THE CURSE THAT WILL END STARMER
Posts
THE STOP-START GENOCIDE....
Pressure forces Israel to stagger its genocide - it's a stop/start genocide. As pressure builds up and the screams get louder in the media and from politicians it lets a bit of aid in the pretend everything is OK... https://scheerpost.com/2025/07/29/genocides-hard-when-you-have-to-win-the-pr-war-too/
OUTSOURCING BRITISH SPOOKS...
An editorial accompanying the Mail on Sunday scoop exposing Inter-Mediate’s office inside Syria’s Presidential Palace noted Jonathan Powell is one of several influential figures in Starmer’s government, who were extremely powerful players throughout Tony Blair’s decade-long tenure as Prime Minister. This cabal also includes Peter Mandelson, now London’s ambassador to Washington. The editorial claimed they “are the real forces in British diplomacy”. Foreign Secretary Lammy merely plays “an effectively ceremonial role”, operating according to a script drawn up by Powell, Mandelson, and other behind-the-scenes actors. While the pair were said to maintain “formidable private networks they are able to mobilise” to direct British government action and policy, “some within 'Downing Street” were reportedly “growing increasingly wary about the influence of these smooth Blairites.” Such is the profusion of powerful individuals with deep and cohering ties to Blair’s ...
THE BBC - A PATSY FOR ISRAEL
Veteren ex-BBC reporter Tim Llewelyn rips into the BBC.... 'As the pathetic dithering over the two recent Gaza documentaries shows, these managers, from the director-general, the chair and the head of news on down to the overburdened and second-guessed journalists who put out the programmes, regard themselves as primarily answerable to the British government and its continued support and sustenance of Israel. They are not concerned with truth, still less any public right to truth. What the tragedy of the two documentaries has shown is that the BBC and its managers are more concerned with the BBC’s and their own survival than with the task the BBC’s Royal Charter – its constitutional basis – sets it. The government holds the purse strings of the BBC, so the government is in effect blackmailing the corporation on behalf of Israel.' https://electronicintifada.net/content/bbc-patsy-israel-lobby/50830?utm_source=EI+readers&utm_campaign=5fbcf40798-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN...
THE WORLD IS FALLING TO PIECES....
We can see things beginning to change. 'But of course, these “masters of the world” claim that these principles only apply to the “slaves”: “Quod licet Iovi, non licet bovi” (“What is permitted to Jupiter is not permitted to the ox”). What is permitted to the powerful or privileged is forbidden or impossible for “normal” people. This is strongly reminiscent of the distinction between ius divinum (immutable divine law) and ius positivum (secular law) in earlier canon law. Until the 19th century, there were canon lawyers who believed that agreements between a non-ecclesiastical entity (the state) and the Holy See had no binding effect under international law for the Church. As a divine institution, the Church could not bind itself to secular treaties in the fulfillment of its mission. The welfare of souls (salus animarum) took precedence over any secular agreement. If a concordat contradicted such a supreme goal, the Church was ipso facto not bound by it. The relig...
Warwick Powell deflates Trumps tarrifs claim over Japan. He wanted 24% and agreed on 15% (apart from steel and cars) BUT also insisted on Japanese investment into the US. This is nothing more than what currently exists. It is - literally - absolute bollocks. 'If Japan is pledging to “invest $550B into the U.S. economy,” that’s more than likely to be just a recommitment to allocating reserves and surplus capital into U.S. projects/assets. This may be dressed up as FDI or infrastructure investment, but it’s still denominated in USD, drawn from existing or expected reserves. Japan already holds over $1 trillion in U.S. Treasuries, and has for years been a top foreign investor in U.S. government debt, real estate and industrial projects. Nippon Steel just bought out U.S. Steel as a case in point.'
Ian Proud - Ex British Moscow diplomat (who speaks fluent Russian) writes that after the demonstrations yesterday in Kiev objecting to Zelenskyy passing a law to 'control' investigations into corruption there may be a settlement sooner than we think. It seems to me that these demonstrations are ones promoted by 'the west' to demonise Zelenskyy as a pre-requisite for him being 'removed'. The US wants out but Zelenskyy refuses to back down from demands that are unacceptable to Russia. The problem is his 'heroic' status - so accusing him and his circle of 'corruption' is a sure-fire way of knocking him off his pedestal by demonising him as the first step to removing him. I have to say that while I think Zelenskyy is strategically stupid - he should have gone for the Minsk Accords but succombed to pressure from the nationalists - I have seen no evidence that he is corrupt. To me the most likely explanation is that Trump wants him to concede more...
Aurelien is a pen name for a substack author - it means Golden or Gilded. The posts are always full of incisive detail. This latest one looks at the whole problematic of nationhood and sovereignity. 'We can argue endlessly over whether the generalisation of the “nation-state” was a good idea. But then, as many such discussions I’ve had in Africa and the Middle East have concluded, we are where we are. Even if we wanted to, we couldn’t go back to an imperial system, or even revive any of the competing ideas of the 1950s and 1960s for PanAfricanism and PanArabism. Indeed, events will be slipping more and more out of anyone’s control I would suggest three likely sets of developments for the future. One is that the frightened and incoherent European response to nationalist conflict will fail, just as much at home as abroad. Attempts to forcibly repress expressions of nationalism in the EU have simply strengthened identification with community and locality in the old-fashioned wa...
CRYPTO IS A PONZI SCHEME - now underwritten by taxpayers. The ultimate scam....Great article by Ann Pettifor. ' Crypto interests wanted to integrate Stablecoins into the regulated US financial system so that crypto assets and bank accounts could in future be protected by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, just as ordinary bank deposits are. In other words, the crypto sector wanted to be protected from losses or failure (insolvency) by the US rules-based system sponsored by the American taxpayer. With the passing of the GENIUS Act, Stablecoin interests achieved their goal.'
