Britain Britain 

The EU: an economic basket-case with the instincts of the mafia

The EU’s Brexit negotiators (who appear to believe that until this moment their knuckle-dusters have been concealed) clearly think that now’s the moment to take off the gloves. Faced with Theresa May asking them ever so nicely to re-open negotiations to get rid of that troublesome Irish backstop, they have not only said no. They are reportedly now doubling down on their intransigence in the belief that this will force the Brits to come crawling back on their knees. The Sunday Times reports (£): “There is the prospect of a…

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cox Britain 

Any compromise would subvert the will of the people

Much has been made of a possible compromise on the Irish backstop. Even if the EU were to agree to this, however, Mrs May’s proposed deal remains a stinker. The Withdrawal Agreement would trap the UK with no exit unless the EU agreed. It would subordinate Britain’s defence and security structure to EU control and endanger British security ties with its main allies. It would continue to subordinate the country to rulings by the European Court of Justice. Above all, the UK would remain hostage to the EU during the…

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UK Britain Europe 

Why it’s imperative that Britain shows itself to be firmly behind no-deal

We all know the problem over Theresa May’s Brexit deal, don’t we. The EU insisted on its red lines, offering nothing that would allow Britain to trade outside the customs union or single market. Hence her deal was botched because she was under the EU cosh. But what if this analysis were 180 degrees out? What if the opposite were the case? What if the EU had in fact offered the UK a comprehensive free trade agreement for the whole of the UK with zero tariffs and no quantitative restrictions,…

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crazy world Israel 

Our crazy world: US Syria pullout, EU antisemitism survey

Please join me here as I discuss with Avi Abelow of Israel Unwired some major events of the past few days in our crazy world. We consider the implications of President Trump’s decision to withdraw US troops from Syria, the ramifications of which are more complex than might be imagined from the shallow mainstream media accounts. You can also read my take on what really matters about America’s approach to Syria and Iran here. We also talk about the recent EU survey of perceptions by Jewish communities in Britain and…

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Boris Britain Culture wars Europe 

Convulsions over Brexit and the struggle for the western nation

The West is convulsing as a new world order struggles to be born. Nowhere is that convulsion currently proving more agonizing and potentially catastrophic than in the United Kingdom. The fundamental division is between, on the one hand, nationalists who want to defend the nation and its core values and, on the other, those who believe these must be superseded by trans-national institutions and laws. In the first camp are millions of ordinary people throughout the West in revolt against the steady undermining of their countries and cultures, alongside the…

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nazanin Global conflict 

The lethal error in appeasing Iran

When the Obama-brokered Iran nuclear deal was signed in 2015, one of the many spurious reasons offered for that agreement was that it would help the supposedly moderate Iranian President Hassan Rouhani draw the sting of the Islamic regime’s extremism. Now Rouhani is no longer bothering to conceal his real side. Addressing the annual Islamic Unity Conference in Tehran last weekend, Rouhani called Israel a “cancerous tumor” that was formed as a result of World War II. Descending to full-blown Jewish-conspiracy theory, he said: “They deployed a power in the…

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UK Britain 

Brexiteers! Start promoting no-deal. Fast

Has there ever been a more hopeless, pathetic bunch of political clowns than Britain’s parliamentary Brexiteers? The people of Britain have voted to leave the EU. Theresa May’s government is poised to spit in their faces by preventing that from happening through a sleight-of-hand deal which would be Brexit in name only, leaving the UK as a “vassal” state still in thrall to Brussels. Rather than uniting behind a strategy and leader to fight this betrayal, the Brexiteers in parliament have been fighting each other like ferrets in a sack.…

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no-deal Britain 

The predictable Brexit crisis has now arrived

Mrs May has now presented to Cabinet the Brexit deal she has negotiated with the EU. As feared, it is a proposal that would leave the UK not only remaining bound to the EU but at a far greater disadvantage than under its current terms of membership. It is therefore totally unacceptable. There were reported ructions in Cabinet. It is bound by collective responsibility, but that doesn’t mean individual Cabinet ministers have accepted the deal. Since its faults are overwhelmingly obvious to Remainers as well as Brexiteers, it is extremely…

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UK Britain Europe 

Jo Johnson’s Brexit muddle

Currently in Los Angeles, which is coping with an enormous forest fire and the aftermath of a crazed gunman shooting dead 13 people at a suburban bar, I woke up today to the news that the transport minister and Remain supporter Jo Johnson had resigned from the government over the Brexit negotiation. In this account of why he resigned, he says one thing on which Remainers and Brexiteers will doubtless agree. This is the appalling way Theresa May has conducted the negotiation, bringing Parliament to the brink of a choice…

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UK Britain Europe 

All that matters now to save the UK: Theresa May has to go

According to the Sunday Times, Theresa May has 72 hours to save her premiership before a crucial back-bench 1922 Committee meeting on Wednesday. In my view, that should read 72 hours to save the country. Let’s cut to the chase. Forget the Irish backstop, transition extensions, the role of her chief Brexit official Oliver Robbins and all the other interminable details and lurches involved in this process. If the UK is actually to leave the EU, May has to go. If she stays as Prime Minister, it won’t. It is…

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