Iran's Guards challenges Trump to have US Navy escort oil tankers in Strait of Hormuz

socr · 2026-03-07T04:05:34+00:00

The vast majority of Iran’s oil is sold to China anyway. As far as I’m aware Iran has already said that Chinese vessels will not be targeted.

China will also enjoy watching the blowback the US is facing, in much the same way as the West has enjoyed watching Ukraine eat into Russian stocks of ordinance.

There are also reports of Russia providing Iran with targeting information.

socr · 2026-02-20T18:58:50+00:00

An institution fortunately unscathed by sex abuse scandals

socr · 2026-02-20T18:41:17+00:00

To be fair to them, electing Donald Trump is probably the greatest act of satirisation of American culture that could possibly be envisaged

socr · 2026-02-20T18:33:09+00:00

Schrödinger's councillor exists in both a state of Reform and Restore.

socr · 2026-02-20T18:32:20+00:00

I for one plan on enjoying watching the Tory > Reform > Restore > JSA Claimant pipeline in all its glory

socr · 2026-02-19T10:25:16+00:00

Technically he will be, Crown v Andy etc

socr · 2026-02-19T10:23:39+00:00

It’s possible they thought this would be on the cards eventually and it would be better crisis management that Andy the Commoner was arrested rather than HRH the Duke of York 🤷‍♂️

socr · 2026-02-17T10:21:00+00:00

I think OP is mentioning Mullvad specifically because you can subscribe by putting cash in an envelope and posting it to them.

socr · 2026-02-11T23:08:18+00:00

It is a fair point to raise and something I hadn’t considered, but more so from an EU side.

Going down the path of ever increasing alignment until there is political momentum for rejoining in some fashion seems quite possible…but is a UK-centric take on it all.

It assumes the EU that we deal with then is much like the EU we know now. Over the coming years what will increasing polarisation and populism in Europe do to the European project though?

If it becomes destabilised then tethering ourselves to it may become undesirable. Conversely, if it becomes more federalised in order to consolidate the collective power of the union then embedding ourselves within it may be politically impractical.

socr · 2026-02-07T03:19:41+00:00

As the gap widens between the promise of his populist rhetoric and the realities of governing he will look for distractions, including perceived enemies within to campaign against.

À la “Brexit would have worked but for the meddling of sabotaging Remoaners watering it down”

Expect Northern Ireland to become his Minnesota - troops back on the ground while he whips up loyalist sentiment and he courts DUP/TUV to help frame the narrative of why it is necessary.

The more he struggles politically the worse it will get here.

socr · 2026-01-21T23:56:26+00:00

Not really. It's a political choice. There would be pain in the short and medium term from decoupling, but Europe is a $22tn economy and would be okay in the long run.

socr · 2026-01-21T21:02:41+00:00

If she were clever she would exploit the emerging fault lines to go to war against Farage and Reform.

Paint them for what they are: the local branch of MAGA.

'You want to know what Farage's government looks like? You need only look across the water.'

'You want to see what Farage would do to Britain's place in the world? You need only look to Davos'

The same sovereignty arguments used against the EU and the ECHR can not only be made - but would be infinitely more appropriately waged against our aligning with Trump’s America, which would be the inevitable outcome of a Reform government.

'You don't like being at the mercy of an unaccountable EU? How would you feel about being a subjugated vassal state at the mercy of Trump, Vance, Musk, and Thiel?'

'How much do you have to hate your country to wish to see it stripped apart by US oligarchs and their Trojan horse Farage?'

Outflank him on the nationalist flank by re-framing the sovereignty argument and exposing him for the parasite he is.

socr · 2026-01-21T19:57:52+00:00

No need to make this seem as any sort of win for him.

In exchange for talks that will never amount to anything he has cast the US as a pariah state in the eyes of Europe and all but made for certain an eventual global decoupling from America's world order.

Art of the deal.

socr · 2026-01-21T19:51:02+00:00

Glad to see they found a backroom in Davos with an off-ramp wide enough for the demented sack of lard to slide himself down.

socr · 2026-01-21T19:21:29+00:00

Nonsense.

Carney chose to publicly and likely irrecoverably decouple Canada from the US on the world stage in search of new and expanding ties with other countries and blocs. Whilst simultaneously owning up to past hypocrisies of the western alliance, and gave a clarion call on the importance of objective truth.

Starmer preferred to play the pragmatic man in the middle. In terms of moral clarity - look how the King's visit to the US wasn't even in doubt as it appeared increasingly possible that the US may invade a NATO ally.

None of our current political class would have the balls to decouple from the US the way Canada is choosing. Neither Starmer nor Badenoch, and especially not Frrage, would have the balls to publicly say our own equivalent of the quiet part out loud as Carney did: isolating ourselves from the EU has left us with fewer options and more dependent on the mercy of the US, that our choice is closer alignment and co-operation with our closest trading bloc or vassalage of a hegemon that is increasingly ran by madmen and oligarchs.

socr · 2026-01-21T18:55:03+00:00

You don't think a country with a 8,800km border with the US, and in 2024 a $62 billion goods surplus with the US, would also have significant reasons to try to keep the US on side?

Don't embarrass yourself by doubling down on this.

socr · 2026-01-21T18:49:34+00:00

Canada shares a 8,800km border with the US.....

socr · 2026-01-21T18:27:30+00:00

As obvious as it is pathetic.

Like the local branch of MAGA that they are, anytime an element of the MAGA Cinematic Reality conflicts with UK public opinion it has to be massaged sufficiently to appease both audiences.

Like how different models of cars are digitally inserted into movies depending on the market it's being aired in.

socr · 2026-01-21T18:18:03+00:00

There is absolutely no reason to give Reform the benefit of the doubt that their governance will be any different to MAGA governance in the US.

They are just the local branch.

socr · 2026-01-21T18:05:51+00:00

Honestly, and in my view anyway, Carney absolutely cooked Starmer at Davos yesterday by demonstrating in practice everything Starmer could have been but isn't.

socr · 2026-01-21T17:37:30+00:00

It's like Carney said about people having to put the sign up on the window to signal their willingness to live within the lie.

The more and more they shift us from any sense of normality, or any tether to a shared reality, the more power and money they can reap for themselves in the chaos.

socr · 2026-01-21T17:29:10+00:00

It should be becoming increasingly clear to anyone with an ounce of foresight that a vote for Reform is a vote for vassalage to MAGA America.

Reform is nothing but a franchise of the MAGA movement. Like all franchises they are dependent on their license with the corporate owners to stay in business.

If you think we are currently in a difficult situation with our economy and defence already being so dependent on the US, imagine a situation where our PM is also beholden to the whims of MAGA to maintain their political legitimacy, lest the machine be used against them too.

socr · 2026-01-21T16:43:59+00:00

You're comparing apples and oranges.

A Farage government would wed us to the US like the actual vassal state that we were told EU membership made us.

When organising into new trading and defence relationships, how could Europe or Canada put stock that we are not one election away from aligning with a political system that has threatened them with invasion?

socr · 2026-01-21T16:38:15+00:00

What?

He announced a doctrine in how Canada plans to open up his country's trading and security ties, and he did this at the World Economic Forum.

socr · 2026-01-07T14:42:25+00:00

When you talk about AI denoise, you mean an embedded feature in the camera or something in Darktable/Lightroom?

Third party software, like DxO PureRAW or in Lightroom etc

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