Alasdair Stirling

@afneil Care to explain the mechanism whereby the EWANIs expel the Scottish economy from sterling (or otherwise deny/prevent the Scotland’s use of the sterling currency/institutions)?

There’s no advanced economy (a category to which Scotland still qualifies, just) that currently has a budget deficit anywhere near 12% GDP. That’s a crisis or wartime deficit — and even then is not sustainable. And OK, so not groats. What currency would you borrow in?

@imetatronink @WeTheBrandon Really? Baseball, basketball, and American football -greatest team sports in human history. I don't think so.

@WeTheBrandon Americans invented the three greatest team sports in human history: baseball, basketball, and football. And then we let ourselves get overrun by people who indoctrinated our children into playing a game where you can't use your hands. This is American decline in a nutshell. 😏

We've fallen very far, indeed...

@imetatronink @policytensor everyone in the region, and most everyone in the world, will ASSUME THAT the US and Israel were defeated by Iran - the alternative is for the US to stick around and give Iran a chance to PROVE it.

@policytensor If, after assembling this large force, the US simply shouts "We won!" and withdraws its fleets of ships and planes, one thing is certain: everyone in the region, and most everyone in the world, will understand perfectly well the US and Israel were defeated by Iran.

@FurkanGozukara Yeah, bit in AI world - the enemy just sits back and takes it. In the real world - not so much.

Absolute horror. An expert military analyst details the Pentagon's terrifying plan for Iran. By staggering aircraft carriers, the Trump administration is preparing a suffocating 24/7 continuous bombing campaign with absolutely zero pauses. A calculated plan for mass destruction.

@NotWoofers It is easy when they can't fire back.

First ship-to-ship main gun engagement by the U.S. Navy in how many years? Since Vietnam?

@nfergus @RichardHaass Fantasy land

There is no going back to the status quo ante. There will need to be a new international agreement to manage the Strait of Hormuz. Here's the plan proposed yesterday by me, @RichardHaass, and Philip Zelikow.

@nfergus @RichardHaass You must be as sick as a dog - you become a Yank at the end of its empire - at the setting of their sun - just as they demonstrate how powerless they really are.

Iran's control of the Strait of Hormuz cannot stand. But there's no going back to the status quo ante in the Gulf. The U.S. and its allies urgently need a plan for the post-war governance of the Strait of Hormuz. Here's a proposal by me, @RichardHaass, and Philip Zelikow.

@pati_marins64 200 km from the crash site to the point of rescue in just over 24 hours - Bullshit

You could practically hear that pilot’s heartbeat from a long distance. After all, he had run almost 200 km from the crash site to the point of rescue in just over 24 hours.

@gregbagwell It is complete and utter bullshit - Total waste of money and resources and unnecessarily puts many other people's lives at risk. Only the Yanks (and their John Bull yes-men and sycophants) would think so.

8/ The “no one left behind” mantra is not rational, based on the resources allocated or levels of risk taken to meet it. But, is it such a fundamental “contract” that money is no object - it clearly is in the US, but not here in the UK. And how much do you spend on not losing?

There has been much made about the loss of assets to rescue one downed US Airman, and here in the UK we don’t even resource an equivalent capability. So what is the right answer about how much is appropriate? What is the price of a life?🧵1/8

@gregbagwell Aren't you just the good little boy - always praising your Uncle Sam.

A comprehensive summary of events that led to the rescue of the 2 downed F-15E crew. Making allowances for President Trump’s effusive narrative, it was quite some rescue. The pilot was rescued under significant fire, but the WSO, who was separated and injured, took longer. 🧵1/4

@afneil The Royal Navy has one operational surface ship and one attack boat. Maybe there is a problem with the shipbuilding process?

Scottish government’s Glen Sannox ferry, built and owned by the state, began serving the busy Troon-Isle of Arran route in January 2025.  It was seven years late and four times over budget.  It is now out of action with engine problems. It only returned to service last week following previous repairs to its exhaust system. It also needs new propellers as part of £3.2m repair costs, along with its equally troubled sister ship Glen Rosa.

@FurkanGozukara The animator forgot to include the FPV drones and the fibre-optic drones and the shared drones

Absolute bombshell. A defense expert reveals the Pentagon's exact blueprint for a ground invasion of Iran. They plan to drop 2,500 Marines to illegally seize sovereign Iranian coastal territory and dismantle their air defenses. Washington wants endless war.

@Charlie533080 Starmer's initial denial of base use was simply a PR stunt - John Bull always does what his Uncle Sam wants.

There was a strong argument for US military basing in the UK during the Cold War, but no such justification for allowing the UK to be used for US power projection in support of this utterly insane war. It should be withdrawn until Trump has gone and the US is a rational partner.

@montie And the scales do fall from their and they see the Zionist regime for what it truly is: murderous, hateful and bigoted - worse still they realise that they’re staring into a mirror.

This isn't acceptable, Israel. It trally isn't.

@Charlie533080 @rivkahbrown @zaydaazimuth @TheGreenParty 'Reform promotes one of exclusion and fear.' I think you are being generous - I think 'bigotry and hatred' might be closer to the mark.

@rivkahbrown @zaydaazimuth Rather like Reform, @TheGreenParty genuinely understands its voter base. The difference of course is that the Green Party promotes a doctrine of inclusion and hope, whereas Reform promotes one of exclusion and fear.

Interesting that after the all-out media assault on Mothin Ali (including disinformation that he attended a pro-Iran rally), the Green party has decided not to hide him, but to give him an even bigger platform.

@pati_marins64 Depends on how the confession is obtained. Many will willingly confess and tell the truth. On the other hand, coerced confessions are worse than useless.

That’s nonsense. Anyone arrested on suspicion of espionage during wartime is going to be pressured in all kinds of ways to say something. This happens in every conflict. It’s not that there aren’t spies, and plenty of them in Iran, but confessions obtained during wartime have ZERO credibility.

@Charlie533080 @williams_rje @GBNEWS My apologies. I spoke without thinking.

@HACStirling @williams_rje @GBNEWS Disagree wholeheartedly. Richard was an outstanding soldier during some pivotal moments. Keep your personal attacks off my timeline please. Just unnecessary.

Thankyou @GBNEWS The just and necessary US-Israeli campaign is being conducted to critically run-down the Iranian Regime’s leadership, its military capability and its nuclear program. This is vital work. Importantly, it does not commit to Regime change, which as POTUS says depends upon the Iranian people. At some point, and just as with other time-limited US interventions, the USA will expect the regional powers (and others) to carry on operations designed to neutralize Iranian threats to the region and critical global trade routes (straits of Hormuz). This mirrors other US (diplomatic and military) interventions recently: Venezuela/Latin American, the Arctic and Eastern Europe; where its actions galvanize local regional actors to resource security and face down threats such as the Cartels, Russia and the IRGC.

@Charlie533080 @williams_rje @GBNEWS British Special Forces are wholly subsumed into the USSF culture and their performance demonstrates that (i.e. they keep getting their arses kicked by goat herders and rice farmers). Williams is a serial offender in this regard.

@williams_rje @GBNEWS Have you been hacked, Richard? You’re not seriously supporting this disastrous war are you? It’s the greatest strategic blunder since the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Arguably worse.

@BartDePalma @Intrepidmwaura @pati_marins64 And yet you Yanks had your arses kicked out of Afghan, Iraq, Somalia, Lebanon - and too many other places to mention.

@Intrepidmwaura @pati_marins64 The Red Sea op is a very good example of how to defeat this terrorist hostage taking. Escorted night tanker convoys could easily make the crossing with miniscule losses. Thing is the Euro and Asia oil dependents are unwilling to escort or lose any ships. So be it.

Trump and Netanyahu see the same mirages as Saddam On September 22, 1980, Saddam Hussein assembled a force of 50,000-70,000 men, 2,500-3,000 tanks, IFVs and APCs, supported by about 120-150 aircraft and 400 pieces of artillery/MLRS, and invaded the Iranian province of Khuzestan. The Iraqi army of the era was modern, well-equipped, and technologically superior. Capitalizing on the chaos sown by the Islamic Revolution, it surged across the Iranian plains. With such a massive force, it seemed invincible, who could have possibly stood in its way? The advance was rapid. In less than a week, the Iraqi tanks crossed the Karun River and surrounded key cities. The flat topography of Khuzestan favored the armored doctrine. Until the advance stopped. When they tried to enter Khorramshahr, the Iraqi vehicles got stuck in narrow streets and were hunted by Iranian militiamen with grenade launchers (RPGs). This forced Saddam to divert even more troops to the south, turning the place into a meat grinder. Saddam realized he would not be able to take Khuzestan in a rush. He ordered the total siege of Abadan and the street-by-street invasion of Khorramshahr. It was the first major tactical error. Troops and armored vehicles entered dense urban areas and came face to face with young Iranians firing RPG-7s from the tops of buildings. The result was that Iraq took Khorramshahr after 34 days, but at a human cost that broke the morale of the armored divisions. With the Iraqi momentum exhausted, the southern front turned into a “World War I in the desert.” In May 1982, Iran surrounded and captured 19,000 Iraqi soldiers in Khorramshahr. In 1980, small groups of Iranian soldiers and Kurdish militias used the caves and fissures of the mountains to fire anti-tank missiles from top to bottom. Approximately 20,000 to 30,000 Iraqis were killed on the southern front alone until 1982, and a large part of the tanks and armored vehicles were destroyed or abandoned. On the Northern and Central Axis, it was a mountain war. Iraq advanced to the foothills of the Zagros, but was again halted by numerous Iranian positions in that mountain range. Today the situation is very similar: Iran does not try to hold the border; it lets the enemy enter, because it knows it will have protected positions in the mountains to establish a war of attrition. At this moment, a CSG with about 5,000 marines is on its way to the region, where it should join Israeli troops to attempt an operation to liberate the Strait of Hormuz and take Kharg Island. Even if this force carried out the land invasion, where would it shelter? In the same plain that became hell for the Iraqis, or in the short strip of flat land that exists at some points of Hormuz? And another question: where will this troop group up in the face of Iranian missiles and drones? In any point of the Iranian Gulf lands where there might be success in its occupation, there will be positions in the mountains, drones and missiles hitting that occupation to the point of causing many casualties. Just as the US-Israel sees a chance of occupation on Kharg Island, Saddam also saw it in Khuzestan. In Iran, when the land is flat, it is also surrounded by positions in the mountains and ositions fortified with Iranian UHPC. To get an idea of the Iranian fortifications, while the high-strength concrete of the USA revolves around 100-150 MPa (megapascals), Iran regularly produces concrete of 200 to 400 MPa. If the GBU-57 bombs cannot penetrate a few meters of UHPC that protect the entrances of the mountains of the nuclear installations, the surgical bombing with GBU-72, which weigh only 20% of the GBU-57, and occurred in the last days in the mountains of the strait, is a myth. Putting feet on the ground in Iran would require a force that the United States today is incapable of mobilizing.

@JamesKelly I suppose but London will agree in this case. The mechanism was used a lot during the early parliaments to tidy up the balance of powers (and later I think to devolve control of the crown estate). Point is, there is a viable mechanism for handing back powers.

@HACStirling Like it keeps requesting independence referendums, you mean?

I'm not pretending to have read the Reform manifesto for Holyrood, but I'd be interested to know how they think they can promise to regularly review the devolved powers of the parliament, given that the constitution is fully reserved to Westminster.