Forum Topics

Is the US trying to wage biological warfare?

"U.S. Navy’s Top Supercarrier USS Gerald Ford Suffers Raw Sewage Overflows During Deployment Against Iran""Most of the USS Gerald Ford’s approximately over 600 toilets have reportedly become non-functional at times, forcing sailors to wait up to 45 minutes or more for working facilities. According to the Navy Times, the supercarrier received an average of one "sewage-related maintenance call per day" during its 2025 deployment. Internal records show hundreds of failures of the USS Gerald Ford’s sewage system over short periods, including an internal report of 205 breakdowns in four days during 2025, forcing the carrier to seek external assistance dozens of times since 2023 to try to keep the system serviceable. The use of a specialised acid flush, costing around $400,000 per use, has sometimes been necessary to clear buildup and can only be done in port, not at sea. The requirement for sailors and technicians to work long hours to manage the problem has reportedly contributed to low morale, exacerbating the demoralisation already caused by the significant extension of the supercarrier’s deployment long past usual durations. U.S. Navy officials say the toilet problems haven’t compromised mission capabilities, but they are a serious quality-of-life concern."https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/us-navy-ford-raw-sewage-overflowsIran should shut this US carrier down, as a health hazard.

David Ainsworth ● 11d2 Comments ● 10d

Will Trump be allowed to take "yes" for an answer?

"AFTER two months of presidential threats, amid the largest air and naval build-up in the Middle East since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Americans might have expected Donald Trump to make the case for what may be an imminent conflict with Iran. Yet his state-of-the-union address on February 24th devoted just a few minutes to the subject. Not only that, he said Iran could avoid a fight if it simply uttered “those secret words: we will never have a nuclear weapon”. (Economist 25 Feb)"Iranian president reiterates Iran’s opposition to building nuclear weapons — state TV""Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has banned weapons of mass destruction, which “clearly means Tehran won’t develop nuclear weapons,” President Masoud Pezeshkian says.Pezeshkian speaks ahead of a third round of nuclear talks today with the US in Geneva. US President Donald Trump has threatened to attack Iran if an agreement is not reached on Tehran’s nuclear program, and called in his State of the Union address for Tehran to pledge not to obtain a nuclear bomb.Khamenei, who has the final say on the nuclear program, banned the development of nuclear weapons in a fatwa, or religious decree, in the early 2000s, and Iran has consistently denied seeking to acquire the weapons.However, it has enriched uranium to levels that have no peaceful application, obstructed international inspectors from checking its nuclear facilities, and expanded its ballistic missile capabilities. Prior to the June 2025 war between the countries, Israel said Iran had recently taken steps toward weaponization." (Times of Israel today)---------------------------A sidelight worth considering:-"Israel's nuclear weapons program has never been subject to formal, comprehensive inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) or other international bodies. Israel is not a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and maintains a policy of nuclear ambiguity. However, the U.S. conducted inspections of the Dimona site in the 1960s.""Nuclear ambiguity!" The 1960s! Utter farce.

David Ainsworth ● 10d0 Comments ● 10d

Performative government

Performative government can be defined as government in which ministers seek  plaudits from fellow ideologues rather than pursue goals determined by a dispassionate analysis of costs and benefits. There are several examples of performative policies followed by the current Labour administration.The most damaging example is probably the  push to net zero. This policy, which has won approval from environmentalists, has meant that British consumers and British industries  face some of the highest electricity costs  in Europe. The justification for the haste to achieve net zero is to create jobs and save the planet, but in fact it does neither. Thousands of jobs have been lost in the North Sea. As for saving the planet, the UK is responsible for around 1% of global greenhouse gas emissions, so any action in this country would has little effect. And the notion that the UK might be a beacon of light to other countries is laughable. In fact the less oil extracted from the North Sea, the more oil has to be imported from abroad, which simply exports the pollution.Another example is the Chagos deal, pursued by the government in slavish compliance  with a non- binding decision of jurists of the ICJ obsessed with anti-colonialism, even though the deal undermines the rights of the native Chagossians and jeopardises British national security.Yet another is the decision to impose VAT on independent schools. The supposed aim of this legislation is to create 6000 extra teachers for the state system. But its effect has been to force the closure of several schools, create extra demand on the state system, disrupt children’s education and place an unfair burden on parents. It’s obvious that the government is motivated by a wish to please the class warriors  in the party, determined to attack the privileges of the rich, even though many of of them earn far more than some of the parents who have to scrimp and save to pay for a decent school for their children.In short, Labour put ideology ahead of common sense.

Steven Rose ● 16d43 Comments ● 10d

Israel - our ally

Extract from Spectator online - "Will no one acknowledge how Mossad helps Britain?"Jake Wallis Simons21 November 2025, 11:24am'Let’s imagine that an international jihadi network, with cells in London and Europe, had just been busted, with dramatic arrests in Britain, Germany and Austria. Let’s imagine that the group had been planning a string of atrocities, with a weapons cache discovered in Vienna.Let’s imagine that security services had unearthed ‘tens of thousands of Euros in cash, numerous data storage devices and mobile phones, gas pistols, firearms, ammunition, knives, and related literature’. You’d have expected such a story to make the news, right?Wrong. On Monday, the Israeli prime minister’s office announced that this precise scenario had unfolded, with Mossad handing intelligence to MI5 and European agencies that enabled them to bring the jihadis to justice and foil their murderous ambitions. The name of the gang? Here’s a clue: it coordinated with leaders in Qatar and Turkey. You guessed it.In a statement that would chill the heart of any Briton or European were they to have heard it reported, Benjamin Netanyahu’s office warned: ‘Since the October 7 massacre, the Hamas terrorist organisation has been working with renewed vigour to build infrastructure and recruit terrorist cells in Europe and other arenas, similar to the Iranian regime and its proxies.’When people talk of Iranian ‘proxies’, they are referring to groups such as Hezbollah, the Houthis and less well-known terrorist gangs in Syria and Iraq. Over the decades, Tehran built these up into a ‘ring of fire’ around Israel, which was only dismantled after the Mossad pager operation last year, followed by Israel’s airborne humiliation of the Iranian regime during those fateful 12 days in June.That is what the Israelis are saying that we are starting to face here. A network of proxies. A nascent ring of fire, preparations for a 7 October of our own, awaiting activation.'Why does our MSM not report this ?Why don't we wake up and smell the coffee (Turkish ?) and be forearmed as well as forewarned.

John Hawkes ● 106d28 Comments ● 12d

Journalists in 2026: we're shocked that the Labour right smears people

"The prime minister has ordered the Cabinet Office to investigate claims about Labour Together after the group was accused of commissioning a report that investigated the background of a journalist.Labour Together, which helped Sir Keir Starmer get elected as Labour leader, paid APCO Worldwide at least £30,000 to "investigate the sourcing, funding and origins" of a Sunday Times story about undeclared donations at the think tank before the 2024 general election.Sir Keir said he "didn't know anything" about APCO Worldwide's investigation adding: "It absolutely needs to be looked into."Tory chairman Kevin Hollinrake said Labour Together's behaviour "shows a worrying contempt for the free press".He added: "With its close and widely known links to the heart of government, serious questions must be answered about who was aware of these actions, including whether senior figures around the prime minister knew."The party said Labour should suspend its links with Labour Together until the allegations had been independently investigated.It is understood the government's propriety and ethics team will be responsible for the Cabinet Office investigation.The SNP's Westminster deputy leader Pete Wishart said a Cabinet Office investigation amounted to "the Labour government trying to mark its own homework" and called for a cross-party parliamentary inquiry.The party has also called on the prime minister to sack Cabinet Office minister Josh Simons, who commissioned the report, named "Operation Cannon", when he was head of Labour Together."https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0q3wx2j3x1oGosh, who'd believe that about "Labour Together", a major force behind Starmer's victory?

David Ainsworth ● 20d0 Comments ● 20d