Westminstenders: Operation Yellowhammer 1q

[RedToothBrush]

Boris Johnson is clearing the decks for a leadership challenge.

I guess that means that the Brexit we get all depends on what George, Michael and Boris decide over lunch and how good Operation Yellowhammer is.

Thanks BigChoc! I’d lost track of the case...

Interesting, short (15 minute) podcast on media reporting.
Judging by the international coverage, Sweden's election was a referendum on immigration - but while it was indeed a factor, much of the tunnel-vision journalism that was produced was amateurish, ill-informed and obscured the real driving forces behind how the ballots were cast

www.patreon.com/posts/21323851

Philip O'Connor from the Remainiacs people. Sweden too has suffered, according to O'Connor, from conservative gov, cutting and privatising services, closing mines, and so the rise of extreme right. He maintains that immigration did not drive the SD vote, but economic privation did. Familiar.... The SD, according to him is not going to hold balance of power. 82% if Swedish voters didn't of course vote for SD, despite what our media says. .

Yes thanks Swedish - getting laughs out of this whole debacle becomes more and more difficult but you succeeded.

odd fact, woman:

One SD policy is to increase aid to developing countries for climate change measures !

All the European fascist parties have some quite left-wing policies on public spending, wanting more on public services

• e.g. that's a big difference between UKIP and the Tories -

so a major factor in the increased vote in some countries seems to be a wish for more old-fashioned socialism, from those who are being left behind.
This suggests a clear way to combat fascism: back to basics and rebuild the welfare state, reduce inequality

e.g. UK Labour gives the impression - however true, but it's what the public sees -
of spending far too much time & effort on causes like Palestine and self-ID
and too little on what actually improves the lives of those in poverty in the UK

They have lost sight of - or changed - their original core mission of helping the working class, especially the poorest

Something that can wreck a party, just like it can wreck a business

Some of their previous / potential voters feel betrayed

Hear, hear.

Philip O'Connor from the Remainiacs people. Sweden too has suffered, according to O'Connor, from conservative gov, cutting and privatising services, closing mines, and so the rise of extreme right. He maintains that immigration did not drive the SD vote, but economic privation did. Familiar.... The SD, according to him is not going to hold balance of power

I'm not familiar with Philip O'Connor, but this is bollocks. Economic privation mattered too, but immigration certainly made people vote for SD.

so a major factor in the increased vote in some countries seems to be a wish for more old-fashioned socialism, from those who are being left behind

SD definitely plays to this, to the vision of the People's Home (where incidentally no one was gay or foreign) the Social Democrats used to champion back in the day. Turn back the clock. Make Sweden great again. Hang on...

Tbh I have yet to see a really good article about the reasons behind a vote made by a journalist who has never lived in said country.

Which why I wouod ANY comments made by British journalists etc... abiut Sweden with a pinch of salt.

You just have to see how hard it is for us in the uk to actually try andunderstnd the reasons behind the Brexit vote. No way that someone who isn’t liv8ng in the country (and done so for years) can say from far away what’s really going on.
Too many assumptions, using their own filter to analyse things etc....

Funny how the UK media learned precisely zip from the French election reporting debacle.

It’s not just the UK math.
I’ve seen that happening in so many different countries on so many different issues.

It is a bit like the 'west' trying to force democracy on some other countries where their outlook on life is different. A 'fair' dictatorship or authoritarian government may actually be better accepted.

Fuck them and the horse they rode in on !
I know this isn't the feminist department, but Posy Parker's new video is pretty funny and right on the money.
Yep bigchoc what's missed by the established parties is what those like SD and ukip claim to promote. But, as mistigri said ages ago, about the FN, when they actually do get any political power they couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery.
SchrodingersRat thanks for that. I am on a steep learning curve about Sweden; so difficult to get a clear picture, I can't find that much in English about it Swedish is beyond me.
Hermione he has lived in Sweden for last 14 years.
If anyone sees any good articles in English about the election, by knowledgeable insiders, I'd love to see them.

O'Connor is Irish (who I trust a bit more than the brits atm)

@anguswalkertalk
BREAKING: local party censure motion against @RosieDuffield1 withdrawn after outcry by fellow Labour MPs

get a bit ranty at times I Better out than in.
Wow MrsR hope she's lovely, 'Ave a word about the brexit too.

A Swedish friend said that the SD draw their support from two sources: on the right they attract the usual anti-immigration xenophobe types, and on the left they appeal to people worried that immigration is undermining the welfare state. Apparently the issue is that support for immigrants (housing, benefits, language classes) is incredibly generous, thus (so the story goes) putting pressure on it for everyone and making it unaffordable. For the same reason the liberals / libertarians are apparently supporting immigration in order to undermine the welfare state.

Fascism historically has been a mix of left and right wing policies
and we see that in the current fascist wave

Certainly some people are xenophobic just because that's how they are
Some have been fed lies or have had fears professionally whipped up about certain groups
Others are anti-immigration because of deprivation, which they fear more mouths to feed will worsen
Some are just attracted by promises of bringing back industry or spending more on public services, just the hope of a less shit life

It isn't possible to extract xenophobia from someone's head,
but we can do a lot to remove the attraction of the promises of more jobs, better working conditions, rebuilding public services etc

Education is important too:
Many people were never properly taught about the Holocaust, or about what people suffered in other fascist states like Spain,Portugal, Greece, Argentina ...
or weren't listening / attending at school.

The idiocy of some on the left equating Nazis with Israel, or with saying women don't have penises,
is that fascism has lost its horror.

We need to remind all of Europe of the crimes that fascists & Nazis committed in the past
So the ignoramuses no longer think it cool to give Nazi salutes and cheer the names of past fascist leaders.

By removing the attraction of the fancy promises, I mean of course that the centre must get its arse in gear
stop tolerating poverty and the worsening quality of life for the less well off
Instead, rebuild the welfare state, increase workers' rights, renters' rights

What new ridiculous ideas do you bring forth today O Gods of Brexit?

www.thesun.co.uk/news/7224083/pm-chequers-brexit-ireland-tax/amp/?__twitter_impression=true
Flying squads of tax inspectors ‘could roam Northern Ireland’ in alternative hard Brexit to ‘rival Chequers plan’
Critics of the PM's plan 'have yet to develop a suitable alternative' which would avoid a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic

Ah, I see
To avoid the border being hard, the whole thing is going to fly around

Cunning plan there, Baldrick

The hard right in the US now threatening international judges

These are the ones our Brexiters are allied with and whom they would love to emulate, if they had the international power to do so

Note: the UN-backed ICC (International Criminal Court) has the remit to bring to justice the perpetrators of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/sep/10/john-bolton-castigate-icc-washington-speech

Bolton ^ (the US national security adviser^) pushed for sanctions over an ICC investigation into alleged American war crimes in Afghanistan.
...
“The United States will use any means necessary to protect our citizens and those of our allies from unjust prosecution by this illegitimate court,” Bolton said.

He said the Trump administration would “fight back” and impose sanctions – even seeking to criminally prosecute ICC officials

– if the court formally proceeded with opening an investigation into alleged war crimes committed by US military and intelligence staff during the war in Afghanistan < worried about himself ? >
or pursued any investigation into Israel or other US allies.
...
Bolton vowed that the United States would retaliate by banning ICC judges and prosecutors from entering the US, imposing sanctions on any funds they had in the States and prosecuting them in the American court system.

“If the court comes after us, Israel, or other US allies we will not sit quietly,”
he said, also threatening to impose the same sanctions on any country that aided the investigation.

btw, Any foreigner should reconsider how safe it is having any assets in the US, if they are at such arbitrary risk of seizure

All the European fascist parties have some quite left-wing policies on public spending, wanting more on public services

I don't think they necessarily have "left wing" instincts. It's just that far right parties are very prone to cake and eat it policy platforms. No different from UKIP in that respect.