Cummings retro-edit of his blog perfectly timed to coincide with @SenTomCotton mainstreaming the "Wuhan Lab Theory" - the global right want to use this pandemic for a Cold War on China... 1/ My column: newstatesman.com/politics/uk/20…
2/ The Wuhan Lab story was pushed into the mainstream by a "member of Cobra" and a UK government minister (in the Mail) 10 days before US intel agencies started briefing their own media... newstatesman.com/politics/uk/20…
4/ The UK govt has repeatedly squashed the Wuhan Lab story. I don't know whether they have any evidence for it but as Bannon says Five Eyes and others are looking at it - but if they do, you can bet it will be the Gulf of Tonkin, v convenient for Trump's election strategy...
5/ Bannon, Trump, Cotton, the US right are determined a) to make the election about confronting China; b) to really confront China - because it's in China's interest for globalisation to continue, while their project is "Westphalian"... thewirechina.com/2020/05/24/ste…
5/ The left, too, should be seriously critical of the CCP: here's why #ClearBrightFuture is not on sale in Beijing...
6/ But as I argue here: any Western strategy to contain China by destroying its economy will lead not just to military confrontation - but to a continental-scale Fallujah. The west won't pick up the pieces, the pieces will pick up the pieces...newstatesman.com/politics/uk/20…
7/ The British political debate is muted on China. The Tory party is split because the City just wants to keep taking the money, same as with Saudi; Labour wary of all geopolitics; military/security rightly focused on Russia... but... newstatesman.com/politics/uk/20…
8/ It's time to activate calm, responsible debate: defend democracy in HK, smart reindustrialisation of UK/Europe, identify and counter (democratically) China's soft power moves here - but reject Bannon's warmongering. newstatesman.com/politics/uk/20…
9/ If you have time, read the 57-page propaganda playbook of the GOP on China... because it's coming here: link in the article... newstatesman.com/politics/uk/20…
9/ While we are here, if anyone wants a free copy of Live Working or Die Fighting in Chinese, I've just put it on Academia... it's the job of the Chinese people to build an alternative to the CCP - not Bannon! academia.edu/attachments/63…
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What a day! Assad fled. Saydnaya liberated. Russian power in the Middle East evaporating. Yes there's a vacuum, yes there are competing forces but Syrians now have a chance to shape their own future free of Russian/Iranian imperialism ... and Britain's response matters 1/ 🧵
2/ There is every chance that Syria fragments into three or four chaotic states. That's a function of the "multipolar world" the Putin/Xi acolytes on the far left are so fond of. Multipolarity = chaos is the theme of 2023-4. And Trump saying "stay out of it" is delusional...
3/ The P5 powers could - if Russia/China want to show an ounce of responsibility - work with Turkey, Israel and Lebanon to stabilise the situation. Because if Syria as a state falls apart - its currency, treasury and central bank evaporate - that will be a case study in chaos...
Labour's defence industrial strategy framework is meaty: it learns the lessons from dirigist countries and marks a break from DSIS2021 - some highlights: 1/ The trade unions are at the table - and so are regional employment objectives... unions will be on the sector council ... 🧵
2/ It is frank about what is wrong.
3/ It contains a - ahem - reminder to the fiscal authorities that not spending money on defence is a false economy ...
Jeremy and his merry bunch echoing Putin's talking points - so let's take them one by one: 🧵1/ it is Russia who has escalated. Firing ATACMs and Storm Shadows is both Ukraine's right; both have been used before and changing the targeting is incremental. Yet they make no criticism of Putin firing the IRBM. Why? ...
2/ There is no threat of "all out escalation" between NATO and Russia. NATO is not fighting Russia. Nor did NATO supply the missiles fired at Russia: Britain and USA and France did. This is not a semantic difference. NATO is a defensive alliance ...
3/ " The risk of a nuclear attack cannot be ruled out." Attack by whom? If there's a risk of Russia nuking Ukraine surely JC and the sectarians should protest this. Maybe write to a Russian newspaper? It is Putin's strategy to stoke nuclear fears and they are amplifying that...
Trump's apparent victory has 5 big implications for the UK: 🧵
1️⃣ It can happen here. He will back Farage, the Musk propaganda machine will crank up against Labour; the Tories will remould themselves into Trump-lite Islamophobes ...
2️⃣ The UK needs to become the European leader of NATO, and all European countries need to hike spending on defence and democratic resilience. America is a permanently unreliable ally in this century
3️⃣ Misogyny will enter mainstream politics - and the whole anti-woke cocktail will be normalised by the BBC and alt media - that's proved successful in America. We need to stand up for women's rights across the board
With Harris strengthening in late polls, there are three overnight scenarios: 1/ Harris wins clearly. Trump refuses to concede but is reliant on vexatious claims and lawsuits. Harris declares victory. World community recognises result quickly (btw look at these kids' faces!)...
2/ Harris wins but result relies on one or two states and MAGA begin a mixture of Jan 6, Charlottesville, Brooks Bros riot targeting these states alone. Recounts and lawsuits fly. At this stage Western govts have to seize first opportunity to recognise result or that fuels tension....
3/ Trump scores high enough in the popular vote and a lot of states are genuinely messy. Serious violence from far right, plus Trump's far left shills and Putin proxies weigh in calling it for Trump... 🤞 it's not this!
"We shall have only one class in this country - the working class..." Who said that? The woman in the picture behind @RachelReevesMP as she prepares the first real growth budget for 14 years. 1/ Here's what that means...🧵
2/ Today's budget is about choices. The first choice Labour will make is to promote growth - because the 2008 crisis, Brexit and post-Covid have all suppressed it, and we cannot deliver to working class people without growth...
3/ In the election, I heard people in leafy, Green supporting areas of Bristol come out of £2m houses and say "I cannot support Labour because you are in favour of growth"... so today's pro-worker Budget is a •choice• the Greens could never deliver...