MariJudeVic

THE FALL by John Gray Donald Trump's self-described "little excursion" in Iran has proved to be a march to disaster. His "major combat operation" has shifted from aiming to block Iran achieving a nuclear capability that was supposedly "obliterated" last June to unblocking the Strait of Hormuz and restoring the situation that existed before the operation began. Whatever the objective may be, the pre-war status quo is irretrievable. Trump cannot declare victory and walk away without surrendering the vital shipping conduit to Iran. With its proven capacity to wreak havoc on the world economy, a bombed-out military-theocratic dictatorship has begun the final unravelling of US imperial power. In the Middle East, the war has undercut the financial foundations of US hegemony. However the war ends, the result will be the re-emergence of Iran as a major power. As the arbiter of passage through Hormuz, Iran has become the deciding force in the global oil economy. If Trump opts to "finish the job" and launches a ground operation, the US will be dragged into a debacle larger than Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq combined. While Nato may linger on in name, the transatlantic alliance is operationally defunct. America is returning to its pre-1914 trajectory as a civilisation separate from Europe. In the UK, the default position is to wait out the storm until sanity returns to Washington. Why Putin or Xi Jinping should exhibit similar patience is not explained. Could there be a better time for them to act? Ramping up hybrid warfare in under-defended Europe will give Putin leverage in any peace deal in Ukraine. With Trump having shifted military assets from the Asia-Pacific to the Middle East and running down munitions, Xi may be able to absorb Taiwan without firing a shot. This is not simply a case of the lessons of history being ignored. Trump's war looks more like an example of what Sigmund Freud described as repetition compulsion – an unconscious process in which the mind acts out what it cannot properly remember. A creature of the moment as he may be, Trump seems driven by an impulse to reimagine the past and reassert American – and his own – greatness. When an infantile fantasy of omnipotence comes up against unyielding realities, the response is inchoate rage. Psychopathology may be more illuminating than geopolitics at this point. In a more profound sense than is commonly recognised, Donald Trump does not know what he is doing. His little excursion is a point of no return in America's retreat as a global power. Cover art by Cracked Hat

When you have lots of renewable Energy...shame Scotland doesn't have that. Ahhh it does ? So what is the problem??? Germany Power Prices Turn Deeply Negative on Renewables Surge - Bloomberg share.google/MwdDtGQvysCTtc…

Fertiliser prices are soaring because of the bombing of Iran, which Claire Coutinho's @Conservatives supported. It has nothing to do with carbon taxes, which drive technological innovation and reduce greenhouse gas emissions*. *something Conservatives used to care about.

Ofwat warns England water companies over executive pay and governance. This is just a PR circus. Companies have reframed bonuses, customers have no say on exec pay. For years companies have dumped sewage, fleeced customers, no exec prosecuted. watermagazine.co.uk/2026/04/08/ofw…

@bmay Except we heard nothing from the PM. Surely he could and should have had the courage to make a public statement yesterday.

Times of great delicacy such as these are a stark reminder that the very idea of either Kemi Badenoch or Nigel Farage being in charge of the UK’s foreign and defence policy is utterly laughable. Serious issues need serious people.

Massive fall in numbers waiting in A&E in Scotland in February including 24% drop in 12 hour waits talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2026/04/07/mas…

‘Government needs to recognise failure of water privatisation’ – Feargal Sharkey channel4.com/news/governmen…

In the best case scenario, Trump struck a deal to reopen a Strait that was open before the pointless war he started, with the IRGC demonstrating its control over the Strait and potentially extracting fees plus sanctions relief. Thousands of innocents - including hundreds of children - dead in Lebanon and Iran for no reason. U.S. troops killed and wounded. U.S. embassies and bases in the Middle East badly damaged. U.S. standing in the world obliterated. U.S. munitions badly depleted. Hundreds of billions spent. Prices up everywhere. More global economic fallout to come. Putin strengthened and enriched. Just a catastrophic situation even in the best of circumstances. A profoundly shameful episode in American history no matter what happens next.

Isreal is destroying Lebanon. Why isn’t the world doing anything to stop this?

Starmer’s cabinet all deserve a bonus from Friends of Israel for their silence yesterday. declassifieduk.org/israel-lobby-f…

#BBCBreakfast: "Israel.. said the ceasefire did not include Lebanon, where its targeting Iranian backed Hezbollah fighters" Not its not. Its targeting civilians, killing paramedics & journalists, blowing up whole villages, displacing hundreds of thousands of people.

I’m really glad Anne Applebaum is speaking out on this, because JD Vance’s visit to Hungary today is unquestionably election interference. He openly attacked Europe again trying to defend a man who has driven his country into the ground under an ocean of corruption. 🎥 TikTok - vm.tiktok.com/ZNRX3J8Wo/

A truly statesmanlike response to Vance from Hungary's probable next PM @magyarpeterMP "Hungarian history isn't written in Washington or Moscow but by Hungarians, in our villages & towns. We decide our own fate. We want a humane Hungary in the heart of Europe"🇭🇺🇪🇺 My Eng s/t👇

Sorry, but the world’s largest wind turbine is DEC’s 26 MW unit. 60 to 70 of them produce the equivalent poser of a nuclear plant, even taking into account capacity factor. They can be up and running in 1-2 years & cost a fraction of nuclear. That’s why renewables are winning.

Mick Lynch calls our Labour's flopsy response to student debt, "This won't do anything for the majority of students. Education needs to be funded from taxation" "Then get the money back from students through a progressive taxation policy" Victoria Derbyshire, "Funded through taxation? We've got the highest tax levels since WII" Mick Lynch, "The right people aren't paying the right amount of taxes" 👏💯 "We need proper taxation that funds our public services" "Labour needs a proper policy on education and a proper policy on tax, so we can afford our public services"

Mark Carney slams President Trump stating that international law should be followed Anyone know what happened to Keir Starmer? Is he busy working on his special relationship?

We will remember that when Trump threatened to genocide Iran saying “A whole civilisation will die tonight”, neither the PM, deputy PM, foreign or defence secretaries said anything about it in public.

Hear, hear!

Why was the Strait of Hormuz shut down? It’s because Israel & the United States attacked Iran. In the Western media, the story is spun as if Iran initiated the closure. Iran is just counterattacking. The original cause is clearly the US-Israeli attack on Iran.

So he’ll stop bombing Iran in order to reopen the Strait of Hormuz… …which was open before he started bombing Iran. Got it.