The City Dissident

@admcollingwood @an0n_Nic Executions are what these wretches deserve. To trash your own country, deliberately, is a crime for which you should pay the ultimate price.

The scale and consequences of the failure of European statecraft over the last 20 years are coming into view. This is not going to end well for Europe. We are now reliant on a swift AND favourable resolution to the Iran War to escape with 'just' a temporary economic downturn. Given the realistic course of events, this feels increasingly like having what remains of your chips on red 13 as the roulette wheel spins and the ball might land in any of the other 37 pockets. It is worth taking a (very broad) tour of the events of the last decade and a half to see what that failure has involved, and then a quick look at the likely consequences. First, the EU, despite knowing where it would lead, allowed a powerful and fanatical faction of the foreign policy establishment in Washington, DC to drive the car on the West's Ukraine policy, and thus Europe's relations with Russia. Recall that both France and Germany were against George W Bush's decision to announce in 2008 that Ukraine and Georgia would become members of NATO. The US itself knew that this would be a disaster. In the 2019 Wikileaks cache, it was revealed that William J Burns, then Director of the CIA, had written in a 2008 dispatch when he was ambassador to Russia titled "Nyet Means Nyet: Russia's NATO Enlargement Redlines." In it, he said that everybody he had spoken to in Russia, from "knuckle-draggers in the dark recesses of the Kremlin" to "Putin's sharpest liberal critics" warned that Ukrainian NATO entry was considered the "brightest of all red lines" for Moscow. Angela Merkel knew it, too. She said that the Kremlin would view Ukrainian acsession as 'a declaration of war.' Yet Europe went along with the scheme, and continued to refuse the numerous off-ramps along the war -- as recently as 2021, when Russia made a push to have the Minsk II agreement enforced. Europe at this time had significant leverage over both Ukraine (which was reliant on the EU economically) and Russia (as we have seen, through its sanctions regime on Russia since 2022). That was surely enough for a strategically decisive EU to have forced a solution. But it did not. Instead, it allowed a war to erupt between the provider of its energy (and thus the underpinnings of its economy) and (by proxy) the guarantor of its security in Europe's own backyard. This passivity and sense of entitlement has had dire economic consequences for Europe, as is now well accepted, given the ongoing slow-motion deindustrialisation of Europe. But it has also had strategic consequences, with Europe now facing open conflict on its Eastern Approaches, and far greater reliance on both the United States and Qatar and broader Gulf region for its energy security, and much greater reliance on the US for its security. Secondly, the coup de gras: the Gulf has itself erupted in war (obviously a shock to the geniuses in Europe's capitals, the Gulf being such a stable region of the world), driven at least in part by the internal political pathologies of the United States. This threatens Europe with a catastrophic economic shock, while the US uses its leverage (of which Europe gave it much more) to get involved against Europe's own interests. Yet here again, Europe knew the likely consequences of the US policy, and yet went along with it. Even when Donald Trump 1.0 got rid of the JCPOA, Europe wanted to stick to it. But they couldn't because the EU, despite its huge Single Market and capacity to set regulations even beyond its borders, did not have ANY means to resist US secondary sanctions. China had developed CIPS as an alternative to SWIFT. Even Russia developed MIR. Hell, I think even the Serbs have their own version. The EU? Britain? Nope and nope. If the Iran War ended tomorrow and energy was swiftly restored, it is true that this might be a bump in the road. But there is no sign that this will be a short war -- or if it is, there is no sign that a resolution will be favourable for the West -- and the economic consequences are coming into view. Massively higher inflation, large-scale job losses, higher food prices, energy rationing, depression. The human toll in Europe will be monstrous if this is a long war. A serious-minded EU would be straining ever sinew and using all its diplomatic cachet and economic leverage to mediate an end to the conflict. Yet all we get is some weird condemnations of Iran (for fighting dirty, or something) and a refusal to get involved on the US side, even as US President Donald Trump starts applying the leverage for them to do so. Let us apply a little British understatement: these people will not be viewed kindly when the history is written. Monstrously hubristic, conceited, self-satisfied, unbearably pious, strategically purblind, feckless, adolescent in their passions and conceit. These fools spent much, much more time busying themselves with forcing Apple to put USB-C slots on their phones, forcing social media companies to police speech, and worrying about LGBTQ+ rights in Budapest than they did on protecting Europe's economy and strategic position. Shameful. Disgraceful. Grossly malfeasant.

@GayTory Granted, it doesn’t look right and looks more like a soup than paella, but I’m guessing it tastes really good.

There’s too much liquid in my paella 😩

The ability of the British state successfully to manage an energy crisis is essentially nil. Everyone knows it. A country that mindlessly gave itself the world’s most expensive energy and deliberately made itself utterly dependent on imports, and thought it was so very righteous for doing so, is heading for a collision with reality. Reality will be the immovable brick wall against which the atrocious British state on its rickety bicycle collides at high speed.

The (incoming) energy crisis could be far worse than I first thought. I’ve just spoken to a very senior woman in the industry, and she was genuinely rattled. This is someone who’s normally ice-cold.

There are many competitors, but British elites are the worst. Their political and media class is as pompous as they are unimpressive, driven by shallow group-think. That's what made Tucker's interview with The Economist editor so revealing: she is the embodiment of all that.👇

@LeeHarris @chilternbear11 @_ConnieShaw Wright is paid to do this, literally: he is there to push the regime’s political agenda, and it’s why he has the job he has.

Astonishing. @_ConnieShaw calmly attempted to discuss Nick Timothy's point that mass ritual Islamic prayer in a public place is an act of domination Matthew Wright attacks her as "a real fan-girl", shuts her down, cuts her off, and implies she hates Muslims Absolute disgrace

@SpeechUnion Matthew Wright is pure regime, and so will only ever put the regime's agenda forward.

Matthew Wright proves our point on LBC this morning. The official definition of Islamophobia — now repackaged as “anti-Muslim hostility” — is already silencing legitimate debate and criticism of Islam and its practices. It amounts to a de facto Muslim blasphemy law. The treatment of Nick Timothy by Labour MPs is deeply sinister. The Shadow Justice Secretary criticised mass Muslim prayer in Trafalgar Square, was reported to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, branded “Islamophobic”, and faced calls to resign from Labour MPs and even the Prime Minister. This morning, FSU External Affairs Officer @_ConnieShaw was invited on to discuss the comments made by Nick Timothy. Matthew Wright didn’t want to hear it. After the interview, he told another guest he had “closed her down” because she was “putting out anti-Muslim hatred”. Farcical. In a crowded field, Matthew is this week’s runner up as for chief enforcer of the blasphemy law this week. 👏

@arronaarrdvarrk The trajectory is clearly heading in that direction.

@EC2man Sooner or later We're heading for a sovereign debt default.

We can see what a mess this country is in by the fact that it is now judged the least creditworthy in the Western world, forced to borrow at rates higher than everyone else. The regime and its media allies go to great lengths to conceal the reality of the British govt's financial incontinence from the British people, but I sense that reality is soon going to come crashing through.

Well, yes, although the reality is worse than that: people like Starmer and Miliband are rigid hard-left ideologues who see political opportunity in economic and social upheaval. They want chaos, because in that chaos they see the chance to rebuild society along communist lines.

@_Hels_ @SumTingWong008 Our society would be better off if she were not saved. She will only ever do harm.

@SumTingWong008 @EC2man She needs to be saved from herself

The silly cow doesn’t realise that they’ll still tie her up and rape her if she falls into the clutches of a Pakistani rape gang. She thinks she’s made friends with them. Clueless.

@Marblechops79 @JohnPaulMarney 🎯

@EC2man @JohnPaulMarney Nations don’t have “friends” To believe this is geopolitical infantilisation

In fairness to the EU, has it ever suggested that it is our friend? The EU can't be held responsible for the delusions and stupidity of a class of British people who insist on regarding it as such.

@MJRabble_Rouser Yes, they will steal them too, when things get desperate.

@EC2man Still got private pensions to go

We're at the 'looting' stage, where all the regime does (and can do) is confiscate as much wealth as it possibly can in order to keep a grip on power, paying the salaries of its own employees and handing welfare payments to its client groups, to keep both classes on side. But it can't confiscate as fast as it is spending it, and so it's running out of road.

This sounds like PinkNews will consist of some himbo sitting on reception re-posting stuff he finds on X and Instagram and presenting it as 'news'. To be fair, not all that far removed from many other so-called newspapers these days.

@d2leeds Only if the Greeks declare war.

@matkinsj @doris_from Precisely! All this 'fast' nonsense gets on my nerves.

@doris_from *skipping lunch

@d2leeds Let's face it, if Turkey made a serious move on the island, the British aren't going to stop them. Everyone knows that.

I think that too: it is very hard not to come to the conclusion that the British deserve their fate. The deluded thinking around welfare and healthcare spending in this country; the belief that it just doesn't matter whether the country's economy can afford the taxes imposed on it; the spiteful, envious attitude towards people who've made a bit of money through hard work. It all spells out a country heading for a big fall.

The credit crisis doubled public debt It had been eroded slightly over the proceeding years The coup de grace was the covid hysteria I’m pleased It’s brought the day of reckoning forward by 2 decades and I said it the moment they started talking about lockdown This crass country and its low quality leaders deserve everything that is coming