bannork

The whole notion of US ' intelligence ' was hurt. Talking about operations about to happen on mobile phones, one in Russia and one in Saudi. The world is laughing at the US government incompetence and stupidity.

What has this got to do with Hamas or Palestinians? I'm on the left and I support the Palestinians. I'm against Hamas and it's violent rule, glad to see the recent anti- Hamas demonstrations in Gaza. However I couldn't see many Teslas amongst the ruins created by the Israelis mass bombings so your headline confused me.

From Wikipedia: President Joe Biden ordered the strikes, and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak convened his cabinet to authorize British participation.[19][20] American officials said the strikes were intended to degrade Houthi capabilities to attack Red Sea targets rather than to kill leaders and Iranian trainers.[18][21] As of 2 January 2025, the Houthis recorded 931 American and British airstrikes against its sites in Yemen, resulting in 106 deaths and 314 injuries.

Terrible transport costs, carbon tax, from the end of the world ( sorry NZ) to the rest of the globe.

Very bad for the environment tree wise.

I agree, no Israel. That's Bolton's idea. The idea of bringing in countries far from the Atlantic is to strengthen the alliance and countries that counter empire building authoritarian regimes, i.e, China and Russia, and possibly the USA if it really goes down the same path, though Bolton suggests Trump may consider staying in NATO if it expands.

The state’s legislature on Tuesday advanced a bill allowing children as young as 14 years old to work overnight shifts. If the new law is passed, teenagers would be able to work overnight jobs on school days. They are currently prevented from working earlier than 6:30 am or later than 11 pm per state law. Other changes including eliminating working time restrictions on teenagers aged 14 and 15 if they are home-schooled and ending guaranteed meal breaks for 16 and 17 year olds. Florida debates lifting some child labor laws to fill jobs vacated by undocumented immigrants | CNN Business

The only country engaging in war in Europe is Russia, now seemingly backed by the US.

The article suggests the 4 other countries in the 5 Eyes will be very cautious about sharing Intelligence with the US. Not that they will stop spying.

Five Eyes, the most important intelligence network in the Western world, binds the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand into a tapestry of shared espionage. But now it is unravelling. Witkoff has, allegedly, been wandering Moscow with his personal phone. Russian intelligence will have penetrated his handset. as easily as the Saudi Arabians, and the other Gulf countries he has also visited. Every resident in Saudi or the UAE is famously aware that their communications are so bugged they can sometimes hear recordings of themselves mid-chat. US-allied intelligence agencies will now be scrambling to try to figure out what secrets of theirs Witkoff may have stored on his phone. The most important intelligence sharing network in the west is being ruined by America - here’s how Questions now remain: How many other officials on the Signal chat were using their own personal phones? Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard refused to tell the Senate Intelligence Committee whether she was using a government-issued secure phone for the chat or her personal device. The only conclusion that can be drawn is she and others in the US admin cannot be trusted to share intelligence.

Wasn't SEATO dissolved in 1977? ASEAN members protect each other military wise ?? I'll believe it when I see it.

I wouldn't include Israel, that's Bolton's opinion.

Good news. Denmark has welcomed changes to a Greenland trip by US Vice-President JD Vance and his wife Usha, which has been reduced to a visit of just a US space base. Earlier this week, it was announced that Usha Vance would spend several days in Greenland, visiting the capital Nuuk and attending cultural events like a popular annual dogsled race. The White House said on Tuesday that JD Vance would join his wife in Greenland but that the couple would only spend a day there visiting the US Pituffik Space Base, on the north-western coast. JD Vance will join wife in Greenland but trip scaled back - BBC News

Isn't this story about India more than Thailand?

I liked John Bolton's recent remarks regarding NATO. He said the Europeans should ignore the Trump's admin badmouthing Europe, Trump will only be here 4 years max. In the meantime, although European leaders might feel like telling the US they don't need them so it's time to build a European force only, this will simply give Trump a good excuse to leave NATO, something he's been threatening to do for years. Bolton recommends European nations build up their military forces, and importantly, follow the advice of Jose Maria Aznar, the former Prime Minister of Spain, namely make NATO global: bring in Japan, Australia, Singapore, Israel. According to Bolton this could cause Donald to think twice about leaving NATO. Good idea, wot?

Absolutely. I'm glad some Palestinians have turned against Hamas. If only enough Israelis could turn against their own right wing zealots, then perhaps peace could follow, but so much brutality on both sides since Oct 7 will make that difficult.

Petition: Cancel Trump’s state visit – Stop Trump Coalition regards bannork

A More in Common poll last month ( January 2025) found that 59% had a negative view of Trump and just 24% had a positive one, giving him a lower approval rating than any UK politician. When voters were asked by YouGov in December why they were unhappy that Trump had won the presidential election, respondents most commonly cited his criminal record and misogynistic attitudes, but also used a range of unflattering adjectives including racist, crazy, authoritarian and dangerous. UK party leaders walk tightrope on Trump while voters want stricter stance | Foreign policy | The Guardian I would suggest since then his popularity has sunk even further after the abusive and condescending remarks about Europe and its militaries from his sidekicks.

The rise of China and alliances like BRICS are building alternative financial ecosystems. More countries are ditching the dollar in trade - think Brazil and China settling in yuan, or India buying oil from Russia using rupees. Systems like China’s CIPS or India’s RuPay, and big experiments with digital currencies (like the mBridge project), are being designed to cut the dollar out of the loop entirely. Many countries, tired of being at the mercy of Washington’s decisions, are looking to reclaim control to focus more on productive investment than speculative gains. National reserves are being diversified, central banks, especially in China and Russia, are holding fewer dollars and more gold, euros, and yuan. Countries are signing currency swap deals - India with Malaysia, China with Saudi Arabia, Russia with Turkey. Payment systems like Russia’s SPFS are being built to bypass SWIFT, the messaging backbone of dollar transactions.. From cryptocurrencies to gold-backed payment tools, there’s a growing demand for reserves of value outside the dollar. It’s a systemic shift. A move away from speculative finance, and toward a more multipolar world where countries can control their destinies. Will the world move away from the US dollar?

A dog would leave him.

The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg had advance notice of a recent United States military strike against Houthi rebels in Yemen because he was sent plans for the strike in a message from Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth. On March 11th he received a connection request on encrypted messaging app signal from Mike Waltz, President Donald Trump's national security adviser. After accepting the request, Goldberg was then invited to join a messaging channel called "Houthi PC small group" that appeared to show administration officials coordinating plans to attack the Houthis. Goldberg thought it could be a set up but his doubts faded when a user identified as Hegseth sent highly detailed plans for a strike in Yemen, and then bombs began to fall on the country a few hours later. Goldberg left the Signal group and then sent questions to Trump officials asking them why they had given him access to top-secret war plans. Journalist stunned as Pete Hegseth inadvertently sends him top-secret war plans

My favourite dream VID-20250324-WA0000.mp4

The man is a real estate investor. Zero experience in geo politics as shown by his ignorant remarks.