1 September. I have seen it suggested that this was deliberately on the anniversary of Gliwice. That seems to me unlikely, and yet not to have at least avoided the date of perhaps the most famous false flag in history – by the same state – is very curious, when the date was so obviously voluntary for an attack that occurred four weeks before.
If you reject the warmongers’ logic for a moment, the actual scandal is that there were Ukrainian aircraft in Leipzig stacked with German weapons to kill Russians, not that an amateur toy drone allegedly tried to stop them.
To be told that this is a Russian attack by precisely the same set of goons who lied to us that it was Russia that blew up the Nord Stream gas pipeline, is testing not just the gullibility of the public, but its patience.
In the UK the purveyors of Russophobia – including government ministers – fall back repeatedly on the farcical “Russian novichok on Salisbury” story to explain why we should prepare for war with Russia.
Nobody has ever even pretended to answer the dissection of the official line I published in my article Pure – Ten Points I Just Don’t Believe. I am now able to add a further point I was not aware of at the time, thanks to Tim Norman and his coverage of the Sturgess Inquiry. The use of a judicial inquiry to determine official cause of death, rather than a coroner’s court which exists for that specific purpose, is almost always a sign of a government cover-up – see also the Hutton Inquiry and the murder of David Kelly.
But one thing the inquiry did receive was the toxicology report on Dawn Sturgess from the NHS central toxicology lab in Birmingham. This is what it found in Dawn Sturgess’ blood.
It is worth noting that fentanyl was also found, but this was removed from this list presented to the inquiry as she had been given fentanyl in hospital. That does not, of course, mean there was, or was not, already fentanyl in her bloodstream. But what you do have for sure is cocaine, plus a synthetic opioid given by the NHS to heroin addicts, plus gin and tonic, plus two different antidepressants, plus sleeping tablets.
What you don’t have is novichok. The idea that the NHS central toxicology lab cannot detect organophosphate poisoning, or was not testing for it in the blood of someone in Salisbury when the entire media was already screaming novichok, is arrant nonsense.
Only the Ministry of Defence laboratory at Porton Down claimed to find novichok – and controlled the samples which the OPCW (an equally corrupt institution) got.
Dawn Sturgess was a frail, known long-term drug addict. The combination in her bloodstream could kill anybody – of course depending on the quantities. The astonishing thing is that the pathologist at the inquiry stated he had been given no quantities or concentrations for these substances. He was therefore in no position to say they did not kill her.
This is incredible. There is no such thing as a toxicology report which does not quantify concentrations. Otherwise the information is clinically meaningless. I have spoken with three doctors, two nurses and a senior NHS administrator. All say it is impossible the toxicology report came without quantification. I assume the pathologist was not lying; so they must have been deliberately deleted. Only government can do that, and the obvious motive is to cover up the actual cause of death.
Let us face it: from that list of substances in her blood the actual cause of death is extremely obvious.
The great structural weakness of the inquiry was that nobody had the job of scepticism about the official story. The only non-governmental representative was Michael Mansfield, who represented Dawn Sturgess’ family, and his brief was to argue that Dawn Sturgess was not a drug addict. That – I am sorry to say, completely untrue – version of events fitted the story which both the government and Sturgess’s family wished to be put forward.
I am genuinely upset to have to relate unpleasant things about a dead woman who was a victim of circumstance in her life, in order to tell the truth, but you don’t get cocaine and buprenorphine in your blood by accident. We therefore had the farce of the police apologising at the inquiry for having called Dawn Sturgess a drug addict.
So we have alleged novichok in Salisbury which killed nobody, and an explosive drone, or possibly two, in Leipzig which did not explode. To counter this massive threat, we need to push an entire continent to nuclear war. As a first step, we need to cut health and social spending to give trillions more to arms manufacturers, and prepare our children for conscription, to die on the battlefield.
Forgive me if I am not convinced.
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The notion that the boundaries of a Ukrainian state, which had never existed in history until 1991….they were only ever internal Soviet boundaries. Ukrainian is a new nationality,
Sorry but that’s nonsense. Ukraine can trace its history back to the 10th/11th century. As acknowledged they have their own language, that didn’t spring up from nowhere in 1991, besides the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances, signed in 1994, provided Ukraine with security guarantees from Russia, the United States, and the United Kingdom, which included respecting Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
If you think arriving at a negotiated settlement, as opposed to unconditional surrender, would be easy why not seek an audience with the respective heads of state and do it? There is also no guarantee that Russia would go back to providing Europe with cheap gas rather than demanding the market price. They’ve already axed the discounts India and China once got on Russian oil.
It’s really quite funny how Russia’s threats against Europe are talked up but when an actual attack takes place oh no, it’s not those nice Russians, they’d never do anything as nasty as that, it must be a ‘false flag’; and the only evidence offered is that a long defunct regime in Germany carried one out over 80 years ago. Talk about desperation. Well let’s not forget that Germany had help in invading Poland thanks to a secret treaty signed with those nice cuddly Russians who promptly set about massacring tens of thousand of Poles and deporting many more. A game plan they repeated in the Baltics and other countries they forcibly occupied. If Germany can’t change it’s spots neither can Russia.
If Sturgess was taking a synthetic opioid on prescription it suggests that she was no longer taking heroin, if she ever did, so was not a drug addict at the time of her death. It was revealed that the low levels of cocaine did not indicate recent use either. As said without knowing the quantities it’s impossible to be sure that the drugs on the list, or a combination thereof, is what killed her.
The OPCW collected their own samples and established chain of custody, standard practice, to ensure they hadn’t been nobbled by Porton Down. These samples were then sent to accredited, independent labs in Europe for analysis without them being told the background.
“Sorry but that’s nonsense. Ukraine can trace its history back to the 10th/11th century.”
You don’t know what nonsense is, Pears. Tracing Ukraine to 10/11th century, that is nonsense.
Maybe yoy can show us the map of Ukraine in the 10th century? Or provide us with a manuscript of those days where the word “Ukraine” is written?
1. “Ukraine can trace its history back to the 10th/11th century. As acknowledged they have their own language…”
True or not, such considerations have no relations to the question of borders. As, for example, the facts that Aethelstan was the 1st King of England from 927 to 939 and that English language was spoken in the 5th century are irrelevant to the question whether Gibraltar should be returned to Spain or to the problems of Scottland’s independence.
2. “If you think arriving at a negotiated settlement, as opposed to unconditional surrender, would be easy why not seek an audience with the respective heads of state and do it…”
Whom are you asking this question?
3. “It’s really quite funny how Russia’s threats against Europe are talked up but when an actual attack takes place oh no, it’s not those nice Russians, they’d never do anything as nasty as that, it must be a ‘false flag’…”
Actual attack? Where?
4. “and the only evidence offered is that a long defunct regime in Germany carried one out over 80 years ago…”
Not only this, Pears, but the whole course of History. Russia always had to worry about the safety of her western borders. In 1812, in 1854, in 1914, in 1918 and in 1941. This pretty much comes to ALWAYS. But “oh no, those nice Europeans, they’d never do anything as nasty as that!” Heh-heh-heh.
5. “Well let’s not forget that Germany had help in invading Poland thanks to a secret treaty…”
One can’t forget what never had happened. What really helped Germany was the Munich agreement and the follow up that convinced Hitler that Britain and France were weak and won’t really protect Poland. The treaty with USSR was signed too late to have any effect on Hitler’s plans. Hitler wasn’t an idiot to worry that Stalin would rush to defend Poland; he needed this treaty only to put more pressure on the Poles in hopes they’ll cave in to his demands withought a war. However, he already decided back in May that he’ll take what he wanted with a war or withough a war. And you are just mindlessly parroting the East-European narrative of “equal responsibility” of Hitler andd Stalin for WW2.
Yuri K
I have a vague recollection that Stalin tried to seek an agreement with U.K. and USA before the treaty with Hitler but this was thwarted by Poland. Do you know something about this?
Here is some analysis
https://www.historytools.org/stories/why-did-stalin-agree-to-the-nazi-soviet-pact-in-august-1939-a-historians-perspective
During the Munich crisis in 1938, the USSR was willing to send troops to defend Czechoslovakia and did send aircraft. The USSR had a border with Ruthenia but it was only about 10 miles wide, transit rights through Poland were necessary but the Polish fascists wouldn’t agree, possibly because they didn’t trust the Soviets to accept the 1921 border and take back western Belarus and western Ukraine. The British and French were lukewarm because deterring Germany was only half of it, the other thing was keeping the Red Army out of central Europe.
The British and French pretended to believe that Hitler wanted Sudetenland rather than a war ostensibly over it and gave Hitler what he didn’t want, rather than the war that he did want. Adroit manoeuvre until March 1939.
Mostly correct info overall, though they repeat the common myth that “For Germany, the pact removed the threat of a two-front war and allowed Hitler to proceed with his planned invasion of Poland without fear of Soviet intervention.” There was no chance that Stalin would attack Germany and Hitler knew this very well. He was also of low opinion of the Soviet military might so this was not a consideration for him.
Here is the way I see it. As AJP Taylor put it, USSR was well isolated from Europe politically in the 1930s and when Litvinov talked about collective security the Euro politicians looked at him as if he was an alien. However, “Europe knocked on Russia’s door when Hitler voiced his demands to Poland”. Feeling the danger, Stalin decided he needs to sign a deal with one of the sides. His 1st choice was England and France. This was a logical choice because USSR could be attacked only through Poland and Romania, and England and France guaranteed their security. He promptly replaced Litvinov with Molotov, not because Litvinov was of Jewish origins, but because Molotov was a tough negotiator, and proceeded with talks. There is absolutely no indication that the talks were conducted as a smoke screen, and that Stalin had already decided to sign a deal with Germany, as some claim; the analysis of the German-Soviet contacts from May to August of 1939 shows that both Hitler and Stalin restrained their diplomats from any steps toward each other.
The Soviet talks with England and France failed mostly due to the Polish obstructions and Chamberlain’s erroneous estimations of Soviet military power. He believed that Poland and Romania were military stronger than USSR, hence, England will lose more by repulsing them than gain by an alliance with Stalin. Thus, Molotov failed to get any deal that will include military obligations from England and France to defend USSS in case of German attack, and as result, Stalin turned to Germany. By that time Hitler figured out that the Poles won’t cave in to his demands and decided to put more pressure on them by signing a treaty with Stalin. Thus, the circumstances forced both sides to rush for a treaty in August.
Stalin believed, erroneously, that the treaty gave him a lasting peace. For Hitler, this was not a big deal. He never cared for the Eastern Poland or for Finland, so he haven’t lost much. But he didn’t gain much either. The Poles did not bend to his demands anyway, and the importance of Soviet trade with Germany is mostly exaggerated.
Overall, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact had more effect on Japan than on anything happening in Europe.
Thanks
“The Soviet talks with England and France failed mostly due to the Polish obstructions and Chamberlain’s erroneous estimations of Soviet military power. He believed that Poland and Romania were military stronger than USSR, hence, England will lose more by repulsing them than gain by an alliance with Stalin. Thus, Molotov failed to get any deal that will include military obligations from England and France to defend USSS in case of German attack, and as result, Stalin turned to Germany. ”
Given Britain’s support, alongside Germany, for Finland in the Winter War, it seems likely that the British government preferred to side with the Germans than the Russian communists and, given the timing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, it does seem that this was instrumental in Britain declaring war with Germany, with whom Britain had been in sympathy whilst there was a chance they would attack the USSR. Following on from that, it could then be that Chamberlain’s “appeasement” at Munich was actually Britain letting Germany know that, so long as their ultimate aim was to attack Russia, Britian wouldn’t interfere in what they did in Eastern Europe.
Bayard: On the one hand, British public opinion sided more with Hitler, than with Stalin. So, when the news that the Pact was signed came in, they were disappointed in the former, not in the latter. How could Hitler sign a deal with a commie?! But on the other hand, traditional British realpolitics could not tolerate a German-dominated Europe, just like in 1914. The ideal outcome was the same for Chamberlain and for Hitler, that the Poles gave up without a fight, just like the Czechs. However, after the Poles got guarantees from Britain and France, both great Powers lost any leverage they had to pressure them, so the Poles (who overestimated both their own strength and the degree of the support they’ll get) hold on stubbornly. If they knew what was coming they’d probably think again, but History is a one-way highway.
Both the British and the French leadership seriously considered declaring war on USSR to support Finland while being already in war with Germany, and they did not do this not because of wisdom but only for the lack of power. Churchill was not the PM yet.
It’s not just Russians that are not safe. In 1799 Britain and Russia were allied and fought the French in Holland which was under occupation by the French. One of hundreds of examples from the last 3000 years of European history.
Putin is right. The only way we are all safe is if we have a Eurasian security agreement that includes all countries. As he set out in late 2021 before invading Ukraine. He wants to be restrained by legal shackles that tie us all. That does not suit the empire.
“In 1991, the first year of Ukraine’s independence, the neo-fascist Social National Party, later Svoboda Party, was formed, tracing its provenance directly to Bandera. It had a street named after Bandera in Liviv, and tried to name the city’s airport after him. ”
https://consortiumnews.com/2023/10/02/scott-ritter-no-end-of-history-in-ukraine/
Social National Party party formed in 1995 and re-launched as Svoboda in 2004 by which time it had barely 1,000 members.
https://everything.explained.today/Svoboda_(political_party)/
In 2019 it pulled in 2.15% of the vote. Of course Ritter would have you believe otherwise but it’s like somebody citing the history of the NF/BNP and making it sound typical of British politics.
No Nazis in the parliament doesn’t mean no Nazism in the government. The Ukranian parliament is not the Ukranian government. The government in Ukraine is the same as in any other “democratic” country in Europe: the elected part is the legislature, which makes laws. The part that actually runs the country, the executive, is made up of ministers (who may or may not be chosen from amongst the legislature) and the civil service. That is why, in the UK we distinguish between MPs “in government” and “back-benchers”. In Ukraine, only the president is directly elected, all the rest are appointed. Therefore it is perfectly possible for there to be Nazis or Nazi sympathisers in the Ukranian government without a single one having been elected after standing for a Nazi-affiliated political party.
In Ukraine, only the president is directly elected, all the rest are appointed.
Tripe.
https://assembly.coe.int/nw/xml/XRef/Xref-XML2HTML-EN.asp?fileid=27698
“https://assembly.coe.int/nw/xml/XRef/Xref-XML2HTML-EN.asp?fileid=27698”
Absolutely nothing in there about the direct election of ministers.
Why would they need another nazi party when they already had Poroshenko?
Remember his speach in Odessa in October 2014? “Our kids will go to schools and their kids will be hiding in basements”?
This is nazi enough for me.
“Sorry but that’s nonsense. Ukraine can trace its history back to the 10th/11th century.”
So can Yorkshire, that doesn’t make it a country.
“As acknowledged they have their own language, that didn’t spring up from nowhere in 1991”
It’s not a language, it’s a dialect of Russian, like Scots is a dialect of English. To be a separate language it would have to be as different from Russian as Welsh is from English. I think you will find that all the acknowledgement has been by those who want to pretend Ukranian is a separate language.
Try telling that to the people who live there (Yorkshire the is).
Ukrainian close to Russian but has similarities to Polish.
https://translatorswithoutborders.org/language-data-for-ukraine/
“Try telling that to the people who live there (Yorkshire the is).”
Exactly, that’s why I chose it as an example, but it doesn’t make them right.
“Ukrainian close to Russian but has similarities to Polish.”
It’s still a dialect, though. There is no hard language border as there is between, say Latvian and Estonian or English and Welsh: as you go from Russia into Ukraine, the language becomes less like Russian and more like Polish.
I used to like twitting Yorkshire patriots by calling it Humberside. It caused to much trouble that the government abolished Humberside and invented the East Riding to shut them up.
“The notion that nuclear war should be fought over who is Mayor of Lugansk”
If that notion exists in reality, there are only two sources for it:
1) Putin and his regime.
2) The useful idiots supporting Putin and his regime. They never tire of telling us that we must do as Putin says, or it’s nuclear Armageddon for us. They never intend to consider what kind of world we will inhabit if every international dispute ends up being settled in favour of the first one to threaten with nukes.
Putin, that “great man of history”, supposedly so loves the brothers and sisters of Greater Russ who have followed the wrong path in Ukraine, that he will kill or exile them all and flatten their country from end to end in his self-righteous zeal to correct their errors.
History is full of these sick tyrants. Those who would kill others in the tens of millions for the “greater good”. Our freedom to stand beside the burial mounds of their victims was purchased by our ancestors seeing their apologists and supporters – history’s useful idiots – for what they really were.
We should do likewise.
If you remove Russia from this altogether. The eastern parts of Ukraine would be a nightmare for Kyiv to reintegrate. Presuming a civil war didn’t re-erupt, the people there would face being under martial law, long after the rest of Ukraine had cease to be. The Kyiv-based state discrimination against Crimea and the Donbas citizens would be horrific, given so many sided with Russia. The UK and France talk about a Coalition of the Willing to police the aftermath. Do you seriously believe a N.Ireland situation on steroids, with multiple deaths daily of UK & French forces to snipers and IEDs in the hands of rebels, crossing the long porous border with Russia, to stage lightening attacks, would be acceptable to the UK or French public?
How would these areas be governed or send representatives to Kyiv? Ukraine used to have punch-ups in its parliament over accusations of disloyalty and subservience to Russia long before 2013-14’s events. Kyiv’s forces re. Donbas,are like a dog chasing a car : they won’t be able to drive it if they manage to capture it.
If Kyiv had any sense, it’d be glad to wash its hands of the rebellious Russian-speaking east. They’ll never have a stable Ukraine if the east and west are forced together through force. The damage was done at Maidan in 2013-14 when a democratically elected leader was forced out.
Fiery stuff indeed.
Unfortunately, this is who you/ ‘we'(?) are …
Britain backs most of the world’s repressive regimes
https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-03-11-britain-backs-most-of-the-worlds-repressive-regimes-new-analysis-shows/
Britain’s rulers have been partners in the Gaza Genocide
https://jacobin.com/2026/02/uk-israel-gaza-genocide-media
Priest, 83, arrested at pro-Palestine protest
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9vrjkev802o
So…
John Main.
Bearing in mind the Yanks dropped two-nukes on people – and the English sent a nuclear sub to the Malvinas conflict, and the Zio-Monsters probably detonated a mini-nuke in Syria, Medvedev might prattle on about the possibility of using nukes – but the West HAS used them, so keep your preaching for those who are unaware, or foolish enough to believe you.
As for the Mayorship of Luhansk, if the Neo-Nazi’s in Ukraine hadn’t been trying to wipe out everyone in the Donbas – and Nato/US hadn’t lied (moving East) about putting nukes on the border with Russia – Ukraine wouldn’t be in the position its in today.
RoS. I have to say what I said to Goose, don’t engage with that bam, if you do, he wins. There is no argument you or anyone like you – or me – could say that he won’t delight in exposing to his twisted psyche. There is literally zero point in giving him the opportunity.
I occasionally go onto WOS BTL to see if anything has changed, eg if Stu has made any attempt to rein him in: and the answer is no, he hasn’t. There Main – under his * hilarious * nom-de-bore, Idiot McIdiotface – is as he’s been for years now, 10/15/20 comments in one day, every day, constantly stalking other commenters, with his repulsive views. I can only assume Stu likes it that way. Otherwise why couldn’t he limit Main’s – and everyone else’s – comments to, say, a maximum of 5 per post? If people can’t make their point in 5 comments they’re just being pointlessly verbose. In Main’s case I’m pretty certain his shitting all over the comments section is a deliberate tactic to put others off commenting, or even reading Stu’s posts altogether.
Obviously a member of the SNP Trans lobby then …
Posthuman more like Stevie. A deliberately programmed-to-distract-divert & divide Knobot
Thanks Robert for the info, I don’t comment on Wings anymore, though Stu has done some good work on the indyfront – I’m not going to say anything bad a about Stu he opened many folks eyes on what was/is going on at Holyrood, of course you get arseholes and bots on just about every blog that doesn’t comply with the narrative – Wings is no different, as for me I follow the indy fight closely – but I also keep an eye on international affairs as well.
“In Main’s case I’m pretty certain his shitting all over the comments section is a deliberate tactic to put others off commenting, or even reading Stu’s posts altogether.”
==========
If it is the deliberate tactic that you suspect then, regrettably, it is increasingly successful.
Have you worked out whether he is hasbara or Integrity Initiative?
If he is two-timing them on piece-rates then he must be making a fortune.
John Main
September 4, 2026 at 20:12
Very well said.
Putin will huff and puff.
But if he “blows the house down” he will blow his own house down too.
And his generals are unlikely to want to join him in the post-apocalyse bunker…
Just to clarify, he calls himself “Hatey Mc Hateface” on WOS and he lives up to the name.
“They never intend to consider what kind of world we will inhabit if every international dispute ends up being settled in favour of the first one to threaten with nukes.”
You night have failed to notice, but that us exactly the world we have lived in for the last three decades, where the West, largely in the shape of the US, has used its overwhelming military might as its primary instrument of foreign policy. ‘But that’s not nuclear,’ you might reply. But that’s only because it didn’t need to be, their conventional superiority was enough. We see now that when it isn’t, the reach for nuclear is near instant.
Compared to the West, Russia is a mere dilettante when it comes to: killing civilians, illegal aggression, and resorting to force without trying diplomacy first.
I have lived the greater part of my life being subjected to the red threat by perfidious political and media talking heads, whereas the greatest threat has always been the fear of peace breaking out. Yet we can’t complain, we have a nineteenth century monarchical system whose head believes, by descent, to be chosen by… God?
Politicians only see and hear, what they want to see and hear. This goes for much of the incurious press too. The risks of questioning anything, regardless of the gaping holes in the presented narratives, spell CAREER TROUBLE, all of which tends to outweigh any possible perceived benefit from exposing this nonsense.
On the related debanking issue :
Debanking a customer solely based on their legally held views or political beliefs is illegal under UK law. However, the perception that authorities or banks are abusing their power to bypass this rule stems from a combination of broad legal loopholes, strict regulatory pressures, and ambiguous risk categories.
The key mechanism they use:
Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs): Under global anti-corruption laws, anyone deemed a PEP (such as politicians, their families, or close associates) is subject to extreme financial scrutiny. To avoid the high cost of compliance and the threat of heavy regulatory fines, banks often choose to “de-risk” by closing these accounts entirely.
Worth also factoring in, how at the time of the Sturgess incident (30 June 2018), the initial shock factor of the earlier Salisbury Skripal incident (4 March 2018) was wearing off in Europe; a former Russian spy had been attacked and no one died – European solidarity and sympathy with the UK along with ongoing interest was drifting, to say the least. And in EU states in the east, who’d maintained far better relations up to that point with Russia, like Austria; Hungary and Slovakia, there was mounting pressure to reestablish those normal relations and avoid overreacting via sanctions. This idea, of the pressure easing on Russia and sanctions being dropped was an anthema to Britain and the US, who’d worked hard to ratchet up the pain in their attempts to isolate Russia. Sturgess provided the perfect tonic in this campaign; the “but no one died” comments of European leaders, wanting normal relations with Russia, suddenly had someone who had.
“Worth also factoring in, how at the time of the Sturgess incident (30 June 2018), the initial shock factor of the earlier Salisbury Skripal incident (4 March 2018) was wearing off in Europe…”
There was also the looming World Cup in Russia, which the British government were very keen that ordinary Britons should not travel to Russia to watch, as they might meet ordinary Russians and discover that they were just ordinary friendly people who spoke a different language instead of being the evil orcs that the government made them out to be. Warmongers hate fraternisation with the enemy, which is why it was made punishable by death in WWI: it really damages their efforts at demonisation. I was really hoping the England squad would win, as then the government would have been caught between either sending no dignitary to Russia to represent them on the podium and looking mean or eating their words about Russia beforehand and looking hypocritical.
News outlets report :
The head office of Ukraine’s SBU intelligence agency has been hit in a Russian drone attack, sending plumes of black smoke rising into the air in the heart of Kyiv.
Was this Russia? We’ve seen in recent days the infighting going on there, with a shoot-out between Ukraine’s security services. Zelensky didn’t even deny it, calling it despicable. It seems odd that Russia would suddenly break the unwritten agreement they have not to attack such places, and with a single drone that came in very low (potentially easily intercepted). I mean, to put it crudely, they have the capability to level the whole building, were it a high-value target, with half a dozen Iskanders. So why send a single drone?
Another example of the press not asking even the most basic, logical questions to themselves.
Cont.
Doesn’t Ukraine usually report ~98% success rate shooting down drones, and this at night, with hundreds and hundreds of them, along with dozens of other assorted missiles, which they report a lower rate in terms of interception. Yet here, in broad daylight, a Russian drone casually saunters in, to hit possibly the most important building in Ukraine’s war effort.
Something doesn’t add up. The EU, UK , France, Germany , of course, all call it a major escalation, the more obvious: how the fuck did it get through Ukraine’s western-provided, layered AA defences? Doesn’t seem to cross their minds.
It could be part of a plan to attack the Kremlin or FSB, SVR; GRU buildings, as a last resort, in the hope of triggering some Russian response(nuclear) that they hope will see China finally end its relationship with Russia. Crazy? Yes, some of them are.
Or Sheremetevo…
This fight was, most likely, caused by the rivalry of the agencies (SBU and GUR) for the control of call centers and getting their share of ransom. Curiously, the shooter who killed the agent from the rival agency was set free from the court “due to family circumstances”.
Zelensky said the attack was an assassination attempt on Oleksandr Poklad, the head of the SBU.
They admit there is some sort of turf war going on between the SBU and GUR, yet dismiss the idea that had anything to do with it.
Additional info. US ABC reported :
The drone discovered at Germany’s Leipzig/Halle Airport (LEJ) was incapable of blowing up because it had a faulty detonator and a disconnected triggering mechanism.
According to the report, it contained military grade materials.
If Russia found a German drone in similar circumstances, with a disconnected triggering mechanism, the media in the west would dismiss it as a laughable Russian attempted false flag.
If someone goes to the trouble of handling high-explosive, with all the inherent risks of a long jail sentence doing so would carry, are they really going to fail to remember to connect the triggering mechanism? Farcical.
Brian.
Its quite remarkable – that Russia is taking on most – of the most evil pieces of shit on the planet (mercenaries/terrorists) and some Nato assets and troops, and is winning – 10,000 Colombians have made their way to Ukraine and some have been captured by Russian forces during fierce fighting – albeit Russia has had some help from NK – and possibly China.
If the German government is accusing Russia of committing an act of war against Germany, which is what this would be if it were true, why don’t they shut the respective embassies. This is drip drip drip. And for the record, the idiotic word “hybrid” is doing a helluva lot of work in German statements here.
Brian
For me Merz knows that the drone story is nonsense – but its being used to chalk up another “bad mark” against Russia, Germany won’t openly go to war with Russia, well alone it won’t – and especially not when Witkoff and Kushner are in Moscow, interestingly both men have flown to Moscow on NINE occasions – but both haven’t gone to Ukraine – so we know whose calling the shots on that one.
I don’t see Putin coming to a deal with those Trump minions, Winter will soon be upon us – and Russia will take out Ukraine’s energy infrastructure – as the Neo-Nazi dictatorship running the failed state (Ukraine) has no or very few defensive missiles in place.
‘ For me Merz knows that the drone story is nonsense ‘. Of course he does, as do all the other Euro Clowns. Their sole intent is to get, that other clown, Trump, to commit the U.S to full military assault on Russia. Clown though he is, it * appears * even he is not THAT stupid: though he’ll continue to try to weaken Russia and is perfectly content to see the EUK morons attempt to do so – and bankrupt their Economies in the process. A Win/Win scenario for the Yanks
Robert.
I think the EU bigwigs are pushing the Ukraine narrative a bit harder now than Trump is – Europe has never forgiven Russia for liberating it from Nazism, why else would the EU all but destroy its industries and hurt its own citizens in a financial sense for the benefit of Ukraine?
Of course – the US had the NordStream pipelines blown up so – that Europe would need tor rely on more expensive US energy imports – what the Yanks didn’t plan for, was India buying huge quantities of Russian oil, and selling it on at a more expensive price to Europe.
The drone discovered at Germany’s Leipzig/Halle Airport (LEJ) was incapable of blowing up because it had a faulty detonator and a disconnected triggering mechanism.
What are the chances!
If it really WERE Russia. None at all I’d say.
The conscription link is just the Daily Express quoting an author and historian in what looks like a made up story. I didn’t understand the relevance. Is it just that the establishment is preparing us for it via such articles? It seems more that article was written clckbait.
All the media carried the story about how those refusing conscription would face “severe punishment” – that message must have come from somewhere.
The UK media typically act as if controlled by some hive mind. I can't stand Reform, politically, but the idea they are being targeted as Corbyn was, to protect the duopoly, seems accurate. Chris Williamson was similarly filmed surreptitiously, asking merely "where is this antisemitism?" and the BBC and Sky News had him leading the news, as if simply questioning whether there was antisemitism, was a scandal itself.
The Channel 4 Reform ‘sting’ operation was quite sophisticated/ elaborate and timed to coincide with their conference and Farage’s speech, to do maximum harm and steal any chance of positive publicity. Chris Mason, the BBC 's political editor, slipped up this morning by calling it a 'sting' – a term normally used for law enforcement operations. It's strange how Labour and the Tories aren't subjected to such operations.
Labour, had the scandal around McSweeney's ‘Labour Together’ and the undeclared £740,000 for Starmer’s leadership campaign. And Al Jazerra’s The lobby exposed Israel’s offer of money for lobbying activities. The BBC , Sky News et al weren’t however interested in those scandals, very selective, hence the hive mind analogy about what they deem newsworthy.
Most Express readers probably support conscription.
So long as they are happy to volunteer themselves, fair enough, but I expect they are nearly all pensioners anyway. The yoof of today tend not to read legacy media.
Hundreds of men wearing black balaclavas blocked road access to the Port of Dover today, chanting “Stop the Boats”. Most of them seem to have been wearing black hoodies and black trousers too.
See Section 1 of the Public Order Act 1936.
Brian.
Its interesting to note that a Westminster government snuck in 27,000 Afghan traitors and their families to the Atlantic Archipelago aka UK some Afghan traitors had 14 families members, and we wouldn’t have known a single thing about it – but a email was released and it revealed all – my point is that – Westminster governments don’t actually give a toss how many foreigners sneak into the Atlantic Archipelago -UK, but they push the bad boat people narrative – I’ve no idea who organised those all dressed in black thugs to head to Dover, but at the heart of the matter is that Westminster is playing the masses – on the boat people thing – and just to be clear I’m not for unchecked immigration from anywhere, god knows there’s a million+ English settlers moved to Scotland, which has put tremendous pressure on public services such as housing, hospitals, doctors and dentists appointments etc – but I’m well aware as are many Scots that – that is a symptom of colonialism that will need to be dealt with when th eitme is right.
‘I’ve no idea who organised those all dressed in black thugs to head to Dover’
Such planning can hardly have been kept secret from the police. Yet the police have reportedly not made a single arrest despite the breach of law outlined above by Brian Red. This must be the two tier policing I often hear about.
BTW, I thought our right wing elements were strongly opposed to face coverings as being unBritish.
David Warriston
Yes David under certain circumstances face coverings such as balaclava’s should not be allowed – I think it was the security services that first used such face coverings and then the army, in the States they are widely used by the likes of ICE/Proud Boys – and police forces – police officers now resemble military personnel with all their hardware.
The police have posted to Elon Musk’s X service calling the protest “spontaneous”.
There is absolutely no way this protest was spontaneous.
https://news.sky.com/story/police-response-to-dover-protests-set-to-come-under-scrutiny-as-tommy-robinson-associate-appears-to-claim-credit-13582179
The difference is that the majority of the ‘english settlers’ would have contributed to the coffers of the UK regime which in turn contributes to Scottish services, whereas illegal immigrants (ie. criminals) have contributed SFA and just take. If the government don’t like people protesting about illegal immigrants, albeit dressed as the police do, the answer is simple ‘stop the f*cking boats’.
But they wont.
@Stevie – The large majority of immigrants who are in Britain illegally came here lawfully and overstayed. The proportion who come here on undeclared boats is small. It’s quite a large proportion (~40%?) of those who claim asylum, but most illegal immigrants don’t claim asylum. The British authorities including UKVI must know of many fake language schools, fake job offers, etc., and do nothing. Meanwhile those such as Nicholas van Hoogstraten make lots of money.
Actually the number of illegals who come via boats is nearer to ~20%, a relatively small number, the other ~80% are mostly visa overstays. Regardless, it suits the establishment to let these people come in and stay, illegally. A whole underclass that can be used to increase profits for the 1%. The fact that they disrupt the indigenous residents and overload the infrastructure matters not. Profit, old boy, profit.
“Westminster governments don’t actually give a toss how many foreigners sneak into the Atlantic Archipelago -UK, but they push the bad boat people narrative”
As far as the government is concerned, immigration is the gift that keeps on giving. Not only does it fill the hole in the labour force caused by the lower-than-replacement birth rate over the past few decades, but it gives the government a scapegoat to deflect the people away from the actual cause of Britain’s woe, i.e. them and their sponsors.
@Bayard – Agreed, and there is also the point that it pushes down wages (e.g. in construction) and keeps up the supply of workers to do low-paid hospitality, delivery, and other kinds of work especially in London. (Very few restaurant workers in that city can afford to pay either rent or loan repayments on reasonable-standard fairly secure two-bedroom flats, let’s say, within reasonable reach of where they work, for example.)
What is needed is strong trade unions that bring native workers and immigrant workers together, in both of their interests.
What is needed is proper jobs, not the crap exploitation that passes for work nowadays. Crap jobs, no security, birth rates fall. It’s all interlinked.
SB: I agree with you there. The rich (mostly) white guys in charge have succeeded in making life for the ordinary person so difficult and miserable, people cannot afford children even if they want to bring them into a world like this.
So what happens then? White Christian nationalists can scream all they want about the need for more white babies. It’s not “The Great Replacement” that is screwing over their master-race plans, it’s their own greed and policies.
“What is needed is strong trade unions that bring native workers and immigrant workers together, in both of their interests.”
Unfortunately, as history shows, trades unionists are no more immune to the corrupting effects of power than anyone else. The best guarantee of workers’ rights is full employment, something that TPTB are determined shouldn’t happen again any time soon.
knows there’s a million+ English settlers moved to Scotland, which has put tremendous pressure on public services such as housing, hospitals, doctors and dentists
Better chuck them out then, Scotland for the Scottish! Although I wonder how many of them are doctors, dentists, teachers etc
We could always swap them for the 800,000 Scots living in England I suppose.
If the comparison is between the number of England-born people living in Scotland and the number of Scotland-born people living in England, I think there are many more Scots living in England than there are English people living in Scotland. But I will stand corrected if mistaken.
“Most of them seem to have been wearing black hoodies and black trousers too.”
Were any of them wearing black shirts?
Probably a mix of Special Branch, SAS ans 77th Brigade agent provocateurs.
Surprised the outfits don’t breach the 1936 ban on political uniforms.
Things have come to a pretty pass if the government can’t even summon up an extreme right wing rent-a-mob and have to get their own boys to do it.
OTOH, they could have outsourced it to Group4 or someone like that.
Maybe they’re all Specials from Golders Green !
Bayard:
I’m catching up with this news. My first thought was that aren’t these masked insurgents the same people who protest against women wearing hijabs and burqas ?
They were imitating what happened in France around 2018-19. In France they were called Black Blocks, and were supposed to be hard Left. I saw them once in Paris, a column of black clad figures, running down the street, very frightening. No evidence of course was provided that they were Left and not hard Right. The only person I saw interviewed was a professional boxer, hardly left-wing material. Movement vanished after a year or so.
Ukraine did not close Russian universities or schools. There was a gradual transition towards more instruction in Ukrainian. Also, the vast majority of incidents of banning of political parties occurred as a response to the 2022 invasion. It was a war time measure designed to repress pro Russian sentiment. You seem to have a lot of contempt for international law. If concessions are made to Russia it will prove that might is right and international law is dead, and you will have helped kill it! It astounds me how you can be right about so many things, including Israel and Palestine, but are unable to see this. Russia is in chaos at the moment. Its airports are down, there are fuel shortages and the economy is teetering. All that has to happen is for Russia to withdraw to within its legal borders, and all this would end immediately. The ball is in Russia’s court.
Rubbish !
There were 14,000 killed in the east of Ukraine following the coup d’etat of 2014 and before 2022, according to UN figures. The Russians in that area have not the slightest interest in returning to the situation that applied up until 2022 since it would not bring about the peace you believe.
Your comments about chaos at airports and fuel shortages are certainly misguided judging by my experience last week on return to Moscow. There is no visible evidence of an economy teetering on the brink and certainly no empty shelves to be seen in supermarkets. I think you have mistaken Kiev for Moscow.
Don’t try to confuse him with facts, his mind is made up.
Of those 14,000 4,400 were Ukrainian security forces, 6,500 pro-Russian and Russian fighters the rest civilians; again UN numbers.
Returning to 2022 might not bring about peace then neither would the abject surrender advocated by defeatists.
Moscow has priority for fuel naturally enough, Russia still having to import fuel from India and North Africa.
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2026/08/19/moscow-gas-stations-reimpose-fuel-limits-as-second-wave-of-shortages-hits-russia-a93531
You do realise that “The Moscow Times “is an Amsterdam-based independent English-language and Russian-language online newspaper.” to quote Wikipedia, and also a propaganda rag, because, if you don’t, most of us on here do.
I think I believe David Warriston, who actually lives in Russia and has no reason to lie, unlike a “newspaper” for who that is its raison d’etre.
My own experience is that a drone was shot down three years ago a couple of miles from my flat in East Moscow. It made a helluva bang like someone bursting a crisp bag near your ear. Since then….nothing.
So if Zelinsky wants to bring the war ‘home’ he has failed utterly, as a gameshow host like Trump was fated to do. When he is driven from Kiev then the reaity will be apparent to all concerned. Until then. expect more of the same as we see in Hormuz.
Fully aware of the background of the Moscow Times but you wouldn’t expect any pro-Russian commentators to mention it.
Oh wait.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1_-I3bZKG8
This is not the problem. The problem is not that Russia’s oil companies can’t make enough gasoline for the internal market; the problem is in the stupid Russian taxations on gasoline sales inside the country, so the Russian oil companies prefer to export gasoline rather than sell it in Russia. Once this is fixed, there won’t be any need for imports.
“https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1_-I3bZKG8”
A nutcase with a Russian name said it on YouTube, so it must be true!
“The problem is not that Russia’s oil companies can’t make enough gasoline for the internal market; the problem is in the stupid Russian taxations on gasoline sales inside the country, so the Russian oil companies prefer to export gasoline rather than sell it in Russia.”
Every European country has this “stupid tax”, yet it doesn’t result in all the fuel being exported. Much more likely to be a problem with distribution and panic buying caused by temporary shortages, which, again, no country in Europe is immune from. Indeed, as the “sugar shortage” in the UK in the 70s showed, it only takes the rumour of an impending shortage to create one in reality.
Bayard: There are 2 kinds of taxes in this world, my friend: one is paid by the buyer, and one is paid by the seller.
“Bayard: There are 2 kinds of taxes in this world, my friend: one is paid by the buyer, and one is paid by the seller.”
Nope, all tax is paid by the seller. The price that the buyer is prepared to pay includes the tax. The buyer doesn’t care if the price is 95% product and 5% tax, whether it is 50% product and 50% tax, or whether, as it is in the UK with spirits, 20% product and 80% tax. The price is the price. No-one buys something that is more expensive than the equivalent, but where the price includes less tax. If the tax is removed, the entirety of that price goes to the seller. Therefore the seller pays the tax, always.
Bayard: ever heard of excise taxes?
“Bayard: ever heard of excise taxes?”
Yup, the tax on spirits in the UK is one of those. Even the government acknowledges that the tax is part of the cost of sales paid by the seller, as it charges VAT on the duty, i.e. it considers the duty value added by the seller.
Pro-Russian? Do you mean Ukrainian loyalists?
I think you must mean Ukrainian administered universities or schools that used Russian as a medium for teaching around which at Maidan there were probably 1,000 or so schools and 50 – 60 higher education establishments. Post Maidan resulted in a tightening of the Laws to make Ukrainian the sole language for instruction and in the general conduct of day to day affairs throughout the country except in the DPR and the LPR where it was unenforceable.
All Ukrainisation of course being conducted in the interests of creating an open democratic human rights based society as long as you did not speak Russian, read Pushkin and the Russian classics. It mattered not that such as Mikhail Bulgakov who wrote the Master and Margarita which Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov once said was the book that inspired him most at school was born, bred and lived in Kiev.
Of course you can’t make changes like that happen overnight but doctrinisation into thinking Ukraine in all things is clearly the objective. With the banning of parties communists and Crimean and Donbass separatist parties were already banned before 2022 when Zelenski banned nearly 20 parties deemed as security risks showing just how much insecure his regime is, in other words Ukrainisation = Totalitarianism.
The last bit of the post about the Russian economy is plainly untrue. Actually if you compare Ukraine and Russian economies post Maidan Russia has outperformed Ukraine in every respect despite all the western subsiding of Ukraine on one hand and sanctions against Russia on the other. Russia incidentally outperforms Ukraine educationally too.
As for international law breaking well Russian sanctions have no basis in international law, nor the freezing of another country’s money or the many acts of piracy against Russia’s so – called “shadow fleet”. No need to mention Trump and Netanyahu’s international law breaking which the hypocritical EU and UK allow to go totally unpunished. No standing up to them like there “has to be” to Russia.
I asked AI to explain the supposed Russia drones. In leipzig and in summary the answer was that there was an attack with drone on a Ukrainian aeroplane in the airport and that this was what was proven but that no evidence was provided for Russian involvement. When asked further as to what the evidence that an attack took place, the answer was that it was because officials stated that it happened and that the BBC had shown footage of a robot sent to detonate the drone. When asked if there was any evidence of the existence of a drone, available in the public domain the answer was that there was none. When asked about whether this was possible propaganda, the answer was that this is not possible to tell but agreed that I was right to question whether the episode occurred as there was none direct proof of the incident itself.
Thanks for this excellent article Craig.
I genuinely keep an open mind on these matters but as soon as Pears,
John Main and JK Redux appear,like clockwork,to so obviously parrot the ridiculous Govt nonsense then i immediately know you are spot on.
This official narrative is as ridiculous as what theyre trying to gaslight us with in the Charlie Kirk utter guff.
Thank you again
Someone has to at least try to set the record straight.
Laughable how you deceive yourself Pears,utterly laughable.Yet sad too really.Smh
JM, as they used to say in the RAF, when you are taking flak, you know you are over the target.
Indeed, Jm. Clockwork cuckoos all. 99.9% MSM narrative-compliance/promotion is not enough for these online drones. Any/all resistance to that narrative has to be eliminated, or at least, disrupted
Jm
September 5, 2026 at 20:17
Thanks for the name check, Jm.
Yes you have seen through our attempts to hide our joint enterprise.
PM, JM and I share a small office in NATO HQ in Brussels.
Sad to say, there isn’t really room for us all (there are a few more) so we take turns using the Belgian Pentium 1 PC while the off duty agents sip coffee and munch pastries in our local, the Café Rutte.
Mark my words (see what I did there?), no better way to spend off time than playing Call of Duty with fellow neoNazis – and after 3pm we switch from coffee to excellent Belgian beer.
Magnifique…
Feeling better now?
It really is strange.
I am no doctor or laboratory employee, yet I check my state of health regularly.
I mean I’ve been busy with sports and diet this year and I go through my annual checkup right now.
Even with the simplest common ‘glucose in blood’ test they do put reference intervals, like the lowest and the highest norm in healthy people.
The ‘without quantification’ report is really strange. Actually, it tells nothing.
Normally, reports say like :
Ethanol (alcohol)
– method: Gas chromatography
– result: (GC) 0.00 ‰ (per mille)
Thanks, Tatyana. Good to see you back. All blood tests I undergo in Germany provide the patient and his/her GP with measured results in specified units along with the normal range for healthy people. I find it hard to believe that the NHS in Salisbury did otherwise with Ms Sturgess’ tests.
It is the same in France. I have 3 monthly diabetes checkups and all results are shown against reference levels and against the last tests
Reading this is depressing : https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/sep/05/europe-unable-sustain-war-of-attrition-russia-defence-officials-say
Clearly, senior diplomats, senior NATO people need to get out of their echo chambers. They credit Russia with influencing European public opinion in ways Moscow could only dream of. And they reach that conclusion based on little more than hunches, as they seek to explain away their own unpopularity. The rise of the AfD in Germany, Front National in France and their far-right equivalents in Italy and Poland plus Reform here in UK, has been long in the making. It isn’t the result of some ‘secret social media sauce’ the Kremlin is deploying. In fact, AfD supporting Elon Musk’s algorithms have helped promote the European right, far more than anything the Russians could hope to do. But the main cause, is because most Europeans really dislike open borders and the way immigration policies, over the last 30-40 years have visibly changed the demographics where they live. And of course, more recently, they don’t fancy being dragged into WW3 over who controls the Russian-speaking Donbas.
I don’t support the right, but I think I understand their appeal.
” But the main cause, is because most Europeans really dislike open borders and the way immigration policies, over the last 30-40 years have visibly changed the demographics where they live.”. This is the * inconvenient * truth too many are still sticking their fingers in their ears and screaming ” FAR RIGHT! FAR RIGHT! ” ” RACISM! RACISM! RACISM! ” about: anything but acknowledge there * might * be problems associated with the influx of – in Europe overall – millions of predominately young men from cultures radically different from the countries experiencing these influxes.
Who’d have thought it, eh?……what could possibly go wrong with vast numbers of – overwhelmingly – young men, whose history, character, intentions, even real nationality are all unknown, being allowed to enter countries and being located in the poorest parts of those countries and under Neoliberal Political systems that have already caused great strains on existing Welfare Services/Housing/Hospital & GP Surgeries and where Employment is already under attack, not least by increasing AI replacement – something which is guaranteed to increase massively in the near future. Who could have predicted problems arising from that/this situation?
Well, just maybe, some of the people who have been warning for years that this was an issue that had potentially explosive consequences and would almost certainly lead to the increasing * success */ popularity of, yip, you guessed it…..Far Right parties and groups. The Left shout about the Right whilst the latter benefits from the policies and mindset of the former. Geniuses all.
Why, you could almost be forgiven for thinking there is some kind of ‘ Intelligent Design ‘ behind all this, eg the Problem-Reaction-Solution triad
Can’t say it’s made any difference to Hull. Migration is the best thing that has happened to Britain since the Japanese surrender.
‘Open borders’ is an unnatural mindset that actually goes against human nature, IMO. People have always been tribal, from family groups right up to national groups. This is still very visible nowadays, for example, with rural country communities, travellers, racial ghettos and ex-pat groups. Although ‘foreigners’ may be welcomed within the tribal groups they usually have to ‘prove’ themselves in some manner, such as, work, marriage or money. Borders represent visible horizons that identify where is safe and where be dragons. Open borders destroys this natural mindset and causes confusion, resentment and introversion leading naturally to what we see with Trump, Reform and maybe even Israel.
Give people back their borders, but manage them so that safety and security can be maintained.
IMO.
” philosophically ” it would be ‘ nice ‘ if it was otherwise, but I think what you say is undeniable, Stevie. Not to say people from different/neighbouring countries/cultures can’t get on and co-exist peacefully, or at least without wanting to kill each other. I just think there is more chance of that when there are definite borders – and limits!
The very idea of Nation States has been under attack for decades now – yet stubbornly refuses to succumb to this attack, eg from Globalists/Globalism; whose mortal enemy/target is Nationalism and – paradoxically – the reason why Nationalism seems to be on the rise. A situation which could be understood as a * natural * reaction to the * successes * of Globalism; being, as it ( Nationalism ) is the last remaining bulwark against the ongoing erasure of borders & distinct national identities.
If you don’t know who you are, someone else will impose their definition on you. This applies to entire nations as well as individuals
National identity is all about the state…
The idea of the nation state is no more than a couple of hundred years old, and less than that in places like Ukraine.
I’ve always been opposed to national identity and when I was a young teenager I carried a banner calling it the opium of the people.
Nowadays, when most people are phone-carrying zombies, why do some who are not zombies but who can converse with reasonable intelligence feel some kind of special fellow feeling (“identity”) with those who were born in the same country that they were, or who share an ethnicity with them, or both, even despite the fact that most of those said others are zombies? Whyyy?
Why not feel fellow feeling with non-zombies worldwide instead?
” National identity is all about the state…”. No, it’s not, Brian. If it was why would there have been, eg wars/struggles against invading colonial powers; inter-tribal and inter-national conflicts if people didn’t feel a deep commonality with others of their kind and location? Such wars/struggles/conflicts in defence of particular identities have been going on for 1000s of years, long, long before notions of Nation States.
Obviously there have always been other motives for wars etc, eg for resources, territory and just plain desire to dominate others. But why do you think countries like India, Vietnam, African countries among many others unified under their respective sense of national identity to get rid of their colonial oppressors. If they didn’t have that sense, I doubt very much they would have succeeded in reclaiming their countries
Not saying there are not problems associated with, eg people adhering to a sense of national identity, or, indeed, Nationalism per se; but there’s no point trying to pretend they don’t.
From my POV, as well as being – as I said earlier….a defence against the homogenising effect/intent of Globalism, I like and value the plurality of distinct cultural differences; even though I also believe we are all, in essence, ONE.
E pluribus unum, n’aw that 🙂
You may not like to identify with a nation state, fair enough, however, you’ll find most people will identify you with a nation state. And, like it or not TPTB place us all in a nation box from the day we’re born.
Your dislike of ‘phone-carrying zombies’ is a bit elitist, don’t you think ? After all they’re only people, albeit possibly misguided. You illustrate my point that people are tribal, as you appear to want to be in a group of non-zombies whilst opposing groups of zombies.
Apparently, we’re all individuals, but we’re defined by our nationality, that’s the way people work.
Brian
This may have slipped under the radar – Iran struck the US base in Jordan Camp Titin Aqaba, it had no air defences and many US troops were either killed or injured – the US had mustered a force to put boots on the ground on one of Iran’s islands – a USN warship was also struck in the process – it was carrying US troops towards the Strait of Hormuz
@Robert – ” ” National identity is all about the state…”. No, it’s not, Brian. If it was why would there have been, eg wars/struggles against invading colonial powers; inter-tribal and inter-national conflicts if people didn’t feel a deep commonality with others of their kind and location? Such wars/struggles/conflicts in defence of particular identities have been going on for 1000s of years, long, long before notions of Nation States.”
After you say it’s not about the state, you offer no proper support for that claim.
Look at the history of say the French, German, Italian, Brazilian, or USA national identities. Of course there were wars against colonial powers, just as in many places there was also widespread collaboration. And sure, there was tribal warfare long before there was a notion of the nation state – but so what?
In most places, most people wouldn’t have had much of a clue what “country” they were supposed to have an identity with until the ruling scum jacked up this thing called the “state” – which supposedly gave them responsibilities and in some cases even rights – and told them using ever more advanced communications networks under their control (newspapers, schools, the army, etc.)
I think I gave my reasons why I don’t agree with your assertion that ‘ national identity is all about the state ‘, Brian. Not sure what more I could say about that.
” in most places, most people wouldn’t have had much of a clue what “country” they were supposed to have an identity with until the ruling scum jacked up this thing called the “state”.
Think you better tell that to the descendants of, off the top of my head…… Assyria, Persia/Iran, Judea, Egypt etc. Why did such things as borders arise, and the naming of the area defined by those borders: and the corollary, ie people identifying themselves as/with the name of those countries?
Of course borders can change or are devised – often by colonial imposition, eg in the M.E and Africa, and often along fairly arbitrary, notional, even, lines.
TBH I’m not too hung-up about the idea of the, let’s say…..’ solidity ‘ of Nation States: it’s not something I give much time or thought to. I suppose, when I think about it, I’m more interested in the preservation of distinct national/cultural identities – as I said, because they add to the variety and interest of/in our species. I believe such variety has value.
Just like every language has value and is a distinct way of perceiving/understanding our world
@Stevie – It’s not elitist. I don’t like things being this way at all. I’m still for a world human community where the free development of every individual is the condition for the free development of us all. It’s vanguardist though – very vanguardist. I used to be anti-vanguardist but things changed. Nothing will be gained by trying to win over “the masses” at this point.
Hands up, everyone who wants to be in the same community (or species) as someone like university professor Daniel Susskind, promoter of Hay-Eye, of Oxford University, King’s College London, and Gresham College, who seems to be in the running for this year’s Nick Bostrom Plonker Prize. He is so out of touch with real humanity worthy of the name that he boasts about using Hay-Eye to respond to his five-year-old child’s “bedtime-delaying tactic of asking vast questions” (as if such a person is going to have a view on Hay-Eye that is worthy of respect):
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/sep/06/daniel-susskind-father-studies-ai-artificial-intelligence-what-parents-need-know
Should those who oppose zombiedom but who share a nationality or ethnicity with this man view themselves as part of the same meaningful collectivity as him???
I much prefer dogs.
“The idea of the nation state is no more than a couple of hundred years old, and less than that in places like Ukraine.”
So nobody thought of themselves as “English” or “Scottish” or “French” or belonging to a country called “England,” “Scotland” or “France” until the 1820’s? Yeah, right.
All borders were open until the late C19th – early C20th, cf. the Aliens Act 1905.
Regards the drone, it was definitely Russia wot dunnit. It was a semi-military action you see. And Britain’s next!
PS I just did a quick search prior to posting to see how it’s spelt (I assumed it was with a hyphen, but it turns out it can be spelt as one word as well), and in the process spotted an MSN article with a blood-curdling headline (I don’t think you can spell that as one word, just for your information), and so I clicked on it to check it out. And the moment it comes up you can see it’s a Daily Express article (and I’m using the word ‘article’ very loosely of course). So here it is – the headline – in all its glory:
Kremlin insider issues blood-curdling threat of ‘semi-military’ attack against Britain
Yes, I was watching Newsnight (one word) that night, and I have to say it made my blood curdle when the Russian chap said that, and it’s barely stopped curdling since. Anyway, here are a couple of passages from near the end of the article:
The threat came after the UK agreed to share long-range missile blueprints with Kyiv amid Russia’s brutal ongoing invasion….
But the move has sparked fury from Russia, with President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying it would add “fuel to the fire” of the conflict.
Hitting back during his visit to Kyiv, Mr Burnham said: “Who started the fire? That’s the question, isn’t it?”
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/other/kremlin-insider-issues-blood-curdling-threat-of-semi-military-attack-against-britain/ar-AA2aSob5
How terribly amusing… yes, that was Burn-em’s little joke/wind-up!
Dawn herself wasn’t said to have found it. Charlie Rowley said that he found the package and later gave it to Dawn. The bottle recovered from his flat was unquestionably real physical evidence and testing established that it contained Novichok.
In addition to being simpering softies, are we also collectively as thick as pig shit ?
At least this how we are perceived by ‘our masters’ and so therefore we must believe in the official story.
The Skripal episode seemed to follow a script written by school children on a work experience in some department of our ‘intelligence’ services. Indeed it was the cause of many of us finding this very website. Novichok made a reappearance in the Navalny case. The deadly nerve agent was either in his drink or his underpants. Having been allowed out for treatment in Germany, and presumably following the encouragement of his handlers, he voluntarily returned to Russia to face trial again. Russian prisons are famous for their warmth and caring hospitality.
Sergei Magnitsky, erstwhile accountant of the avuncular Sir William, didn’t fare too well either.
Meanwhile over in Ukraine, the background events and subsequent development.
Maidan Square, Vicki “Fuck the Eu” and her bag of biscuits, MH 17, Torchlight parades, Civil war, Minsk 1 & 2, Istanbul, dead negotiators, Fatty Johnson ( don’t you dare back out now ), Millions of Blue and yellow flags available to buy on 24th Feb. 2022, Ghost of Kiev ( his vintage flying helmet gifted to the fawning Lindsay Hoyle ), etc. etc. This part of the script was supposed to be written by professionals. They even employed that expert team at ‘Bellendcat’, Luke Harding would write in the Guardian, De Breton Gordon penned stirring articles of derring do in the Telegraph and so on. I’m sure some of the SiS and CIA old hands in GCHQ were crying in desperation at this amateur display. The screen writers appear to be struggling with the final act. Those nasty Ruskies refused to play the new ‘great game’ according to our rules based order. Now the dangerous time of possible false flags and consequences is upon us.
Another cracker. Several bullseyes hit with admirable precision – and wit, eg ‘ Bellendcat ‘ HA! Are they a bit like the Integshitty Inshitiative?
“The Skripal episode seemed to follow a script written by school children on a work experience in some department of our ‘intelligence’ services.”
To be fair to the intelligence services, they had to try and concoct stories to back up whatever nonsensical pronouncement Boris “Shopping Trolley” Johnson had decided to come out with that day. What was evidently supposed to be a low-key operation against a former Russian spy for Britain who had gone somewhat off-piste was blown up into a farce by Boris’s deciding to use it as anti-Russian propaganda, no doubt to the horror of the intelligence services. The whole official narrative is quite obviously the product of liars having to tell more lies to cover up the inconsistencies in the original lies, the most glaring pointer to the total falsehood of the complete mendacious edifice being the suppression and presumed destruction of all the CCTV evidence. That single fact shows that we are not being told the truth.
…’ written by schoolchildren…’ – perhaps they wrote in the coincidental C.Rowley and Dawn; Aleister Crowley being a member of the Golden Dawn as well as working British Intelligence.
Crowley owned a residence in Scotland overlooking Loch Ness, which he used to row across to go mountaineering on the other side, but as far as I’m aware he never apologised for saying he wanted to be entombed above the gate of his alma mater, where John Dee had been a fellow, yes, Trinity College in Cambridge, England. To be fair, he did get banned from Trinity, from which of course a famous dismissee was Bertrand Russell. Also Crowley did a lot of drugs. And rumour has it he gave Churchill the “V” symbol. This may all be a bit of a red herring though.
Aye, Boleskine House, which lay derelict for years – after Jimmy Page bought and subsequently abandoned it; don’t think Jimmy ever spent much time there. It has fairly recently been bought and – SURPRISE! – turned into an Air B & B gaff. Mr * Evil * must be turning in his crypt.
It is in a beautiful spot, for sure. I used to pass it when I was working over that side of Loch Ness – I live on the other side, the more touristy side.
Aye, ol’ Ali – once dubbed by the English Press ” The Most Evil Man In The World ” – lol; presumably because he let Tory Party Membership slide 😉 and was indeed something of polymorphously – perverse character – or maybe in his case we could call him a polymorphine perverse character; think he used a virtual pharmacopia in his hedonistic and ‘ Magick ‘ pursuits. He also left a fair amount of human casualties in his wake, though never seemed to suffer much legal or personal pain himself. Though he was kind out hounded out of Polite Society – probably much to his relief
“To be fair to the intelligence services”, really ?. Is the tail wagging the dog or the dog wagging the tail ?. Skripal had MI6/Ukraine written all over it, it was never going to be a low key event, sure Bozo is a loose cannon but his handlers pointed him in the required direction, ie. Russia.
“it was never going to be a low key event, ”
It was a low key, in-the-local-news-only event until Boris opened his big mouth. I remember it happening.
“The Skripal episode seemed to follow a script written by school children on a work experience in some department of our ‘intelligence’ services”
Yes, in most respects an even more amateurish effort from the people who brought you the absolutely ludicrous “Weapons of mass destruction” and “45 minutes from Armageddon” a quarter of a century ago. They’ve had all that time to sharpen up their act as well.
As you say, they either never learn from their mistakes or have total contempt for the deductive powers of their intended audience.
The intended audience was the BBC, Daily Mail brigade. As such, the message landed on target.
@ Robert. Thanks, I’ll try to find time to write another.
@ Bayard. somewhere I have a picture taken from the then FO website, Outside some lifts, Johnson, Netanyahu and one other with an undersized head and a collar overlapping badly. Again the work of children, learning to use Photoshop.
@ Ewan2. Don’t know much about Crowley, except that he was a fucking weirdo, but I’ll certainly look that one up.
His brand of weirdness is called Crowleyanity, a big influence on the 1960s ‘counter-culture’ which was run by Intelligence agencies. He is featured on the Beatles: Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Intelligence agencies and their methods are, by their nature, occult – so perhaps it a signal that it is a staged fake, maybe.
Apparently Iran fired several missiles at US aircraft carrier The George Washington – the US is claiming they didn’t hit carrier or its group.
” Iran has DIRECTLY STRUCK SIX SHIPS with ANTI-SHIP MISSILES in the Strait of Hormuz and surrounding waters — its LARGEST-EVER ATTACK in the strategic waterway, according to the IRGC.
The attack came in response to this morning’s U.S. strike on THREE Iranian oil tankers.”
One tanker was sunk.
https://www.rt.com/news/645171-us-iran-tanker-strikes/
Under the rules of war (?) Iran is allowed to strike the military targets of its attackers, ie. warships. But striking civilian targets, ie. Tankers, is a war crime. Not that USrael cares.
Stevie Boy.
The rules of international order, (created mainly by the West, so they’re not that international) are breaking down, Trump is pushing might is right, whilst undermining the UN and the ICC – apparently the USA cut its aid to the UN by around $2 billion dollars.
“The United States will give approximately $850 million to the UN in 2026. This amount is part of the regular budget contributions, and the US still owes about $5 billion in unpaid dues to the UN”
Iran needs to plot pre-emptive strikes – and not wait for the likes of Israel or the US to strike first.
As US reps Witkoff and Kushner, meet with Zelensky – (they met with Putin yesterday) – the below has come to light.
“USAID paid Time magazine $4 million to name Zelensky “Person of the Year””
The Tories keep repeating, ‘slash welfare’ to pay for Trump’s demanded defence spending increases.
Check out this : https://x.com/Helen_Whately/status/2096158413772181859 from the shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Helen Whately(the ‘hate’ in her name seems apt) She’s comically wrong in her assertion that people are getting “free cars” for ADHD. I doubt she reads the ‘reply’ posts, but if she did, she may learn something about her brief. Many MPs really are clueless and worse causing anxiety by stigmatising the disabled. They really deserve no respect whatsoever..
One poster @martyuk26, explains, at length, why she is wrong and basically spreading misinformation about the disabled :
“Free cars for ADHD.” Six words designed to make you angry. Every one of them misleading.
It’s not free. Motability is a LEASE. The disabled person surrenders their ENTIRE Enhanced Rate PIP Mobility Component £80 per week, £4,160 per year to Motability Operations.
That money pays for the car, insurance, maintenance, breakdown cover, and tyres. They don’t get a car AND the money. They get a car INSTEAD of the money.
It’s not just for ADHD. You qualify ONLY with Enhanced Rate PIP Mobility meaning you scored 12 points on Activity 12, which requires you to be unable to stand or move more than 20 metres without assistance.
An ADHD diagnosis alone doesn’t qualify you. You need to demonstrate you physically cannot move safely without a vehicle.
It’s not a “car.” Many recipients lease powered wheelchairs or scooters through the same scheme. The person who “gets a free car” might actually be getting the wheelchair they need to leave their house.
The actual eligibility:
Cannot stand or move more than 1 metre without assistance 12 points.
Cannot stand or move more than 20 metres 12 points.
Standard rate PIP doesn’t qualify.
Daily living component only doesn’t qualify.
ADHD alone doesn’t qualify.
You’re the Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary. This is literally YOUR brief. You know exactly how Motability works.
You know it’s not free. You know the claimant surrenders their entire mobility payment. You chose the framing anyway.
Because ‘disabled person trades £4,160 a year for the only way they can leave the house’ doesn’t get the same reaction as ‘free cars for ADHD
A disabled person surrenders £4,160 a year of their own benefit to lease a vehicle they need to leave the house.
That’s not a “free car.” That’s someone trading their mobility payment for actual mobility.
http://builduk.club
disability charter. Factual. Published. Not designed to make you angry about people who can’t walk.
More on Whately here :
The MP who’s ‘claiming £39k-a-year’ for London rent despite her home only being 50 miles from Westminster
The Conservative MP is claiming £3,250 rent expenses a month.
https://www.mylondon.news/news/uk-world-news/mp-whos-claiming-39k-year-20364282
Wiki says she attended Woldingham School, a private girls school, which currently costs £54,756 per year. Talk about being born with the silver spoon in one’s mouth.
“You’re the Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary. This is literally YOUR brief. You know exactly how Motability works.”
Most of the fuckwits in government have no qualifications for the roles they are assigned to. What’s more they don’t do research or reading they have SPADS for that. They literally stand up and spout what ever sh*t they are told to spout. Competence is not required and may actually be an impediment.
It’s a gravy train, they don’t care what carriage they are in, as long as they are onboard.
“It’s a gravy train, they don’t care what carriage they are in, as long as they are onboard.”
Oh, I don’t know, I reckon most
second class, sorry, standard class Gravy Train passengers would very much like to move up to first class and put in a lot of effort to get the promotion.Majority Russian-speaking city in Ukraine considers language ban in the arts
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c33kzvgn8pyo
…
The proposal in Odesa, which is targeted daily by Russian drone and missile strikes, calls for a complete halt to Russian-language content in music and literature, in streets, parks, public institutions and state-run arts and entertainment venues. It would also recommend a ban in privately owned spaces.
…
Russian President Vladimir Putin has often referred to what he *falsely* describes as repression of the Russian-speaking minority in Ukraine as one of his justifications for launching his invasion of the country.
…
This is a strange use of “falsely” given the preceding context.
It may be a new BBC policy, no matter how arguable the case may be. It is undeniable that Russian speakers have been persecuted since at least 2014.
It is well that the comedian Borys Barsky dissents from the official ban. The UK didn’t ban German during WW2, though it would have been looked on with suspicion.
Still, Ukraine is at war, so I won’t judge the city of Odesa too harshly, if they don’t listen to people like Barsky.
As for peace – why not? Very good idea. Let the Russians get out of Ukraine (including Crimea) that they senselessly invaded, and peace shall be theirs!
Слава Україні!
“Still, Ukraine is at war, so I won’t judge the city of Odesa too harshly”
M.J
On the above – I suppose you even agree with the Neo-Nazi’s in Odessa locking up Russians – and setting the building on fire killing many of them.
Peace will only come about when Putin finishes what he started in Ukraine – вперёд, Россия (Go Russia).
The separatists in the Trades Union building were dropping petrol bombs on the people outside, it was one of these that started the fire on one of the upper floors.
If the residents of Odesa really are pro-Russian a bit unfriendly to keep bombing them isn’t it?
Putin can’t finish the war in Ukraine, even if he occupies the whole country he’ll be facing years of partisan warfare.
“The separatists in the Trades Union building were dropping petrol bombs on the people outside, it was one of these that started the fire on one of the upper floors.”
I know this is what you want to have happened, but do you have any evidence for that assertion, like a video, or is this more babies thrown out of incubators? After all, those nice, cuddly Ukrainians wouldn’t have done anything like locking people in a building and setting fire to it, would they?
Partisan warfare is nothing new for Ukraine. It took the USSR around 7 years to flush out the fascist elements after 1945, helped by the fact the USA then focused on Korea. Bandera was eventually hunted down in Munich in 1959.
“The separatists in the Trades Union building were dropping petrol bombs on the people outside, it was one of these that started the fire on one of the upper floors.”
Pears Morgaine.
They say god loves a trier – and you can be very trying at times.
https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/ukrainian-rightists-burn-alive-39-at-odessa-union-building/#:~:text=Some%201%2C000%20Ukrainian%20rightists%2C%20led%20by%20the%20notorious,Friday%2C%20killing%2039%20pro-Russia%20demonstrators%20in%20the%20building.
RoS, that can’t be true, it’s not on the BBC or in The Telegraph or the Moscow Times, that fount of truth about all things in Russia and nearby.
Nicola Sturgeon flew out of the gate on the Skripal psyop, demanding Russian diplomats be expelled and condemning Alex Salmond for recommending elementary caution before attributing blame. (Sturge said she was ‘disappointed but not surprised’).
She is now starring in a Sky TV reality docudrama called The Wargame. The series simulates a fictional national crisis following a Russian attack on UK soil.
Michael Gove acts as the Prime Minister, and Nicola serves as his Deputy Prime Minister. (Harriet Harman is Home Secretary, Jim Murphy is Foreign Secretary and former intelligence chief Christopher Steele stars as himself).
The Sturge circle appears to be complete. She poses with her co-stars today on the front cover of the Times magazine dressed in comedy Scottish minstrel attire. A photographic image as humiliating to that great and ancient Celtic nation as any in its long history.
https://x.com/JohnWight1/status/2096550706425549024
Zoot.
What do you expect from a treacherous b*stard such as Sturgeon – as for Gove – he another treacherous b*stard Kate Forbes – worked hand in hand to force Freeports on Scotland.
I said a while back that Sturgeon’s utility to the Brit State has yet to be exhausted; lo, there she is now – dressed like a fckn tartan bedecked doll y’d find in one of the Jock Kitsch shops that plague every Scottish city; only thing missing from her motley is necklace made of haggis – and participating fully in this propaganda exercise.
This latest display of emetic Sturgeon compliance is a reflection of how she has been able to slide through shit that would have ended most political careers and seen the subject face criminal charges; I’m referring here to her central role in the conspiracy to politically assassinate Alex Salmond, in particular.
Instead, she has not suffered so much as the mildest censure.
And for those holding out hope that the ( allegedly ) imminent Civil Action against ScotGov – for the despicable cruelty they inflicted on Alex, a man who done nothing but his best for his country, and was actually the one who put his future would-be assassins in the political posts they reached, will result in that the wretch Sturgeon, finally, being made to account for her actions are IMO likely to be disappointed.
I’ll be surprised if it gets to court, and if it does, if it produces the result his family, friends and 1000s of supporters, myself included, long for.
She is too valuable a State Asset.
The only way the case will be found against her, resulting in criminal charges, is if the State is inclined to use her humiliation as a weapon against the Independence Movement. They’ve already neutralised the SNP.
That she’s joined in this bit of theatre/propaganda by slithering cocaine- aficionado Gove and paedophilia-condoner Harman says it all. They’ve really dredged the sewer to come up with this line-up.
Robert.
I’ll be surprised if Sturgeon is found guilty of anything in Scotland, the COPFS is corrupt and the new LA Ruth Charteris, is just a like for like replacement – and every judge in Scotland – has to swear an oath of allegiance to the foreign monarch in England, as you rightly say she’s a English asset.
Yip, for sure, RoS. The state of Scotland after almost 20 years of SNP governance is nothing short of fckn dreadful – particularly , as you say, COPFS and the legal system generally; as well as the Police and, of course, the truly abysmal Political Class/Culture. Granted, the most egregious damage has been inflicted in the Post Salmond Era; though mistakes were made even during Alex’s tenure. The most grievous being his elevation/promotion of Sturgeon. Something he himself came to bitterly regret; as you know
Robert,
She is leaning fully into her state-asset persona now, in the most brazen fashion imaginable. Incredibly, I still see her being championed by many independence supporters and by English liberals and leftists. She has probably assessed (correctly) that they will continue to champion her no matter how obvious she makes it. A very strange and unique phenomenon.
‘ she is leaning fully into her state-asset persona now…..’, aye, Z, she really is, eh? It’s like she’s trolling the Independence Support now, and taking malign pleasure in doing so.
@ Jk Redux 6th Sept 08.58
When an attempted gag(Rutte) is so bad it takes a special kind of idiot that they have to explain it..
Anyway i thought you all spent your time in a beige Brussels cubicle fellating each other for the benefit of your line manager who might,just might,throw you a €10 gift voucher at the end of each shift..
Magnifique indeed lackeyboy..
Jm.
Indeed it was the Lord Haw Haw of Nato Rutte, who called the Orange Paedo Trump – Daddy.
Re the Sky Wargame cartoon..
Is the cpntrol command HQ theyre all in a shiny newish motorhome perchance?
The collective west dreamt of destabilising Russia, replacing Putin (aka Putler) with a ‘Yeltsin’ and going back to the days of buying an oil field for the price of a big box of Beluga caviar and a case of ‘grand cru’ vodka. Basically to create a Russia in the image of the USA. A land ruled by and for the benefit of rich men ( oligarchy ).
Once Russia was on board, we could then turn our attention towards the real problem for Western dominance, China.
The narrative cannot be reversed, so we have to get used to a return to cold war conditions. At least military types will be happy, better careers and more resources.
So here we are, with the professional script writers struggling to compose an appropriate interlude, involving an albeit temporary truce to the Ukraine tragedy. The acting players are starting to fight amongst themselves and Laurel and Hardy are back in Moscow and Kiev.
Donald Trump may be increasingly deranged and seemingly blackmailed into a war for the sole benefit of Israel, but he still maintains a visceral hatred for his personal enemies, just like a mafia godfather. He hasn’t forgotten Russiagate, The Steele dossier or the 2020 election. Hence elements of Mi6 / CIA and and their particular gang of followers are worried that he may yet exact his revenge and are trying desperately to return him to the NATO camp. In fact there are many parallels between good old fashioned American gangsterism and current western diplomatic methodology. The Iranians simply didn’t understand it, but certainly do now, The Russians have had to re-learn it fast and I don’t think we’re going to hear the phrase “our western partners” again anytime soon.
Is this Sky docudrama the one advertised on BBC4 radio with “The Russians are coming and they’re mob handed” ?
I haven’t listened very carefully. Either way is there a bedroom scene with Michael and Nicola ? or maybe Nicola and Harriet ?
Anyway, I’ll get me coat !
‘ ……going back to the days of buying an oil field for the price of a big box of Beluga caviar and a case of ‘grand cru’ vodka.’Bahaha. Dunno, Foggon, I thought just buying Yeltsy a coupla vodkas would have secured you an oil field.
Ah those good old days in the Wild East, eh? it was all going so well for the resource-plundering Yankee Plutocracy until that joy-killer Putin stepped-in to, well, save his country from absolute collapse. Part of the reason why the MSM owned by that Plutocracy have been character-assassinating him ever since he spoiled their party. And listen to the dafties here parroting the same script.
And, yes, it is the ( psycho ) drama you thought….The Cokey/ Paedo-Pal/Dyke Show
Donald Trump faced severe reluctance from major U.S. banks after his 1990s business bankruptcies, Deutsche Bank became Trump’s primary major corporate lender. Over two decades, the German bank loaned his businesses upwards of $2 billion.
All I can find on Russia is this : While direct loans from Russian banks did not materialize as his primary funding source, investigative reports and statements from associates (including a 2008 comment by Donald Trump Jr.) noted that wealthy buyers and investors from Russia and former Soviet republics purchased significant numbers of properties and condo units in Trump developments, helping inject cash into his projects.
I have thought from the beginning that the Leipzig drone planting was pure Zinovievian particularly with the identical posts of Merz’s colleagues all designed to scare the voters of Saxony – Anhalt. Whatever, it does not seem to have worked according to the exit polls. Merz, another victim of the Zelenski curse as Burnham surely will be?
Crispa
September 6, 2026 at 19:47
Interesting that Saxony Anhalt (the name and boundaries changed over the last century) was largely SPD in the early 1920’s but steadily moved towards the NSDAP by the early 1930’s.
We can’t blame NATO/EU/Woke for that.
Interesting to speculate as to the reasons.
Maybe it is just a backwater full of racist xenophobes…
Reminds me that Trump said that “I love the poorly educated.”
Him and the AfD…
You’re on the right lines at least.
Hitler’s Nazis took 6 years to accumulate the weaponry required to wage its divine mission on Europe. The EU ‘Centrsits’ are, as I write, funding the war machine for the benefit of right wing parties across Europe. They are doing Hitler’s bidding- war on Russia- on the pretext of protecting democracy. Once the ‘centrists’ are removed from office by the western corporations the war can start in earnest.
David Warriston
September 6, 2026 at 22:55
Come on David.
Hitler despised democracy and never tried to hide his contempt.
Hitler’s bidding wasn’t “war on Russia- on the pretext of protecting democracy”, it was a race war. Lebensraum….
“Hitler despised democracy and never tried to hide his contempt.”
As does every elite in Europe today. “Democracy” is fine, so long as the people, who are supposed to be the rulers under democracy, don’t get any closer to the levers of power than voting for a candidate chosen not by themselves who is free to totally ignore their wishes once elected, every five years or so. Suggesting otherwise makes you a “populist”, i.e. someone backed by the people, not those who actually run the show. Churchill may have paid lip service to what we laughingly call democracy, but he certainly despised any sort of rule by the people, which is presumably why he cancelled elections during the war. He is not a better person for mostly hiding his contempt, just a slightly better politician.
“They are doing Hitler’s bidding- war on Russia- on the pretext of protecting democracy. Once the ‘centrists’ are removed from office by the western corporations the war can start in earnest.”
Why would they be removed from power if they are doing what they’re told?
The promoters of this war also despise democracy and Russians.
JK,
I was referring to the Euro political leaders (many of them unelected) who claim they are defending democracy; I did say this was a pretext. Hitler, as you say, never bothered with such rationale.
JC,
Merz and co. are doing their damnest to commit to Barbarossa 3 but are facing electoral collapse so, like Starmer, will need to be replaced. Claims by Le Pen and the AfD to be opposed to the Ukraine conflict will be worth no more than a Starmer pledge if/when they inherit the EU wing of NATO. It’s not so long ago that Zelinsky was elected as a Peace President and initially Moscow was prepared to see him as capable of resolving the crisis within Ukraine. It’s just about possible that Zelinsky was genuine but he soon had his card marked.
This is what the Leipzig incident was all about – the challenge to Merz’s drive to war at the expense of ordinary German people. X post.
ALICE WEIDEL: “We do not need a war in Ukraine. It is not in Germany’s interest. Germany’s interest lies in peace between Russia and Ukraine. I say this here. And no German soldiers—neither sons nor fathers—and no weapons for Ukraine. Personally, I am ashamed of this. I am ashamed that, after the Second World War, German tanks are once again moving against Russia. It is a disgrace for our country. We know this from history—you don’t need to be a genius to understand it.”
Crispa
September 7, 2026 at 00:43
Alice Weidl would deny Ukraine the right to defend itself. And ultimately deny Europe that right.
Not so much Jeanne d’Arc as a would be Mussolini in skirts. A willing collaborator in Germany’s subordination to Putin..
“Alice Weidl would deny Ukraine the right to defend itself. And ultimately deny Europe that right.”
To echo your mate Pears, piffle! Why is Germany staying out of the Ukraine war “denying Ukraine the right to defend itself”? What part of “the right to defend itself” contains “the right to get others to defend it”? Do you even know what the words “right” and “itself” you write mean? If Ukraine was unable to defend itself without others’ help, might it not have been a good idea to have got out the war in March 2022 when it had a chance?
Why is wanting to stay out of a war, not on your borders, a declaration that you won’t defend your own country once invaded? If you prefer a belligerent Germany to a peaceful one, you must be nostalgic for the 1930s, and yet you don’t seem to like Hitler, strange. Perhaps, like the US Marines in Tom Lehrer’s “Send the Marines!”, you’d “rather kill them off by peaceful means”.
@ Bayard. I usually scroll past Jakey’s – and Mr Migraine’s – utterances on the Proxy War, but, not paying attention, I tripped over his latest, the one you quote from. I literally Laughed Out Loud at the sheer ridiculousness of it and his * position * on this ongoing hellscape. I sometimes wonder if he’s just taking the piss, ‘avin a laff, by posting his ludicrous statements here.
As you point out – according to JK & ilk, it would be a far better thing if Germany continues not only arming Tellytubbyland East, but also follows through on it’s insane rhetoric of direct attack on Russia…..GERMANY! The fckn nerve of these idiots: is two absolute whippings by Russia – which left the latter victorious but devastated, and Nazi-Land fuckn crushed, though quickly helped back to recovery by, mainly, U.S largesse ( and self-interest, obv ) and, it has to said, by a succession of leaders that make the recent crew look like pampered, petulant adolescents – not enough: are they seriously cruising for the ultimate bruising?
I has occurred to me that from the POV of the Merz Mob, a victory for AdF may be desirable, as a way to get them ( the Merz Mob ) out of the unholy mess they’ve got themselves/Germany into. Oh sure, we’ll get the predictable performative alarmism about this Far Right surge; but, clandestinely sighing with relief, they can use the latter scenario to GTF outta the Proxy War. Ditto in France; and indeed, the whole of EUK.
The latter Clown Collective’s desperate ” cunning plan ” to induce – actually, more like seduce, Trump into full military engagement in the Proxy War by cringe-making, obsequious kissing of the Trump arse and slavishly submitting to his extortion, eg, US-imposed Tariffs and buying $Billions of U.S Manufactured weapons, is failing, abysmally and the Project Ukraine endgame looming.
Behind the bellicose bluster, one can sense Reality may have, finally, jemmied open the intoxicated-by-fantasies-of-glory minds of the EUK Catastrophics
MERZ (et al) “We need a war in Ukraine. It is in Germany’s interest. Germany’s interest lies in war between Russia and Ukraine. I say this here. And German (et al) soldiers— sons and fathers—and masses of weapons for Ukraine. Personally, I am proud of this. I am proud that, after the Second World War, German tanks are once again moving against Russia. It is a matter of pride for our country. (Keep) We know this from history—you don’t need to be a genius to understand it.”
Robert Hughes
September 7, 2026 at 10:09
Germany defeated Russia in WW1, forcing the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.
Germany was then defeated by USA, France and England…
Germany was defeated in WW2 by the USSR (including Russia and captive nations like Ukraine), the USA and England.
Crispa
September 7, 2026 at 10:27
When did Merz say
“We need a war in Ukraine. It is in Germany’s interest. Germany’s interest lies in war between Russia and Ukraine. I say this here. And German (et al) soldiers— sons and fathers—and masses of weapons for Ukraine. Personally, I am proud of this. I am proud that, after the Second World War, German tanks are once again moving against Russia. It is a matter of pride for our country. (Keep) We know this from history—you don’t need to be a genius to understand it.”????
Or did you just make it up?
Bayard
September 7, 2026 at 09:18
Supplying arms to the victim of an aggression is not to join the war.
Would you have had the USA refuse to supply arms and supplies to England after the fall of France?
Or indeed to the USSR after Barbarossa began?
“Supplying arms to the victim of an aggression is not to join the war.”
I didn’t say it was, nor did Alice Wiedel: that was entirely your conclusion-jump.
“Would you have had the USA refuse to supply arms and supplies to England after the fall of France?”
There’s a big difference between selling, as the US did and giving, as the EU countries, the US and the UK are doing. Alice Wiedel (and I) see no reason why out countries’ resources, of which we have far too little to begin with should be given away to another country with whom we have no defense treaty, nor are in any form of grouping with. Propping up our arms industry by selling arms to another country is quite another matter, although reprehensible from my POV. The US should have had nothing to do with Britain at the start of WWII, it might have taught Churchill and the other warmongers not to get involved in a war they never needed to. OTOH, it probably wouldn’t have. Such people are incorrigible: they like the poor will always be with us. Indeed one finds them on these very blog comments bloviating about “international law” as if it gave any Western government more than a microsecond’s pause when observing it was against their interests.
Bayard
September 7, 2026 at 14:44
You say that “The US should have had nothing to do with Britain at the start of WWII”?
You’d have been comfortable with England following France into Nazi occupation?
But I expect that you would have approved of the USA and England supporting the USSR with arms and supplies after the start of Barbarossa?
(Because, reasons….)
“You’d have been comfortable with England following France into Nazi occupation?”
That wouldn’t have happened if Churchill hadn’t been so keen on having a war and Britain had stayed neutral like a certain sensible neighbouring country. Even if history had proceeded as it did, it is still not a given that the Nazis would have even invaded Britain, let alone succeeded in that invasion. Admittedly Churchill, being a warmonger, would have never agreed to make a truce with Germany (is this beginning to sound familiar?), but, if wiser heads had prevailed, then that would have kept Britain out of the rest of the war and just think, the Germans might have succeeded in overcoming those nasty commies in the USSR. Surely you must agree that would have been a bonus from your POV.
“This is what the Leipzig incident was all about – the challenge to Merz’s drive to war at the expense of ordinary German people. X post.”
Crispa.
On the above you are absolutely correct – much damage has already been done to the Germany economy with the loss of cheap Russian oil and gas, oil that German machines are calibrated to use – but its not just Merz that’s damaging Germany’s economy for the sake Ukraine and the Zio-Monsters, other European nations are doing the same, I’ve even read today that the French economy is on the verge of collapsing – and France is a major player in the EU, and you might have noticed that consecutive Westminster governments have put Ukraine and the Zio-Monsters welfare above those of its citizens – as businesses in the Atlantic Archipelago – aka UK, begin the slide down the slippy slope to closing down or scaling back greatly as the likes of JLR begin to shed jobs – German car manufacturers have already shed thousands of jobs, and there’s far more to come.
EU bigwigs the Westminster government and the Whitehouse, have put their corporate buddies interests ahead of their citizens, and civvy street will only get more crowded – as more and more folk find themselves out of work – of course the narrative is that its all Russia or Iran’s fault – they are going to invade at any minute.
A few wise words on how we got here.
“The most important political sentence of the last sixty years was not in any speech.
It was in a memo.
The Powell Memo. 1971. Written by Lewis Powell, two months before Nixon appointed him to the Supreme Court.
A direct, explicit call for American corporate interests to systematically invest in reshaping political cultur: universities, media, courts, think tanks, to counter what Powell saw as a threat to the free enterprise system.
What was the threat?
People asking questions about whether the system was fair.
That’s it.
Not communism. Not foreign subversion.
Citizens, including many in the working class, beginning to interrogate the structure.
The response was a coordinated, generational, extraordinarily well-funded effort to reshape the intellectual and media environment so that those questions would seem radical rather than reasonable.
It worked.
The questions that were mainstream in 1971, about corporate power, about inequality, about who the economy serve, became “socialist” by 1991.
The Overton window moved.
Not by accident.
By investment.”
Paging Mr Orwell
More Doublethink Euro-logic from NATO Bunker Janitor – little Tutti Frutti Marky Rutte. Quote….
‘ Ukraine is not losing, but the front is moving in the wrong direction ‘ bahahahaha”
Losing is now * identifying * as Winning: Pronouns Duh/Doh
The entire NATO/EUK * Leadership * strategy * vis-a-vis Project Ukraine is like a VERY badly written comedy-drama ( a bombcom ) created by the inmates of an asylum for the criminally insane.
Looks like one of key * actors * in this farce – Screaming Skull Merz -may have drop out after suffering a serious knock on the political head by some ruffians called the AdF – who have vowed to pull the plug on German’s role in this embarrassing and clearly flopping show
It’s doubted there will be time to find an understudy to replace Herr Merz; though the producers are frantically combing other mental institutions in the hope of finding one. In their delusion there has even been a suggestion to try and get Sean Penn in to fill that role: so far unsuccessfully
Not looking great for that other key cast member – that little Marquis de Sad, ie Petit Pois Macron; his mum is not happy with the company he’s been keeping and has threatened to ground him and place him in Le Pen until he gets those silly thespian ideas out of his head
Yeah, looks very much like this disastrous production is coming to an end
re: Minab school bombing
4 min. excerpt from a new longer conversation (Sept. 3rd) with frm. US SoS spokeswoman for the Middle East, Hala Rharrit, by Middle Eastern Eye.
Together with 13 other top US diplomats Rharrit had resigend in 2024.
Powerful appearance. Share it.
She says without flinching it was no accident or lack of info.
She actually uses the term “right out of the Israeli playbook”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XevuiHhbmNY
the entire interview:
67 min.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEJdz49l2WE
Utterly disgraceful, and I don’t recall one mainstream media channel interviewing this great lady either.
“UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese:
“My credit card doesn’t work, I can’t pay or make transfers; my health insurance was canceled, and I can’t book hotels. I feel like Pablo Escobar. All because I said, ‘Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.'””
When Albanese was supposed to speak at two universities in Germany in Munich and Berlin respectively, both events were canceled.
There was a letter expressing solidarity and criticizing the Munich decision. Hundreds of signatures. Half of them anonymous as they were university staff and afraid because our freedom of speech is so incredibly strong and keeps people safe from vengeance, lawfare and infringement of 1st Amendment Rights (which of course do not exist the way they do in the US at least as a consitutional guarantee.)
Even though officially the German Constitutional Court made clear: Freedom of speech is protected.
Well, untill it is not.
Eventually Albanese was able to get a room in the space of the small leftwing daily “JUNGE WELT” which is being observed by German FBI – and what happened? The rooms where the conversation took place were raided by German police.
A major scandal it should have been. But MSM literally gave a fuck.
In history they still love to highlight the police raid of German SPIEGEL magazine in 1962. An event regarded as a corner stone of proof that Germany is a democratic entity! (I am sarcastic of course.)
This now however was no different. But got completely ignored.
I doubt it´s better anywhere else in Europe.
But hey: At least we know what to think about these self-proclaimed elites and our incompetent academic class.
AG, yup, this is the wonderful “democracy” that Ukraine is supposedly fighting to defend.
Albanese tells it like it is, and she is all but ostracised for doing so – evil is flourishing and we ALL must take a stand against it.
Meanwhile – of course the US is now a Terrorist/Pirate Genocide Enabling state.
“As the US prepares to mark 25 years since Sept. 11, 2001, Donald Trump has removed top Al Qaeda figures from the US list of designated terrorists. Among those he delisted was Abdullah Muhaysini, a Saudi cleric who recruited child fighters and teen suicide bombers to wreak havoc across Syria.
The administration of President Donald Trump has removed the names of some of the world’s most notorious commanders, recruiters and financiers for the Syrian branch of Al Qaeda from its list of specially designated terrorists. Among those relieved of US sanctions this August was Abdullah Muhaysini, a Salafi-jihadi cleric from Saudi Arabia who participated in videotaped massacres of captive soldiers and recruited droves of foreign youth to carry out suicide bombings throughout Syria over the past decade.”
https://thegrayzone.com/2026/09/04/trump-sanctions-al-qaeda-recruiters-9-11/