You are here

Tag: eu

Culture wars USA 

No laughing matter: Europe’s appeasement of Iran

Melanie, , ,

Remarks this week about Iran by US National Security Adviser John Bolton contained some of the most ferocious language ever used by an American administration about a foreign state. Bolton told the Iranian regime: “If you cross us, our allies or our partners; if you harm our citizens; if you continue to lie, cheat and deceive, yes, there will indeed be hell to pay. Let my message today be clear: ‘We are watching, and we will come after you.’” Earlier this year, the US pulled out of the nuclear deal…

Read More
no-deal Britain 

Faithless, craven and cowardly – the British government’s Brexit betrayal

Melanie, , ,

We don’t yet know whether Brexiteers in the Conservative party will seek to bring down the Prime Minister Theresa May over the UK negotiating position that she forced through Cabinet on Friday. We don’t yet know whether the EU will accept her “compromise” package or will reject it with the contempt they have shown until now at any suggestion of a “pick and mix” approach to the EU’s customs union and rules. But what we can say with near-certainty is that what Mrs May has done is put in serious…

Read More
Iran Global conflict 

The Iran opportunity and European infamy

Melanie, , ,

A senior Iranian official has accused Israel of stealing its clouds. Yes, you read that right. Clouds as in the sky. Brigadier General Gholam Reza Jalali, head of Iran’s Civil Defense Organization, has said: “Israel and another country in the region have joint teams which work to ensure clouds entering Iranian skies are unable to release rain. On top of that, we are facing the issue of cloud and snow theft.” His evidence? A survey showing that all mountainous areas higher than 2,200 meters between Afghanistan and the Mediterranean were…

Read More
strange Europe Israel 

A strange and unfamiliar sound

Melanie, , ,

A strange, startling and deeply unfamiliar sound was heard this week. A Trump tweet imploding, perhaps? Kim Jong-Un finally destroying his nuclear arsenal? A distant rumble from the Hawaii volcano? No. It was the sound of the European Union and United Nations loudly supporting Israel against attack. In the heaviest onslaught since 2014, southern Israel was attacked from Gaza this week by Islamic Jihad and Hamas launching dozens of rocket and mortar attacks, as well as bursts of machine-gun fire. An Israeli kindergarten was hit, although no one was hurt.…

Read More
cox Britain 

Betraying Brexit voters spells constitutional crisis

Melanie, , ,

The constitutional crisis bubbling just below the surface ever since Britain voted to leave the EU is now at the point of eruption. That crisis is the prospect of parliament pitting itself against the people. Remainers and EU negotiators are ganging up in a push to reverse Brexit through the back door. The House of Lords passed an amendment last week committing the government to outline its moves to enable the UK to remain in a customs union with the EU. The Commons will have a symbolic vote on this…

Read More
peace in our time Global conflict 

War, North Korea and the art of the deal

Melanie, , , , ,

One of the many wonders of progressive folk is their, ah, flexibility. It’s an article of faith for the modern progressive that war must be avoided at all costs. War is uncivilised, barbaric, a throwback to a brutal past and never solves anything (yes yes, I know, presumably Nazi Germany wasn’t solved either…). Instead of war we must substitute conflict resolution, negotiation, soft power. That’s why the supremely civilised EU and the even more supremely civilised UK have downgraded their military capacity. So should an enemy (let’s pick as an…

Read More
Britain 

Why the Judges Have Got it Wrong on Brexit

Melanie, , ,

Legal experts have challenged the High Court’s judgment more effectively than Theresa May The High Court ruling that parliament must give its consent before Britain can begin to leave the EU is redolent with irony. The argument that parliamentary sovereignty must not be overridden was brought by people who themselves want Britain to remain in the EU and who so negate the sovereignty of parliament. Conversely Brexiteers, whose cause is the restoration of parliamentary sovereignty, put themselves in difficulties by inveighing against a ruling which seeks to uphold that same…

Read More