SpankyMcFarland

Anybody but Tony Blair! His former finance minister, Gordon Brown, who generally works for much less dosh would be a far more credible pick.

They had input into Trump’s proposal? No matter how awful Hamas are, they are the other side in this conflict. Peninsular Arabs and Turks can’t credibly speak for them.

I’m simply talking about process and why it might be difficult for a deal to be made and sustained. In any conflict there’s a lot of bitterness on both sides but there are certain confidence-building measures that increase the chance of a favourable outcome. For example, in the Northern Ireland scenario, the IRA had tried to kill many British ministers over the years with a few successes and nearly got Mrs. Thatcher herself in 1984. The British reciprocated, esp. through their paramilitary proxies in the province, but neither side went after negotiating teams. In fact, the British took great pains to keep the IRA and Sinn Féin together and ‘land’ them as one group in the peace negotiations. One danger in the current situation is that the ‘hotel guys’ outside Gaza may want a deal more than the surviving young fighters in the Strip and one could end up with a split. The best cure for terrorism is the prospect of better alternatives for young men and that will be a fair while happening in Gaza and the West Bank by the looks of things.

I’m an older, secular social democrat, so don’t ask me to provide any insight into what a fanatical theocratic group like Hamas are thinking or what young westerners are thinking either but just looking at this purely as a hostage or peace negotiation it is very unusual, let’s say. One side has had no input into the deal on the table and is negotiating with people who actually tried to assassinate them a few weeks ago! In addition, Hamas are being asked to make the big concession now - releasing the hostages - and then must sit and wait to see whether their deadly enemies keep their side of the bargain down the road. Any reasonable person wants it to succeed but the framework is very vague and I’m sceptical Netanyahu will stick to it once he has the hostages back. Given how weak America is when dealing with Israel one could not hope for much enforcement of the terms from Washington.

North Americans finance the illegal drug trade. That’s how it happens and I’m afraid the people who do that are all around you. Have you no friends or relatives who have ever taken such drugs? Absolutely none? What about using too much prescribed opioids? Again, nobody? I’m assuming you have friends and relatives in this country. If you can answer confidently and honestly in the negative you are very much in the minority. We can reduce the problem by changing ourselves and our expectations. Trying to solve it by choking off supply alone can’t work in a free country. If there’s a market there will always be people willing to take the risks required to make money in it.

We’ll just to wait and see what the files do show. A lot more are going to be released because this is not a simple partisan issue. The Congressman leading the fight for more transparency is a Republican: https://kentuckylantern.com/2025/09/24/massie-says-he-has-the-votes-needed-to-force-u-s-house-vote-on-releasing-epstein-files/

It’s hard to say whether Lutnick has new first-hand information about former next-door neighbour Epstein or whether he’s just repeating rumours he has heard but either way he is undermining the government line that no other rich people were involved in Epstein’s crimes and that there was no evidence of blackmail. In politics there are many occasions where you are required to keep what you know under wraps. Lutnick doesn’t seem to have absorbed this basic tenet.

Sarah: We can beat them. John: Yeah, right… Sarah: No, I’m not joking. They have a secret weakness. We pay for the whole thing. John: What? Sarah: This is embarrassing but here goes…we are financing this invasion. If we just stop sending them money they disappear. Why we ever did this is gonna take some to explain. Skynet loses. Credits…

I’ve been hearing guff about defeating the cartels for nearly fifty years. At some point in a debate one has to concede that the evidence is a mountain on one side and a molehill on the other. In terms of supply, it should be clear to anyone that we are up against T-1000 and no vat of molten steel will save us. Blowing up boats is like taking illegal drugs - it makes us feel better for a short while but doesn't change anything. This is our chronic problem and I’m afraid we have to address it ourselves. There are no short cuts.

It’s not a good deal for Armenia which was attacked by Azerbaijan aided by Turkey and Israel. The peace ‘deal’ was forced upon it.

How long have we been having this conversation in North America? Do you really think these actions will change our culture? I prefer to see the world as it is, not as I would like it to be. The cartels are like Charles Bukowksi’s girlfriends: when one leaves another arrives worse than her predecessor. They are not going away. That’s the nature of capitalism. And the more we criminalize this issue, the worse the people who control the supply will get. BTW anybody who claims Canada is a significant factor in America’s fentanyl problem should be ignored.

By persuading people they shouldn’t be taking this stuff. That’s a long-term project. North Americans believe there’s a drug for all their ills and that mentality crosses the line into recreational drugs too.

He’d still have made a fortune - look what he did after Lennon - but it wouldn’t have had the lasting effect their collaboration produced. Lennon gave him a serious artistic vehicle to place his melodies in and Martin added to it. What he needed with Wings was a lyricist or three and maybe a musical partner to keep all that sunny, sentimental guff in check.

Dear Leader can’t remember who fought Azerbaijan recently which led to this exchange. https://www.politico.eu/article/european-leaders-mock-donald-trump-over-armenia-albania-mix-up/ Next thing we know he’ll be telling us about the peace deal he concluded between Albania and acetaminophen.

There woukd still be the prospect of rejection to the ‘scaffolding’. A different use for stem cells is emerging to repair the patient’s own organ with their own stem cells, leaving the sick organ in situ.

Ukraine seems to be holding its own at the moment by moving ahead in the drone race and hitting Russian oil refineries again and again. What a country, what heroes.

Yes, if we see supply genuinely restricted then the price will show it but I doubt that will happen. I suspect the market will find a way to supply these people with the products they want. Cutting demand is the only true fix but that is hard.

Developing countries have many civil wars and insurgencies. Keeping up with the wars in Africa would be a full time job. India, too, is constantly battling with class, caste and religious conflicts and Christians have a hard time under Modi. But India isn’t America’s closest ally. Its leader isn’t in Washington every second week lecturing the world.

My observations are based on the decades of lost lives in this drug ‘war’. Let’s see if the price of these drugs rockets up or not.

Politics is not as easy as it looks. Take the example of Howard Lutnick, a highly successful businessman and CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald who is now secretary of commerce. For no reason whatsoever he has blundered into the Epstein affair and undermined the White House line: https://www.axios.com/2025/10/02/lutnick-epstein-greatest-blackmailer-fbi-patel

When Trump’s staff speak of drug cartels as terrorists bear in mind these ‘terrorists’ are financed by ordinary Americans who take illegal drugs. Until that money stops the system will continue.

There lots of blame to go round there. Any fair account goes back to at least 1917. Arab countries are beginning to fear Israel as much as they fear Iran which gives China a big opportunity in the region. China’s recent rise has been one of the most spectacular events in human history. I’d be cautious about claiming you can handle what’s coming all on your own.

The Achaemenids were absolute monarchs. While tolerant of ethnoreligious diversity they still ruled with an iron fist otherwise. And those Arab invaders were lucky to catch the Sassanids at a vulnerable moment in their debilitating wars with the Byzantine Empire. Iran should have stayed Zoroastrian. At the very least it should welcome the Parsees back. They have done so well in India and elsewhere in all sorts of endeavours, eg Cyrus Mistry, Freddie Mercury, and they may soon disappear entirely. Of course, there’s no hope of Islam disappearing but one could hope for a spiritual leader like Sistani in Iraq who seems to generally avoid interfering in politics. Indeed there’s no reason why something like the Ismaili version of Islam couldn’t be more widely adopted that is more compatible with modern life.

Taiwan and Crimea are very different propositions. The world’s most advanced computer chips are made in Taiwan. Losing it to the PRC would also endanger Japan and, by extension, South Korea.

America needs friends in the world if it’s going to contain China. Alienating them is unwise.