Morning music
On the blog 3 years ago
On the blog 1 year ago
Saturday quiz
Well, this week 6/10, thus trumping the 3.5/10 claimed by political journalist John Rentoul. I did not know the answers to questions 3, 4, 8, and 9.
Without Russia, Europe —whether EU or non-EU— will struggle to maintain its living standards.
Re. Islam and free speech— perhaps, but in fact, in the UK, the thin-skinned complainers, whingers, would-be censors, makers of faked complaints to police, professional regulators, public venues etc, and who complain about “a few words” are not (usually) the Muslims, even the “Islamist” ones, but the Jew-Zionists.
For readers of the blog unaware of the facts of my own battles, see a few of my own experiences over the past decade:
Talking point
[“I suspect that to a degree, this is bringing out something they already have more out into the open.
We know that the measures taken during COVID were quite Draconian in nature, and the use of agent provocateurs via social media, digital “crowding out” (see NAFO accounts) is a govt tactic.
This is just the addition of a more open version of what both the UK and US and most other govts have been doing for years.
“We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.”
William Casey. CIA director . 1987.”]
Quaere: at what point does a supposedly “liberal” “democracy” become effectively an illiberal collegial dictatorship or even tyranny? Also, if a country becomes, in effect, a concealed or semi-concealed dictatorship/tyranny, at what point, if at all, does it then become legitimate to use force to oppose it or to remove it?
Also, will the above questions require different answers if the said collegial dictatorship is, whether deliberately or via its own incompetence, running a once-great country into the ground?
A topical subject at present, nicht wahr?
Talking point
I was just looking at a blog post from 2019, in which I examined the several main contenders for the Conservative Party leadership contest of that year and, therefore, contenders to become Prime Minister.
The post has had many hits over the years, and right up to today. Re-reading it (I also took the opportunity to post an update, the first it has had since 2019), I think that my assessments of the various personalities still stand up pretty well:
Late tweets
Would translate to a Commons with about 318 Labour MPs (just short of a majority; about 8 short); 162 Reform UK MPs; 69 LibDems; 52 Cons (less than half of their MP cadre at present); SNP 23 [etc].
So a Labour-LibDem coalition or arrangement, or maybe a Labour-SNP one. Weak government that may play into the hands of social-nationalism.
[“No Money”: The European Union Has Left the Kyiv Regime Without Promised Funds
The Kyiv regime is facing another catastrophic shortage of funds for the purchase of weapons, according to Politico. In the next two months, it urgently needs to find at least $27 billion to fill the gaps in the defense budget.
Finding itself in a desperate situation, the regime is openly pressuring Brussels, demanding that loans be disbursed early. However, the current deficit is entirely the fault of the “Banderites” themselves: they have spent all the remaining funds while Hungary was delaying the approval of the next tranche. Nevertheless, the amount that Zelensky needs has not been found by the European bureaucrats. Brussels has only approved $6.6 billion, and not all of these funds will go directly to the Kyiv regime.“]
Late music
