Peter Howitt
"I’m here today to directly and unambiguously express that stark strategic realities prevent the United States from being the primary guarantor of security in Europe.”
US Secretary of Defence, February 12, 2025.
Let's get it out of the way up front. In principle, there is nothing wrong – and potentially much to be gained for Europe – in the US withdrawing from its post-WWII alliance with European powers and potentially even from NATO.
America's greedy gangster president is forcing European elites to finally reckon with the high price of protection.
However, the challenges in Europe becoming defensively independent from the US are very considerable. It is clear – even to a layman with no technical skill or expertise like myself – that achieving technological, military and wider security independence will take extraordinary focus and will need to be done in multiple stages over the next 10 years.
Europe is full of American shaped holes: what's the plan if the biggest risk to European security is America?
The European alliance with the USA has long been against Europe's own best interests, forcing it to placate a sociopathic uber-bully that has little care for international laws, the rule of law and democracy abroad or at home. Killing millions of civilians illegally without any consequences to the perpetrators – ever.
The USA has also forced Europe to reject China as a potential trading and geopolitical partner (and counter to American and Russian aggression), the manner and timing of which already seems like negligence (by the whole European political establishment).
Former Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas will begin a five-year term serving as the European Union's new foreign policy chief on December 1
In short, a naive desire not to face obvious facts, an understandable post-WWII reluctance to be properly armed and a degree of self-protecting moral cowardice has allowed European (including UK) leaders to avoid the obvious reality of what a US led NATO has long been (for decades).
That all changed last week.
The face-eating leopards came to town, and Europe was on the menu.
Before getting into the heart of the issue, we need to face facts.
America and Israel are brutal war-mongers which pay no respect to any of the international laws created, after the horrors of Nazi Germany and WWII, to protect all people from crimes against humanity.
Twenty years ago this week, the terrorist organization al-Qaeda, whose origins date back to 1979 when Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan, hijacked four airplanes and carried out suicide attacks against the Twin Towers and the Pentagon in the United States. Shortly thereafter, the administration of George W.
"The U.S. post-9/11 wars have forcibly displaced at least 38 million people in and from Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, the Philippines, Libya and Syria. This number exceeds the total displaced by every war since 1900, except World War II."
The Costs of War Project is a team of 35 scholars, legal experts, human rights practitioners, and physicians, which began its work in 2011. We use research and a public website to facilitate debate about the costs of the post-9/11 wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.
The illegal wars and sponsorship of terrorism and dictators by America have also been a prime cause of many of the immigration issues in Europe, which are being used to radicalise Europeans against immigrants and Muslims particularly.
Most of the tens of thousands of Palestinian men, women and children killed in Gaza by America and its 51st State in this Genocide are civilians. You could say they have been paying with their lives so that Europeans can feel safe under the American shield.
We can all see clearly the unswerving US-Israeli commitment to the decades (and centuries) old blueprint: murder, pillage, segregation and mowing the lawn until the Palestinians are like American Indians in their own land – isolated pools of sub-people with their families, communities, history and culture destroyed.
As if we have learnt nothing from the Holocaust.
Now Gaza is finished, the West Bank will be Gazafied.
While the World's Eyes Are Fixed on What Is Happening in the Gaza Strip, the "Gazafication" of the West Bank Continues. Operation Iron Wall in the West Bank Has
“One day, when it’s safe, when there’s no personal downside to calling a thing what it is, when it’s too late to hold anyone accountable, everyone will have always been against this.” (Omar El Akkad)
The award-winning writer's new book contends with how the war on Gaza shattered his fragile faith in the so-called free world
Yet, rather than Palestinian civilians and the Palestinian people being supported by Europe – based on our principles of humanity, democracy, human rights and rule of law – we have largely facilitated or ignored this horror.
The War That Is Supposed to End Sunday Will Go Down in History as the First Kahane War. It Is Fundamentally Different From All of Israel's Previous Wars.
You can smell our European hypocrisy all the way to Mar-a-Lago.
“Those who thought America was a friend or ally, notably Ukraine and Nato, are dropping once safe assumptions to cope with a world in which America is an unabashed predator.”
Donald Trump's abandonment of allies is real and will endure
Some analysts have long said that Trump and the mafia state rule he represents would support Russia against Ukraine - after all birds of a feather flock together:
"Contrary to Joe Biden, oligarchic rule — mafia state rule — did not just begin. It has been the framework for international relations for decades and Trump only accelerates it...guesses on foreign policy: Trump will back Putin and frame Russian theft of Ukrainian territory as “peace.”
My advice on surfing the blood-dimmed tide in the latest reader Q & A.
Yet, apparently, it still took European leaders by surprise to hear the Americans regurgitate Kremlin propaganda so openly and brazenly (again) in this last week.
With Trump going so far as to blame Ukraine for encouraging Russia to invade it (presumably a tactic he has honed in his own defence with the numerous alleged sexual assault and rape victims including a girl aged 13):
U.S. President Donald Trump denounced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy as a "dictator" on Wednesday and warned he had to move quickly to secure peace or risk losing his country, deepening a feud between the two leaders that has alarmed European officials. The extraordinary attacks - a day after Trump claimed Ukraine was to blame for Russia's 2022 invasion - heightened concerns among U.S. allies in Europe that Trump's approach to ending the Russia-Ukraine conflict could benefit Moscow.
The extraordinary attacks heightened concerns among U.S. allies in Europe that Trump's approach to ending the Russia-Ukraine conflict could benefit Moscow.
Trump also asserted, following Kremlin propaganda, that Zelenskyy's approval rating in Ukraine is just 4%, which Zelenskyy quickly refuted:
"We have evidence that these figures are being discussed between America and Russia. That is, President Trump ... unfortunately lives in this disinformation space," Zelenskyy told Ukrainian TV.
Trump reacted badly to being presented with a simple truth by a very brave man that is willing to fight and die for his country (not something that draft-dodging Trump would ever be willing to do).
As is so often the case Der Spiegel hits the nail on the head when it comes to Trump. This is the look of someone who believed America was its ally. Expect similar faces across the world as people realise the unbounded rapaciousness of Trump 2.0.
By way of reminder, Ukraine was given security and territorial assurances (primarily by Russia, the USA and the UK) when it agreed to give up its nuclear weapons in 1994 (following the break up of the USSR).
It has since been encouraged to join NATO by the USA and other alliance members for more than two decades and throughout the period of successive Russian invasions which started in 2014:
"We reiterate the decision made at the 2008 Bucharest Summit that Ukraine will become a member of the Alliance with the Membership Action Plan (MAP) as an integral part of the process; we reaffirm all elements of that decision, as well as subsequent decisions, including that each partner will be judged on its own merits. We stand firm in our support for Ukraine’s right to decide its own future and foreign policy course free from outside interference. "
"Russia is already aggressive towards the whole of Europe. It's started. It's got a strong army, it's attacking us on information, cyber, migration. I can mention other things. It's destabilizing us.. it's provoking us, testing us at sea, in the air" (French President Macron)
We note the obvious treachery of this American government. The USA has encouraged Ukraine to be closer to NATO and then now blames it for being invaded by a lawless brutal Russian dictatorship (that has used the process of Ukraine's closer relationship with NATO as justification for its invasions). Indeed, the USA seeking reparations from Ukraine for defending itself in these circumstances is sadistic.
The sadism of American policy to war-torn Ukraine
Leaving that aside, as a merely quibbling ethical detail, Trump sees it as seeking a return on America's previous investment in defending Ukraine. Yet I will say something for Trump, he is equally willing to plunder his own country and destroy his own people as he is with US allies:
Project 2025 Tracker
Trump's view is that Russia and the USA should be allowed to carve up Ukraine as they see fit and tell Ukraine and other European countries the outcome of that negotiation. He even seemed outraged that anyone could have an objection to such a plan. (In fact it is much worse than that, since Trump has openly talked about partnering with Russia in a nuclear powered alliance to terrorise other nations since the 1980's - see below).
The US president dismisses concerns Ukraine is not involved in peace talks and says he is confident in success.
It is interesting to note that no mention is made of the fact that European countries have provided more support than America to Ukraine since the 24th February 2022 invasion.
"First of all, we need to look precisely at the numbers. During three years of the (full-scale) war, EU support to Ukraine, which includes military support, budgetary support, and humanitarian support, was around 134 billion euros ($140 billion). If you calculate the same support from the United States, it's around $100 billion." (Andrius Kubilius, European Commissioner for Defence and Space)
Editor's note: The interview has been edited for clarity and brevity. Donald Trump's return to the White House has forced Kyiv and other European capitals to ask themselves a sobering question: What will happen to Western support for Ukraine if the U.S. withdraws? The U.S. has been, by
Meanwhile Musk didn't skip a beat in his support of the proposed carve-up, threatening to withdraw the Starlink service used by Ukraine to defend itself:
The U.S. first raised the prospect of shutting off Starlink service after Zelensky rejected the deal presented on Feb. 12. Starlink terminals are critical in securing Ukraine's battlefield communications.
Whilst Musk also continued his support for the far-right AfD in the current German elections:
A pivotal endorsement from Elon Musk came in the form of a tweet: "Only the AfD can save Germany."
Thankfully Mark Cuban entered the fray, as ambassador for the humane face of billionaire capitalism, explaining precisely how much dignity, honour and democracy matter when there is another dollar to be made:
Indeed, this kind of no-nonsense clear-eyed transactional thinking begs a deeper question that liberals seem too wet to ask. So I will ask it:
Yes, it might be considered a form of cannibalism (if you have any European instincts or any ethics at all) but who cares in this neo-genocidal world.
As former US Secretary of State – Antony Blinken – recently reiterated, this is a world where long-standing American foreign policy is literally 'you are either at the table or you are on the menu'.
Trump just takes this long-standing US foreign policy to its final conclusion – demonstrating clearly the truism that there is no honour amongst thieves:
"His geopolitics is one in which carnivorous great powers cut deals with each other and the smaller ones fall into line or get crushed underfoot. If you are genuinely shocked by these developments, I can only assume you haven’t been paying much attention."
The betrayal of Ukraine is a final warning to the UK and its continental allies to put a lot more energy and money into rebuilding their defences
Indeed, I must ask why should the UK not also get in on this succulent fascist feast?
"In total, the UK has committed £12.8 billion for Ukraine:"
After all, the UK is outside of the EU now and is one of the only two European nuclear powers (though unlike France it is not an independent nuclear power - see below). The UK has also been a generous supporter of Ukraine in its hour of need and some ROI must be expected by all.
In fact, if you could bring yourself to stop your moralising for a moment – and start to think more clearly (like the Masters) – why stop at carving up Ukraine?
There are plenty of resource and financially rich countries (without nuclear weapons) all the way until you get to the French border.
That's a lot of food for the table for this coalition of cannibals:
"We must resist
The Men
Who will
(For starters)
Wolf down
Our children"
We are the flames We carry the fire
This new axis of evil is monstrous. They want to make us all refugees of a post-truth world.
"They say Zelenskyy is a dictator, that free speech is in danger in Europe, that the EU is turning its back on democracy. If we maintain our capacity for truth, we realise that they are turning the world on its head...Don’t become confused. It is Putin who is the dictator. It is Putin who assassinates journalists. It is Vance's own administration that punishes reporters depending on their style guide, or threatens them with jail when they break critical stories. It is Trump who tried to overthrow a US election" (Ian Dunt)
The Ukraine war has never been entirely military, or even territorial. It is epistemic.
So a war for the integrity of Europe itself and the European soul must now be waged.
The long-standing question as to what it means to be European must now be asked and answered, and it cannot be answered by a purely technocratic European project. The democratic deficits within Europe must be addressed and a strong cultural program must be embarked on, if we are to give people an alternative to finding meaning and a sense of identity in far right, nationalistic, nativist, racist and anti-democratic parties.
For decades we have allowed US-Israeli integration into European politics and political funding, intelligence agencies, military collaboration, our media and even our police forces.
Exclusive: The British army's 77th brigade held secret exchanges with the IDF, leaked files reveal.
The UK has made itself entirely dependent on the USA for its own nuclear deterrent, in effect making it a vassal (or client) state. This is partly why it has justified its engagement in illegal wars (e.g. Iraq) when pushed by its sponsor. Claims of operational independence ring hollow, particularly when you have not managed a successful missile test since 2012 (despite paying billions of dollars a year to the US).
The UK's nuclear deterrent failed to fire a test missile reportedly landing close to the launch site.
Germany's Merz says Britain and France may need to "share" their nuclear weapons as America can't be relied on to defend NATO.
"But changing a fundamental culture, such as exists in the British Deep State with regards to America, is incredibly hard to do and would need an entirely new leadership determined to make it happen." (Arthur Snell)
In fact, I doubt it can be done
In addition to involving us in illegal wars and war crimes, the USA and its 51st State leverage their military and technological dominance to support far right groups across Europe. This includes the use of spyware against human rights activists, journalists, lawyers and politicians within Europe and by dictatorships around the world. See Spyware in Further Reading below.
Everyone in Europe knows that Israel has been actively supporting the march to the far right within our fragile representative democracies for years.
In his article for for our publication Analýzy ÚMV Azriel Bermant focuses on the challenges Czechia faces in balancing its historical support for Israel with its commitment to democratic values, human rights, and EU cohesion.
Now that America and Israel are clearly openly fascist states, any person or party actively supporting them or receiving funding from is advocating to make Europe more vulnerable to Trump's specialism - the Shakedown – and to further Russian aggression.
In my view, this is now tantamount to treason (though technically that charge might only apply to foreign powers openly at war with your country) and there are also anti-terrorism, foreign interference and bribery laws that are relevant (though the US is currently actively dismantling its domestic and foreign corrupt practices and bribery laws). I also consider any American supporting Trump and his government to be an American traitor too.
The question is whether European leaders have:
(i) the courage and honesty to face the existential risk facing us; and
(ii) the practical and political skills to create a long-term roadmap to European independence;
in the face of our extraordinary over-reliance on US technologies and military systems (that cannot be jettisoned at a whim).
We have a European crisis and, in many ways, it is a crisis that has been enabled by many political actors within Europe. The desire to rely on America to keep us all safe. In addition, the adoration of wealth and genuflecting to the most powerful is not an American national problem, we have also allowed it to eat into all of our societies to a large degree.
We have allowed ourselves to be ever more dependent on the uber-bully and we have let very powerful and dangerous people control much of our media and infiltrate our political establishments.
Project 2025 includes the strategy to increase foreign spending on US weaponry. In effect to ensure weaker countries continue to fund the US war machine (to further dominate them).
“[aim to] reverse the recent dip in FMS [Foreign Military Sales] to ensure both that our partners remain interoperable with the United States and that our defense industrial base regains much-needed capacity in preparation for future challenges.” (Project 2025)
See also: Trump tells Europe to buy American weapons to keep NATO strong
Europe has largely gone along with this strategy of dependence rather than face up to the realities that have existed for decades and which accelerated when Trump first took office in 2017.
Much of the technology bought from America and Israel will likely have backdoors built into it (see France's 'kill switch' on Exocet missiles) making it effectively useless if the US desires it. It will also consist of some of the most advanced surveillance technology in the world, to be used against the purchasing nations. Like spyware on steroids.
"We have a clear understanding from different EU intelligence services that Russia could be ready to test the European Union before 2030." (Andrius Kubilius)
"Let us go then, you and I,
When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherized upon a table"
(T.S. Eliot, 'The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock')
Europe faces an existential threat due to a combined concerted attack from East and West. It must awake from its etherized torpor before it is eaten.
This requires developing and deploying European based military and communications technologies that can be safeguarded against foreign agents, as well as an acceleration of algorithmic and content audit and regulations to prevent and punish (including prohibition) of platforms that clearly promote extremist misinformation in social media and news media. It requires prohibition and punishment of agents of foreign powers that facilitate or are funded by adversaries to undermine our countries.
In the first major European vote since President Trump's re-election, influence campaigns are targeting Germany from two sides.
In the 20th century the risk to European countries came from its heartland of Germany, and it almost failed to wake up in time to meet the threat (partly due to the remembered pain of WW1) – we also always honour the men and women from the USA, Canada and many commonwealth and allied countries that made their sacrifice at the hour of need.
This time the threat is from Russia and the US-Israel. Yet again, the memory of the terrible suffering of the last great war on European lands is part of the reason European powers have been so complacent – too slow to face up to the risks and take the necessary actions. The fact that the threat is now also coming from our long-time ally – the USA – makes it almost incredible.
Trump is currently replacing seasoned veterans in the US military with those that can follow orders (presumably the type of people that are good at making trains run on time)
In an unprecedented purge of the military's senior leadership Friday night, President Donald Trump fired the top US general just moments before his defense secretary fired the chief of the US Navy and the vice chief of the Air Force.
The Republican nominee's preoccupation with dictators, and his disdain for the American military, is deepening.
Quite simply, Europe is not properly structured for the increasingly hostile geopolitical environment it finds itself in and which it has known about for over a decade. It also seems to be still asking itself the wrong questions and not doing worst-case scenario planning.
As part of the US-Russian shakedown, J.D. Vance made an extraordinary attack on European democracy and regulation of technology (like X) that is being used to spread extremist misinformation and to radicalise people to extremism and authoritarianism.
“The threat that I worry most about, vis-a-vis Europe, is not Russia, it’s not China, it’s not any other external actor. “What I worry about is the threat from within: the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values.”
(J. D. Vance, US Vice-President)
Zelensky meanwhile continues to tell it to us straight and clear what we need to hear:
“The time has come— [a]European armed forces must be created.”
(Zelensky, Munich conference)
Brussels has slavishly followed Washington for too long-and forgotten how to advance its own geopolitical interests.
The unholy Russian-US alliance now seeks to both squeeze and hollow out Europe, making it vulnerable to further predations from East and West. Once the protection racket is in place – and asset streams are in full flow – they will allow European countries to be just strong enough to make their protection payments whilst making sure they are weak enough to continue being servile vassals. There is little scope for allowing a European Union to exist in such a strategy.
If this sounds extreme, this American government is now described as an adversary to Europe in an article in the Financial Times. Adversary is a particularly apt choice of words given that 'Satan' evolved from the Hebrew word for adversary.
"The interference in the German elections by Elon Musk and Trump's Washington was no less radical and outrageous than that of Moscow." (the new German Chancellor Merz)
"[With] The proposed eight areas..together with..bases that the US has requested in Denmark, Sweden, and Finland, the US will go from having one military base in Iceland and.. in Greenland to.. a total of 47 bases in the Nordics" (2024)
https://www.highnorthnews.com/en/norways-parliament-agrees-give-us-access-new-military-areas-north
Looking forward, I obviously do not see the US becoming the same as a modern version of Nazi Germany. My points made here and elsewhere are about the tactics that have been borrowed by the US and its 51st State from the Nazis – including some of the extreme racism and wicked propaganda, the love of cruelty and the general dehumanisation which the Nazi's excelled at.
It is getting late in the day but it is not too late for Europe (which includes the UK!).
Russia's GDP is less than that of the UK, and the combined GDP of the whole of Europe (including the UK) is around 10 times greater than that of Russia (the below shows just the EU GDP).
Europe also has some of the strongest armed forces in the world (the UK, France and Italy are in the top 10 military powers).
In addition, Russia is struggling to finance the war on Ukraine and was desperate for Trump to win the US elections knowing he would act this way.
"Putin's war economy has painted him into a corner, making it impossible for him to back down. His continued grip on power is now fully dependent on his ability to bankroll arms production and pay his troops. Without a steady flow of state orders for the war industry, the Russian house of cards will inevitably collapse. Europe has the means to target key vulnerabilities in the Russian economy, thereby undermining Putin's war economy and strengthening the continent’s long-term security."
SCEEUS Commentary No. 5, 2025 | Can Russia Transition to Peace? by Stefan Ingvarsson and Aleksandr Golts | Centre for Eastern European Studies, SCEEUS
However, Europe lacks strategic direction, coordination and basic honesty about the nature of the threats it faces. It also needs a much more positive relationship with China and most of the Southern hemisphere countries in addition to countries like Canada and Mexico (that will also soon face potentially existential threats).
"To start, Europe must rid itself of the dangerous illusion that it is weak—and stop acting like it” (Sanna Marin, former Prime Minister of Finland)
Finland's former leader makes the case for stumping up tens of billions more for Ukraine | By Invitation
European powers should seek to negotiate a peace in Ukraine from a position of strength without any American involvement. History shows us that a weak peace negotiated by America and Russia will only prolong conflict in Europe and avoid an honest reckoning with the new US-Israeli-Russian axis.
It is a Republican (of all people) that has made clear that there is only one strategic option that protects Ukraine, and the rest of Europe, from the new Russian-American alliance. We must freeze Trump out, if we are to avoid further pillage and endless mafia-style protection payments:
Europe also needs to get its house in order and ensure all countries support democratic values and the rule of law. It must immediately take serious action against Hungary and Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, the great European dictator and supporter of Putin and Trump.
"the EU should invoke Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) to address Hungary’s violations of core EU values and the undermining of unity. This article allows for the imposition of sanctions, including suspending Hungary’s voting rights in the Council in cases of a 'clear risk of a serious breach' of EU values."
Sebastian Contin Trillo-Figueroa and James F. Downes argue that the EU faces a dilemma: should it pursue continued enlargement, or contract its membership by removing troublesome member state Hungary? Reaching a decision involves a complex trade-off between the need to increase EU influence and to maintain a unified, cohesive membership.
This should involve, at a minimum, removal of their voting rights, suspension of financial transfers and any other measures that are lawful until they either act like a democracy or leave the EU.
Among all of Russia's useful idiots, few have sought to make themselves more useful than the Hungarian prime minister.
Hungarians who lived through Viktor Orbán's 2010 attack on democracy warn Americans: Act now, before it's too late.
"The European defence market remains highly fragmented. The lack of joint defence procurement and national preferences for defence spending translates into inefficient, small scale, and relatively high costs production across the EU...with only 6% of defence research and technology (R&T) funding and just 18% of total defence..spending dedicated to European..projects.. 78% of the defence acquisition .. were from non-EU countries, with the US alone accounting for 63%" (Andrius Kubilius, EU Commissioner)
A comprehensive and coordinated European Defence Industrial Strategy is needed to defend Ukraine and the rest of Europe and for long-term strategic purposes. We cannot build independent security whilst spending over 60% of our budget is spent on American and Israeli weaponry.
A drastic realignment between the UK and Europe is also needed so that the cost and technologies involved in maintaining a nuclear deterrent is shared across Europe and is entirely independent from foreign powers.
This strategy does not require political and military unilateralism, which would be very difficult with the EU and wider European powers. Instead it needs to combine the best capabilities of each European partner in terms of human resources and technology capacity with the benefits of an integrated intra-European market. However, military experts in Europe will know what is needed better than I.
"European countries should..develop a cost-effective rearmament strategy. Countries pursuing goals individually would be ineffective... A more integrated market for defence products would lead to greater economies of scale, resulting in lower prices and more defence readiness. Europe should aim at greater market integration for defence rather than at protecting smaller national markets."
Any strategy will need to take account of evolving Russian capacities, evolving political willingness and evolving defence industrial capacities
We also do not need a unitary European armed forces controlled by one organisation and one chain of command. It can be more like an intra-European NATO where armed forces, weaponry and technologies are able to be fully integrated and coordinated as needed and with minimum commitments to spending and armed force services staff by all.
"I agree. NATO should be doing more in terms of defense. But spending under duress and on capital-intensive US weapons systems, satisfying Trump’s desire to reduce US trade deficits—is not obviously the right way to go." (Peterson Institute for International Economics)
Europe (which as a reminder includes the UK) probably needs to spend over €800bn in the next few years on ensuring it has the right personnel, technologies, weaponry and communications infrastructure to ensure fully independent battle readiness.
European powers should no longer be allowed to purchase weapons from the USA-Israel unless absolutely necessary and on a limited short-term basis. Where they are acquired it must be on the assumption of serious mistrust in their reliability, operability and continued supply in a worst-case scenario:
Germany has started construction of infrastructure for the Israeli-developed Arrow 3 missile defence system at Holzdorf Airbase, located approximately 75 kilometres south of Berlin.
This process of decoupling and independence would also have a dramatic positive effect on employment and European economies, just at a time when a severe global financial crisis intentionally accelerated by Trump and his goons is likely – this in turn can protect against some of the radicalisation such poor economic conditions will foster in Europe.
How to prepare for the fire and the storm
Unless Europe wakes up soon, I see a world dangerously similar to that envisaged by George Orwell in 1984. One where three dominant superpowers maintain control over most of the world.
"the three philosophies are barely distinguishable.. Everywhere there is the same pyramidal structure, the same worship of..leader, the same economy existing..for continuous warfare. It follows that the three super-states not only cannot conquer one another, but would gain no advantage by doing so." (George Orwell, 1984)
Certainly America and Russia are beginning to seem indistinguishable as autocratic oligarchies (though the USA has more lawyers).
Indeed, it is interesting that it was in the 1980's that Trump was already publicly talking about partnering with Russian in a geo-political alliance that relied on threatening other countries with nuclear weapons to make them do deals (and ensuring countries like France did not have independent nuclear deterrent capabilities to resist).
But what about the French?” I ask Trump. “They—”
“I’d come down on them so hard,” he says. “Because I think they’ve been the worst example of—”
“But they already have the bomb. Do you think they’ll give it up?”
“Well, I tell you if they didn’t give it up—
..If they didn’t give it up—and I don’t mean reduce it, and I don’t mean stop, because stopping doesn’t mean anything. I mean get it out. If they didn’t, I would bring sanctions against that country that would be so strong, so unbelievable... ”
Donald Trump with his finger on the nuclear trigger. Donald Trump with the nuclear "football," the so-called black briefcase of doom, always within rea ...
America has been taken over by a criminal conspiracy supported by foreign state agents and corporate donors, these fascist forces are currently trying to help ensure that Russia is one of the three superpowers and Europe is on the menu.
It is hard to believe this, not because of the lack of evidence, but simply because we do not want to believe it. Our leaders can not afford such wilful ignorance to the realities of the world, otherwise we will all have our faces eaten off.
The leopards are on the prowl, and we know (deep down) we helped let them loose.
It's time to wake up.
“Rise like Lions after slumber
In unvanquishable number-
Shake your chains to earth like dew
Which in sleep had fallen on you
Ye are many-they are few.”(Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Masque of Anarchy: Written on Occasion of the Massacre at Manchester 1819)
In this article I specifically distinguish between the EU and Europe. They are not the same thing and some strong countries outside of the EU are European (e.g. the UK and Switzerland) – whereas other countries (like Norway) are in the wider European Economic Area grouping with the EU member states. The UK's future is with a strong European community and the younger generations are very clear about this. Indeed most British people now admit leaving the EU was a mistake:
"Just three in ten Britons (30%) now say that it was right for the UK to vote to leave the EU"
A mistake that was encouraged by Russian interference and by right-wing nationalistic opportunists and corrupt Conservative politicians that did not care that it would shrink the British economy (as long as they got a larger share of the pie).
2020 US Presidential Election, 2024 US Presidential Election, Brexit, Democracy, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Foreign Affairs, Media, Nigel Farage, Populism, Rupert Murdoch, Russia, Social Media, Steve Bannon, Tech, Data and Algorithms, UK Politics, United States of America, US Politics, Vladimir Putin
Leaving aside the corrupt Brexit clusterfuck, it is crucial to note that: most British people support protection of Ukraine and Europe rather than being allied with the USA.
The Takeover of America:
Susan B. Glasser writes about Donald Trump's actions on Ukraine and more, and his moves toward the Russian President Vladimir Putin's brand of authoritarianism.
Project 2025 Tracker
Read 671 reviews from the world's largest community for readers. From New York Times bestselling author Sarah Kendzior comes the bitingly honest examinatio...
International Law
October 16 marks the 20th anniversary of the vote to authorize the war on Iraq, which killed more than 800,000 people.
Nafeez Ahmed examines the direct and indirect deaths of the post 9/11 era, as a new kind of state-sanctioned mass violence became globalised and normalised
This is a digitized version of an article from The Times's print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions.
The International Court of Justice's (ICJ) July advisory opinion on the legal consequences of Israel's policies and practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is a landmark ruling.
One month after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered "immediate and effective measures" to protect Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip from the risk of genocide by ensuring sufficient humanitarian assistance and enabling basic services, Israel has failed to take even the bare minimum steps to comply, Amnesty International said today.
Responding to the news that the International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants against Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel; Yoav Gallant, former Israeli Minister of Defence and al-Qassam brigades commander Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri , known as Deif, (in the absence of confirmation of his reported death), for charges of war crimes and crimes [...]
A majority of member states, including the UK, Germany and France, said the court was "vital" for international justice.
The Betrayal
On December 5, 1994, leaders of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Russian Federation met in Budapest, Hungary, to pledge security assurances to Ukraine in connection with its accession to the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) as a non-nuclear-weapons state.
The ramifications of the president's appeasement of Russia will be felt widely, not least in the alliance he recklessly undermined
America's president calls Ukraine's president "a dictator" | Europe
The US President's attempts to extort Ukraine for its natural resources, while abandoning its fate to Russia, is a return to the worst imperial politics of the past, argues Aleksandar Djokic
The new Cold War between Europe and America
Europe is now staring at the beginning of a new post-American age. The policy collisions to come will be transformative for transatlantic relations and will reshape the transatlantic alliance.
Chris York explores the mood in the capital as Ukrainians try to make sense of the US President's support for the Kremlin
As Trump empowers Russia and the far right, he is laying the foundation for undermining democracies around the world
For the US president's cheerleaders, the whitewashing of the deaths of ten of thousands of Ukrainians is a small price to pay for sticking it to the wokerati
Europe's Defence Options
European democracies must stop infantilizing themselves.
"The Russian invasion of Ukraine and the aid that Europe subsequently sent to Ukraine revealed that the European defense industry was in a dire situation."
Pilar Maria Bolognesi explores the appointment of the first Commissioner for Defence and Space and what it will mean for EU security.
Officials say the proposal would involve less than 30,000 troops and be concentrated on air and maritime defence
The NB8 countries are some of Ukraine's most steadfast supporters. Amid shifting transatlantic politics, their role in strengthening Ukraine's defence is set to become increasingly vital...
Germany's Merz says Britain and France may need to "share" their nuclear weapons as America can't be relied on to defend NATO.
Ukraine war facts (and combatting disinformation):
US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff referred to the early 2022 Istanbul protocols as offering "guideposts" for negotiations between Russia and Ukraine on February 23. An agreement based on those protocols would be a capitulation document.
Russian forces currently occupy around 20 percent of Ukraine, leaving the remaining 80 percent of the country under Ukraine's sovereign control. At the current rate of advance, it would take Russian forces over 83 years to capture the remaining 80
Kompromat:
Donald Trump likes to present himself as a neophyte and political outsider, but that's not even remotely true. He fantasized about a run for president as early as 1987. Now with the help of the Republican Party and, it seems, the Russians, he's finally in. Debunking the “new guy” myth:
London, UK - 24 July 2018 It's now shockingly clear that Donald Trump is Putin's poodle. We report FIVE FACTS everyone should know about Trump's Russian money laundering & his high level links to the Kremlin & Russian oligarchs. Trump is financially, politically & morally compromis
A former senior KGB chief claims Trump was recruited by them in 1987 due to his role as a prominent US businessman
Next time a Russian troll claims Russiagate is a hoax, show them this post and tell them to fuck off.
On the election, war with Iran, Trump, Epstein, DOJ complicity, and more.
Making the world safe for oligarchy
US - European Defence Issues
On Thursday, the Norwegian parliament voted in favor of giving US forces unimpeded access to several additional military areas, not least in the North. Norway should keep up with Sweden and Finland, recommended the Norwegian Intelligence Service - while others express concern for the policy that aims for low tension in the High North.
The deal gives the US access to 17 military bases and training areas in Sweden.
The United States and Finland enjoy an enduring partnership as NATO Allies and close friends. Finland formally joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on April 4, 2023. However, our security partnership has steadily broadened and deepened since 1994, when Finland first joined NATO's Partnership for Peace program.
After decades of decline and reliance on the US, Trump could 'switch us all on and off', an insider warns. The services must identify key areas of investment
This treaty was presented to Parliament in July 2024.
![UK/USA: Amendment to the Agreement for Cooperation on the Uses of Atomic Energy for Mutual Defense Purposes [CS USA No.1/2024]](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstorage.googleapis.com%2Fpapyrus_images%2F7ec0b04a9e26e1465c5cafa4bca53950.png&w=384&q=75)
Spyware:
Forget the EU's reputation as a global tech enforcer. For surveillance companies, it's a place where anything goes.
A web of surveillance research reveals evidence of extensive sales and use of spyware and other surveillance products in Indonesia.
Exclusive: Investigation reveals how intelligence agencies tried to derail war crimes prosecution, with Netanyahu 'obsessed' with intercepts
The White House has refused to disclose how much data it gathered in partnership with the country's intelligence agencies
Serbian authorities are using spyware and Cellebrite forensic extraction tools to hack journalists and activists in a surveillance campaign.
Shocking spyware attacks have been attempted against civil society, journalists, politicians and academics in the European Union (EU), USA and Asia, according to a major new investigation by Amnesty International. Among the targets of Predator spyware are United Nations (UN) officials, a Senator and Congressman in the USA and even the Presidents of the European Parliament and Taiwan. The investigation [...]
Israel reportedly used NSO Group's Pegasus spyware as a diplomatic bargaining chip, and its misuse by many governments has intensified the bigger debate about surveillance technology.
"They know what they have to do," said Sophie in't Veld, who led the European Parliament investigation into spyware. "The problem is they don't want to do it."
Updated April 18, 2024: A PDF of "Buying Spying: Insights into Commercial Surveillance Vendors" with updated graphics was uploaded. There are no substantive changes to the text of the report.Spyware is typically used to monitor and collect data from high-risk users like journalists, human rights defenders, dissidents and opposition party politicians.
The new liberal majority has set up a parliamentary commission of inquiry to shed light on the use of the spying software by the previous populist government, particularly against opposition figures.
It alsoraises concerns about Article 17 and the "media exemption", potentially undermining the Digital Services Act (DSA) provisions.
Other Western democracies have been roiled by the use of spyware to target political opponents, activists, journalists, and other vulnerable groups. Could it happen here?
The Hungarian broker company involved in the purchase of the spyware that hacked phones launched a series of lawsuits against us and other media outlets, but lost all of them. In the meantime, however, real investigation into the circumstances of the surveillance has been very slow due to the authorities' resistance.
Former chief executive of the controversial Israeli spyware company NSO Group, Shalev Hulio, has partnered with Sebastian Kurz, Austria's ex-Chancellor who was forced to resign following a corruption investigation last year, to launch the cybersecurity startup "Dream Security".
Israeli tech firm NSO denies media reports that its software has been sold to authoritarian regimes.
Citizen Lab and Microsoft report the hacking tool QuaDream has been used against politicians and journalists, but they did not identify the victims.
As the United States clamped down on the Intellexa group for the second time this year, advocates criticized Europe's lack of action against commercial spyware creators.
Officials in Greece say an investigation has cleared the country's security agencies of involvement in an international spyware scandal that triggered U.S. sanctions earlier this year.
A Joint Investigation by Amnesty International and Haaretz Has Revealed That Indonesia, Which Has No Diplomatic Ties With Israel, Imported Israeli Spy Tech. Then Singapore Found Out About It
Israel's Defense Ministry Actively Supported NSO's Sale of Spyware in Exchange for Millions in Cash, Flown to Israel by Private Jet, but Colombian Authorities Deny Purchasing It. Colombia Has Severed Diplomatic Relations With Israel, Which May Complicate Their Ability to Obtain Legal Assistance From Israel
The targeting of a Human Rights Watch staff member with Pegasus spyware underscores the urgent need to regulate the global trade in surveillance technology.
The filings, part of a lawsuit WhatsApp filed against the NSO Group in 2019, shine a light on how Israel-based NSO Group - a notoriously secretive company - operates the powerful Pegasus spyware on behalf of government customers.
The law represents an approach to privacy shaped by both the Holocaust and Stasi surveillance in East Germany
Israel
Israel Election | When the Books Are Written About How Israel Became an Illiberal Abyss, the Tools Netanyahu Provided to a Far Right Normalized by the Media Will Be Seen as a Key Turning Point
Amnesty International's research has found sufficient basis to conclude that Israel has committed and is continuing to commit genocide against Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip.
The Israeli firm's Pegasus surveillance technology is facing heightened scrutiny after a news report it was used by Israeli police.
The Israeli army has marked tens of thousands of Gazans as suspects for assassination, using an AI targeting system with little human oversight and a permissive policy for casualties, +972 and Local Call reveal.
UK-Australia-US (AUKUS)
UK-Israeli cooperation
Senior Metropolitan Police officers are regular attendees at a think tank closely tied to Israel's military and intelligence services and have accepted hospitality from its embassy in London.
Middle East Monitor: A UK Stasi?
New York, October 29, 2024-The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on British authorities to cease using counter-terrorism laws to intimidate the press after police raided the London home of journalist Asa Winstanley on October 17 on suspicion of "encouragement of terrorism." According to Winstanley's employer, Palestine-focused news site The Electronic Intifada, the raid was in connection with Winstanley's social...
Read 17 reviews from the world's largest community for readers. "For five years Jeremy Corbyn was portrayed as a bigot leading an anti-Semitic Labour Party...
Our criminal defence experts explain the Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000 and what your rights are if you be detained by by a constable, immigration officer or customs officer.
OpenDemocracy: Firm behind £4m Labour Party donation invested in weapons for Israel
LFI is one of the largest lobbying forces in British politics, but refuses to disclose its sources of income. What is it hiding?
The UK High Court issued an order on October 11, 2024 granting permission to a Saudi human rights defender who lives in the UK to bring a case that accuses the government of Saudi Arabia of using spyware against him.
Preparing for the fire and the storm
How to prepare for the fire and the storm
