Len

Russia’s🇷🇺 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Ukraine: ‘Our conscience is clear. Russia accepted the US’ offer that was made at the Anchorage Summit. It is not our fault that the US could not withstand the unprecedented pressure from Europe.’ Trump is incapable to make an agreement and do the necessary work to honour its commitments. He could rein in the European vassal states by exercising the enormous leverage the US has to end the proxy war… Instead the neocons around him sold him the idea of the Ukraine proxy war as a profiteering opportunity for the military-industrial complex, by transforming the aid effort for Zelensky into Europe purchasing the arms from Washington to send to Ukraine, instead of free deliveries. Trump, like many other Presidents before him, is incapable of reining in the CIA, which has directly disobeyed his orders for de-escalation, and instead has pursued its own policy of continuing the proxy war and ignoring the President.

Oh Jared, my Jared. This takes serious nerve. Your father-in-law’s Republican Party is reeling, and your family’s endless corruption scandals helped put it there. Yet here you are, already selling your next grand design. Shall we call this one the “reorganisation of Eastern Europe”? Always another peace framework to sell and another opportunity for the family business. Wasn’t the “reorganisation of the Middle East” enough? The Qatar blockade, Tillerson’s firing, the alleged quid pro quo behind the bailout of 666 Fifth Avenue? Princes, reconstruction billions and the family’s dealmakers, all gathered under the banner of peace. Textbook virtue signaling that makes even the most progressive left monsters blush. Another slush fund in sight? Princes and Thieves starts to sound less like a book title and more like the family business plan. You continue to treat the public and the United States Congress as useful idiots: repackage principles Moscow already signed, call them a new “security architecture” and sell another signature as peace. The Abraham Accords 2.0? Here’s the thing: the Helsinki Final Act (1975). The Charter of Paris (1990). The Budapest Memorandum (1994). The NATO–Russia Founding Act (1997). The Russia–Ukraine Friendship Treaty (1997). Putin’s own border treaty with Ukraine (2003). The Georgia ceasefire agreement (2008). How many more signatures do we need, Jared? The Kremlin’s problem has never been a shortage of signed commitments. It is the absence of consequences for breaking them. Meanwhile, “diplomacy” becomes your deal pipeline. After all, you know the “local rules”, don’t you? From Albania to Russia and the Middle East. Novatek’s reported funding of Polar LNG in Alaska. The proposed purchase of Lukoil’s overseas assets by investors that include your business partners. Deals requiring Washington’s blessing, wrapped in a peace process that offers convenient political cover for sanctions concessions. The Kremlin’s contempt for the rule of law runs deep. Even deeper than yours. Soviet communism subordinated the individual to the Party-state. Rights were permissions granted by power, never protections against it. Putin, Patrushev, Chemezov, Sechin, Kovalchuk, Timchenko and their circle preserved that hierarchy and turned it into organised looting on a national scale. The state serves the men who control it. The same logic governs Moscow’s dealings abroad: signatures constrain others; the Kremlin considers itself bound only for as long as it suits its interests. The fundamental divide is whether law constrains power, or power decides when law applies. The Kremlin needs consequences it cannot afford, backed by force it cannot defeat. Your next piece of paper gives it neither. Of course, you understand all that perfectly well. You are an insider. You just couldn’t care less, could you? As long as it opens the door to to acquire Lukoil’s assets on the cheap for you and your family. @ewarren @RonDeSantis @ossoff @NikkiHaleyHQ

PUTIN AND XI: THE DICTATORS' ALLIANCE IS CRACKING A serious conflict is reportedly brewing between Moscow and Beijing. According to Chechenews, citing unnamed insiders, Xi Jinping has demanded almost unlimited access for Chinese companies to the natural resources of Siberia and Russia's Far East. The price? China's assistance in securing a deal with Trump over Ukraine. The latest private conversation between the two dictators reportedly turned extremely hostile. Xi demanded written guarantees granting China preferential access to Russian resources for decades. Putin refused. The Kremlin apparently still hopes to bring Western companies back after the war, regain access to technology, and resume selling off Russia's natural wealth to American and European investors. Meanwhile, Beijing reportedly suspects Moscow of playing a double game. Russian intermediaries may already be offering Trump's circle projects previously promised to Chinese investors. According to the report, Putin's inner circle is divided. One faction fears losing China, Russia's largest buyer of natural resources. The other believes Xi is exploiting Moscow's growing dependence. If these reports prove accurate, the humiliation for the Kremlin would be extraordinary. Putin dreamed of destroying Ukraine's independence and rebuilding the Russian Empire. Now he may find himself bargaining for the right to control his own country's territory and resources. China has no intention of rescuing Putin's regime for free. Beijing wants its price: natural resources, mineral deposits, and economic influence lasting decades. The irony is monstrous. A dictator who sent hundreds of thousands of Russians to their deaths in pursuit of someone else's land now risks turning his own country into China's raw-material colony. The reported details of these private negotiations have not been independently confirmed. But Russia's dependence on the Chinese market makes such a clash of interests entirely plausible. Putin wanted an empire. He may end up handing Xi the keys to Siberia. P.S. I'm moving from Twitter/X to Substack. Join me there for more independent journalism, political investigations, and analysis. mykhailorohoza.substack.com

Of course the brilliant men and women across the country who run small businesses are working people - they are the backbone of our high streets and our economy.

And electrical equipment, cooling, networking and batteries

Here's @EmmaforWycombe She's a @UKLabour MP and the Chief Secretary to The Treasury. She's NEVER had ANY employment beyond lobbying and politics. She's the moronic airhead who recently declared that employers aren't working people. She knows absolutely NOTHING about business, commerce or hard graft. Her hands are as soft as fairy dust, she's never had dirty finger nails and her arse has been moulded to the shape of whichever "chair" she's been appointed to during her "career" of avoiding doing any actual work. She has no grasp whatsoever on how this country is kept afloat by it's millions of small businesses and it's business owners. She's an absolutely clueless waste of space. Totally out of her depth. An empty vessel with no hope of EVER understanding the endeavour, courage, entrepreneurial spirit and downright tenacity of millions of us who run businesses in this pitiful country that people like her have ruined through sheer incompetence, ignorance and indifference for the working people who foolishly voted for them. She perfectly sums up what's wrong with a system that promotes useless failures to lofty positions of power and encourages them to stamp on the heads of the people who truly care about this country and it's citizens and are prepared to get off their arses to do something about it.

乌克兰赢代价很大，但如果俄罗斯赢代价更大 摩根大通首席执行官杰米·戴蒙在访谈里算了一笔大账。很多人算账觉得保卫乌克兰代价高昂，但他警告说，一旦让俄罗斯在战场上赢下来，整个世界付出的代价会呈指数级飙升，直接演变成一场全球灾难。 在谈到欧洲之前，戴蒙先给中东战局定了性。哈马斯挑起的袭击没有任何借口可以开脱，动手前就清楚会招来什么反击。城市巷战挨家挨户推进确实极其残酷，平民伤亡让人揪心，但以色列自卫的权利不容置疑。 紧接着话题转到乌克兰，为什么一家华尔街最大银行的掌门人，会如此忌惮莫斯科获胜？因为他看懂了战线背后的三层连锁反应。 第一块倒下的骨牌，是核武器的威慑规矩。 这是二战结束以来，欧洲土地上第一次有一个自由民主国家，被 20 万到 30 万俄军地面部队直接入侵。更致命的是，莫斯科全程把核威胁挂在嘴边当挡箭牌。 世界以前从没遭遇过这种核讹诈。如果这套打法最后成了，等于当众给全球各国上了一堂示范课：手里攥着核武器实在太好使了。只要别人怕你，你想欺负哪个邻国就能随便动手。一旦开了这个先例，核扩散将彻底失控。 第二块骨牌，是地缘阵营的正面摊牌。 俄军要是拿下乌克兰，兵锋就直接顶到了北约边境，逼得北约现在不得不紧急重新武装。 而在另一头，伊朗、朝鲜和北京之间的联动已经摆在台面上。北京嘴上一直拿中立当说辞，实际上却在持续提供帮助；美国在这场冲突里显然不可能中立。两边站在截然相反的立场上，中美关系只会变得极其艰难。 第三块骨牌，直接砸在每个国家的饭碗和供应链上。 戴蒙特意把军事战场和经济战场放在一起看。 要是看着俄罗斯在欧洲硬生生打赢，所有国家都会开始犯嘀咕：美国到底还会不会为欧洲挺身而出？关键时刻美国还靠得住吗？如果靠不住，自己该找什么退路？ 一旦盟友不再确信美国的承诺，现有的全球贸易和经济同盟就会跟着松动。每个国家都会退回最基本的安全底线，只盘算三件事：怎么保住我自己的能源、粮食，以及所有必需品。 当所有国家都开始为了自保重新调整军事同盟和经济关系，整个世界就会陷入一场大洗牌的混乱。保卫乌克兰花掉的是军费，而放任侵略者靠核讹诈取胜，赔掉的将是二战以来整个自由世界的同盟信用与经济秩序。

#مفاجأة قوية من الرئيس بوتين لقد قتلوا القذافي، وعرضوا جثته، وظنوا أن الصمت سيمحو كل شيء. واليوم، يكسر بوتين هذا الصمت، وعلى أفريقيا أن تستمع. بوتين يتحدث: "أنا آسف..." - كلماتٌ تدين الولايات المتحدة وتوقظ أفريقيا عبّر الرئيس الروسي فلاديمير بوتين عن أسفه إزاء مقتل العقيد معمر القذافي. لم يكن خطاباً دبلوماسياً، بل كلماتٍ صريحة وإنسانية تقشعر لها الأبدان. قال: "أنا آسف لأنني لم أستطع فعل شيء لمنع مقتل العقيد القذافي؛ إذ لم تكن لدي سلطة اتخاذ القرار بصفتي رئيساً للوزراء في ذلك الوقت". نطق بهذه العبارة بثقل رجلٍ شهد الجريمة ولم يتمكن من إيقافها. ثم أضاف ما لا يُطاق: "قُتلت عائلة معمر القذافي بأكملها تقريباً، وعُرضت جثته على جميع القنوات التلفزيونية في العالم. كان من المستحيل مشاهدة ذلك دون الشعور بالاشمئزاز". الاشمئزاز... كلمةٌ لا تفي بوصف المشهد؛ فقد جُرّت جثة رجلٍ في الشوارع وكأنها "غنيمة حرب"، وقُتل أبناؤه وأحفاده، ثم أطلقوا على كل ذلك اسم "تحرير ليبيا". ولكن، لماذا كل هذا الكره؟ لأن الولايات المتحدة -التي كانت متورطة بشكل مباشر وفقاً لبوتين- لم تتقبل وجود دولة أفريقية تجرأت على الوقوف شامخةً؛ دولةٍ بلا ديون خارجية، وتمتلك احتياطيات بقيمة 150 مليار دولار، وتوفر الكهرباء والرعاية الصحية والتعليم مجاناً. لقد كان نموذجاً مزعجاً بالنسبة لهم. لذا، قاموا بتغذية الفوضى، وتمويل التمرد، وقصف المدن، تاركين ليبيا غارقة في النيران والدماء. واليوم، يعد بوتين قائلاً: "لن أسمح بتكرار ذلك ما استطعت. وبصفتي رئيساً، عليّ أن أرسخ السلام". هذه الكلمات لا تخص ليبيا فحسب، بل تشمل أفريقيا بأكملها؛ مالي، وبوركينا فاسو، والنيجر، وكل أولئك الذين لا يزالون يعانون من وطأة التدخلات القسرية للقوى الإمبريالية. 👊 شكراً لك، أيها الرئيس بوتين، على هذه الشجاعة. شكراً لأنك جهرت بما يضمره ملايين الأفارقة في سرائرهم. تحيا "تحالف دول الساحل" (AES)! وتحيا أفريقيا ذات السيادة والشامخة! أخبروني بصراحة: إلى متى ستظل أفريقيا تسمح للآخرين بتقرير مصيرها؟ شاركوا المنشور إذا كنتم ترفضون الظلم. وعلقوا إذا كنتم تؤمنون بأفريقيا التي لا تنحني بعد اليوم. الأخبار التي تزعج، والحقيقة التي توقظ الضمائر. لأن الصمت لم يعد خياراً.👊

I was hoping to be able to announce this in my own time – but the media rumour mill is swirling, I'm being contacted by various reporters and others, and I don't like denying the truth, so ... I wrote my first "Economic Agenda" column in The Sunday Telegraph 27 years ago, under the editorship of Dominic Lawson – filling-in occasionally during the late-1990s, before being given my own weekly slot from 2003. Since then, while I've been heavily involved in television, and am perhaps better known as a broadcaster, penning "Economic Agenda" for The Sunday Telegraph each week has been the backbone of my journalistic life. On Thursday, the @Telegraph rang to tell me my column is being scrapped. I was asked, and have agreed, to write "Economic Agenda" until the end of November, as per my contract. After that, my Sunday Telegraph column will be no more. Why this decision has been made, and whether or not my columns were any good, is for others to judge. All I will say is that, as the first person in my family to attend university, sustaining a weekly column in a leading national newspaper for a quarter of a century has been a source of enormous pride for myself and my family. Lots of people have been asking me about the future of "Planet Normal" - the hugely-popular Telegraph podcast which I co-created and co-present with the brilliant @AllisonPearson "Planet Normal" has, over the last 330 weekly episodes, also become a major part of my professional life and my broader identity. With Allison reportedly leaving the Telegraph as well, there is a lot of speculation about whether or not the podcast will continue to impart "news and views from beyond the bubble" with our usual blend of sharp analysis, humour and occasional outrage ! Well, I am delighted to confirm that Co-Pilot Pearson and myself are deeply committed to our joint podcast – and, above all, to our beloved listeners. We will, as and when notice periods allow, continue our voyages through space every Thursday – perhaps to "Planet Normal", or maybe to another part of the solar system – so we can "gaze down each week at the madness of Planet Earth", as we have done since the Spring of 2020. So citizens of Planet Normal, stand ready ! The "rocket-of-right-thinking", the "flying refuge of reasoned views", will soon be launched once again 🚀🪐👨‍🏭👱‍♀️🎙️📺 I poured my heart and soul into "Economic Agenda" and "Planet Normal". The Telegraph's decision to scrap them is obviously a huge personal blow. But I will always be grateful for the opportunities the paper has given me. Above all, I would like to thank the illustrious list of successive Telegraph business editors I've worked with since the late-1990s, many of whom have become and remain good friends - including @Peston @RobertsDan @larmitstead @neilbenet @benjaminmarlow @cg_williams @kamalahmednews @MarkKleinmanSky @jamesrquinn (sorry if I've forgotten anyone, it's been a long time!) On Friday, even though I almost always write my column from elsewhere, and despite being extremely disappointed by the paper's decision, I decided to go into the Telegraph and write today's column sitting in the newsroom. I am glad I did - as being at the heart of the paper at such a difficult time allowed for lots of conversations, with everyone from junior production staff to senior reporters and executives, which reminded me that journalism, despite being an industry at the whim of seemingly endless and often brutal commercial and technological upheaval, is not only hugely important to our country, but full of talented, decent people. See picture below, having just filed my piece, as I was heading out the door ...

Zelensky is being offered a true opportunity to end the War through Diplomacy. Russia has officially invited him to visit Moscow without any pre-condition, for a true dialogue. Russia also said will guarantee his safety through the all journey to and from Moscow. I'm also available to travel with Zelensky together to Moscow for dialogue. In this regard am openly offering to Zelensky to visit Moscow with a flight from Helsinki together. This extraordinary times require the courage to act in favour of Peace. My message to Zelensky is this: Don't be afraid, Peace await you in Moscow, let's travel together! We can end the killings and start a new chapter of Hope! @ZelenskyyUa #Peace #Ukraine #Diplomacy

The budget chain Poundland is about to go bust. Soaring labour costs introduced by this govt have brought it to its knees risking 12,000 jobs. Business Sec Jonathan Reynolds has written to the company asking for an explanation of what's gone wrong. Clueless Labour muppets.

Trump suspended sweeping sanctions against Russia on October 16. Two weeks later, he declared: “Stupid people wanted me to put sanctions on Russia.” This is Putin’s greatest achievement. He has persuaded an American president to do things that would once have been unthinkable for any occupant of the White House. And that is precisely Putin’s tactic. He doesn’t merely want concessions. He wants Trump to make them publicly, to defend them enthusiastically, and to ridicule Americans. Every such performance sends a message to the world: look what I can make the President of the United States do. Putin is demonstrating dominance. And with every performance, Putin humiliates not just Trump, but the entire United States. The Republican Party has become the Russia First Party.

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon warns a Russian victory in Ukraine could shatter global alliances, reshape the world economy, and force nations to question whether they can still rely on America. 🇺🇸 Asked what a Russian victory in Ukraine would mean for the global economy, Dimon responded: “It could be a potential disaster. This is the first war in Europe where a free, democratic nation was invaded by 200,000 or 300,000 Russian soldiers under the threat of nuclear blackmail. We’ve never had nuclear blackmail before. You’re also teaching the whole world that maybe having nuclear weapons is a pretty good thing, because people will be afraid of you, and you can abuse a neighbor if you feel like it. Russia would be on the border of NATO. Obviously, NATO is rearming right now. But the other thing is, it’s affecting all alliances, military alliances and global economic alliances. And the nexus of Iran, North Korea, and China makes it very hard, in my view, for the Chinese-American relationship. China says they’re neutral, but they’re helping. We are clearly not neutral. If Russia wins, you might see a lot of people deciding: Will America stand up for Europe? Can you rely on them? And if you can’t rely on them, what are you going to do? That includes economically. Every nation is going to say, what makes me secure? Energy, food, all the things I need. I’m worried that if Russia wins, you could see the world enter a little bit of chaos as people realign alliances and economic relationships.”

My biggest concern is that if there is a clean sweep by Democrats of the House, Senate and Presidency in 2028, they will: 1. Make DC and Puerto Rico states to gain a strong majority in the Senate. 2. Open the borders and legalize everyone living in America illegally to cement a permanent majority. 3. Increase the size of the Supreme Court to gain an immediate majority. This would result in America becoming a permanent one-party state and the end of democracy in any meaningful sense of the word. All that is needed to ensure this doesn’t happen is 51 Republican senators in 2029. That is why you should vote for Republican senators this election. Other reasons are irrelevant compared to this one.