Paul Hebden

There are few moments that show just how ignorant and colonialist this country remains, than in moments like this. We have bases and spy infrastructure on Cyprus for our own self interested ends, the idea we are their to protect Cypriots is utter bollox.

A few right wing morons showing their imperialist ignorance claiming Cypriots are angry with UK for not "protecting" Cyprus from drone attack.
They've never expected protection by the Brits, and we've never really offered it Cypriots would sooner have no British bases on their island at all.

Sheffield, March 5, before the Soviet ICBM arrives.

Happy Threads Day to those who celebrate it.

Pentagon eyes Ukrainian interceptor drones to counter Iran Kyiv has pioneered cheap and mass-produced machines to battle Russian versions of the Shahed attack drone

I hope JD and Pete say please and thank you

www.ft.com/content/d077...

"Tiger Uppercut!!"

I’ve spent years, decades, obsessing over the Bush Administration’s Iraq WMD lies, writing about them, debunking them.

I can think of no lie about Iraq WMDs told by Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld et al that comes even close to the enormity and absurdity of this lie from Donald Trump.

None of that £130m officially counts as a donation to Reform, and yet...

Helen Miller, head of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said that the UK had "become accustomed" to governments propping up household incomes when shocks come along, such as Covid and the war in Ukraine.

If shocks are so frequent that we become accustomed to them, perhaps we need a policy framework in place for responding them?

It is very hard to contemplate just how bad things are, and how unlikely it is that politics will change it for the better.

FT comments section this morning - saying what everyone else is thinking, right?

It's become popular on the British right recently to say they would never go to war for Britain.

Seems they're happy to (send British soldiers to) go to war for Trump, though.

Jansen Ganesh is on fire in this column on the UK’s role in the Iran conflict

www.ft.com/content/eaee...

The problem would be how the UK justifies some political objective off the back of it. If the guy is truly a narcissist then what's the political payoff from refusing to play into his narcissism? I don't think that's a calculation UK govt knows how to make. It would be very unorthodox?

OMG if done in the right way that would be insanely jarring for Trump.

But only if it was framed as indifference, not a snub. Actually the royals are brilliant at this.

FWIW - this is how food prices spiked in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and how the cost of essentials is spiking again now.

Make the guy experience that thing he can't bear more than anything, being alone with himself and his own conscience. Don't give him what his soul needs. Give him indifference. It's honestly the only way to deal with someone like that.

Trump is not easily ignored, the trappings of office feed his narcissism, but politicians aren't powerless. Eg - Don't pick up the phone to him. Or at least, make him wait. Don't follow conventional protocols of power around him. And when he notices and gets angry, dismiss it, then do it again.

The easiest way to damage a narcissist like Trump? Ignore him. Show him indifference. Not hate or anger, just enable him to feel that thing he doesn't want to feel, that he is not important. Don't tell him, that defeats the object. Let him feel it.

They've spent a lifetime repurposing all the feelings directed at them - good or bad, adoring or hateful - into narcissistic supply. They are masters at converting all that energy into a motivated reasoning for actions they long ago decided to take. They don't need your love, just your attention.

But it's not my experience that genuinely narcissistic people are fuelled by a need for approval. They find fuel in anything - positive or negative, approval or disapproval. Being admired is not what motivates the narcissist, being un-ignorable is what really drives them. Narcissists are obnoxious.>

I also think it may be no bad thing to make Trump feel alone and wronged. Gavin Newsome seems to imply that Trump's narcissism manifests in a desire for approval (which in my book would make Trump a very benign narcissist) so Starmer may have won something by triggering Trump this way. >>

I was angry at Starmer's decision on Monday to allow the US to use our bases. I still think it sends the wrong signal. But I also think he's far more right and far closer to where public opinion is on this than Badenoch or Farage. Their response to US /Israeli violence this week has been horrifying

There is no future for Israel in this violence and increasingly no peace for the rest of us, not our children, if we indulge this constant resort to violence. At some point there must be peace, at some point there must be atonement & an attempt at dealing with trauma. The alternative is Armageddon

The UK is far from perfect and we had a literal civil war raging on part of it not much more than 30 years ago. But the difference is that we found peace. We worked towards peace. There have been compromises and efforts to build peace. South Africa did the same. Israel is in constant traumatic rage.

And yes I judge Israel and the US harshly because they claim to be like us, they claim to share our values, they claim to be democracies. But Israel is nothing like Britain, it is a far worse place. It does not share our values, it is addicted to violence we have actually very little in common.

And I can't help thinking that for some politicians, that instability and violence is part of their plan.

Are Israel's allies doing enough to de-escalate Israeli politicians? Is enough being done to persuade and even cajole Israel away from this constant resort to violence? To be honest I can't see it. But Israel and the US 's actions are making this world unsafe for all of us.>>

As someone else has said on here, the fact that a majority of Israelis cannot see a peaceful route to their own security and are seemingly prepared to countenance ongoing violence instead is a glaring example of Israeli political failure. Israel does play a role in its own lack of security.

I feel like alot of people who might be influential in the Labour Party and commentariat need to be being braver about Israel and what is morally conscionable for that nation to continue doing without critique or censure. Too many people are indulging Israeli fantasies of what is needed to be safe.

It's not as if I liked them already but the Sensible centrist pundits insisting people protesting the genocide are objectively worse than those carrying out the genocide and you're being monstrously unreasonable if you disagree stopped me believing even the "nice" ones have any decency at all.