It is another day where there is much more to say than there is time to do it in.
Trump's actions in seeking to control the National Guard in California are now subject to a legal dispute. He lost round one. What is clear is that this is all a diversionary tactic by a desperate fascist, desperate to foster tension.
Netanyahu is doing the same by attacking Iran, and people are losing their lives again.
And here Labour says it has no intention of backing down on benefit cuts, none of which are necessary.
We are living in a profoundly hostile world, where the odds are stacked in favour of a desperate few.
This is what the Age of Aggression looks like.
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Last night the UN General Assembly voted for a ceasefire in Gaza and got the two thirds majority. The UK and France voted with the majority.
This morning we learn of the attack on Iran.
I have long argued that the West has driven Iran into an alliance with Russia and China. I have no liking for theocratic regimes but they are of little danger to Europe.
In 1988 at the end of 1980-88 gulf war, the Iranians were making progress against Sadsam Hussein’s Iraq. He then used nerve gas on Iranian troops. It is widely believed in the Middle East the US knew in advance.
I had a contact who was in Iran at the time and they were told the Ayatollahs said nerve gas was ‘un-Islamic’ (like nuclear weapons) and brought the war to a close.
In 2001 when the West invaded Afghanistan Iran gave a lot of help and offered (Jack Straw at a book festival ) a re-set of relations. Bush blew it with his Axis of Evil speech
Some Iranians, it is suggested wanted a nuclear weapon to deter the only nuclear power in the region -Israel.
In 2014 we had the JCPOA treaty. in 2018 Trump pulled out and imposed crippling sanctions -economic warfare-on Iran. The IAEA and other signatories said Iran kept the provisions of the treaty.
In 2020 he proposed an attack ( See Woodward’s book) but was talked out of it by Esper (Defence Secretary) and General Milley ( who phoned the Chinese to assure them )
Trump instead ordered the assassination of Soleimani .
If I were Iranian I would have expected Trump might attack.
Recently Israel bombed an Iranian legation in Iraq and Iran retaliated but announced the strike was on the way and only targeted a desert site. They then said the ‘account was cleared’. People like the BBC’s Frank Gardener tell us Iran does not want war. Last October the CIA said there is no evidence that Iran is building a bomb.
The enrichment of Uranium? One theory is to put pressure on the west to get back to talks. I suggest they wanted an option if all else failed. A dangerous option perhaps?
If the US wanted to stop this Israeli attack, I think it could have done. What purpose does this support of Israel serve? Domestic macho posturing by Trump and Right Wing politicians?
The states of the region are not democracies but the leadership have to take account of the opinion in the streets.
And western governments now face a choice on where they stand.
In response to Ian Stevenson, the biggest fallout from Israel ‘s declaration of war against Iran is the rapid unravelling of the global nuclear non proliferation regime.
Iran signed the international UN Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty ( NPT) in 1968, as soon as it was opened to signature. It commits Shia Iran to get nuclear weapons, or you are open to never to produce nuclear WMDs. Israel has always refused to sign the NPT and possesses 200 or so nuclear weapons. By attacking Iran, nuclear-armed Israel has set the new norm : you had better get nuclear WNDs, or else be open to either nuclear blackmail or be attacked. Sunni Saudi Arabia will no doubt have got the message loud and clear and will use its huge financial power to buy itself a nuclear WMD arsenal, from Pakistan and ,or North Korea. Next eilll be the petro-rich Gulf States, needing nukes to deter an aggressive Saudi Arabia. Soon Turkey won’t be happy with being “defended” by US forward-based air launched nuclear WMDs, and will want its own atomic arsenal. And so the nuclear dominos will role. And the world will be screwed( there is a stronger word, but I don’t want to offend delicate sensitivities)
Indeed
is there a ‘never’ missing from the sentence ” It commits Shia Iran to get nuclear weapons, “?
I’ve always opposed nuclear weapons, however in this instance I feel that other Middle Eastern countries possessing them may be the only way to rein in Israel’s maniacal behaviour.
After Israel’s overnight attack on Iran to decapitate its militarisation of its nuclear programme, I fear Richard’s analysis is right. I will be waiting – not holding my breath-for a BBC analysis of Israel’s own 200-strong nuclear WMD programme, which Iran has never attacked.
Yes, with austerity at home as part of the weapons system deployed in the name of aggression.
What the hell is Israel up to? It is so typically fascist to ramp up a threat as a basis to justify an over-reaction.
The new Israeli national anthem has go to be ‘No one likes us, no one likes us, We are Zionists, and we don’t care’. Wiser voices in Israel are being drowned out.
My betting is that the West will stand back – and then be there to take a share of the spoils. Israel’s Zionist real estate cult are just useful proxies for the West to go on another resource raid.
The world – unsafe as it is – and is getting more unsafe yet again.
Age of aggression indeed.
Thanks
& the UK & the British army is directly complicit in genocide:
https://www.thecanary.co/trending/2025/06/12/israeli-military-training-britain/
This is mad. In the eyes of Iran, the UK becomes a legitimate target, it is aiding, training and arming Israel.
(probably with the connivance of the Uk foreign office – ref the link that Col Smithers posted).
Agreed.
OK Mike – and I agree – but let’s refine your point.
The message to the British people is that it is YOUR kids, parents, relations, friends who will be in the firing line for any retribution for this poor decision making by YOUR government who acts as if it is still the 1940s.
The people who make these decisions – like Mr. Blair – will not be held accountable.
Many innocent people may well pay the price.
For the best report on what went on with Senator Alex Padilla and what Trump (aided by Fox News) is making of LA the reports from Nicole Wallace on MSNBC should not be missed, See here: https://www.msnbc.com/deadline-white-house
As Wallace says, yesterday was another Rubicon moment. And as one of her guests says, this is only five months in and already the autocratic turn has gone way beyond what we see in Orban’s Hungary.
He also says something which I’ve said on comments on this Blog for months now: THERE WILL BE NO MID TERM ELECTIONS NEXT YEAR. PERIOD.
You hear Democrat politicians – and many of their supporters – talk endlessly about how all this will be fixed come the Mid Terms, when the Republicans will lose the House and Senate, and thus the Democrats will be able to take action against Trump and his cronies.
Any US citizen reading this take note: THIS IS UTTERLY DELUSIONAL. Trump and his cronies have no intention of giving up the power they now have. So, you need to think about what you’re going to do about the rapid rise of authoritarianism NOW. Next year – in fact by the end of this year – it’ll be way too late.
And in the UK, and elsewhere across Europe and democracies worldwide, politicians and political parties need to decide NOW how – and more importantly when – you’re going to speak out about this rapid destruction of US democracy. And you need to plan a response – or decide it doesn’t matter – and let everyone know that’s your position. Burying your heads in the sand and pretending this isn’t happening is both crass and utterly stupid, not to mention cowardly in the extreme. But I guess that’s what we’ve come to expect from politicians in the 21st century. Pathetic.
P.s. Apologies for the Trumpish use of capital letters. Lacking a facility to use bold font in comments on this blog it’s the only way I can make stuff stand out.
Forgiven, because you are right. I wish you weren’t.
I watched a film of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 last night – a dystopian tale telling of an upside down world where firemen burn books to protect society.
Might it be a good idea if the Funding the Future folks set up sweepstake on when we can expect to see books being burnt again in West ?
‘Seems somewhat appropriate…………………..
I have little doubt that sometime soon it is going to happen. After all, books are already being banned from libraries and schools.
“US senator dragged out of LA immigration news conference” (12 Jun 2025)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5ygn48djrko
“Padilla, the son of Mexican immigrants, [..] If this is how the Department of Homeland Security responds to a senator with a question, you can only imagine what they’re doing to farm workers, to cooks, to day labourers out in the Los Angeles community and throughout California and throughout the country.”
This is staggering.
He is a US Senator – one of the 100 most privileged people in the US
Staggering
We have full blown fascism in the USA.
I have been heartsick and pessimistic since this administration’s first day, but today, reading and thinking about U.S. history, I came to the realization that we must never underestimate the rebelliousness of the American people.
“Padilla, the son of Mexican immigrants”
What the F*ck has that to do with anything. He is a US Senator. That is all that matters. Why would the BBC publish that comment?
In the last pages of this horror story, Israel is sadistically baiting starving Palestinians with promises of food, luring them to the narrow and congested nine-mile ribbon of land that borders Egypt. Israel and its cynically named Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), allegedly funded by Israel’s Ministry of Defense and the Mossad, is weaponizing starvation. It is enticing Palestinians to southern Gaza the way the Nazis enticed starving Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto to board trains to the death camps. The goal is not to feed the Palestinians. No one seriously argues there is enough food or aid hubs. The goal is to cram Palestinians into heavily guarded compounds and deport them.
Waiting to hear Starmer state that ‘Israel has the right to defend itself’, in line with Macron and Merz, who have already done so, though without offering the same option to Iran which has just suffered an unprovoked attack. I also hear that RAF jets were scrambled to help intercept Iranian drones, sent in response to the Israeli attack. The UK Government are supporting a Frankenstein’s monster state (whose creation we enabled) which is now in the process of destabalising the entire world.
I’d say the odds are 50/50. The people in power vastly overstate their position, intelligence and ability, and the efforts to undermine them go unseen. I do think we are at a point where the status quo is finished, and are in a place where different ideologies are fighting to control what comes after. Trump in the States, Farage here, they are fighting to sell our futures to the people in power now, who’s system is crumbling. Others are fighting to rid us of the old ways and try something new. Hapless Starmer is just fighting to keep things as they are and will be washed away by history.
Terrible events in Ahmedabad. I do hope they find the black box flight recorder as eventually getting closure makes a real difference to the bereaved.
https://www.thebailliegiffordprize.co.uk/inside-the-covers/news/annie-jacobsen-longlist-interview
Annie Jacobsen was on a CND zoom call last night.
Quite terrifying considering the difference between the number and amount of nuclear power now compared to the 50s and 60s.
The world could end in a couple of hours if Russia/US decided to start a nuclear war. It takes less than a second for an ICBM to be detected, and Russia has 3000 of them.
Trump does not need anyone’s permission to start a war, and the US has not adopted a ‘no first use’ policy.
Oh, and we are Big Brother’s airstrip one, with the number of US bases we have here.
Having nuclear subs is no better, either, as a nuclear sub is as dangerous as an asteroid and can level a city.
Happy Friday 13th.
Poets of the world unite!
It’s hard not to be angry at the world right now
It’s hard not to be angry with people who
Use violence to make gains
Or use words to put people right down and in chains
It’s hard not to be angry with people who
Use crafty channels to steal
Or use laws to make people kowtow and to kneel
It’s hard not to be angry with people who
Use power over the weak
Or use ruses to abuse and to hurt the meek
It’s so hard not to be angry at the world right now
It’s so very hard not to be angry at the world right now
But, being angry doesn’t really help
But, being just angry so doesn’t really help
Unless we can use our shared anger to
Bring strong peace to the violent
Bring deep justice to the lawmakers
Bring fierce strength to the abusers
Bring love where there is hate
Bring hope where there is despair
Bring poetry where there is only anger
To bring poetry where there is only anger…
Thank you
Might I repost?
Of course. Thank you!
And now posted, thank you.
I put some questions to ChatGPT :
How many military bases does US operate ?
The U.S. military operates approximately 750 military bases in at least 80 countries worldwide.
How many wars has the US fought since WW2?
The U.S. has engaged in at least 14 significant military conflicts since WWII, not including dozens of smaller-scale covert operations, drone strikes, or special forces missions. If those are included, the number could rise dramatically, potentially to 50+ smaller military engagements.
How many people have lost their lives in US initiated military conflicts?
Low-end estimate: ~6–7 million
High-end estimate: 10–12 million deaths (including indirect causes)
What is rough estimate of wars / conflicts for taxpayers from America and its allies for the above wars since WW2?
Estimated Total Cost of U.S. & Allied Wars Since WWII – $15–22 trillion (2024 USD)
The media and our beloved politicians will tell us that the above was for global peace and UK stands shoulder to shoulder with US and the special relationship is strengthened by all these wars and conflicts.
Maybe securing peace is better economics than hostilities!!
For an extensive list of US interventions in other countries, up to the coup in Ukraine in 2014, see
https://williamblum.org/essays/read/overthrowing-other-peoples-governments-the-master-list
Maybe it’s time more of us started to openly question the standard western view of the USA as, on the whole, a force for good in the world. The bad stuff didn’t just start with Trump.
As for our current generation of European leaders, I was struck by this:
“The entire Left in most Western countries – by ‘Left’ I mean the Social Democratic Left, the Green Parties and perhaps most of the entire political establishment – is now led by individuals who have been through the US ideological factories … the think tanks, the annual meetings etc. You know, the Leaders of Tomorrow type programs for which these people go to the USA on junkets, and become part of a network of leaders with a similar understanding of what is to be done, both domestically and internationally. People like Starmer, Macron, Von der Leyen and Baerbock … they belong to these circles.
So in answer to the question – why are European governments acting so manifestly contrary to the interest of their economies, their people etc? – the only reason I can find is that at the present moment the United States is in this sweet spot where the people it has groomed have taken power in major European capitals.”
(Canadian economist Prof Radhika Desai)
https://labouroutlook.org/2025/06/13/uk-continues-to-arm-a-government-accused-of-genocide-tayab-ali/
This is a worthy read…
https://roberthubbell.substack.com/p/its-an-attempted-coup-we-must-stop?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Thanks for this. I have given it a quick review, and will return to it. You are right, it does seem worth reading.
[…] John Harvey is continuing in his role as unofficial poet in residence here and offered this yesterday: […]