Defence and Freedom

Under my leadership, the Royal Navy would have 5 x carriers, 50 destroyers, 100 frigates and be feared across the world.

A TOP EUROPEAN OFFICIAL today suggested the west could sabotage planes western companies sold to China. “Europe could ground more than half of all Chinese commercial planes by withholding software updates for China’s Airbus fleet,” said Mark Leonard, director of the European Council on Foreign Relations, in an article in the Guardian today. . HORRIBLE TIMING This was horrible timing, since China last week purchased more than 100 Airbus jets, and is believed to be planning to buy 500 Boeing jets during Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing this week. Trump is being accompanied by Boeing boss Kelly Ortberg. Leonard writes: “To avoid a future where it is poorer and less able to defend itself, Europe needs to develop agency in a world without order. This will mean behaving more like China – and maybe giving Beijing a dose of its own medicine.” However, China has never remotely disabled anything. All references to such actions come in evidence-free allegations from extreme anti-China hawks in the US about what might theoretically happen. The thuggish Leonard also suggests using the EU “trade bazooka”, a sanctions weapon designed for fighting unfair tariffs, against China. . ATTACK WEAPONS ‘USED UP’ At the same time, a huge row is escalating in Washington over accusations that US weapons for the planned war on China have been used up in the attack on Iran. Earlier today, Secretary for War Pete Hegseth revealed that he had referred Senator Mark Kelly to Pentagon lawyers for spilling official secrets about the lack of weapons. This came after Kelly said in a TV interview on Sunday that the US was running low on Tomahawk cruise missiles, Army Tactical Missile Systems, SM-3 interceptors, Thaad rounds and Patriot missiles. The equipment had been used to attack Iran, and it would take years to rebuild stocks for a war on China, Kelly told CBS News’s Face the Nation. Rather than providing evidence to deny the charge, Hegseth went to his X account to accuse Kelly of disclosing details from a confidential Pentagon briefing. However, Kelly said the fact that the replenishment would take years came from Hegseth himself. On 30 April, Kelly asked Hegseth at the Senate armed services committee hearing: “How many years will it take to replenish our munitions from Trump’s war in Iran?” “Months and years,” Hegseth responded, but then changed his answer, saying: “Fast.” . ‘NOT ENOUGH WEAPONS’: WASHINGTON POST The lack of weapons for attacking China was also discussed in a feature in the Washington Post yesterday. Former CIA agent John Culver of the Brookings Institute is quoted saying: “If the reports are true that we expended a huge portion of our long-range strike and theater missile defense capacity fighting Iran, then we don’t have anywhere near the inventory we would need for a China fight.” The problem with the west’s political leaders and mainstream media journalists is that they constantly discuss ways of launching and fighting a war on China—but have no interest in spending a moment on working towards peace. [Friday news project]