I need to say this out loud

[simplesimoneatspie]

As a British citizen I am disgusted in the utter cowardice of my own government at the moment. If you are an American citizen please believe that there are people in the UK who have no respect for the way we are distancing ourselves from what is happening in the Middle East.
Your government has backbone and courage and wants to do the right thing for all our children’s futures.
I applaud Trump for standing up for his country, military, citizens of Iran…the world, and he doesn't care who he might offend in doing so.
It’s such a pity the same can’t be said for our ‘leader’. I am actually ashamed of my country at this moment in time. I truly hope this changes over the coming days/weeks.

What absolute bollocks

I found the testimony of Shiva Mohbibi on the moral maze very convincing.
She is under no illusions about Trump and his possible motivations but she feels that anything is better than the current regime.
As she knows what it is like to live under the regime her words should carry a lot of weight.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002s4jc?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile

I’m not suggesting Starmer should support Trump’s war unconditionally…. But We are looking incredibly weak at the moment. The fact that HMS dragon is still docked at Portsmouth and will be for another week or two doesn’t send a message of readiness or strength.

Unfortunately, International law only means something if everyone abides by it. If Iran succeeds in getting a nuclear weapon I don’t think they would be concerned about morality and international law.

And the idea that Starmer has a backbone is laughable.

To me, Starmer looks strong rather than weak here. He's stood up to American pressure, knowing the potential cost. We are not an attack dog America can whistle for whenever they start a war by choice. We need to act in our own interests, and that is what Starmer is trying to do. Good for him.

The fiasco over HMS Dragon, the embarrassment that RAF Akrotiri had no anti missile defences and the disorganised Government evacuation flights out of Oman make Starmer look anything other than strong.

The reality is that whilst Starmer stayed out of the attack on Iran for political points, after decades of defence cuts, there was nothing of any military value that the British could have contributed anyway.

Why are you all so into criticising UK's response and no one is even a little angry about US starting this without notifying UK ahead of time at all?
Full on surprise. But, what? We need to be ready at all times, just because the world got Trump as potus. Now we are going to have to spy on US to find out where to send our troops? Because maybe they are a bit busy watching Putin, amongst others.

We “need to be ready at all times” because the world is a dangerous place and Iran has ambitions of becoming a nuclear power.
It’s naive to think otherwise.
Successive governments have left us in a dire state without proper military capability. That makes us look vulnerable and weak.

Or focused on our own borders and problems.

The British Army base in Cyprus is our problem.
The terrorism funded by Iran is also a problem for us .
You seem to suggest we should ignore all external threats until it is too late to do anything.

No, of course Cyprus is ours to defend. And it has been defended. Along other UK bases. And citizens are being repatriated.But we cannot have full on personnel and assets everywhere. We were not warned that all this mess was going to happen. And Cyprus has several European ships helping them now.
And I think we need to be ready to watch Putin, at all times. Putin. That is our main problem.

I disagree that Putin is the main problem and our focus should be on him and nowhere else.
As you agree that Cyprus is ours to defend you must also agree that it’s embarrassing our one warship has still not left Portsmouth dock?
As to “ we were not warned this was going to happen “ … there has been months and months of lead up to this . It’s ridiculous to imagine this came out of the blue.

If Cyprus was not protected...
But it has at least three ships already.

If is you say "we were not warned that this mess was going to happen " then that is even more concerning.

I mean it was across every news channel and media that the US was building up their forces in the Gulf. The US specifically asked the UK to use their overseas bases in order to attack Iran (and were refused). And lastly the Royal Navy specifically requested deployment of vessels to the Mediterranean in light of the US build up, but were refused by the MoD.

Are you saying that it was a cock up in the Government failing to notice the build up, they thought that the request to use bases was for sightseeing purposes only and that there was no defence need to deploy vessels to the Med, it was just the RN fancying a nice Mediterranean cruise?

Yes - other countries seem to have been more well prepared than us … that’s exactly my point. We are looking weak and unready

Yes - the idea that there was no warning that this would happen is completely ludicrous

Would this be the same international law which trump and Israel have totally disregarded in order to go into Iran?

This war is illegal. Iran do not have nuclear capabilities, it’s Iraq WMD all over again.

And for those who go on about Iran having Nuclear weapons, given Russia actually does have nuclear weapons and has been threatening to use them for the past four years, why has America not gone into Russia to force “regime change”?

Oh, that would be because Trump lives in Putin’s back pocket.

Let’s not pretend this has anything to do with nuclear weapons. It doesn’t.

Iran funds terrorism across the region and presents a massive threat to all our security but most obviously to Israel’s security and to the security of liberal Iranians who don’t share the extreme interpretation of Islam. . I can’t be sorry that the regime is being toppled . The Iranians deserve better and have suffered for too long . ( Although I don’t for one moment think Trump cares about the Iranians )

It’s true, it’s not like this wasn’t a long time coming.

“While the Pentagon has no plans to occupy all of Iran, it has in its sights a strip of land that runs along the border with Iraq. This is Khuzestan, home to 90 per cent of Iran's oil. "The first step taken by an invading force," reported Beirut's Daily Star, "would be to occupy Iran's oil-rich Khuzestan Province, securing the sensitive Straits of Hormuz and cutting off the Iranian military's oil supply." On 28 January the Iranian government said that it had evidence of British undercover attacks in Khuzestan, including bombings, over the past year. Will the newly emboldened Labour MPs pursue this? Will they ask what the British army based in nearby Basra - notably the SAS - will do if or when Bush begins bombing Iran? With control of the oil of Khuzestan and Iraq and, by proxy, Saudi Arabia, the US will have what Richard Nixon called "the greatest prize of all".

This from 2006

www.countercurrents.org/iran-pilger110206.htm#:~:text=However%2C%20they%20begin%20to%20make,secret%20decision%20to%20attack%20Iraq.

This movie can provide some clarity because it’s all achingly familiar.

The point is that in order for international law to be effective you need compliance from all sides. Plus the majority of the international law on conflicts was drafted just after WW2 when conflicts were still thought of in the traditional "one country invaded or attacks another" rather than the grey zone conflicts that are more prevalent today.

So the question is do you think that Iran is following international law with 20 attempted terrorist plots against the UK, is Iran following international law by attacking its neighbouring Gulf States and beyond. Is it following International law by sponsoring terrorism around the Middle East.

And if not, then why should the US and Israel bother following international law in their response. Far better to focus on winning as quickly as possible.

Lewis Goodall is good on this

https://open.substack.com/pub/goodallandgoodluck/p/iran-crisis-they-wanted-sovereignty?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

Switch off GB news OP.

Our "special" relationship partner did not call before the fact. That is what our government says. Which is a lot to say.

That the bombings of June last year could repeat, yeah we had a hint. And it had been reported that US was moving ships there.

What I really mean is that we should not take our eyes and assets away from Putin. And Cyprus is not undefended. If UK has chosen a ship that just had undergone maintenance and is loading ammunition is because they are not in a hurry or the ships are needed or forseen to be needed elsewhere.

The US asked to use UK overseas bases to attack Iran and was refused, what more of a heads up does the UK need that an attack on Iran was imminent?

RAF Akrotiri had (and still has) no anti missile defence system or SAM system and hasnt for many years- thanks to defence cuts by both the Conservatives and Labour.

Lastly about three weeks ago the RN specifically asked for a vessel to be deployed in the Med and were refused by the MoD.

True.

Also Cypriots are furious against the UK. When the drones were detected, UK only alerted the base on RAF akrotiri, completely ignoring the village itself, and its civilians.
The kinetic movements there were done without consensus from the Cyprus government something that violates the good usage of the base. Frankly shows the remnants of colonial dependence the UK still exerts.
Let alone Greece and turkey are sending aircraft to protect the base as the UK hasn't got enough.

Reports on the newspapers state that the aircraft and ships already there do have anti missile ans drone systems and are capable of intercepting them. There is a little flotilla there, with at least four European flags.
I did not know, though, that tge UK base had not warned the nearby population. That is not good at all. Neither that they had not involved the Cypriot government. Thanks for letting me know, because I had not seen it reported previously.