1 00:00:08,470 --> 00:00:10,470 Good afternoon. It's Wednesday, the 4th of March 2 00:00:10,470 --> 00:00:13,430 2020, Sixth, just after 1:00. Welcome to UK column News. 3 00:00:13,910 --> 00:00:16,270 I'm your host, Mike Robinson. Joining me in the studio today 4 00:00:16,270 --> 00:00:18,270 is Charles Mallett. Welcome to the program, Charles. 5 00:00:18,270 --> 00:00:21,190 Thank you, Mike. And by video link from Lebanon 6 00:00:21,310 --> 00:00:23,150 is Vanessa Bailey. Now, later in the program, I'm 7 00:00:23,150 --> 00:00:26,270 going to be reporting on the economic effect for us all of 8 00:00:26,270 --> 00:00:29,630 the ongoing war in Iran and also the Clintons giving evidence to 9 00:00:29,630 --> 00:00:33,190 the House Oversight Committee on their alleged links to Jeffrey 10 00:00:33,190 --> 00:00:34,800 Epstein. Charles is going to be reporting 11 00:00:34,800 --> 00:00:38,720 on the ongoing plight of Imran Khan in Pakistan and also taking 12 00:00:38,720 --> 00:00:41,160 a look at Rich Rachel Rhee's plan for the spring. 13 00:00:41,320 --> 00:00:44,000 Well, we might call it a budget, but I'm not sure what they call 14 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:46,040 it these days. But anyway, we'll begin. 15 00:00:46,040 --> 00:00:49,280 We're going to begin today, of course, with with Iran, the Iran 16 00:00:49,280 --> 00:00:51,920 war itself. So let me welcome Vanessa to the 17 00:00:51,920 --> 00:00:54,560 program. Bring us up to date with with 18 00:00:54,560 --> 00:00:58,800 what the latest is. Well, yeah, good afternoon, 19 00:00:58,800 --> 00:01:00,320 everyone. It's a bit difficult to cover 20 00:01:00,320 --> 00:01:03,800 absolutely everything, but hopefully we can continue the 21 00:01:04,040 --> 00:01:08,800 discussion in extra. So first of all, basically, I'm 22 00:01:08,800 --> 00:01:13,800 just going to do an overview, a very limited overview of what 23 00:01:13,800 --> 00:01:15,680 has actually happened in the last four days. 24 00:01:16,640 --> 00:01:20,960 I would direct everybody to an interview on neutrality studies. 25 00:01:20,960 --> 00:01:23,800 The link is going to be in the show notes, an interview with 26 00:01:23,800 --> 00:01:28,040 Stephen Starr, who's a nuclear weapons specialist, if we can 27 00:01:28,040 --> 00:01:32,880 just have that up on screen. So basically what he's saying 28 00:01:32,880 --> 00:01:37,520 is, and this is also being reiterated even in American 29 00:01:37,520 --> 00:01:43,600 media, the US has fired 1200 to 1800 interceptor missiles in the 30 00:01:43,600 --> 00:01:45,920 last two days. That so that was the first two 31 00:01:45,920 --> 00:01:49,520 days of the conflict. The US cannot make enough 32 00:01:49,520 --> 00:01:52,600 missiles. The they manufacture only 400 33 00:01:52,600 --> 00:02:00,040 THAAD missiles per year and 750 PAC 3 Patriot air defence 34 00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:04,400 missiles. In 2025 the US fired 25% of all 35 00:02:04,400 --> 00:02:06,960 of its third missiles in a few days. 36 00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:11,520 The 12 days fighting Iran. This, as I said, is also being 37 00:02:11,520 --> 00:02:14,720 picked up by American media. This is the Wall Street Journal. 38 00:02:14,880 --> 00:02:19,840 US races to accomplish Iran mission before munitions run 39 00:02:19,840 --> 00:02:21,400 out. And of course, remembering back 40 00:02:21,400 --> 00:02:22,760 to the 12 day. War. 41 00:02:23,520 --> 00:02:27,760 It is believed that America pressured or or literally 42 00:02:28,560 --> 00:02:33,360 requested that Iran accept a a ceasefire because Israel was 43 00:02:33,360 --> 00:02:36,320 running out of interceptor missiles. 44 00:02:37,400 --> 00:02:42,000 And then I basically this is the main and in my view the most 45 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:46,160 important strategy of Iran, Operation Grape blinding. 46 00:02:46,160 --> 00:02:50,080 This is in fact a tactic taken from Hezbollah, which is 47 00:02:50,080 --> 00:02:54,640 effectively you can freeze frame after and read what is actually 48 00:02:54,640 --> 00:02:58,880 written on the on the infograph. But this was a tactic actually 49 00:02:59,240 --> 00:03:04,400 originating with Hezbollah of taking out all of the radar and 50 00:03:04,400 --> 00:03:07,640 early warning structures. And for Iran, of course, that's 51 00:03:07,640 --> 00:03:11,480 why they've been heavily targeting the Gulf states in 52 00:03:11,520 --> 00:03:13,920 particular. And this was released this 53 00:03:13,920 --> 00:03:19,360 morning, official figures from the IRGC accompanied by 54 00:03:19,360 --> 00:03:24,760 satellite images basically proving the damage to these 55 00:03:24,760 --> 00:03:28,760 radar and early warning systems. So I'm not going to read out the 56 00:03:28,760 --> 00:03:33,040 names of the systems, but basically 2IN Bahrain, 3IN 57 00:03:33,040 --> 00:03:38,280 Kuwait, one in the UAE, one in Jordan and most importantly the 58 00:03:38,280 --> 00:03:44,200 AN FBS132 in Qatar, which is known as the all seeing eye. 59 00:03:44,920 --> 00:03:48,600 It has a 5000 kilometre range and it can detect ballistic 60 00:03:48,600 --> 00:03:51,840 missile launch in Iran, China and Russia. 61 00:03:52,240 --> 00:03:56,720 So effectively, the US has lost its early warning sister system. 62 00:03:57,160 --> 00:04:00,160 And this morning, Senator Murphy, who'd attended a closed 63 00:04:00,160 --> 00:04:04,440 session at the White House, reiterated the fact that the US 64 00:04:04,440 --> 00:04:08,520 now has an inability to intercept Iranian drones and 65 00:04:08,520 --> 00:04:10,640 missiles. And it also appears from the 66 00:04:10,640 --> 00:04:15,720 Hezbollah launch of missiles and drones in the last few days that 67 00:04:15,720 --> 00:04:20,560 Israel is also unable right now to intercept those drones and 68 00:04:20,560 --> 00:04:21,959 missiles. And that of course, is 69 00:04:21,959 --> 00:04:25,920 deliberate that that Hezbollah is coordinating with Iran to 70 00:04:25,920 --> 00:04:29,560 flood the air defence missile systems. 71 00:04:29,920 --> 00:04:34,640 There are even reports that the US is going to relocate air 72 00:04:34,640 --> 00:04:38,240 defence systems from South Korea to the Middle East to try and 73 00:04:38,240 --> 00:04:44,160 make up for the deficit. And then of course, part of what 74 00:04:44,160 --> 00:04:48,680 has been ongoing is that Iran has shut down the Hormuz Strait. 75 00:04:48,680 --> 00:04:53,240 If we can have the next slide up, which of course incorporates 76 00:04:53,240 --> 00:04:57,560 20% of the world's oil and LNG. And if you look at any of the 77 00:04:57,560 --> 00:05:01,120 satellite images or maps available on social media, 78 00:05:01,120 --> 00:05:04,800 you'll see the backlog of ships. But there are also so multiple 79 00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:08,680 ships, I think we're up to six ships now that have been 80 00:05:08,680 --> 00:05:12,840 targeted by Iran for trying to break the blockade and have 81 00:05:12,840 --> 00:05:16,400 either been severely damaged. I think 1:00 this morning, the 82 00:05:16,400 --> 00:05:18,280 crew has actually abandoned ship. 83 00:05:19,040 --> 00:05:23,400 Then if we come back to Stephen Starr in this interview on 84 00:05:23,400 --> 00:05:27,760 neutrality studies, he's talking then about the possible outcomes 85 00:05:27,800 --> 00:05:32,120 of the US Israeli attack on Iran. 86 00:05:32,320 --> 00:05:34,880 First of all, he's saying, obviously their objective is 87 00:05:34,880 --> 00:05:40,360 regime change, the fragmentation of Iran, the end of Iranian 88 00:05:40,360 --> 00:05:43,720 power and containment, which of course, also relates to the 89 00:05:43,760 --> 00:05:48,240 Brookings Institute document Path to Persia, where the final 90 00:05:48,520 --> 00:05:53,280 strategy is to, in the end, prevent Iran from expanding, 91 00:05:53,280 --> 00:05:56,760 although I would argue that they haven't expanded at all into the 92 00:05:56,760 --> 00:06:03,440 region. And to contain Iran at the same 93 00:06:03,440 --> 00:06:06,160 time, to present US losses as a victory. 94 00:06:06,160 --> 00:06:08,600 Of course, this is very important for Trump. 95 00:06:08,600 --> 00:06:11,000 Mike, you and I were discussing this yesterday. 96 00:06:12,200 --> 00:06:14,800 And then, of course, the second option, of course, is that US 97 00:06:14,800 --> 00:06:18,680 and Israel can't defend itself or destroy the missile cities. 98 00:06:18,960 --> 00:06:21,800 Now, it's interesting when he talks about the Iranian missile 99 00:06:21,800 --> 00:06:26,560 cities being deeply underground, the fact, sorry, can I just have 100 00:06:26,560 --> 00:06:28,400 the slide back on the screen for a second? 101 00:06:29,280 --> 00:06:32,360 And that effectively they're built out of granite. 102 00:06:32,440 --> 00:06:35,800 And the only thing according to Stephen Starr, that will 103 00:06:35,960 --> 00:06:38,600 effectively destroy these missile cities that are 104 00:06:38,600 --> 00:06:41,760 dispersed across all of Iranian territory. 105 00:06:41,760 --> 00:06:45,840 And of course, that's pretty vast, our nuclear weapons. 106 00:06:45,840 --> 00:06:50,280 And he argues that in order to destroy those missile cities, 107 00:06:50,280 --> 00:06:52,720 they're not going to need one nuclear bomb. 108 00:06:52,720 --> 00:06:55,840 They're going to need a series of nuclear bombs to destroy all 109 00:06:55,840 --> 00:06:58,440 of the missile cities across Iran. 110 00:06:59,240 --> 00:07:04,920 And so the chances are extremely high as the US does suffer major 111 00:07:04,920 --> 00:07:07,480 losses. Both ships aircraft, I think 112 00:07:07,480 --> 00:07:13,280 another aircraft was shot down today over to Iranian airspace, 113 00:07:13,560 --> 00:07:16,880 but we know that three have been lost. the US is trying to claim 114 00:07:16,880 --> 00:07:19,640 its friendly fire. It's also trying to claim that 115 00:07:19,640 --> 00:07:25,800 the targeting of Aramco in Saudi Arabia was a false flag by 116 00:07:25,800 --> 00:07:28,920 Israel. To bring Saudi Arabia into the 117 00:07:28,920 --> 00:07:30,760 war. I think you'd have to drag Saudi 118 00:07:30,760 --> 00:07:34,120 Arabia into the war in in the current state of affairs because 119 00:07:34,120 --> 00:07:34,560 of. Course. 120 00:07:34,800 --> 00:07:37,960 The Gulf states now perceived that the US does not have their 121 00:07:37,960 --> 00:07:40,880 back and they're defending only Israel. 122 00:07:41,160 --> 00:07:46,120 But coming back to the, the idea of the use of umm, nuclear 123 00:07:46,120 --> 00:07:48,920 weapons, I just want to have a quick look at the map. 124 00:07:48,920 --> 00:07:53,280 And China, Russia and Iran are marked in red on this map. 125 00:07:53,760 --> 00:07:58,880 So if nuclear weapons are used in Iran, you can see that not 126 00:07:58,880 --> 00:08:03,640 only this entire region, but one would assume that definitely 127 00:08:03,640 --> 00:08:08,360 Russia, which is on the northern border of Iran and and divided 128 00:08:08,360 --> 00:08:11,960 by the South Caucasus. But even China is going to be 129 00:08:11,960 --> 00:08:18,280 affected by whatever fallout there is from mass use of 130 00:08:18,280 --> 00:08:21,760 nuclear weapons because as we've said, 1 weapon is not going to 131 00:08:21,760 --> 00:08:27,240 achieve the presumed objectives of Israel and the United States. 132 00:08:28,040 --> 00:08:31,800 And then basically last week on UK column, we talked about the 133 00:08:31,800 --> 00:08:35,520 potential of a ground invasion or an attempted ground invasion. 134 00:08:35,520 --> 00:08:39,159 We talked about the various proxies that might be used by 135 00:08:39,159 --> 00:08:43,159 the US and Israel, including the Kurdish separatist groups. 136 00:08:43,159 --> 00:08:48,480 Well, today, apparently, Trump is open to arming the Kurdish 137 00:08:48,480 --> 00:08:52,360 separatist groups to serve as boots on the ground in Iran. 138 00:08:52,360 --> 00:08:56,960 So surprise, surprise that appears to be going ahead. 139 00:08:56,960 --> 00:09:01,160 And if we look at the map of the attacks on the border of Iran, 140 00:09:02,440 --> 00:09:06,280 you can see there that the Kurdish separatists have 141 00:09:06,280 --> 00:09:09,320 attacked at the various stages that are shown on that map. 142 00:09:09,320 --> 00:09:14,960 So on the western border of Iran, the IRGC has been 143 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:17,800 responding. If we can just have the next 144 00:09:17,800 --> 00:09:22,800 slide up, because I want to demonstrate here that Israel is 145 00:09:22,800 --> 00:09:26,480 effectively bombing all of that western border area. 146 00:09:26,480 --> 00:09:30,320 And that is clearly to to weaken the defences in in order to 147 00:09:30,320 --> 00:09:34,440 allow for a ground invasion by the Kurdish separatists that 148 00:09:34,440 --> 00:09:37,400 Israel has effectively been training and arming. 149 00:09:37,400 --> 00:09:40,760 And now Trump is saying that he's going to support them. 150 00:09:40,760 --> 00:09:43,800 And that of course, is despite the alleged betrayal of the 151 00:09:43,800 --> 00:09:49,600 Kurdish factions in Syria. The IRGC has put out a number of 152 00:09:49,600 --> 00:09:52,960 statements, but I'm just going to pull this one up. 153 00:09:53,320 --> 00:09:57,040 They say that they've struck the Mossad backed Kurdish opposition 154 00:09:57,040 --> 00:10:00,680 bases in Iraqi Kurdistan. And an interesting point here, 155 00:10:00,880 --> 00:10:04,000 at one point they were using war jets, the Mig 29 that was 156 00:10:04,000 --> 00:10:08,680 delivered from Russia and a couple of their older aircraft 157 00:10:09,000 --> 00:10:12,920 to actually bomb inside the Iraqi Kurdistan area. 158 00:10:13,240 --> 00:10:16,520 Now, this is interesting because this proves the point that they 159 00:10:16,520 --> 00:10:21,160 have blinded the US. the US is unable to take the Iranian 160 00:10:21,160 --> 00:10:24,120 aircraft out of the sky. And the fact that those aircraft 161 00:10:24,120 --> 00:10:29,120 are still flying right now over Tehran and able to take down 162 00:10:29,120 --> 00:10:30,680 other jets. Sorry, could I just go back to 163 00:10:30,680 --> 00:10:33,200 the IRGC very quickly to finish that off? 164 00:10:34,120 --> 00:10:38,400 So effectively, they've reportedly launched drone and 165 00:10:38,400 --> 00:10:40,760 missile attacks on multiple headquarters and camps of 166 00:10:40,760 --> 00:10:43,680 Iranian Kurdish opposition parties, including the 167 00:10:43,680 --> 00:10:47,520 Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, the Kurdistan Freedom 168 00:10:47,520 --> 00:10:51,920 Party and Kamala in the Kurdistan region of Iraq's Erbil 169 00:10:52,200 --> 00:10:54,640 and Koya districts. And of course, at the same time, 170 00:10:54,640 --> 00:11:00,080 the Iraqi resistance factions have been heavily hitting the US 171 00:11:00,080 --> 00:11:02,840 base in Erbil. And actually to date, we 172 00:11:02,840 --> 00:11:05,720 understand that that much of it has been destroyed. 173 00:11:06,120 --> 00:11:09,280 And then coming back to the idea of a ground invasion, I just 174 00:11:09,280 --> 00:11:14,280 want to show people to to get an idea of the terrain that a 175 00:11:14,280 --> 00:11:16,520 ground invasion is going to face. 176 00:11:16,720 --> 00:11:21,520 So that's the western border where effectively you can see 177 00:11:22,440 --> 00:11:26,720 how mount well, how mountainous much of Iran is. 178 00:11:26,720 --> 00:11:29,280 It's going to be a very difficult country to wage a 179 00:11:29,280 --> 00:11:32,960 ground war on. So in my opinion, they might 180 00:11:32,960 --> 00:11:36,720 sacrifice proxies, but Americans themselves are not going to put 181 00:11:36,720 --> 00:11:40,160 boots on the ground, which of course, is a very familiar 182 00:11:40,240 --> 00:11:44,880 aspect to US strategy. And then finally, for people to 183 00:11:44,880 --> 00:11:49,640 get an understanding of, um, the factions in the region, even 184 00:11:49,640 --> 00:11:53,600 within the Gulf States who are now, um, rising up against the 185 00:11:53,720 --> 00:11:57,320 regimes in those states, Iran and its Ring of Fire. 186 00:11:57,320 --> 00:12:02,000 I go into a lot of detail about the potential resistance and 187 00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:06,600 alliances in the region that will come to Iran's defence in 188 00:12:06,600 --> 00:12:09,360 the case of the war that we're now witnessing. 189 00:12:09,360 --> 00:12:12,160 So if people want a bit more information on that and a bit 190 00:12:12,160 --> 00:12:16,520 more understanding then please go to UK column and read that. 191 00:12:16,520 --> 00:12:19,240 Article. Thank you for that, Vanessa. 192 00:12:19,240 --> 00:12:23,880 We will undoubtedly be talking more on this in extra, but I 193 00:12:23,880 --> 00:12:26,680 just wanted to very briefly get a comment from you on the 194 00:12:27,360 --> 00:12:30,520 comments by Marco Rubio. So let's just bring Marco Rubio 195 00:12:30,520 --> 00:12:35,120 on screen here for a second, if we can, please, Chris, and let's 196 00:12:35,120 --> 00:12:38,040 just bring him on. We knew that there was going to 197 00:12:38,040 --> 00:12:40,720 be an Israeli action. We knew that that that would 198 00:12:40,720 --> 00:12:45,200 precipitate an attack against American forces and we knew that 199 00:12:45,200 --> 00:12:47,960 if we didn't preemptively go after them before they launched 200 00:12:47,960 --> 00:12:50,440 those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties. 201 00:12:50,800 --> 00:12:54,320 I just, I, I have to admit, I nearly fell over when I, when I 202 00:12:54,320 --> 00:12:58,040 heard him say these words. Because Vanessa, this is the, 203 00:12:58,080 --> 00:13:00,640 the hypocrisy is, is off the charts. 204 00:13:00,760 --> 00:13:03,440 But but really, they just did it because they had to do it. 205 00:13:05,080 --> 00:13:07,520 Yes, basically. And, and again, go to the path, 206 00:13:07,880 --> 00:13:11,720 path to pressure document and and you'll see that this entire 207 00:13:11,720 --> 00:13:15,640 ploy let Israel go in first and then make the US look as if it 208 00:13:15,640 --> 00:13:18,760 has to go in to to help its ally, blah blah blah. 209 00:13:19,600 --> 00:13:21,960 It's nonsense. Yes, utter it. 210 00:13:23,680 --> 00:13:26,280 Is how many how many different ways can you say exactly the 211 00:13:26,280 --> 00:13:26,840 same thing? Well. 212 00:13:26,840 --> 00:13:30,120 Indeed, Yeah. OK, Well, Charles then in the 213 00:13:30,120 --> 00:13:34,280 meantime, of course, the question is what's Britain's 214 00:13:34,280 --> 00:13:35,600 reaction to all this being? Yes. 215 00:13:35,600 --> 00:13:37,360 Exactly. Are are we or aren't we? 216 00:13:37,360 --> 00:13:41,000 And as we saw on Monday's news programme, there was some 217 00:13:41,000 --> 00:13:44,640 excruciatingly awkward press interviews, particularly with 218 00:13:44,640 --> 00:13:48,520 John Healey over the weekend, where no answers really were 219 00:13:48,520 --> 00:13:50,360 found. After Monday's news, the Prime 220 00:13:50,360 --> 00:13:53,280 Minister made a statement to the House of Commons and took 221 00:13:53,280 --> 00:13:55,480 questions for a period of a couple of hours, which was 222 00:13:55,480 --> 00:13:58,520 largely repetitive. There were many questions about 223 00:13:58,560 --> 00:14:04,120 the echoes of Iraq 2003 and the lawfulness of any action. 224 00:14:04,120 --> 00:14:07,160 We will look now at how he began his statement. 225 00:14:09,360 --> 00:14:12,880 Mr. Speaker, the United Kingdom was not involved in the initial 226 00:14:12,880 --> 00:14:16,320 strikes on Iran by the US and Israel. 227 00:14:17,000 --> 00:14:21,920 That decision was deliberate. We believe that the best way 228 00:14:21,920 --> 00:14:25,920 forward for the region and for the world is a negotiated 229 00:14:25,920 --> 00:14:31,000 settlement in which Iran agrees to give up any aspirations to 230 00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:35,280 develop a nuclear weapon and ceases its destabilising 231 00:14:35,280 --> 00:14:39,240 activity across the region. President Trump has expressed 232 00:14:39,240 --> 00:14:42,920 his disagreement with our decision not to get involved in 233 00:14:42,920 --> 00:14:47,800 the initial strikes, but it is my duty to judge what is in 234 00:14:47,800 --> 00:14:53,160 Britain's national interest. That is what I've done and I 235 00:14:53,160 --> 00:14:57,960 stand by it. But, Mr. Speaker, it is clear 236 00:14:57,960 --> 00:15:02,240 that Iran's outrageous response has become a threat to our 237 00:15:02,240 --> 00:15:07,400 people, our interests and our allies, and it cannot be 238 00:15:07,400 --> 00:15:11,640 ignored. Iran has lashed out across the 239 00:15:11,640 --> 00:15:14,240 region. They've launched hundreds of 240 00:15:14,240 --> 00:15:19,080 missiles and thousands of drones at countries which did not 241 00:15:19,080 --> 00:15:23,960 attack them. And countries which did not 242 00:15:23,960 --> 00:15:29,440 attack them sort of relates back to Rubio's words and somehow the 243 00:15:29,440 --> 00:15:33,200 rules being somewhat different for Israel and the United States 244 00:15:33,240 --> 00:15:36,440 at least. So he is playing fairly fast and 245 00:15:36,440 --> 00:15:38,560 loose with his words and indicating that United Kingdom 246 00:15:38,560 --> 00:15:42,200 was not involved might be said to be extremely misleading. 247 00:15:42,200 --> 00:15:45,520 And at Exhibit A, we have RAF Lake and Heath which we'll just 248 00:15:45,520 --> 00:15:46,760 put on screen. Now. 249 00:15:47,240 --> 00:15:51,800 This has been used by both F15 and F22 fighter aircraft. 250 00:15:51,800 --> 00:15:55,200 Of course, 3F fifteens have now been shot down by the Kuwaitis 251 00:15:55,200 --> 00:15:57,720 in what's being described as a friendly fire incident. 252 00:15:57,720 --> 00:16:01,880 But of course, CENTCOM confirmed that they were engaged in active 253 00:16:01,880 --> 00:16:05,720 combat. Now, as to Starmer's Love 254 00:16:05,720 --> 00:16:09,560 Actually moment in appearing to stand up to a United States 255 00:16:09,560 --> 00:16:13,560 president, this is what was said of his stance. 256 00:16:16,440 --> 00:16:20,240 And I'm not, by the way, I'm not happy with the UK either. 257 00:16:21,800 --> 00:16:24,880 That island that you read about, the lease, OK, he made it. 258 00:16:24,880 --> 00:16:27,840 For whatever reason, he made a lease of the island. 259 00:16:27,840 --> 00:16:33,400 Somebody came and took it away from him and it's taken 3-4 days 260 00:16:33,520 --> 00:16:35,880 for us to work out where we can land. 261 00:16:35,880 --> 00:16:38,000 There would have been much more convenient landing there as 262 00:16:38,000 --> 00:16:39,960 opposed to flying many extra hours. 263 00:16:40,560 --> 00:16:44,520 So we are very surprised. This is not Winston Churchill 264 00:16:44,600 --> 00:16:49,800 that we're dealing with. Well, there we are now. 265 00:16:49,920 --> 00:16:53,120 Just for that particular part of his rant, Trump had said that he 266 00:16:53,120 --> 00:16:55,960 was cutting all ties for Spain for approximately the same 267 00:16:55,960 --> 00:16:57,960 reason. And it's at this point 268 00:16:57,960 --> 00:17:00,640 reasonable to wonder how much longer nations will put up with 269 00:17:00,640 --> 00:17:03,680 this sort of unpredictability and volatility. 270 00:17:03,680 --> 00:17:07,200 And since the balloon went up effectively over the weekend, 271 00:17:07,200 --> 00:17:10,280 this has been pointed out by Douglas McGregor and others. 272 00:17:10,280 --> 00:17:13,040 But this sort of behaviour makes the Americans look increasingly 273 00:17:13,040 --> 00:17:17,319 vulnerable and isolated. Now as to Keir Starmer, he went 274 00:17:17,319 --> 00:17:20,920 on to lay the ground for a so-called defensive posture, 275 00:17:20,920 --> 00:17:24,119 which looks very much like it's going to morph into an offensive 276 00:17:24,119 --> 00:17:25,160 1. So we'll look at the next 277 00:17:25,160 --> 00:17:31,280 installment from his statement. And Mr. Speaker, our armed 278 00:17:31,280 --> 00:17:35,440 forces are also being put at risk by Iran's actions. 279 00:17:36,600 --> 00:17:41,840 On Saturday, Iran hit a military base in Bahrain with missiles 280 00:17:41,840 --> 00:17:45,920 and drones. There were 300 British personnel 281 00:17:46,120 --> 00:17:50,480 on the base, some within a few 100 yards of the stripe. 282 00:17:52,040 --> 00:17:57,080 Last night, a drone hit RF Akrotiri in Cyprus. 283 00:17:58,080 --> 00:18:00,160 There were no casualties in this strike. 284 00:18:01,360 --> 00:18:05,680 Mr. Speaker, it is important for me to say that our bases in 285 00:18:05,680 --> 00:18:10,240 Cyprus are not being used by US bombers. 286 00:18:11,120 --> 00:18:16,600 I want to be clear of a strike on RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus was 287 00:18:16,600 --> 00:18:22,200 not in response to any decision that we have taken in our 288 00:18:22,200 --> 00:18:25,680 assessment. In our assessment, the drone was 289 00:18:25,680 --> 00:18:28,400 launched prior to our announcement. 290 00:18:29,520 --> 00:18:32,880 Iran's aggression towards Britain and our interests is 291 00:18:32,880 --> 00:18:37,120 long standing and that's why we've always ensured that 292 00:18:37,120 --> 00:18:40,000 protections for British bases and personnel are at their 293 00:18:40,000 --> 00:18:47,200 highest level. Words chosen very cautiously 294 00:18:47,200 --> 00:18:51,280 there and again by saying that Cyprus has not been used by 295 00:18:51,280 --> 00:18:55,800 bombers is of course to obfuscate to quite some extent 296 00:18:55,800 --> 00:18:58,520 and this has been pointed out by the Middle East I which will 297 00:18:58,520 --> 00:19:01,600 just stick on screen. Now it's exposed that the 298 00:19:01,760 --> 00:19:05,840 Cypriot point of view on the wider issue is 1 of unhappiness. 299 00:19:05,840 --> 00:19:09,840 And there's a quote in this piece entitled Cyprus condemns 300 00:19:09,840 --> 00:19:13,560 the UK after RAF base that launched Gaza fights is hit by 301 00:19:13,560 --> 00:19:16,200 drone. And they quote a Cypriot 302 00:19:16,200 --> 00:19:18,760 minister saying despite the assurances given in yesterday's 303 00:19:18,760 --> 00:19:22,400 address by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, there was no 304 00:19:22,400 --> 00:19:25,720 clear clarification that the British bases in Cyprus would 305 00:19:25,720 --> 00:19:30,720 not under any circumstances be used for any reason other than 306 00:19:30,720 --> 00:19:33,480 humanitarian. And of course, this then links 307 00:19:33,480 --> 00:19:37,960 back to an article written by Ian Overton for his organization 308 00:19:37,960 --> 00:19:41,520 Action on Armed Violence, entitled Did Britain fly at 309 00:19:41,520 --> 00:19:46,520 least 623 Spy flights over Gaza? And that the data he has 310 00:19:46,520 --> 00:19:48,560 suggests so. And, and I quote, the Ministry 311 00:19:48,560 --> 00:19:51,520 of Defence maintains that these flights were solely to locate 312 00:19:51,520 --> 00:19:53,880 hostages. Yet the scale, timing and 313 00:19:53,880 --> 00:19:56,880 persistence of the sorties raises questions as to how much 314 00:19:56,880 --> 00:20:00,160 they aided Israel's military operations despite being 315 00:20:00,160 --> 00:20:04,040 conducted under the banner of humanitarian intent. 316 00:20:04,880 --> 00:20:08,840 Of course, the other big issue is indeed the intelligence 317 00:20:08,840 --> 00:20:12,080 sharing between the United Kingdom and Israel and the 318 00:20:12,080 --> 00:20:14,880 United States, making it extremely implausible that the 319 00:20:14,880 --> 00:20:17,840 United Kingdom has not played a far bigger part in all of this 320 00:20:18,120 --> 00:20:22,000 than is being described. Also, we have a map drawn up by 321 00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:25,280 Declassified UK with data that is admittedly now a few years 322 00:20:25,280 --> 00:20:28,040 old, but this shows all the locations of the United States 323 00:20:28,040 --> 00:20:30,920 Armed Forces personnel in the United Kingdom at the moment, 324 00:20:30,920 --> 00:20:34,480 with Lagan Heath shown in boxed text about halfway down on the 325 00:20:34,480 --> 00:20:37,080 right and side. Now, the other thing I want to 326 00:20:37,080 --> 00:20:39,840 make mention of is that given all the Sabre rattling from 327 00:20:39,840 --> 00:20:43,480 within NATO for the last four years and the action that's sort 328 00:20:43,480 --> 00:20:46,920 of unrolling right now up in the high N, it's got to be noted 329 00:20:46,920 --> 00:20:49,320 that Article 6 has been completely ignored. 330 00:20:49,320 --> 00:20:55,200 Now I've mentioned this before and the Cyprus attack really 331 00:20:55,560 --> 00:21:01,240 with regards to Article 6, it pertains very much to Article 5 332 00:21:01,240 --> 00:21:03,560 of course, because it Article 6 states that for the purpose of 333 00:21:03,560 --> 00:21:06,280 Article 5, an armed attack on one or more of the parties is 334 00:21:06,280 --> 00:21:10,160 deemed to include an armed attack on the forces, vessels or 335 00:21:10,160 --> 00:21:13,280 aircraft of any of the parties when in or over these 336 00:21:13,280 --> 00:21:17,600 territories. RAF Akritiri being one such 337 00:21:17,640 --> 00:21:21,760 territory, of course staffed by those personnel. 338 00:21:22,040 --> 00:21:26,760 But on the subject of an Article five response, absolutely 339 00:21:26,760 --> 00:21:31,280 nothing, which I think is a very interesting outcome, 340 00:21:31,280 --> 00:21:34,440 particularly given the rhetoric in, as I say, in inside and 341 00:21:34,440 --> 00:21:36,120 outside NATO the last four years. 342 00:21:36,600 --> 00:21:41,000 Now Sama went on to talk about how he must protect British 343 00:21:41,000 --> 00:21:48,120 lives and he describing what defensive operations must look 344 00:21:48,120 --> 00:21:51,680 like. So we will just look at the next 345 00:21:51,680 --> 00:21:53,680 video of him speaking about this issue. 346 00:21:56,160 --> 00:22:02,080 Moreover, it is my duty, the highest duty of my office, to 347 00:22:02,080 --> 00:22:07,800 protect British lives. That is why we put British jets 348 00:22:07,800 --> 00:22:12,800 in the air, Typhoons and F-30 fives as part of coordinated 349 00:22:12,800 --> 00:22:17,080 defensive operations which have already successfully intercepted 350 00:22:17,280 --> 00:22:21,800 Iranian strikes, including, Mr. Speaker, taking out one drone 351 00:22:22,360 --> 00:22:26,080 that was heading towards a coalition base in Iraq housing 352 00:22:26,160 --> 00:22:31,280 UK service personnel. I want to pay tribute to our 353 00:22:31,280 --> 00:22:35,360 brilliant servicemen and women putting themselves in harm's way 354 00:22:35,760 --> 00:22:39,480 to keep others safe, and I know the whole House will join me in 355 00:22:39,480 --> 00:22:42,280 expressing our gratitude and our respect. 356 00:22:43,760 --> 00:22:47,240 But, Mr. Speaker, it is simply not possible to shoot down every 357 00:22:47,240 --> 00:22:51,000 Iranian missile and every drone after they've been launched. 358 00:22:51,960 --> 00:22:56,160 The only way to stop the threat is to destroy the missiles at 359 00:22:56,160 --> 00:23:02,640 source, in their storage depots or at the launchers. the US 360 00:23:02,640 --> 00:23:07,480 requested permission to use British bases for that specific 361 00:23:07,800 --> 00:23:12,440 and limited defensive purpose because they have the 362 00:23:12,440 --> 00:23:17,520 capabilities to do so. Yesterday evening we took the 363 00:23:17,520 --> 00:23:22,720 decision to accept that new request in order to prevent Iran 364 00:23:22,720 --> 00:23:25,760 firing missiles across the region, killing innocent 365 00:23:25,760 --> 00:23:30,000 civilians, putting British lives at risk and hitting countries 366 00:23:30,320 --> 00:23:35,200 that have not been involved. To be clear, the use of British 367 00:23:35,200 --> 00:23:40,000 bases is limited to the agreed defensive purposes. 368 00:23:40,560 --> 00:23:45,960 We are not joining the US and Israeli offensive strikes. 369 00:23:48,120 --> 00:23:53,320 The basis for our decision is the collective self defence of 370 00:23:53,320 --> 00:23:57,600 long standing friends and allies and protecting British lives. 371 00:23:58,480 --> 00:24:02,080 It is in accordance with international law and we 372 00:24:02,240 --> 00:24:05,880 produced a summary of our legal advice which clearly sets this 373 00:24:05,880 --> 00:24:09,160 out. We will keep the decision under 374 00:24:09,160 --> 00:24:13,680 review. And that last bit seems to be 375 00:24:13,680 --> 00:24:16,000 the key phrase. It does, and we'll just come to 376 00:24:16,000 --> 00:24:18,480 the back of that in a second. But so they're boasting 377 00:24:18,480 --> 00:24:20,520 obviously about what defensive operations look like, the 378 00:24:20,520 --> 00:24:23,400 Ministry of Defence putting out an intelligence brief, an update 379 00:24:23,400 --> 00:24:27,920 about munitions being shot down with some footage to accompany 380 00:24:27,920 --> 00:24:28,840 it. And of course, then the other 381 00:24:28,840 --> 00:24:32,200 thing, again, defensive for defensive purposes only. 382 00:24:32,200 --> 00:24:35,520 But the Type 45 destroyer HMS Dragon has now been deployed up 383 00:24:35,520 --> 00:24:38,440 to the eastern Mediterranean. And this course is at the same 384 00:24:38,440 --> 00:24:41,520 time the aircraft carrier has gone up to the high N. 385 00:24:41,520 --> 00:24:44,760 This has also got a couple of Wildcat helicopters on board. 386 00:24:44,760 --> 00:24:46,720 So I hope that they don't tip over the side. 387 00:24:46,720 --> 00:24:49,880 Now on the on the legal front, we, I, I would just like to 388 00:24:49,880 --> 00:24:52,000 reinforce the words that Starmer has used. 389 00:24:52,600 --> 00:24:55,880 As I say, Iraq having been cited many times and he says it is 390 00:24:55,880 --> 00:24:58,760 important that we all learn the lessons of Iraq and that there 391 00:24:58,800 --> 00:25:02,720 and they are, that there needs to be a lawful basis for action 392 00:25:02,720 --> 00:25:05,960 if it is taken and that there needs to be a viable case. 393 00:25:05,960 --> 00:25:11,240 Now he seems very much to be inferring that Iraq in 2003 did 394 00:25:11,240 --> 00:25:13,880 not meet either of those criteria. 395 00:25:14,640 --> 00:25:17,240 And I think the important point now is to look at what next, if 396 00:25:17,240 --> 00:25:22,720 there is indeed to be some sort of legal question and indeed 397 00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:25,560 request for for legal advice, of course, because that falls to 398 00:25:25,560 --> 00:25:29,120 the attorney general who's on screen now, Richard Hermer, who 399 00:25:29,120 --> 00:25:32,160 makes no secret of the fact that he is Jewish and has a close 400 00:25:32,160 --> 00:25:34,960 affinity to Israel. So he's made a recent speech in 401 00:25:34,960 --> 00:25:38,240 Australia, ostensibly about the events in Bondi Beach. 402 00:25:38,920 --> 00:25:41,360 At the start of his speech he said, I spent my year off in 403 00:25:41,360 --> 00:25:44,400 Israel and on my very first night there met up with a group 404 00:25:44,400 --> 00:25:47,000 of Aussies from the same Jewish youth movement. 405 00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:49,760 Now, of course that doesn't tell the whole story, of course, but 406 00:25:49,760 --> 00:25:53,400 it is a significant detail and I think one that can't be ignored. 407 00:25:53,400 --> 00:25:56,320 If we are going to consider what happens next, we'll just look 408 00:25:56,320 --> 00:25:59,960 quickly at a last clip from Starmer in an attempt to sort of 409 00:25:59,960 --> 00:26:07,040 clarify his overall position. Mr. Speaker, we all remember the 410 00:26:07,040 --> 00:26:11,720 mistakes of Iraq and we have learned those lessons. 411 00:26:12,960 --> 00:26:21,520 Any UK actions must always have a lawful basis and a viable 412 00:26:21,520 --> 00:26:27,400 thought through plan. I say again, we were not 413 00:26:27,400 --> 00:26:31,160 involved in the initial strikes on Iran and we will not join 414 00:26:31,160 --> 00:26:35,240 offensive action now, but in the face of Iran's barrage of 415 00:26:35,240 --> 00:26:39,600 missiles and drones, we will protect our people in the region 416 00:26:40,080 --> 00:26:43,720 and support the collective self defence of our allies because 417 00:26:43,720 --> 00:26:46,320 that is our duty to the British people. 418 00:26:46,800 --> 00:26:51,360 It is the best way to eliminate the urgent threat, to prevent 419 00:26:51,360 --> 00:26:56,000 the situation spiralling 3rd and support return to diplomacy. 420 00:26:56,840 --> 00:27:00,520 It is the best way to protect British interests and British 421 00:27:00,520 --> 00:27:05,000 lives. Keyword there being now, we will 422 00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:08,960 not join offensive action now. Very much suggestive that this 423 00:27:08,960 --> 00:27:11,760 will happen in future. He's very much taken from the 424 00:27:11,800 --> 00:27:14,560 Israel playbook now in terms of what Israel is up to. 425 00:27:14,560 --> 00:27:18,120 Just a tweet from the IDF, illustrative of the way, the 426 00:27:18,120 --> 00:27:21,520 sort of attitude that they have towards the whole process. 427 00:27:21,520 --> 00:27:25,080 They've set this little video to music with sort of glorious 428 00:27:25,080 --> 00:27:30,200 images of Iranian hierarchy being eliminated in in their 429 00:27:30,200 --> 00:27:32,680 words. And we go on the subject of 430 00:27:32,680 --> 00:27:35,560 British interests to another declassified report from two 431 00:27:35,560 --> 00:27:40,040 years ago in which they refer to GCHQ expanding their presence 432 00:27:40,280 --> 00:27:44,480 near Iran and rather presciently referring to a potentially 433 00:27:44,480 --> 00:27:47,560 devastating new war with Iran over Israel. 434 00:27:47,560 --> 00:27:50,360 Excellent reporting back there, which has stood the test of 435 00:27:50,360 --> 00:27:51,680 time. Now to look into this further. 436 00:27:51,680 --> 00:27:54,480 I would recommend Vanessa did not mention this, but there she 437 00:27:54,480 --> 00:27:57,640 has just spoken to Jerm about exactly this subject. 438 00:27:57,640 --> 00:28:01,760 So please do look at that. And for other UK column content, 439 00:28:02,040 --> 00:28:05,280 the most recent published episode of Military Matters, 440 00:28:05,600 --> 00:28:07,160 Brian and I talking about this subject. 441 00:28:07,160 --> 00:28:10,680 And in fact we've just recorded a another discussion on this 442 00:28:10,680 --> 00:28:15,320 which will be out soon. OK, so let's let's look at the 443 00:28:15,520 --> 00:28:19,480 economic implications of the Iran war because those continue 444 00:28:19,680 --> 00:28:21,840 are continuing and of course they're they're pretty stark. 445 00:28:21,840 --> 00:28:25,960 So first of all, here we have this article from G Captain 446 00:28:25,960 --> 00:28:28,720 Daily. They are reporting of this. 447 00:28:28,880 --> 00:28:32,400 The headline here is ship war risk insurance cancelled after 448 00:28:32,640 --> 00:28:34,720 Iran strikes. And so they're talking about 449 00:28:34,720 --> 00:28:37,840 Lloyd's and other insurance companies having cancelled the 450 00:28:37,880 --> 00:28:40,840 war risk insurance for shipping in the region. 451 00:28:41,400 --> 00:28:44,720 And 1st question is, how is that even possible? 452 00:28:44,720 --> 00:28:47,520 Because of course, you know, you've taken out an insurance 453 00:28:47,520 --> 00:28:50,320 policy and suddenly the next thing you know, they've just 454 00:28:50,320 --> 00:28:53,480 decided that you're not insured. Well, you've paid for it. 455 00:28:53,520 --> 00:28:57,160 But anyway, look, the, the, the, this is, this is what they went 456 00:28:57,160 --> 00:28:59,400 on to say. Machine marine insurers are 457 00:28:59,400 --> 00:29:02,400 cancelling war risk coverage for vessels and oil shipping rates 458 00:29:02,600 --> 00:29:06,240 are set to search further after the widening Iran conflict left 459 00:29:06,240 --> 00:29:09,640 at least three tankers damaged to seafarer killed and 150 ships 460 00:29:09,640 --> 00:29:11,600 stranded around the Strait of Hormuz. 461 00:29:11,880 --> 00:29:14,560 Hormuz. As Finesse has already mentioned 462 00:29:15,720 --> 00:29:17,960 now, the response from Trump was immediate. 463 00:29:18,360 --> 00:29:22,160 He posted on Truth Social saying effective immediately, I've 464 00:29:22,160 --> 00:29:24,840 ordered the United States Development Finance Corporation 465 00:29:24,840 --> 00:29:28,520 to provide at a very reasonable price, political risk assurance. 466 00:29:28,720 --> 00:29:32,240 Political risk assurance What? What does that mean and 467 00:29:32,240 --> 00:29:35,880 guarantees for the financial security of all maritime trade, 468 00:29:35,880 --> 00:29:38,080 especially energy travelling through the Gulf. 469 00:29:38,800 --> 00:29:41,400 Now, the response in the markets was pretty immediate as well, 470 00:29:41,400 --> 00:29:44,440 with the prices of crude oil and gas rising yesterday. 471 00:29:44,880 --> 00:29:49,000 Prices settled back a bit today. And if we look at what happened 472 00:29:49,000 --> 00:29:53,120 based on the graph for the past month, it looks pretty, you 473 00:29:53,120 --> 00:29:56,520 know, a significant rise over the last few days. 474 00:29:56,520 --> 00:30:01,280 But if we expand to the past 10 years, what we find, we're 475 00:30:01,280 --> 00:30:03,400 nowhere even close yet to historic highs. 476 00:30:04,120 --> 00:30:08,240 So the main reason is that that there's a reserve of oil, I 477 00:30:08,240 --> 00:30:12,160 believe about 3 weeks or so, and prices will really only start to 478 00:30:12,240 --> 00:30:15,400 rise properly as that reserve is drawn down. 479 00:30:15,960 --> 00:30:18,640 And the implications for us all are huge because of course, the 480 00:30:18,640 --> 00:30:22,040 price of energy feeds into the price of everything, as we all 481 00:30:22,040 --> 00:30:25,880 discovered during COVID when we got a taster of that. 482 00:30:26,360 --> 00:30:29,120 And, and at that time, the British government stepped in to 483 00:30:29,120 --> 00:30:32,040 put a cap on retail energy prices, which were still 484 00:30:32,040 --> 00:30:33,960 horrendously expensive for just about everybody. 485 00:30:33,960 --> 00:30:36,480 But this is going to affect everybody globally if this war 486 00:30:36,480 --> 00:30:40,440 continues. So and the other point there is 487 00:30:40,440 --> 00:30:42,360 that of course the British government is not going to be 488 00:30:42,360 --> 00:30:45,960 stepping in to put any cap on this I would imagine this time 489 00:30:45,960 --> 00:30:48,520 round. But let's just have a look at 490 00:30:48,520 --> 00:30:52,440 John Conrad here because he's one of the owners of G Captain 491 00:30:52,440 --> 00:30:55,600 Daily. He posted this on X quite an 492 00:30:55,600 --> 00:30:59,120 extensive article on X link will be in the show notes for you to 493 00:30:59,120 --> 00:31:00,720 read the whole thing. But I got some excerpts from 494 00:31:00,720 --> 00:31:03,760 this because he's saying this is potentially the biggest Iran 495 00:31:03,760 --> 00:31:05,280 story. Nobody is talking about the 496 00:31:05,280 --> 00:31:08,560 global insurance market may be heading towards the systemic 497 00:31:08,560 --> 00:31:12,760 crisis and here's why Now he's talk not talking about the price 498 00:31:12,760 --> 00:31:15,040 rises of oil here. He's saying that most people 499 00:31:15,040 --> 00:31:18,360 don't realize London is just isn't just the financial center, 500 00:31:18,680 --> 00:31:22,520 it's the global center. Sorry, the Center for global 501 00:31:22,520 --> 00:31:25,680 insurance. Lloyd's underwrites around 40% 502 00:31:25,720 --> 00:31:30,720 of the world's maritime marine cargo ship sinks, port gets 503 00:31:30,720 --> 00:31:34,000 bombed, canal gets blocked, and the bell lands in London. 504 00:31:34,320 --> 00:31:37,920 That's why the UK punches above its weight, not the Royal Navy. 505 00:31:37,960 --> 00:31:40,120 Absolutely not. Not diplomacy. 506 00:31:40,320 --> 00:31:43,440 It's insurance control. Insurance control trade. 507 00:31:43,520 --> 00:31:46,320 And London doesn't just control the 90% of global trade that 508 00:31:46,320 --> 00:31:48,360 moves. See Lloyds. 509 00:31:48,360 --> 00:31:51,560 And the London markets are major insurers of almost everything. 510 00:31:51,560 --> 00:31:54,560 Skyscrapers, factories, ports, satellites, entire supply 511 00:31:54,560 --> 00:31:56,480 chains. You can't participate in public 512 00:31:56,480 --> 00:31:59,960 markets or raise large amounts of capital without insurance. 513 00:32:00,280 --> 00:32:02,440 And he says that London has maintained a stranglehold on 514 00:32:02,440 --> 00:32:06,280 global insurance while losing nearly every sub market related 515 00:32:06,280 --> 00:32:07,880 to ships. The answer? 516 00:32:07,960 --> 00:32:11,080 Better intelligence. It's no coincidence, he says, 517 00:32:11,080 --> 00:32:13,840 that MI Six headquarters sit directly across the Thames from 518 00:32:13,840 --> 00:32:17,800 the IMOHQ, the marine, the world marine, sorry, the world's 519 00:32:17,800 --> 00:32:21,560 maritime regulator and a short distance from Lloyds itself. 520 00:32:22,080 --> 00:32:25,680 And I said I have no proof of direct pipeline, but it's long 521 00:32:25,680 --> 00:32:29,480 been speculated in the insurance intelligence flows from MI 6 to 522 00:32:29,520 --> 00:32:32,480 Lloyd's. Most large insurers worldwide 523 00:32:32,480 --> 00:32:34,840 don't do independent intelligence work. 524 00:32:34,840 --> 00:32:38,320 The index of Lloyd's rates. Other insurers see Lloyd's 525 00:32:38,320 --> 00:32:40,880 numbers and assume the diligence was done. 526 00:32:41,360 --> 00:32:44,280 They price accordingly. And he said that most large 527 00:32:44,280 --> 00:32:46,800 insurers worldwide don't do independent intelligence. 528 00:32:46,800 --> 00:32:48,520 Oh, sorry, that's a duplication. Sorry. 529 00:32:48,520 --> 00:32:52,640 That means if London is suddenly flying blind, it's not just 530 00:32:52,640 --> 00:32:55,800 Lloyd's policy holders at risk, it's the entire reinsurance 531 00:32:55,800 --> 00:32:57,760 chain. The cancellation of war or risk 532 00:32:57,760 --> 00:33:00,960 coverage on ships isn't the crisis, it's the Canary. 533 00:33:01,240 --> 00:33:05,040 And that I think is a very astute statement and something 534 00:33:05,040 --> 00:33:06,760 that we should all be paying attention to. 535 00:33:07,520 --> 00:33:12,560 The implications for this are huge and really I think most of 536 00:33:12,560 --> 00:33:16,720 us, if not all of us, should be pushing back hard against any 537 00:33:16,720 --> 00:33:19,520 further escalation of this. In fact, we should be making 538 00:33:19,520 --> 00:33:22,800 sure that the politicians are de escalating the situation as 539 00:33:22,800 --> 00:33:26,000 quickly as we possibly can. Yeah, absolutely agree. 540 00:33:26,640 --> 00:33:30,680 Now, on a related note, Rachel Reeves was addressing the House 541 00:33:30,680 --> 00:33:33,960 Commons yesterday, giving her spring forecast in 542 00:33:33,960 --> 00:33:35,880 collaboration, of course, with the Office for Budget 543 00:33:35,880 --> 00:33:37,960 Responsibility. And as with all things 544 00:33:38,240 --> 00:33:41,640 governmental, they're putting a a positive spin on the situation 545 00:33:41,640 --> 00:33:44,880 and just one of the sort of good claims to draw out. 546 00:33:44,920 --> 00:33:49,200 The OBR's forecast shows GDP per person is now set to grow more 547 00:33:49,200 --> 00:33:53,480 than was expected in the budget, with a growth of 5.6% over the 548 00:33:53,480 --> 00:33:54,600 parliament. Now of course, that's a 549 00:33:54,600 --> 00:33:57,280 projection. We go to the OBR report, 550 00:33:57,280 --> 00:34:00,960 Economic and Fiscal Outlook for March 2026, and I think what's 551 00:34:00,960 --> 00:34:05,000 worth pointing to is a couple of the graphs that they show now. 552 00:34:05,040 --> 00:34:09,120 The first is real GDP growth, which shows enormous just spikes 553 00:34:09,120 --> 00:34:12,960 and troughs, particularly 2008 and 2020-2021. 554 00:34:13,239 --> 00:34:17,320 But also at the right hand side of the graph, the shaded areas 555 00:34:17,320 --> 00:34:21,920 to the right to the above and below the line show the degree 556 00:34:21,920 --> 00:34:24,760 to which they may or may not be right. 557 00:34:25,199 --> 00:34:29,719 So it's very much worth bearing in mind that these are estimated 558 00:34:29,719 --> 00:34:33,040 figures and effectively can be manipulated to give an idea that 559 00:34:33,040 --> 00:34:35,600 the government is doing good job or not. 560 00:34:35,880 --> 00:34:39,120 And of course, the other thing to point out is that on the real 561 00:34:39,120 --> 00:34:44,800 GDP per person projection, the going back to 2007, the, the 562 00:34:44,800 --> 00:34:48,000 forecast, the upward trajectory was completely knocked off 563 00:34:48,000 --> 00:34:51,480 course there by what was described as the, the financial 564 00:34:51,480 --> 00:34:55,840 crash of that particular period. And of course, the again, the 565 00:34:55,840 --> 00:35:00,240 the shutdown during the COVID period in 2020, similar sort of 566 00:35:00,240 --> 00:35:04,800 deviation that the point of this is to suggest, as they did in 567 00:35:04,800 --> 00:35:08,600 their opening statement, that we are of course subject to all 568 00:35:08,600 --> 00:35:11,440 kinds of shocks. And This is why we go back to 569 00:35:11,520 --> 00:35:13,920 documents like the just in case report from the National 570 00:35:13,920 --> 00:35:16,880 Preparedness Commission. And in effect, the the teeing up 571 00:35:17,240 --> 00:35:20,920 of there being a massive economic downturn, as though the 572 00:35:20,920 --> 00:35:22,920 government has absolutely no control over this. 573 00:35:22,920 --> 00:35:25,400 But of course, exactly like Mike's just talking about that 574 00:35:25,400 --> 00:35:29,360 we absolutely are in control because of what we do or do not 575 00:35:29,360 --> 00:35:33,680 do in relation to issues, issues such as the conflict in Iran. 576 00:35:33,920 --> 00:35:36,360 And this relates directly back to the National Security 577 00:35:36,360 --> 00:35:39,760 Strategy 2025 and indeed the Strategic Defence Review, where 578 00:35:39,760 --> 00:35:43,160 there was the push for a whole of nation response to exactly 579 00:35:43,160 --> 00:35:46,640 these sorts of shocks to the supply chain, shocks to the 580 00:35:46,640 --> 00:35:48,360 economy. And guess what? 581 00:35:49,000 --> 00:35:52,960 The idea is that the next step is to be conscription and 582 00:35:52,960 --> 00:35:55,880 national service as we meet these threats that are coming 583 00:35:55,880 --> 00:35:58,440 from all different directions, whilst the government apparently 584 00:35:58,440 --> 00:36:00,600 has no control over them. Yes, indeed. 585 00:36:00,600 --> 00:36:05,360 OK, let's move on and say if you like what the UK column does, we 586 00:36:05,360 --> 00:36:09,040 do need your continuing support. Please if you are not currently 587 00:36:09,040 --> 00:36:12,400 a member or not making any kind of financial contribution, we 588 00:36:12,400 --> 00:36:15,000 really would appreciate it if you could consider that. 589 00:36:15,600 --> 00:36:18,520 Thank you very much once again, everybody that is doing that. 590 00:36:18,960 --> 00:36:22,520 If you can't make a contribution financially, please do share 591 00:36:22,760 --> 00:36:25,960 this program and anything else that you see that you like 592 00:36:26,160 --> 00:36:30,000 because that helps us get around to various limitations with with 593 00:36:30,000 --> 00:36:33,800 respect to censorship. Now, Jerem tonight is speaking 594 00:36:33,800 --> 00:36:38,280 to Terra Sadecki on why America won't defeat Iran. 595 00:36:38,280 --> 00:36:42,720 That's at 7:00 PM this evening. Tomorrow at 1:00 PM, Mark 596 00:36:42,720 --> 00:36:47,000 Anderson is speaking to Doctor Ollian Kula on the on weather 597 00:36:47,000 --> 00:36:50,360 events in the United States. And so that's it. 598 00:36:50,960 --> 00:36:54,280 That is an absolute typo on that graphic. 599 00:36:54,280 --> 00:36:56,680 So I do apologize about that. That's 1:00 PM tomorrow. 600 00:36:57,000 --> 00:37:03,440 So join us for that. OK, Now, Imran Khan, Charles, 601 00:37:03,680 --> 00:37:07,920 this has had almost no coverage whatsoever in the in the 602 00:37:07,920 --> 00:37:10,480 mainstream press, but what has he been facing? 603 00:37:10,680 --> 00:37:13,920 Well, indeed, very, very little coverage and we'll come on to 604 00:37:13,920 --> 00:37:17,560 possible reasons as to why. But recently the Supreme Court, 605 00:37:17,560 --> 00:37:19,520 in fact, going back to last year, the Supreme Court in 606 00:37:19,520 --> 00:37:23,240 Pakistan have published a report highlighting the conditions 607 00:37:23,240 --> 00:37:26,840 under which he's been imprisoned and making specific reference to 608 00:37:26,840 --> 00:37:29,640 his deteriorating health, in particular his eyesight, the 609 00:37:29,640 --> 00:37:33,200 fact that he's been deprived visits from either family or 610 00:37:33,680 --> 00:37:35,920 legal support. Now going back, he was Prime 611 00:37:35,920 --> 00:37:41,640 Minister in in that country between 2018 and 2022 and 612 00:37:41,640 --> 00:37:44,320 arrested in 2023. Now again, the Supreme Court at 613 00:37:44,320 --> 00:37:47,920 that time deemed that his original request was unlawful 614 00:37:48,120 --> 00:37:50,640 and the situation has moved on very much since then. 615 00:37:51,080 --> 00:37:55,080 Obviously the the the underlying suggestion more than is that 616 00:37:55,080 --> 00:38:00,040 this is all entirely a political charge and the further 617 00:38:00,040 --> 00:38:04,480 imprisonment for 17 years. It relates to the allegation at 618 00:38:04,480 --> 00:38:07,560 least that he was buying and selling property that was gifted 619 00:38:07,560 --> 00:38:10,440 to him whilst he was in office as Prime Minister and therefore 620 00:38:10,440 --> 00:38:15,120 seeking to make money out of it. Now the situation was discussed 621 00:38:15,120 --> 00:38:19,480 or debated in the House of Lords last week and this is what his 622 00:38:19,480 --> 00:38:23,000 former brother-in-law Zach, Lord Goldsmith, had to say about it. 623 00:38:24,760 --> 00:38:28,240 We have, we understand, I think anyone who's paying attention, 624 00:38:28,240 --> 00:38:31,560 we understand that that Imran Khan has been denied access to 625 00:38:31,560 --> 00:38:33,560 lawyers. He's been denied access to his 626 00:38:33,560 --> 00:38:36,440 family, including his two sons who are my nephews. 627 00:38:36,440 --> 00:38:38,960 He's been denied access even to doctors. 628 00:38:38,960 --> 00:38:42,080 And we understand that he's spent much of his time in prison 629 00:38:42,080 --> 00:38:45,400 in in solitary confinement and his health is deteriorating 630 00:38:45,400 --> 00:38:48,400 rapidly. So I asked the noble lady 631 00:38:48,640 --> 00:38:51,400 whether or not she agrees that this is now the time for us to 632 00:38:51,400 --> 00:38:54,520 reconsider our aid contributions to Pakistan. 633 00:38:54,520 --> 00:38:57,200 Pakistan's often at the top of the list in terms of recipients 634 00:38:57,200 --> 00:39:01,600 of UK aid until that country's government demonstrates a clear, 635 00:39:01,840 --> 00:39:04,560 unambiguous commitment to the charter, the Commonwealth 636 00:39:04,560 --> 00:39:07,280 Charter that it's signed up to, which commits it to an 637 00:39:07,280 --> 00:39:10,120 independent judiciary and to the rule of law. 638 00:39:14,240 --> 00:39:17,440 As you might imagine, the the government response was rather 639 00:39:17,440 --> 00:39:19,880 underwhelming and certainly not suggestive that they were going 640 00:39:19,880 --> 00:39:21,560 to do anything about it. Now. 641 00:39:21,560 --> 00:39:24,040 There had been an earlier question asked about the 642 00:39:24,840 --> 00:39:27,160 comparability, if there was any, between the situation, or at 643 00:39:27,160 --> 00:39:29,840 least the outcry concerning the trial and the sentencing of 644 00:39:29,840 --> 00:39:31,880 Jimmy Lai in Hong Kong. And of course the rather glib 645 00:39:31,880 --> 00:39:34,960 response was that Jimmy Lai is British, completely ignoring the 646 00:39:34,960 --> 00:39:38,480 fact that Imran Khan was previously married to Jemima 647 00:39:38,480 --> 00:39:42,080 Goldsmith who is British and indeed has 2 British sons who 648 00:39:42,080 --> 00:39:45,160 have been denied not just access to their father in Pakistan but 649 00:39:45,160 --> 00:39:48,760 also by their report they have also been prevented from 650 00:39:48,760 --> 00:39:54,640 visiting Pakistan itself. And the inaction of the British 651 00:39:54,640 --> 00:40:00,880 government and indeed the moral contradictions in their 652 00:40:00,880 --> 00:40:04,280 approaches to human rights affairs were highlighted in a 653 00:40:04,280 --> 00:40:07,200 later question by Lord Sikka, who said this. 654 00:40:10,000 --> 00:40:14,920 My Lords, successive government shows selective outrage at 655 00:40:15,200 --> 00:40:18,920 repression by authoritarian states such as China, Iran, 656 00:40:18,920 --> 00:40:24,080 Russia and North Korea, but a very soft criticism when 657 00:40:24,080 --> 00:40:28,400 identical acts are committed by trade and defence partners. 658 00:40:28,720 --> 00:40:32,240 The government has the tools it can exert pressure on the army 659 00:40:32,240 --> 00:40:36,720 generals controlling Pakistan by ending aid and imposing trade 660 00:40:36,720 --> 00:40:38,240 sanctions. But it hasn't. 661 00:40:38,520 --> 00:40:42,200 So my question for the minister is, can't you refer me to any 662 00:40:42,200 --> 00:40:45,520 moral principle which is guiding the government's foreign policy? 663 00:40:47,720 --> 00:40:51,640 I, I, I don't think it would be the right thing to do to end all 664 00:40:51,640 --> 00:40:55,640 aid to Pakistan. The government, that is not the 665 00:40:55,640 --> 00:40:58,800 government's position. And that is that, that's my 666 00:40:58,800 --> 00:41:01,520 view. And I I say that because the the 667 00:41:01,520 --> 00:41:04,520 need is there, because the British interests are there, 668 00:41:04,520 --> 00:41:07,400 because the climate impact is there because of counter 669 00:41:07,400 --> 00:41:10,920 terrorism issues that we work alongside the Pakistani 670 00:41:10,920 --> 00:41:14,560 government and to tackle which I would say is absolutely in the 671 00:41:14,560 --> 00:41:19,280 interest of this country. Pathetic. 672 00:41:19,440 --> 00:41:20,720 Let's talk about clashing at straws. 673 00:41:20,720 --> 00:41:23,800 That was That was an extremely unconvincing response by the 674 00:41:23,800 --> 00:41:26,200 minister there, who appeared not just very poorly brief but 675 00:41:26,200 --> 00:41:29,520 utterly prejudice against the the situation not not just of 676 00:41:29,520 --> 00:41:32,840 Imran Khan, but the the wider picture in Pakistan and indeed 677 00:41:32,840 --> 00:41:35,160 the relationship between Pakistan and the United Kingdom 678 00:41:35,960 --> 00:41:38,200 and plenty more besides. Now, whilst very little appears 679 00:41:38,200 --> 00:41:41,200 to have been done and very little interest taken in this 680 00:41:41,200 --> 00:41:43,560 country. It is therefore an 681 00:41:43,560 --> 00:41:46,840 embarrassment, effectively that in Congress, a letter has been 682 00:41:46,840 --> 00:41:50,200 written by several Congress men and women highlighting this 683 00:41:50,200 --> 00:41:51,960 issue. This goes back to December of 684 00:41:51,960 --> 00:41:56,120 last year and I, quote, sent to Marco Rubio, Secretary of State. 685 00:41:56,120 --> 00:41:58,880 Such steps, alongside calls for the release of former Prime 686 00:41:58,880 --> 00:42:01,280 Minister Imran Khan and other political prisoners, would 687 00:42:01,280 --> 00:42:04,000 reinforce US commitment to human rights, protect American 688 00:42:04,000 --> 00:42:07,800 citizens from transnational repression and promote regional 689 00:42:07,800 --> 00:42:11,280 stability. But of course, no action on this 690 00:42:11,280 --> 00:42:14,000 score on this side of the Atlantic. 691 00:42:14,000 --> 00:42:17,200 Now, in questioning why that might be or might not be the 692 00:42:17,200 --> 00:42:20,600 case, I think it's pertinent point back to February the 24th, 693 00:42:20,600 --> 00:42:24,880 2022, which was of course the day that Russian incursion into 694 00:42:24,880 --> 00:42:27,880 Ukraine began. But it was also the day that 695 00:42:27,880 --> 00:42:33,720 Imran Khan met Putin in Moscow and the position he took as 696 00:42:33,720 --> 00:42:38,680 Prime Minister was one of support for strong economic ties 697 00:42:38,680 --> 00:42:44,080 to both Russia and China. And that does seem, given what's 698 00:42:44,200 --> 00:42:47,040 transpired, since that does seem to be a relevant point 699 00:42:47,040 --> 00:42:50,320 concerning the attitude and the flippancy of the British 700 00:42:50,320 --> 00:42:52,840 establishment towards this particular situation. 701 00:42:53,200 --> 00:42:55,360 Also, they should feel embarrassed because of course 702 00:42:55,360 --> 00:42:59,200 it's taken a number of former Test cricket captains to call 703 00:42:59,200 --> 00:43:03,280 out the situation, reported here by ESPN Cricinfo. 704 00:43:03,640 --> 00:43:07,560 Amongst them Samuel Gavaskar and Ian Chapel, both Chapel 705 00:43:07,560 --> 00:43:10,560 brothers, and several others getting into that. 706 00:43:10,760 --> 00:43:16,120 And of course his former wife Jemima Goldsmith, who realised 707 00:43:16,120 --> 00:43:18,440 that not just was the establishment shutting down this 708 00:43:18,440 --> 00:43:23,520 debate and suppressing it, but also Twitter as well, which she 709 00:43:23,520 --> 00:43:26,280 perceived to be suppressing her tweets on this very issue and 710 00:43:26,280 --> 00:43:29,120 not just hers. And I quote from her tweet sent 711 00:43:29,520 --> 00:43:32,840 to Elon Musk in December. Every time I post about him, 712 00:43:32,840 --> 00:43:36,400 about Imran Khan, the reach inside Pakistan and often 713 00:43:36,400 --> 00:43:39,720 globally is throttled to almost 0. 714 00:43:40,280 --> 00:43:44,880 So that is how the situation seems to be unfolding at the 715 00:43:44,880 --> 00:43:47,880 moment. Very little hope offered, 716 00:43:47,880 --> 00:43:51,000 certainly in Pakistan. And as far as the British 717 00:43:51,000 --> 00:43:53,840 establishment is concerned, there doesn't seem to be much 718 00:43:53,840 --> 00:43:56,640 concern or suggestion there's going to be any action about 719 00:43:56,640 --> 00:43:57,960 that. I mean, that'd be something that 720 00:43:57,960 --> 00:44:00,560 perhaps we talk about more in in Extra, unless you had anything 721 00:44:00,560 --> 00:44:04,560 to comment on. That Vanessa, let's welcome you 722 00:44:04,560 --> 00:44:06,640 back. And of course, you're in Lebanon 723 00:44:06,640 --> 00:44:09,000 at the moment. What is the situation between 724 00:44:09,000 --> 00:44:15,520 Lebanon and Israel? Extremely tense, of course, 725 00:44:15,520 --> 00:44:20,840 after the assassination of Imam Mali in Iran was considered the 726 00:44:20,840 --> 00:44:25,360 second most important spiritual leader to Shia Muslim 727 00:44:25,360 --> 00:44:30,680 communities across the world, 260 million worldwide. 728 00:44:32,040 --> 00:44:35,680 Hezbollah after 15 months of putting up with Israeli 729 00:44:35,680 --> 00:44:39,160 violations of the ceasefire, which are daily murders of 730 00:44:39,160 --> 00:44:43,680 civilians both by drone and by bombing incursions into Lebanese 731 00:44:43,680 --> 00:44:47,840 territory, the spraying of chemical glyphosate on 732 00:44:47,840 --> 00:44:50,680 agricultural lands in the South, etcetera, etcetera. 733 00:44:51,560 --> 00:44:55,840 So now the government in Lebanon, which is very much, or 734 00:44:55,840 --> 00:44:58,440 let's say factions within the government, because it's very 735 00:44:58,440 --> 00:45:01,520 much a coalition government, after the TAFE agreement of 736 00:45:01,520 --> 00:45:07,760 1989, factions within the government that are aligned with 737 00:45:07,760 --> 00:45:11,560 Israel and Washington have basically said they will ban 738 00:45:11,600 --> 00:45:15,000 Hezbollah's military activities. So in other words, they're 739 00:45:15,000 --> 00:45:20,600 trying to throttle any response against Israeli violations by 740 00:45:20,600 --> 00:45:24,440 the resistance, whose people in the South are suffering the most 741 00:45:24,440 --> 00:45:28,640 from the Israeli violations, bombings, drone strikes, 742 00:45:28,800 --> 00:45:32,640 incursions, machine gunfire, etcetera, etcetera. 743 00:45:33,080 --> 00:45:36,720 And the president himself, President Joseph Allen, stresses 744 00:45:36,720 --> 00:45:40,440 that Beirut's decision to ban Hezbollah's military activity is 745 00:45:40,440 --> 00:45:42,880 a sovereign and final decision. Of course it isn't. 746 00:45:43,200 --> 00:45:45,320 It's an Israeli and Washington decision. 747 00:45:46,400 --> 00:45:49,880 And so basically, he says the decision taken by the Council of 748 00:45:49,880 --> 00:45:52,920 Ministers yesterday, preserving the Lebanese state's sole right 749 00:45:52,920 --> 00:45:56,880 to control decisions of war and peace and banning military and 750 00:45:56,880 --> 00:46:00,160 security activities outside the law, is a sovereign and final 751 00:46:00,160 --> 00:46:02,440 decision from which there's no turning back. 752 00:46:02,440 --> 00:46:05,440 And of course, that anger is rising in Lebanon because 753 00:46:05,440 --> 00:46:08,480 effectively, what the government is saying is that 50% of the 754 00:46:08,480 --> 00:46:11,040 population doesn't have the right to defend itself. 755 00:46:11,400 --> 00:46:17,120 And at the meantime, if we just move on to the next slide, also 756 00:46:17,120 --> 00:46:21,880 sent a written command to the Lebanese Forces, so the army on 757 00:46:21,880 --> 00:46:25,640 the border with Israel to withdraw from their positions 758 00:46:25,920 --> 00:46:31,040 and actually enabled an Israeli ground invasion a couple of days 759 00:46:31,160 --> 00:46:33,600 ago. So effectively, the government 760 00:46:33,600 --> 00:46:36,560 is not a sovereign government. It's working to further the 761 00:46:36,560 --> 00:46:40,960 Israeli and Washingtons agenda inside Lebanon. 762 00:46:40,960 --> 00:46:44,560 At the same time, Hezbollah has not backed down and in fact much 763 00:46:44,560 --> 00:46:50,160 of its missiles and drone activity is evading the 764 00:46:50,320 --> 00:46:55,000 interceptor missiles As we discussed into inside Israel, If 765 00:46:55,000 --> 00:46:59,880 we can just put this up on the screen, in the last two days 766 00:46:59,880 --> 00:47:03,440 they've destroyed actually former Karva tanks, the Israeli 767 00:47:03,440 --> 00:47:06,200 tanks during the attempted ground incursion. 768 00:47:06,720 --> 00:47:08,840 And there have. Been multiple ambushes of 769 00:47:08,840 --> 00:47:13,560 Zionist forces in the South and in fact even the IDF is putting 770 00:47:13,560 --> 00:47:16,760 out statements saying we don't know what to do because 771 00:47:16,760 --> 00:47:19,080 Hezbollah just appears out of the ground. 772 00:47:19,080 --> 00:47:22,080 Of course they do. They have an entire tunnel 773 00:47:22,080 --> 00:47:24,920 system in the South, and they're using it to their advantage 774 00:47:24,920 --> 00:47:28,120 against the ground deployment by the Israelis. 775 00:47:28,720 --> 00:47:33,960 And at the same time, there are reports that Jolani is deploying 776 00:47:33,960 --> 00:47:37,960 thousands more troops because, of course, since December 2024, 777 00:47:38,520 --> 00:47:43,280 he's been building up military presence or terrorist presence 778 00:47:43,280 --> 00:47:47,040 on the eastern borders with Lebanon. 779 00:47:47,880 --> 00:47:52,200 And the red stars there show, just as with Iran, that Israel 780 00:47:52,200 --> 00:47:55,680 in the last few days has been heavily bombing the border 781 00:47:55,680 --> 00:48:00,320 areas, one assumes to weaken any defence along that borderline 782 00:48:01,120 --> 00:48:07,400 and potentially to allow an invasion by Jalani's ISIS and al 783 00:48:07,400 --> 00:48:11,360 Qaeda forces into Lebanon. We can talk a bit bit more about 784 00:48:11,360 --> 00:48:13,720 that an extra. At the same time, there are 785 00:48:13,720 --> 00:48:17,760 reports today, just before I came on that Israel has demanded 786 00:48:17,760 --> 00:48:21,760 the full evacuation of the southern territories of Lebanon, 787 00:48:21,760 --> 00:48:25,960 which is insane. Those people have nowhere to go. 788 00:48:25,960 --> 00:48:29,160 They're supposed to move from the South to north of the Litani 789 00:48:29,160 --> 00:48:31,840 River. The bombing hasn't started yet, 790 00:48:31,840 --> 00:48:33,720 but the roads are absolutely packed. 791 00:48:33,720 --> 00:48:38,200 And any of those people now stuck in jams on the one or two 792 00:48:38,200 --> 00:48:42,680 roads out of the South to the north are incredibly vulnerable 793 00:48:42,680 --> 00:48:45,960 for any mass bombing campaign that Israel is now going to 794 00:48:45,960 --> 00:48:48,920 launch. OK, Vanessa. 795 00:48:48,920 --> 00:48:51,160 Well, you can keep us posted on this. 796 00:48:51,160 --> 00:48:53,160 We'll talk more about this an extra as well. 797 00:48:53,160 --> 00:48:56,840 I've got a couple of additional questions on it, but let's move 798 00:48:56,840 --> 00:48:59,480 on to the issue of nuclear proliferation. 799 00:48:59,680 --> 00:49:02,160 Now. This is a tweet from Assistant 800 00:49:02,160 --> 00:49:04,800 Secretary General for Political Affairs and Secretary and 801 00:49:04,800 --> 00:49:08,840 security Policy at NATO, Boris Ruja, who he's claiming that 802 00:49:08,840 --> 00:49:11,920 NATO was fully committed to the Non Proliferation Treaty, which 803 00:49:11,920 --> 00:49:15,160 remains the cornerstone, he says, of global non 804 00:49:15,160 --> 00:49:19,200 proliferation regime. Of course, that's a total 805 00:49:19,320 --> 00:49:22,080 misrepresentation could even be described as a lie. 806 00:49:22,680 --> 00:49:26,600 Now the Starmer government announced on Friday last week 807 00:49:26,600 --> 00:49:29,720 that they had convened NATO's leading political and military 808 00:49:29,720 --> 00:49:33,720 officials quotes to discuss the crucial role of nuclear 809 00:49:33,720 --> 00:49:36,560 deterrence in keeping the alliances 1 billion citizens 810 00:49:36,560 --> 00:49:39,080 safe. And he claimed that this was 811 00:49:39,080 --> 00:49:41,040 demonstrating the unity of the alliance. 812 00:49:41,280 --> 00:49:44,840 The UK is unwavering commitment to NATO try not to laugh and the 813 00:49:45,000 --> 00:49:47,360 credibility of its nuclear deterrence mission. 814 00:49:48,520 --> 00:49:52,640 Now, this brought together NATO ambassadors, Supreme Allied 815 00:49:52,640 --> 00:49:57,000 Commander Europe, Supreme Allied Commander Transformation and the 816 00:49:57,000 --> 00:49:58,800 deputy chair of the military committee. 817 00:49:58,880 --> 00:50:01,240 But around the same time, or at least within a day or so of 818 00:50:01,240 --> 00:50:05,760 that, then Emmanuel Macron announced that France is going 819 00:50:05,760 --> 00:50:09,160 to increase its nuclear arsenal and for the first time allow 820 00:50:09,160 --> 00:50:13,240 temporary deployment of its nuclear armed aircraft to allied 821 00:50:13,240 --> 00:50:16,520 countries. This is a new strategy, he said, 822 00:50:16,760 --> 00:50:19,640 aimed at strengthening Europe's independence. 823 00:50:20,160 --> 00:50:22,960 He said that France will expand its nuclear warhead stockpile 824 00:50:22,960 --> 00:50:27,280 beyond the current ceiling of around 300, and this is the 825 00:50:27,280 --> 00:50:32,840 first increase since 1992. Media reports are saying that 826 00:50:32,840 --> 00:50:35,640 talks have already begun with Britain, Germany, Poland, the 827 00:50:35,640 --> 00:50:38,640 Netherlands, Belgium, Greece, Sweden and Denmark to host these 828 00:50:38,640 --> 00:50:42,440 nuclear armed aircraft. And Macron stressed that the 829 00:50:42,440 --> 00:50:45,360 sole authority over weapons would remain with the French 830 00:50:45,360 --> 00:50:48,480 President. And he said to be free, 1 needs 831 00:50:48,480 --> 00:50:51,840 to be feared. So that that was his statement. 832 00:50:51,840 --> 00:50:56,840 I note the image there. He's looking a bit stressed when 833 00:50:56,840 --> 00:50:58,120 he when he seems to be saying this. 834 00:50:58,600 --> 00:51:02,680 But anyway, that that's the situation that this of course 835 00:51:02,680 --> 00:51:07,440 has to be seen in the context of the end of the New START treaty, 836 00:51:07,440 --> 00:51:12,360 which is due to happen in the next couple of weeks and or the 837 00:51:12,360 --> 00:51:14,720 next few weeks. And of course, The upshot of all 838 00:51:14,720 --> 00:51:18,360 this is that Russia and China are also expanding their nuclear 839 00:51:18,360 --> 00:51:24,320 arsenals. Now the last the sorry, the 840 00:51:24,360 --> 00:51:28,880 there's no replacement insight for the New START treaty and 841 00:51:29,560 --> 00:51:32,440 absolutely noises from the US saying that they've no intention 842 00:51:32,440 --> 00:51:37,120 of even considering any such replacement treaty. 843 00:51:37,880 --> 00:51:44,080 The Trumpet regime is absolutely encouraging the spread of 844 00:51:44,080 --> 00:51:48,200 uranium enrichment around the world and both South Korea and 845 00:51:48,200 --> 00:51:53,000 Saudi Arabia are planning to move forward in acquiring 846 00:51:53,000 --> 00:51:55,520 fissile material. This is at the same time that 847 00:51:55,520 --> 00:51:58,920 Iran of course, is not allowed to acquire fissile material and 848 00:51:58,920 --> 00:52:01,480 so on. Now against all this then the 849 00:52:01,520 --> 00:52:05,760 11th Non Proliferation Treaty Review Conference is scheduled 850 00:52:05,760 --> 00:52:09,560 to take place in New York from the 27th of April to the 22nd of 851 00:52:09,560 --> 00:52:12,600 May this year. And we will of course report on 852 00:52:12,600 --> 00:52:19,200 that at the time. In fact, back to Vanessa now 853 00:52:19,760 --> 00:52:24,120 because Marco Rubio, sorry, it wasn't Marco Rubio. 854 00:52:24,120 --> 00:52:24,720 It was. It was. 855 00:52:24,720 --> 00:52:32,760 Hexif was making some pretty, shall we say, inciting comments 856 00:52:32,920 --> 00:52:35,160 recently with respect to religion. 857 00:52:37,800 --> 00:52:40,840 Yes, well, I mean, first of all, he claimed that only four 858 00:52:40,840 --> 00:52:44,720 American soldiers had been killed in the last few days of 859 00:52:44,720 --> 00:52:46,200 conflict, which. I. 860 00:52:46,280 --> 00:52:51,680 Think anybody with a brain will challenge vociferously, But this 861 00:52:51,680 --> 00:52:53,240 I just wanted to cover very quickly. 862 00:52:53,240 --> 00:52:57,240 And we can talk about it more in Extra, because I do find it both 863 00:52:57,240 --> 00:53:01,480 terrifying and fascinating. So let's just roll part of 864 00:53:01,840 --> 00:53:08,000 Hagseth's weird statement regarding the military situation 865 00:53:08,000 --> 00:53:12,680 against Iran. President Trump and I have your 866 00:53:12,680 --> 00:53:14,120 back. Always. 867 00:53:15,080 --> 00:53:20,240 Through fire, through criticism, through fake news, through 868 00:53:20,240 --> 00:53:22,920 everything. We unleash you because you are 869 00:53:22,920 --> 00:53:27,760 the best, most powerful, most lethal fighting force the world 870 00:53:27,760 --> 00:53:33,520 has ever seen. May Almighty God watch over you. 871 00:53:34,400 --> 00:53:38,880 And his providential arms of protection extend over you. 872 00:53:40,000 --> 00:53:42,360 Godspeed warriors, and keep going. 873 00:53:47,040 --> 00:53:49,680 And I mean, this entire speech was was just quite 874 00:53:49,680 --> 00:53:51,720 extraordinary. A lot of people are actually 875 00:53:51,720 --> 00:53:54,680 saying that maybe Egg Surf is the Antichrist rather than 876 00:53:54,680 --> 00:53:57,920 Trump. Very odd character. 877 00:53:58,240 --> 00:54:02,680 But this bit of information has been circulating all across 878 00:54:02,680 --> 00:54:05,160 social media quite extraordinary. 879 00:54:05,800 --> 00:54:11,000 U.S. troops were told Iran war is for Armageddon and the return 880 00:54:11,040 --> 00:54:14,280 of Jesus. So let's actually say see what 881 00:54:14,280 --> 00:54:17,120 they say. A combat unit commander told non 882 00:54:17,120 --> 00:54:20,840 commissioned officers at a briefing on Monday that the Iran 883 00:54:20,840 --> 00:54:24,760 war is part of God's plan and that President Donald Trump was 884 00:54:24,760 --> 00:54:28,080 anointed by Jesus. So like the signal fire in Iran 885 00:54:28,080 --> 00:54:33,080 to cause Armageddon and mark his return to earth, presuming they 886 00:54:33,080 --> 00:54:35,880 mean Jesus. According to a complaint by a 887 00:54:35,880 --> 00:54:39,040 non commissioned officer, from Saturday morning through Monday 888 00:54:39,040 --> 00:54:43,360 night, more than 110 similar complaints about commanders and 889 00:54:43,360 --> 00:54:46,400 every branch of the military had been logged by the Military 890 00:54:46,400 --> 00:54:50,080 Religious Freedom Foundation. The complaints came from more 891 00:54:50,080 --> 00:54:53,360 than 40 different units spread across at least 30 military 892 00:54:53,360 --> 00:54:58,440 installations, the MRFF told me Monday night. 893 00:54:58,920 --> 00:55:03,120 I mean this, you know, we all are fully aware of the fanatical 894 00:55:03,960 --> 00:55:08,840 Christian Zionist and Jewish Zionist vision of Armageddon 895 00:55:08,840 --> 00:55:12,960 bringing in the second coming. But you know, heck, Suss 896 00:55:12,960 --> 00:55:18,240 mentions the fact that he and Trump have the backs of their 897 00:55:18,520 --> 00:55:24,240 soldiers in this war against Iran to herald Armageddon and 898 00:55:24,280 --> 00:55:27,200 and the second coming. But let's just have a listen to 899 00:55:27,200 --> 00:55:31,960 Trump and see how sincerely he has the backs of the young 900 00:55:31,960 --> 00:55:35,880 Americans that are are going to be giving their lives in this 901 00:55:35,880 --> 00:55:40,560 conflict. We pray for the full recovery of 902 00:55:40,560 --> 00:55:45,160 the wounded and send our immense love and eternal gratitude to 903 00:55:45,160 --> 00:55:50,240 the families of the fallen. And sadly, there will likely be 904 00:55:50,240 --> 00:55:55,200 more before it ends. That's the way it is likely be 905 00:55:55,200 --> 00:55:59,360 more, but we'll do everything possible where that won't be the 906 00:55:59,360 --> 00:56:04,880 case. I don't think there's any need 907 00:56:04,880 --> 00:56:08,160 to comment further on that. No, indeed. 908 00:56:08,480 --> 00:56:13,040 I mean, it's very hard not to not to just burst out laughing 909 00:56:13,040 --> 00:56:15,440 at that. But if it wasn't so serious, you 910 00:56:15,480 --> 00:56:17,200 know, I mean, this is this is the thing. 911 00:56:18,200 --> 00:56:21,480 No doubt we will speak more about that an extra as well. 912 00:56:21,960 --> 00:56:25,880 Now, look, let's move on to the Epstein situation because it's 913 00:56:25,880 --> 00:56:29,640 taken six months for the House Oversight Committee to get hold 914 00:56:29,640 --> 00:56:32,840 of depositions from Bill and Hillary Clinton over their 915 00:56:33,040 --> 00:56:34,920 alleged connections to Jeffrey Epstein. 916 00:56:35,560 --> 00:56:39,880 The committee released videos of the depositions on Monday this 917 00:56:39,880 --> 00:56:42,840 week. Now, at the end, perhaps 918 00:56:42,840 --> 00:56:46,760 unsurprisingly, it it turned out to be somewhat of a farce as the 919 00:56:46,760 --> 00:56:49,960 questioning diverted into Pizzagate and UFOs. 920 00:56:50,520 --> 00:56:54,000 Now, the use of the term pizza in the Epstein files is 921 00:56:54,000 --> 00:56:56,360 undeniable, and it's clearly code for something, although 922 00:56:56,360 --> 00:56:59,600 what it's is, what that something is, is not yet 923 00:56:59,600 --> 00:57:02,200 definitive. However, all the evidence that 924 00:57:02,200 --> 00:57:05,600 I've seen strongly suggest that the Pizzagate story itself, in 925 00:57:05,880 --> 00:57:11,040 in and of itself, was designed to be there to discredit and 926 00:57:11,040 --> 00:57:14,880 divert attention away from any use of that term by those 927 00:57:14,880 --> 00:57:18,240 involved with Epstein. But anyway, Bill Clinton, for 928 00:57:18,240 --> 00:57:22,600 his part, said he first met Epstein in 2002 when he flew in 929 00:57:22,720 --> 00:57:25,560 Epstein's private jet for humanitarian work. 930 00:57:25,920 --> 00:57:29,080 He described the relationship as cordial, but not a close 931 00:57:29,080 --> 00:57:30,640 friendship. He said that Epstein provided 932 00:57:30,960 --> 00:57:33,800 Jet in exchange for Clinton discussing politics and 933 00:57:33,800 --> 00:57:37,600 economics. And Clinton said that he had 934 00:57:37,600 --> 00:57:40,720 visited Epstein's New York townhouse but denied ever 935 00:57:40,720 --> 00:57:43,480 visiting his private island. And denied that he and Epstein 936 00:57:43,480 --> 00:57:45,960 ever discussed young women or girl on or girls. 937 00:57:45,960 --> 00:57:49,640 Which on the face of it, seems completely unlikely and 938 00:57:49,760 --> 00:57:53,120 ridiculous actually, bearing in mind the images Epstein chose to 939 00:57:53,120 --> 00:57:55,440 hang on the walls of his townhouse in New York, which 940 00:57:55,680 --> 00:57:59,400 Brian has already shown on a on previous UK column news program. 941 00:58:00,040 --> 00:58:02,800 Now, Bill Clinton said that he and Trump had briefly discussed 942 00:58:02,800 --> 00:58:06,320 Epstein at a charity golf tournament over 20 years ago, 943 00:58:06,320 --> 00:58:08,840 and that Trump had never said anything to suggest he was 944 00:58:08,840 --> 00:58:11,960 involved in anything improper with Epstein. 945 00:58:12,280 --> 00:58:15,440 But the main take away from Bill's testimony was the need 946 00:58:15,440 --> 00:58:17,160 for him to be flanked by two lawyers. 947 00:58:17,160 --> 00:58:22,320 His job was clearly to divert the questioners and also to let 948 00:58:22,320 --> 00:58:24,440 Bill know which questions he should answer and which he 949 00:58:24,440 --> 00:58:26,680 shouldn't. Let's just have a brief look. 950 00:58:29,080 --> 00:58:32,680 How many dinners did you have with Glenn Maxwell or Jeffrey 951 00:58:32,680 --> 00:58:35,560 Epstein in attendance? She's asking to do the best of 952 00:58:35,560 --> 00:58:37,120 your recollections. I have no idea. 953 00:58:37,800 --> 00:58:41,400 OK, Did you ever discuss sexual misconduct allegations made 954 00:58:41,400 --> 00:58:43,000 against you with Epstein or Maxwell? 955 00:58:43,040 --> 00:58:45,360 Never. Did Epstein or Maxwell ever 956 00:58:45,360 --> 00:58:48,160 offer to help manager silence women who made sexual misconduct 957 00:58:48,160 --> 00:58:49,320 allegations against you? No. 958 00:58:51,200 --> 00:58:53,400 Did Epstein or Maxwell ever offer financial support, 959 00:58:53,400 --> 00:58:56,000 directly or indirectly, to legal defense funds related to 960 00:58:56,000 --> 00:58:58,360 impeachment proceedings or civil actions against you? 961 00:58:58,840 --> 00:59:01,200 Not to my knowledge. Do you think a young girl 962 00:59:01,200 --> 00:59:03,200 massaging a president is unusual? 963 00:59:04,160 --> 00:59:07,840 So are you asking his opinion? Well, he is massage by a young 964 00:59:07,840 --> 00:59:09,280 woman. I'm asking if he thinks it's 965 00:59:09,280 --> 00:59:11,880 unusual that a president, sitting president of the United 966 00:59:11,880 --> 00:59:13,520 States, leader of the free world. 967 00:59:13,520 --> 00:59:15,320 That it's, I'm sorry, are you speaking to? 968 00:59:15,560 --> 00:59:17,840 Are you talking to the the instance of the? 969 00:59:17,920 --> 00:59:19,080 Yes. Is it unusual the. 970 00:59:19,080 --> 00:59:22,240 Back massage that occurred while he was not president. 971 00:59:22,240 --> 00:59:24,040 I'm just trying to understand you said a president of the 972 00:59:24,040 --> 00:59:25,320 United States one more president. 973 00:59:25,320 --> 00:59:26,960 Thank you. Just trying to make sure we're 974 00:59:27,320 --> 00:59:30,000 correcting the time frame. No, I don't need to. 975 00:59:30,000 --> 00:59:31,240 I'm actually trying to make sure that as you. 976 00:59:31,240 --> 00:59:33,760 Pretty clear, he he said. He said he was a sitting 977 00:59:33,760 --> 00:59:34,680 president. Excuse me? 978 00:59:34,920 --> 00:59:36,280 Could we just please go one at a time? 979 00:59:36,600 --> 00:59:37,880 Thank you, you said a sitting president. 980 00:59:37,880 --> 00:59:40,160 I want you to be clear so that when he answers your sitting 981 00:59:40,160 --> 00:59:41,960 president. Is it unusual? 982 00:59:44,320 --> 00:59:47,400 I have no idea, but it's on you. Objection calls for speculation. 983 00:59:47,680 --> 00:59:51,040 I figured, do you ever, did you ever think that all these women 984 00:59:51,040 --> 00:59:53,920 around Jeffrey Epstein or Gillane Maxwell was odd, 985 00:59:53,960 --> 00:59:58,920 unusual, weird or creepy? There weren't all that many 986 00:59:58,920 --> 01:00:00,600 around when I was there. How many? 987 01:00:00,600 --> 01:00:02,560 Would you say is all not all that many? 988 01:00:02,840 --> 01:00:06,840 That was working long hours, having two to four people on 989 01:00:06,840 --> 01:00:11,200 there, I thought was as far as I knew they were all helping 990 01:00:11,560 --> 01:00:14,600 flight attendants in tank tops and jeans, right? 991 01:00:14,800 --> 01:00:16,760 No. Do you believe you were a 992 01:00:16,760 --> 01:00:18,520 victim? Of a Jeffrey Epstein. 993 01:00:18,520 --> 01:00:22,440 Intel operation. Do you think that you might have 994 01:00:22,440 --> 01:00:24,280 been like? Caught up in some of what he 995 01:00:24,280 --> 01:00:28,840 was. Maybe potentially doing so that 996 01:00:28,840 --> 01:00:29,840 was. That was Bill. 997 01:00:31,640 --> 01:00:33,880 If you watch the whole thing and, and it will be LinkedIn, 998 01:00:33,880 --> 01:00:37,120 the show notes, he he absolutely, it came across that 999 01:00:37,120 --> 01:00:39,720 he was totally out his out of his depth and he needed the 1000 01:00:39,720 --> 01:00:43,240 people either side of him to, to, to keep him on the straight 1001 01:00:43,240 --> 01:00:46,000 and narrow. Hillary, for her part, 1002 01:00:46,280 --> 01:00:49,400 repeatedly told the committee she never even recalled meeting 1003 01:00:49,400 --> 01:00:52,040 Epstein. She flew into an absolute rage 1004 01:00:52,040 --> 01:00:54,520 as the questioning went on, particularly following questions 1005 01:00:54,520 --> 01:00:57,680 about her connections to Commerce Secretary Hard Lutnick. 1006 01:00:58,200 --> 01:01:02,240 So let's just have a brief look at at her behaviour. 1007 01:01:04,080 --> 01:01:05,480 You asked the question I'm going to. 1008 01:01:05,480 --> 01:01:07,200 Answer your question now you're going to this was. 1009 01:01:07,200 --> 01:01:11,760 What I spent my time doing, I I've been trying to look out for 1010 01:01:11,800 --> 01:01:13,600 others. Well, I was trying to and I was 1011 01:01:13,600 --> 01:01:17,640 taking care of the people who lost 3000 lives. 1012 01:01:19,520 --> 01:01:22,000 So her. Her definite. 1013 01:01:23,160 --> 01:01:26,520 Strategy was tack as the best form of defence now hard. 1014 01:01:26,520 --> 01:01:29,560 Lutnick, by the way, has now decided to testify before the 1015 01:01:29,560 --> 01:01:33,320 committee now that it's become clear that there's zero risk in 1016 01:01:33,320 --> 01:01:37,120 doing so since no one appearing is being seriously challenged on 1017 01:01:37,120 --> 01:01:39,560 any of the potential lies that have been told. 1018 01:01:40,080 --> 01:01:42,480 It does come across as an absolute cover up. 1019 01:01:42,680 --> 01:01:43,960 It really does. Yeah. 1020 01:01:44,040 --> 01:01:48,440 OK, well, look, let's end Charles with an and finally, 1021 01:01:48,480 --> 01:01:50,240 yeah, we will. We we take that offs where we 1022 01:01:50,240 --> 01:01:53,440 can and I was absolutely. Delighted therefore, on a recent 1023 01:01:53,440 --> 01:01:57,960 trip to encounter this sign in Aberdeen Airport which, if you 1024 01:01:57,960 --> 01:02:01,480 can't see it, was positioned directly above a radiator and it 1025 01:02:01,480 --> 01:02:06,160 reads attention, these radiators can become very hot. 1026 01:02:06,600 --> 01:02:09,560 Now I wasn't sure whether this was a reflection on the 1027 01:02:09,560 --> 01:02:13,000 intelligence of airport staff or indeed the expected intelligence 1028 01:02:13,000 --> 01:02:15,080 of passengers, or just a compliment to the heating 1029 01:02:15,080 --> 01:02:16,600 engineer, but either way it made me laugh. 1030 01:02:16,600 --> 01:02:18,000 Huge man. I hope it's done the same for 1031 01:02:18,000 --> 01:02:20,320 you. And on that note, we have to 1032 01:02:20,320 --> 01:02:23,280 leave it for today, so. Thank you, Vanessa and Charles, 1033 01:02:23,280 --> 01:02:26,000 and for everybody that's been watching for UK column members, 1034 01:02:26,000 --> 01:02:29,600 stick around on the live stream and we'll have some more in UK 1035 01:02:29,600 --> 01:02:31,560 Column news extra. If you're not a member, maybe 1036 01:02:31,560 --> 01:02:34,520 you'd like to join us and join us for extra each time we do a 1037 01:02:34,520 --> 01:02:37,560 news program. But nonetheless, Germ tonight, 1038 01:02:37,560 --> 01:02:40,160 7:00 PM Mark Anderson tomorrow, 1:00 PM. 1039 01:02:40,400 --> 01:02:42,640 We'll be back for the news on Friday at 1:00 PM. 1040 01:02:42,640 --> 01:02:44,840 As usual, you'll see you then. Bye, bye, bye bye.