@chadbourn.bsky.social Wow!

The USS Gerald R Ford and its three destroyers were approaching the Strait of Gibraltar today. The Washington Post suggests that means any attack on Iran could take place within days.

I think that is on point. I don't see Israel losing the opportunity to use this US hardware. Don't be surprised if Israel takes the lead and US supports (defending US regional bases). It does seem that B2's can be utilized from American bases, because refuelling tankers are on station in the Azores.

He's not Prince Andrew. He's Mr. Andrew Windsor.

Agree, forward deployment of tankers to the Azores means US based assets could be used along with existing mid east deployed. One to two weeks, or they have to start a draw down. I don't think Israel is going to see the opportunity go to waste.

So they have gone from "polling", dubious at best, to gambling odds, ridiculous at best, as a measure of voting intent. What utter drivel.

@chadbourn.bsky.social Portuguese TV news reporting increased US military aircraft activity at Lajes airport in Azores. Similar to the activity seen ahead of the first Iran attack.

The US is continuing its massive airlift in preparation for any potential strike on Iran - one of the biggest in recent years. Overnight 17 tankers headed for the Middle East or crossed the Atlantic to European staging posts.

If it's performative, to prompt a US "win" in negotiations, then why doesn't the administration announce all this at a White House level. Seems to me that this is all part of a larger plan. Israel might start it off and the US will support them.

Guarantee that the place has been "sanitized" by now.

Grift and fraud is in politics everywhere. Sometimes isolated and sometimes rampant. Usually it's kept as quiet and discreet as possible, for obvious reasons. It has become apparent that as the right everywhere move the moral goalposts, so the grift is done in the open, slapping us in the face.

You have to ask yourself, if these statements are untrue, as some claim, then why have the accused not filed defamation suits. The answer has to be that, regardless of the outcome, what comes out in court, under oath, would be far worse, or more incriminating.

Real time decline of a once flagship US broadcaster. It takes time to attract viewers, but they can be lost in an instant.

But why stop there when you are on such a roll.

It was an advisory referendum because the Conservatives, at the time, thought "Leave" might be defeated. Parliament wanted to pursue Brexit anyway, it might have taken them a bit longer. There were many vested interests in leaving. It was all about their wealth at the expense of UK economy.

Oh, the ignorance.

Because of obvious world events that are sucking the news oxygen, Sudan is vastly under reported. It's so sad that Africa is always left low on the world leaders priority list. We are quickly approaching another "never again" moment.

Arguably, that's already begun, albeit in slow motion. Whether it's rollbacks in health insurance, vaccines or EPA rules, the result is citizens are less safe and many will die as a result. Fixing the damage will not happen before many are lost.

I think that this administration really does believe that undocumented immigrants vote. They also think that their heavy handed ICE operation has, or will have, removed enough of those "illegal" voters to swing the mid terms to the republican side. They live in a bubble.

UK must move away from US and towards a 'more European NATO', Keir Starmer to say at defence summit

www.itv.com/news/2026-02...

Is their something deeper to this seemingly throw away sentence.

Starmer wasted time trying to show the electorate that he was more Reform, than Reform. Now that his "advisors" are gone he might just be bold enough to make big decisions and ignore the obvious noise from the right. It would be a world I could never have imagined if the US drives UK back to EU.

I would, if I knew what they meant, and in what context to use them...

Independent journalism becomes more important than ever.

That's not just two carriers, that two battle groups.

@chadbourn.bsky.social Looks like the EU has limited confidence that negotiations will succeed.

The UK following the US playbook. I have little faith that the electorate will reject such blatant and ugly racism.

That is Russian fantasy. The chances of American attacking EU, either alone or with Russia is zero. America can't, or won't, even invade Greenland. The Russian fantasy is based on the ramblings of a commander in chief that is seriously unwell.

The Hegseth "warrior" ethos in its full stupidity.

The admin is now backing off, looking for a negotiated solution. Playing for time, or TACO? They have put a lot of firepower in the region & that has not made any impact on the Iranian position. Going back to the original Obama deal, calling it new, would be on par for this administration.