No technology can compensate for having blithering imbeciles in charge.
14.03.2026 10:15
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No technology can compensate for having blithering imbeciles in charge.
Telling juxtaposition on two pages of the FT. One story about how amazing the US's new AI military tech is and the other about planners/politicians entirely failed to realise what Iran would do to fight back.
Humans still matter...
The sheer strategic stupidity of bailing Russia out of its economic hole by launching a war that entirely foreseeably spikes the oil price - and then having no minesweepers in place to deal with the foreseeable fallout. Rank incompetence.
Super interesting by Matt
* “Love for the Motherland.”
* New obligatory history exams.
* Messenger MAX in schools.
The Russian authorities’ approach to young people, as seen in today’s Russian newspapers. #ReadingRussia
⚡️Moscow's own assessments reveal staggering losses in Ukraine, intelligence suggests.
According to classified Russian documents obtained by Ukraine's intelligence networks, more than 1,300,000 Russian soldiers have been killed and wounded since the start of the war in February 2022.
Go team badger,I say.
Labour is being squeezed from the left and right. @samfr.bsky.social looks at how it can fight back - and it requires more than a focus on the cost of living. (£/free trial) samf.substack.com/p/fighting-b...?
"In his second term, Trump knew exactly what he wanted and who could give it to him. In many cases, that meant not just a weak choice but literally the worst possible choice, the person guaranteed to do maximal harm. In short, we have never seen quite this collection of clowns, cranks, and crooks."
Happy Tom Lehrer Tuesday. Enjoy Tom's dry commentary on a previous round of US meddling in Latin America.
The boss will always come through for his little puppets. We'll see the same in France next year.
A good counter to 'the current situation is unprecedented' . . .
TOP TIP: get round the problem of no plan surviving contact with the enemy by having no plan.
Coming Thursday, 12 March: a follow-up report examining the financial and organisational networks sustaining anti-rights mobilisation across the UK and Europe. Stay tuned.
Our new paper written as part of a project with Protection Approaches and @csns-uk.bsky.social finds narratives around gender, sexuality, migration and religion are increasingly weaponised to deepen polarisation and undermine democratic resilience.
It looks as if some combination of the markets, MAGA and munitions shortages in the Gulf will bring Trump to declare victory in the coming days. There will be no regime change or unconditional surrender. It will leave a deeply damaged but not a different Iran. An Iran who will want revenge one day.
The Trump administration layoffs of more than 1,000 journalists and staffers at the US Agency for Global Media and the Voice of America have been declared null and void by a judge www.npr.org/2026/03/08/n...
An utterly brilliant article on a revolting spectacle. Do Read. @questingvole.bsky.social
spectator.com/article/trum...
Congratulations to Sam, who absolutely belongs in that fellowship.
Russian state hackers are carrying out a global campaign to compromise Signal and WhatsApp accounts belonging to government officials and military personnel, Dutch intelligence warned Monday.
Of all the complaints against Starmer, the most absurd is that it's "weak" to have a Cabinet that doesn't just rubber-stamp what The Leader wants on questions of war & peace.
I'd take Cabinet govt - in which ministers kick the tyres of big decisions - over the kneel-and-obey model of Farage any day
Latest assessment on US/Israeli attack on Iran. The administration continues to give the impression that it is making it up as it goes along. The choices for the Iranian regime remain dire but it continues to show defiance and cause international economic turmoil. open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/m...?
A horrible and stupid thing to insist on saying
'With Ukraine setting a new standard for affordable, expendable platforms, the question now is how the West can remodel force design, procurement and training fast enough to turn affordability into coordinated effect – before our adversaries.' writes Dr Richard Drake in the latest RUSI Commentary.
"The U.S. is being run by
gung-ho nutters like Trump and Hegseth."…….
Former NATO commander and British General Sir Richard Shirreff delivers a stark warning for Britain to avoid being dragged into America's illegal war on Iran.
-Analyst News
Declassification remains the single greatest factor impeding publication at the 30- year mark as the FRUS statute requires.
static.history.state.gov/reports/repo...
Just shows how much contempt Reform has for their own supporters. This is a policy that helps the kids of the wealthy educated liberal elites they claim to despise. And would harm the types of constituency they do well in.
'Since Saturday, US and Israeli air strikes have eliminated many of Iran’s top leaders, jolting the power centre in Tehran. But the next shock may come from the country’s border provinces, home to diverse and historically restive ethnic groups.'
Read @burcuozcelik.bsky.social's op-ed.
