And if Israel and Hezbollah go to war, there is a very strong possibility that Iran could get involved as well.
That leaves me with the alternative explanation--Smolenkov is a propaganda prop and is being trotted out by Brennan to try to provide public pressure to prevent the disclosure of intelligence that will show that the CIA and the NSA were coordinating and operating with British intelligence to entrap and smear Donald Trump and members of his campaign.
Throughout the day on Sunday there were various protests and scenes of disruption, with Hong Kong police at times looking embattled, at times appearing indiscriminate in their response, at others showing restraint in the face of intimidation.
The proponents of a new Bill to prevent No Deal are caught on the horns of a dilemma. If they had drafted a Bill that only mandated the PM to seek an extension, the PM would have been left free to refuse to agree any extension in negotiations with the EU27. However, Benn-Burt goes much further than Cooper-Letwin did (paras 30-32). It mandates that the PM must not only seek but also agree to an extension, either 31 January 2020 or another date if the House of Commons approves a date suggested by the EU27. Mandating that the PM agrees to an extension manifestly…
Yes, I know. I am lining up on the wrong side. You are supposed to hate him. The presstitutes hate Trump. So does the Democratic Party, part of the Republican Party, the military/security complex, the entirety of the liberal/progressive/left, the universities, feminists, and Washington’s vassal states. No one likes him but the “racist, white supremacist Trump deplorables.” Nevertheless, I feel sorry for him. I started feeling sorry for him when he announced he would run for President of the United States. You see, I had inside information. I had held a presidential appointment from a President of the United States. I ended up fighting battles for…
It seems increasingly likely that the next leader of the Conservatives, and UK Prime Minister, will be Boris Johnson. On the face of it, this looks like good news for supporters of Brexit given Johnson’s record on this issue and his recent statement that the UK will leave the EU by October 31 ‘do or die’. Yet given the history of the last two years, during which the genuine Brexit envisaged at Lancaster House was watered down to the Brexit in-name-only of Theresa May’s Withdrawal Agreement (WA), Brexit supporters should avoid euphoria and be very cautious. There were key moments…
The EU and its apologists insist that it will not ‘reopen’ the WA. There are weak legal and political grounds for such a stance, whereas three strong political incentives exist within the EU to reach an agreement – and soon. But Britain’s new prime minister must convince the EU that he is determined to leave on October 31 if it continues to refuse satisfactory renegotiation. A commonly heard view recently is that, no matter who emerges as the next prime minister of the United Kingdom — on current form almost certainly Boris Johnson — the European Union will continue to…
European tensions are growing. There is Brexit, a directionless and over-extended Germany, an ambitious but weak France, and a growing regional divide. But the main danger to the European project is democracy. What is the European Union? The closest concept I can come up with is that of a liberal empire. An empire is a hierarchically structured block of states held together by a gradient of power from a centre to a periphery. At the centre of the EU is Germany, trying more or less successfully to hide inside a “Core Europe” (Kerneuropa) formed together with France. Germany doesn’t want to…
"If the WA were to come into force, even if the UK would be nominally leaving the EU it would still be subject to all EU laws (including new ones), the jurisdiction of the ECJ, the decisions of EU institutions such as the Commission and EU Parliament"
The 21 crew of the vessel abandoned ship after the incident on board which resulted in damage to the ship’s hull starboard side.
This is the transcript of Lecture at the Heritage Foundation, “Brexit and the US-UK Defense Relationship” given by Professor Gwythian Prins on 1 May 2019. A summary is on the Briefings for Brexit blog page. Ted, colleagues at Heritage, distinguished ladies and gentlemen. I am honoured and grateful for the hospitality of your platform this afternoon so that I can share with you some insights into the least well discussed and yet in many ways the most dangerous aspect of the strategies by which Mrs May and her close advisers have failed to execute the instruction that I and 17.4 million fellow…
On Tuesday May 21st, US energy secretary Rick Perry made headlines after paying a visit to the newly elected administration of Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The visit itself wasn’t the cause of the headlines but rather Perry’s hubristic attack on Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline and prophesying that a sanctions bill against western companies building the pipeline will pass into law in the immediate future. Perry said: “The United States Senate is going to pass a bill, the House is going to approve it, and it’s going to go to the President and he’s going to sign it, that is going to put…
David Landsman asks how Brexit can help manage the challenges of globalisation and automation in a liberal way. He argues that continued EU membership could result in changes due to globalization being bulldozed through national parliaments without proper and necessary popular consideration. One of the more depressing features of the Brexit debate, especially since the referendum, is the near absence of effort to find arguments which might persuade opponents that they should reconsider their position. Much Remain rhetoric paints Leavers as xenophobes and either idiots or shameless manipulators of idiots; the other way round, Remainers are presented as arrogant elites…
How on earth, we bewildered and disenchanted voters are entitled to ask, as the futile May 23 elections take place, can the Government and Parliament have contrived to make such a mess of implementing the verdict of the Referendum of June 23 2016? And how is that the Commentariat – scribes, pundits, opinion formers and soothsayers, the cerebral elite of Newsnight – have so signally failed to analyse in the depth required how and why things have gone so wrong? The root cause of the Brexit fiasco The answer is twofold: first, in spite of formal pledges with overwhelming majorities…
Everyone loves the Free Market until it starts working against them. In a globalized world said economic philosophy stands in the way of “Making America Great Again” as a free market pits heavily taxed American firms using expensive labour against the cost-cutting Chinese. However, the results of Protectionist moves especially Trump’s attack on Huawei could backfire. So in this battle between Free Market principles and American Greatness, US President Donald Trump has chosen the latter putting Chinese telecommunications/consumer electronics giant Huawei on a black list of “of foreign firms barred from receiving components from US exporters without a license”. This…
Alongside the resignation of Theresa May and the Euro-election results Graham Gudgin argues that another important event this week has been the publication of an article from the Institute of Government showing that a new Prime Minster will be in a position to achieve a no-deal outcome for Brexit despite parliamentary opposition. We have been told for weeks that a new Tory leader would make no difference because the parliamentary arithmetic would be unchanged. Parliament had voted against ‘no deal’ and would continue to do so in future under any conceivable new Tory leader. Today it looks quite different and…
In Alice and Wonderland, the Queen believed six impossible things before breakfast. We present just one conjecture, far-fetched at first glance, but based on evidence. The Conservative Party, as frequently observed, is no longer conservative. But it is worse than merely a liberal dilution of its former self. Our belief is that the most successful political party in British history has fallen to the diabolical ideology of cultural Marxism. This is quite a charge, but please bear with us. To begin, let us clearly state what we mean by cultural Marxism. The Guardian portrays this concept as anti-Semitic conspiracy theory, but we use…
For the first time in over half a century, an American President has actually come out attacking the Military Industrial Complex. Of course, everyone knows of President Dwight D. Eisenhauer’s famous outgoing 1961 speech warning the world (and the incoming President Kennedy) what sort of monster had arisen at the heart of America’s defense institutions. Very little on the matter was said on the frightening topic by decades of political leaders who rose to prominence in the shadow of JFK’s corpse. Instead, the beast grew like a malignant cancer over the ensuing years as a major branch of the British-run deep state that…
"...over 40% in the capital city voted to leave the EU. And the Brexit Party is doing almost as well here as in the country as a whole..."
"“A leaked OPCW document challenges claim that Assad used chemical weapons in Douma in April 2018, the basis for US military strikes..."
"Brexit is a catalyst for accelerating the discussion of reform of the EU."
"A US House of Representatives resolution enjoying bipartisan support will make Turkey liable to US sanctions should it proceed with its attempt to purchase the S-400 missile defence system."
"Europe will have ... to reduce immigration"
"Maybe though, if there’s an appetite for it, we could have a referendum on returning to the EU in 40 years time. Always assuming that there still is an EU."