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The leaders of the three largest countries in Europe (excluding Russia) are behaving in an increasingly tyranical way as their ineptitude is starting to severely impact the lives of their citizens.<\/strong><\/p>\n We Are Bombing Our Way Back to Prosperity<\/strong><\/p>\n The UK economy continues its slide towards the edge of the cliff with tax revenues falling<\/a> as a result of the disastrous budget presented by Rachel from Accounts, aka Rachel Reeves the Chancellor of the exchequer. Reeves, who proclaimed, on her resume, that she was an Oxford educated economist has made a complete mess of the public finances. When she was studying economics at Oxford, didn\u2019t the subject of the Laffer Curve<\/a> come up?<\/p>\n It probably is covered in great depth at Oxford university, where she claimed she had studied, but not so much at Oxford Brookes university<\/a> where she actually did study. Oxford Brookes is essentially a glorified community college (it was formerly a Polytechnic) where foreigners pay a fortune to say they\u2019ve studied at Oxford, even though it is not actually in Oxford \u2013 although in fairness they did have a room there once back in the 1890s.<\/p>\n Anyway, it was good enough to secure a job at the Bank of England where she said, on her resume, she worked for ten years. Except she didn\u2019t, it was nowhere near that long. Then she claimed she was an economist at HBOS, except she wasn\u2019t, she dealt with mortgages on the retail side; essentially, she was a glorified bank teller. But that didn\u2019t stop her getting involved in an expenses scandal after which she moved on. She also falsely said she published a paper in a prestigious economics journal, except she didn\u2019t. Her Wikipedia page<\/a> still lists her fictional past deeds. You can read more about her issues with her resume here<\/a>.<\/p>\n With that sort of resume the obvious future role for her was in politics and so, here we are.<\/p>\n Luckily, Sir Keir Starmer, or to be more accurate Morgan McSweeney his Irish, devout Kibbutzim, university drop-out, chief of staff, has come up with a plan to save the UK economy:<\/p>\n Oh goody! Another war.<\/p>\n Someone should have told Starmer that he couldn\u2019t have any Yemen until he finished his Ukraine.<\/p>\n Anyway, this is how the Associated Press announced<\/a> our glorious new military campaign, where we took out \u2018Houthi\u2019 military targets thus saving the world. The government were tight lipped on what these high value targets were, but sources in Yemen said they took out a girls\u2019 school and killed two little girls. This one strike alone cost the long-suffering UK taxpayer over \u00a31 million.<\/p>\n Of course that was nothing in comparison to the US airstrikes, which, amongst other civilian targets, took out an African migrant facility<\/a>, which is run by the Red Cross, killing 68 innocent Africans.<\/p>\n All in all, the US and UK have conducted over 1,000 sorties against Yemen and achieved absolutely nothing, except to make the Yemenis somewhat annoyed. \u00a0Only 4% of the air strikes took out military facilities, as the majority of them are buried deep inside the mountains, the rest hit civilians.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Ansar Allah (The name \u2018Houthis\u2019 is a derogatory western name for the group \u2013 it\u2019s like calling the US the \u2018Trumpies\u2019), dropped a hypersonic missile on Ben Gurion airport<\/a> in Israel and announced an air blockade against them and a blockade of western oil deliveries from the Arabian gulf.<\/p>\n You can read about every US\/UK airstrike and its aftermath on this website<\/a>, this is a very comprehensive archive with photographs of the damage and eye witness reports. If you want a database of every casualty in Yemen going back to the Saudi\/UAE air strikes on Yemen (which stopped after a $3,000 Yemeni drone took out a Saudi Patriot system<\/a> and they then threatened to take out Saudi\/UAE oil facilities), you can download the stats in Excel format from this website<\/a>.<\/p>\n Britain has long fought a low-level war against Yemen going right back to the 1960s, when they drove the UK out of Aden. Throughout the late 1960s to late in the 1970s the UK launched a series of attacks, including air attacks, from their bases in Oman, all of which failed. The UK was also heavily involved in the Saudi\/UAE air campaign<\/a>, starting in 2014.<\/p>\n During that time a significant number of North Yemenis studied STEM subjects in Chinese universities and when they returned, they started work on their missile systems.<\/p>\n The result is that Yemen is one of only 5 countries \u2013 Russia, China, Iran and North Korea being the others \u2013 to have demonstrably working hypersonic missiles. These missiles travel at around 10 times the speed of sound on their re-entry phase and can maneuver away from air defense missiles, which is why the missile attack on Ben Gurion got through despite the presence of David\u2019s Sling<\/a> (essentially an upgraded Patriot system) and THAAD air defense systems\u2019 attempted intercepts. Meanwhile, the US has (temporarily we assume) given up trying to develop its own hypersonic missile<\/a> as they can\u2019t get it to work.<\/p>\n This air war against Yemen is a $1 billion+ failure, part of the problem is a lack of target data since the Yemenis took down a huge MOSSAD\/CIA spy ring<\/a> late last year (the article is well worth reading). Which has resulted in the US attacking an Israeli owned car transport ship<\/a>, the Galaxy Leader, that the Yemenis had seized as well as a number of civilian targets. There is even evidence that the US hit targets that they got from X\/Twitter:<\/p>\n The UK is doubling down by sending the car ferry<\/span> aircraft carrier Prince of Wales (which was a Gordon Brown vanity project) to the eastern Mediterranean. If it transits the Suez Canal it may suffer the same fate as the Eisenhower Aircraft carrier which was damaged and driven out by Ansar Allah drone and missile strikes and the Truman which has now suffered a similar fate. Plus, Yemen claims to have shot down an F18 \u2013 the US said it merely fell overboard from the aircraft carrier. Yemen has a different take:<\/p>\n This is a humiliating result for the US\/UK coalition and brings into doubt the sagacity of starting a war with Iran. You can read more on the topic here<\/a>.<\/p>\n There are happier tidings coming from the northern front, in Ukraine, where yet another Blair has devised a cunning plan for total victory:<\/p>\n David Blair was Boris Johnson\u2019s speechwriter, in fact many people credit him with coming up with the deal offered to Zelenzky; where, if he continued the war with Russia then he would get British citizenship<\/a>, a nice house in London<\/a> and personal protection from ex-SAS<\/a> troopers.<\/p>\n Mr. Blair studied PPE (Philosophy, Politics and Economics) at Oxford so we know that his solution will be well thought out, politically astute and would take into account the economic consequences.<\/p>\n So, let\u2019s see what he had to say:<\/p>\n The sight of Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky conferring in the majestic calm of St Peter\u2019s Basilica offers a reminder that all is not lost in Ukraine.<\/p>\n Yes, their encounter came straight after Vladimir Putin\u2019s open-armed greeting for Steve Witkoff, the American envoy; true, Mr Trump\u2019s seven-point peace plan obviously favours Russia.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n He means this plan \u2013 the so called \u201cKellogg plan.\u201d Note, the commentary was added by the Polish OSW \u2018thinktank\u2019. You can read their (OSW) plan for victory here<\/a>.<\/p>\n It amounts to the West stopping calling President Putin bad names and the very, very vague possibility that sanctions may, possibly be lifted if Russia accepts defeat and hands over the receipts from its petrochemical exports to Ukraine and this, apparently, \u2018favours Russia,\u2019 even though it doesn\u2019t come close to meeting Russia\u2019s demands.<\/p>\n Obviously, we need a much sterner plan, which will allow President Trump to gain Mr. Blair\u2019s favor, and Mr. Blair delivers his demands:<\/p>\n The president might yet redeem everything by giving Ukraine the clear American security guarantee that remains the only sure way of ending this war and deterring Putin from coming back for a third invasion. To maximise this chance, our Government needs to do something difficult and profoundly counter-cultural for many of our diplomats. There is no point fuming over Mr Trump\u2019s folly or portraying him as the villain of Ukraine\u2019s ordeal, or hoping that a miraculous combination of blandishment and flattery (a state visit!) might still win him over.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Is he sure that calling President Trump a fool going to help make his case? Well, no, you see we don\u2019t need the US, we can do it on our own with his bold three-point plan:<\/p>\n That means taking three steps: seize the Russian assets, lower the price cap for Putin\u2019s oil, and back the Sanctions Bill now in the US Senate.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Didn\u2019t the US already pass a Russian sanctions bill<\/a> back in 2017 in response to Russia\u2019s supposed meddling in the US election? What did that one achieve aside from catapulting Russia\u2019s economy from 10th<\/sup> to 4th<\/sup> place globally (based on PPP)? The latest one, authored by Lyndsey Graham and Dick Blumenthal seeks to impose \u201cBone Crushing Sanctions\u201d on Russia if she doesn\u2019t agree to their terms.<\/p>\n They will achieve this by introducing secondary sanctions and 500% tariffs on anyone who buys Russian energy products. They specifically mention enriched Uranium, of which a major buyer is the USA, or at least it was until Russia banned its export. Russia already has more sanctions imposed on it than any other country and they\u2019ve thrived so they\u2019ll just ignore it.<\/p>\n Russia has, through OPEC+, agreed to an increase in OPEC oil exports, so the oil price cap is utterly meaningless. And who will enforce it? Especially, as the current price cap failed to devastate Russia\u2019s oil sales. The enforcement mechanism introduced by Janet Yellen was to deny insurance to tankers carrying Russian oil above a certain price.<\/p>\n This divided the world tanker fleet into authorized (insured by Lloyds of London) and unauthorized, or shadow, tankers (not insured by Lloyds), which resulted in a decline in shipping insurance<\/a> underwritten by Lloyds (to < 50% according to some analysts) as other insurers stepped up. Is Mr. Blair intent on accelerating that process? As a matter of fact; yes, he is:<\/p>\n Britain is the biggest provider of maritime insurance in the G7. We could use that lever to impose our own price cap for Russian oil, say of $30 per barrel, and once again set a precedent for others to follow.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n And as far as seizing the assets are concerned, if he has his way then London will no longer be a trusted depository. This is what made Sunak and Starmer avoid it up to now (although Starmer has been awfully tempted). The damage has already been done though, as the UK ministerial charm offensive to get the Oil rich gulf monarchies and the Chinese to invest their money in the UK has ended in utter failure.<\/p>\n Mr. Blair airily waved these concerns aside:<\/p>\n So why hasn\u2019t it happened? There is a legal basis for pressing ahead, but seizing the assets would still be held to violate property rights, deter investment and damage the reputation of Europe\u2019s law-abiding open economies.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n You mean they don\u2019t?<\/p>\n These objections, once decisive, have surely been overtaken by the gravity of events. In fact, Europe has already crossed the Rubicon and undermined property rights by freezing the assets and using their interest payments to underwrite a $50\u2009billion loan for Ukraine. But there is still no EU consensus behind full seizure.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n So, he advocates Britain going it alone, against the \u201cweight of Whitehall opinion\u201d cautioning against it. And his over-arching reason for it is:<\/p>\n \u2026we could tell every Russian that their own money was buying the shells and bullets killing their own soldiers.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n No wonder the Johnson government left the country in such a mess, with people like this on his staff. You can peruse the whole bowl of tripe here<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Magic of German Democracy<\/strong><\/p>\n The crackdown on the AfD prompted an almost immediate comeback from Vice President JD Vance:<\/p>\n Followed by another from Secretary of State Rubio:<\/p>\n The Interior Minister Nancy Faeser gave her own response:<\/p>\n [She] called the assessment \u201cclear and unambiguous\u201d and insisted that the agency operates independently,<\/p>\n \u201cThere was no political influence whatsoever on the new report,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Well, obviously a government minister wouldn\u2019t tell outright lies, would she? Or would she? So, let us explore the origins of this report a little bit to find out how truthful she was.<\/p>\n The report<\/a> itself was written by this handsome chap:<\/p>\n He goes by the name of Thomas Haldenwang<\/a> and up until the end of last year he was the head of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV). This is the state \u2018spy agency\u2019 that issued the classification. He worked directly<\/strong> for Nancy Faeser and the agency came under her complete control, so the agency is not quite as independent as the minister asserted. And she has her own axe to grind.<\/p>\n Moreover, Mr. Haldenwang is a CDU politician, in fact he stood for a Bundestag seat in his hometown of Wuppertal, a leafy city in the West of Germany, and was soundly thrashed by the SPD\/Green candidate. He even came close (6 points) to being beaten by the AfD candidate, although the constituency is far from the AfD\u2019s East German heartlands. So, the further ministerial assertion that there was no political interference was also an object lesson in mendacity. Particularly as she gave a press conference last year, together with Haldenwang, that the Guardian covered<\/a>, that set out what she wanted to see in the report.<\/p>\n Mr. Haldenwang is despised even within his own party, so much so that they tried to stop him being the candidate:<\/p>\n One of the interesting snippets from the Guardian\u2019s coverage was the fact that Haldenwang said, when asked about anti-muslim attacks:<\/p>\n Asked if his agency had tracked a similar surge in anti-Muslim crime during the same period, Haldenwang said such a trend was \u201cnot observed\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Yet, it was alleged attacks on Muslims that formed the core of his report.<\/p>\n But, according to the outgoing minister, we needn\u2019t worry because:<\/p>\n \u201cThe new assessment will certainly be subject to judicial review as well. In a constitutional state, independent courts ultimately make the decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n That is hardly reassuring as the German legal system appears to be fully subservient to the political class as this case<\/a> proves.<\/p>\n If you take the time to read the actual AfD manifesto (you can find the English version here<\/a>), they come across as a moderate right of center party that is bursting with new ideas. So why all the hate?<\/p>\n The reason is that the AfD want to restrict immigration and Haldenwang, Faeser and the rest of the German political class want to dramatically increase the numbers coming in.<\/p>\n Next, of course, we\u2019ll see the government trying to ban the AfD, this will be covered in more depth next week.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the incoming leader, Fred Merz, has all but declared war on Russia.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, President Trump took his toys away by denying him the use of Taurus missiles to hit deep inside Russia (they rely on US satellite navigation). Which is just as well as Russia has recently updated its nuclear doctrine such that even an attack by conventional weapons on Russia or its allies will be met with a nuclear response.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, \u201cdiplomatically isolated\u201d Russia is expecting to welcome 20 world leaders<\/a> to attend its victory parade on May 9th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n Britain is going to hold its own parade on VE day<\/a>, with pride of place going to the Azov Brigade, the spiritual successors (as they proudly boast) of the Ukrainian Waffen SS Galicia brigade:<\/p>\n If we look at the facts and history\u2026Primarily, the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Galician) was created in 1943 as a volunteer Ukrainian unit under Nazi Germany, specifically to fight the Soviet Union. When first committed during the Lvov\u2013Sandomierz Offensive, they were catastrophically defeated by the Red Army at Brody\u2014thousands were killed or captured, and the division was routed as ineffective and cowardly. Reformed after this disaster, they were redeployed to anti-partisan operations in Yugoslavia, where they burned villages and slaughtered civilians, earning them a reputation as war criminals. At war\u2019s end, instead of facing Soviet justice\u2014as Stalin had demanded\u2014the surviving Galician troops surrendered to the Western Allies and quietly settled in the West, mainly in Canada. This makes it unsurprising that today some descendants of these men might be invited to march alongside British soldiers in the remembrance ceremonies.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Moscow has condemned London\u2019s decision:<\/p>\n \u201cInviting followers of neo-Nazi elements to Victory Day celebrations is not just disrespectful to those British veterans who gave their lives during World War II. It is blasphemy,\u201d Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Saturday.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The UK\u2019s ministry of defense claimed that Kiev\u2019s participation in the event \u201creminds us that Ukraine is now at freedom\u2019s front line.\u201d UK Defense Secretary John Healey described it as \u201cfitting\u201d that Ukrainian troops will be present at the event.<\/p>\n We\u2019re Exploiting You for Your Own Good<\/strong><\/p>\n So, Macron is selflessly going to assume the white man\u2019s burden and \u2018help\u2019 those poor, benighted colored folks down in Africa. They\u2019ve had over a century to improve the lot for the Africans and they haven\u2019t achieved much except for more poverty and violence. So, what else will France be doing to ensure their progress?<\/p>\n And the answer is: they\u2019ll keep stealing their stuff.<\/p>\n The problem is that with the increasing number of former French colonies who are going it alone, it has hit the French economy as they no longer have access to cheap African resources unless they pay market rates for them.<\/p>\n This has led to a growing socio-economic crisis in France. Take unemployment for instance, where the number of registered unemployed shot up by 3.9% in Q4 2024, a number last seen almost 20 years ago. The start of 2025 was even worse as unemployment grew by 8.7%, leading to 3.4 million people having no jobs. Energy prices are another source of angst with household electricity prices almost doubling<\/a> in the past five years.<\/p>\n In addition, there is an acute cost of living crisis across the board, particularly in housing, leading to an ever-increasing number of homeless people, including children. And the economy is shrinking. As Le Monde<\/a> puts it:<\/p>\n France\u2019s budgetary difficulties, which Parliament is having such a hard time resolving, have been compounded by another threat. Since the start of September, the French economy has undergone a marked economic downturn. Investment is slowing down, the unemployment curve is reversing, redundancy plans and bankruptcies are multiplying, the country\u2019s economic attractiveness is deteriorating, and the social climate is tense.<\/p>\n There are many reasons for this. Four years after the Covid-19 crisis, the measures taken to protect the economic framework are coming to an end, provoking a painful return to reality for the most fragile companies. Germany, the country\u2019s main trading partner, is experiencing a recession which is beginning to have an impact on activity in France. And the political context is creating an unfavorable environment for economic decision-making. Faced with fiscal uncertainty, households are saving and business leaders are putting the brakes on investment.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Even the usually buoyant high-tech industries like semiconductors are facing increasing problems with the Franco-Italian chip maker STM laying off over 1,000 workers. And this is despite the European CHIPS act<\/a> promising to throw \u20ac43 billion into increasing the EU\u2019s semiconductor resilience.<\/p>\n The difference between the EU CHIPS act and the US one<\/a> is that, in the time honored tradition the US is throwing money at the problem; whereas, the EU formed a committee (European Semiconductor Board) comprised of EU bureaucrats in order to draw up stultifying regulations for the industry. Silicon Valley was not created by a committee.<\/p>\n As a result, the market share of EU semiconductors has dropped from 10% of global trade when the regulation (it\u2019s not actually an act, it is a regulation) was first established to a little under 7.8% today and as the STM and NXP (formerly Phillips) redundancies are showing this will decrease further as their main target markets (motor vehicles and TVs) are shrinking.<\/p>\n Another bone of contention is the increased militarization of the country. The people of France do not want to be involved in a European war and they are really unhappy at France\u2019s increased interference overseas, particularly in the South Caucuses (those foreign legionaries that were expelled from the Sahel had to go somewhere).<\/p>\n As is their wont, the French took to the streets urged on by the CGT union with the slogan: \u201cAgainst the far-right, for peace, freedom, and social justice.\u201d Except it didn\u2019t quite turn out as planned for the Socialists as they were the ones on the receiving end of the violence they usually mete out to others at the hands of the \u201cBlack Bloc\u2019 far left agitators because they were seen to be supporting the Israeli attacks on Gaza. They had to be led to safety by the riot police.<\/p>\n Given the political ineptitude and contempt for their own people both at the French government level (As Sophie Binet, a union leader, says: \u201cMacron governs against his people.\u201d) and in the EU, what is France supposed to be offering to Africans that they aren\u2019t capable of doing on their own.<\/p>\n We may never know: you see, Macron isn\u2019t listening as he is too busy trying to get the Rothschild\u2019s candidate for the papacy over the line.<\/p>\n Incidentally, following on from the story of Burkino Faso from last week, here is a video<\/a> by the President Traore giving a lot of detail about what the colonial powers had done to his country and why the US and France are trying to assassinate him.<\/p>\n It Would Take A Heart of Stone Not to Laugh<\/strong><\/p>\n With all of the furor about Zelensky signing the Ukraine\u2019s minerals over to the US. He forgot one small detail; he\u2019d already promised them to the EU.<\/p>\n My Dad Is Bigger Than Your Dad<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/uk-airstrike.jpg\")
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