@christinecheng
War Studies, King’s College London. Researcher of war-to-peace transitions, civil wars, corruption, elite bargains, statebuilding, and UK foreign policy. Trustee at Conciliation Resources. Defender of democracy. Padel enthusiast.
BREAKING:
The Justice Department just posted online three FBI interviews that had been missing from the massive trove of Epstein files initially released.
They're related to unsubstantiated sexual assault allegations against Donald Trump.
DOC 1: www.justice.gov/epstein/file...
Special Military Operation, as they say.
Or WAR, by any other name.
BBC Verify has pieced together verified videos, satellite imagery and expert views after a deadly attack near a primary school in Minab, souther Iran, which suggest the area was hit more than once "by multiple simultaneous or near-simultaneous strikes".
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
During the Second Reading of the Representation of the People Bill, MP after MP got up to point out what's missing from it: fixing the voting system.
The problems with FPTP can no longer be ignored - and neither can the growing calls for PR. 📣
Here are just a few highlights:
"It could last six days, six weeks. I doubt six months."
— Donald Rumsfeld on the Iraq War (7 Feb 2003).
Again, Farage, Badenoch and their fellow travellers on X are wildly out of touch with the public on Iran.
Even the majority of Reform supporters oppose their position.
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.
Congrats on the new book!
Tickets to see Arthur Snell discussing his new book Elemental are available here:
ticketsource.co.uk/rossiterbook...
If you are within reach of Ross on Wye we highly recommend you join us!
Can’t stress this enough: Ukraine has the most experience in drone warfare of any military in the world + the most nimble supply chain capabilities.
When this war ends- and it will end- Ukrainian expertise will be in demand everywhere. It’s in Europe’s own interests to properly support them NOW.
When Mike Bloomberg tried to ban Big Gulp sodas for the same reason - heart-stopping amounts of sugar - the right wing lost their damn minds. Same people will no doubt nod sagely at this.
“When asked who he would like to rule Iran, Mr. Trump responded bluntly: ‘Most of the people we had in mind are dead.’ Now we have another group. They may be dead also, based on reports. So I guess you have a third wave coming. Pretty soon we’re not going to know anybody.”
/3
Trump: “It would probably be the worst, you go through this, and then in 5 years you realize you put somebody in who’s no better.”
NYT reports that Trump was able give his “worst case” scenario but not able to give a best case scenario.
/2
Trump, in his own words, on Iran war.
Q. What is Trump’s worst-case scenario for Iran?
A.: “I guess the worst case would be we do this and somebody takes over who’s as bad as the previous person…Right, that could happen? We don’t want that to happen….”
/1
The UK, Germany, Poland, Netherlands, Belgium, Greece, Sweden & Denmark “would also share in the development of ‘auxiliary’ capacities under the new nuclear doctrine: space-based alarm systems; air defence to shoot down incoming drones and missiles; and long-range missiles.”
bbc.com/news/article...
EXCLUSIVE: At more than 30 installations, U.S. commanders told troops the war on Iran is a Christian war.
The Military Religious Freedom Foundation has been “inundated” with more than 110 complaints.
One NCO said they were told the U.S. war is to bring about Armageddon and the return of Jesus…
uld you support or oppose abolishing ICE? (%) Somewhat or strongly supportNot sureSomewhat or strongly oppose U.S. adult citizens 39 Party ID Democrats 14 Independents 35 Republicans 68
Per The Economist/YouGov, half of Americans support ABOLISHING ICE.
Literally, "abolishing."
yougov.com/en-us/articl...
so Iran has apparently knocked out and destroyed / disabled to some extent two U.S. THAAD batteries
This is a massive deal. Aside from the expense, this is not a weapon system we just have a ton of lying around. You don't replace these easily.
defencesecurityasia.com/en/irgc-dest...
It's crazy how fast things changed in the global order.
Trump casually threatened to invade NATO ally Spain during a press conference in the Oval Office, and it's not even surprising anymore.
Things like this make it really hard to take US security guarantees at face value.
CNN put together a montage of the regime's incoherent talking points about Trump's war on Iran
When all the uber wealthy people left London for Dubai, they assumed that small states would be just as safe as big states, and that money can buy security.
This used to be mostly true.
But here’s a reminder that UK taxes also pay for defence. And that the Middle East isn’t Europe.
aje.news/um63bn
Reform win a seat: The true Volk have spoken and we all must listen.
Greens win a seat: Early reports that Muslims may have ‘voted’ (an ancient Islamic practice designed to steal elections). How severely should the franchise be limited in response?
Lap tops needed.
I need 15 good 2nd hand laptops for a drone training course Rugby Team are setting up for recruits who have passed basic infantry training.
The specification is below.
Can anyone help?
This is not money that needs to be spent
Specifically Ireland & UK
Twenty-plus years ago, did big, long Atlantic story based on formal "war game" involving "preemptive" attack on Iran.
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
Lots of details have changed since then. But not the fundamental conclusion of the war-game: ARE YOU CRAZY?? DO NOT EVEN THINK OF DOING THIS.
Spot-on point from Al Cairns about setting up the right *culture* in the UK military to innovate quickly.
We have so much to learn from Ukraine on drone warfare.
Universities’ “core function has always been to provide cheap, scalable trust—certifying competence, signaling legitimacy, and reducing uncertainty for outsiders. AI weakens those signals precisely by making them easier to imitate.“
Must read for all university faculty.
Japan shipping group says #StraitofHormuz closed to energy, other traffic (Nikkei Asia)
Trump thinks he can do regime change on the cheap. With no US boots on the ground.
This doesn’t work. Whichever civilian leader tries to take over still has to face the entrenched interests of the IRGC.
Since this is existential for IRGC, they will fight to the death.
What an utterly disgusting and dangerous front page from the Mail today. Surely by now everyone can see that Reform is a party that thrives on division, fuels anger, and uses the scapegoating of minorities and migrants to gain support. Everyone it seems except the Mail
