Absolutely. And of course, we're just one step away from Donald Trump helpfully providing this clarity. The strategic ambiguity is also valid from the European perspective.

Though unless he is *certain*, it still requires Russia to take a very high-stakes gamble.

Begging folks with open ended academic jobs not to forget there’s a whole underclass of permanently casualised academics who’ve been facing redundancy as standard for years. 12+ in my case.

I get it’s awful facing redundancy ofc! Just…this isn’t unprecedented for us. It’s the norm.

"À Ensemble Montréal, l'action climatique on va la faire en char, ça va aller plus vite"

Angry at whom other than himself, this time?

FCAS: Letzter Vermittlungsversuch für das Kampfjetprojekt scheitert Nächste Woche dürfte das deutsch-französische Projekt beerdigt werden – wenn Kanzler Merz sich von Frankreichs Präsident Macron nicht noch einmal umstimmen lässt.

Merz wants to reach a decision on FCAS to have it out of the way before the next EU meeting at the end of the week.
No, this is not news from last December.
www.handelsblatt.com/politik/deut...

I choose to believe this is what is meant by “Quantum IR”.

Soupir.

Des pistes cyclables, des trottoirs, des piétonnements, des corridors autobus, des parcs-éponge, c'est ce qui "peut améliorer concrètement la vie des gens."
Dans tous ces cas, elle est du mauvais côté.

Martinez Ferrada s'oppose à la mobilité active, pousse l'auto à outrance, et rejette les infrastructures nécessaires à l'adaptation aux catastrophes climatiques. Elle n'a pas de leçons à donner à personne, sauf elle-même.

Sommet Climat Montréal | Il faut « ramener l’action climatique dans la réalité des gens », dit la mairesse Lutter contre le changement climatique « peut améliorer concrètement la vie des gens », a plaidé la mairesse de Montréal, Soraya Martinez Ferrada, à l’ouverture du Sommet Climat Montréal, jeudi.

Si la Mairesse veut "ramener l'action climatique dans la réalité des gens", il y a un endroit tout indiqué pour commencer: le transport. Et un deuxième: l'aménagement urbain.
Et dans les deux cas, elle fait tout le contraire.
www.lapresse.ca/actualites/e...

Eliot Higgins lives in the UK where it’s well past 13:26.

I was really hoping to just enjoy my pair of shoes without thinking about software updates. Alas…

There was a deliberate decision to restrict the common development to an aircraft only (FCAS - the UK one - is a national project, not an international one); but then export potential relies on the customers having compatible systems of their own - or buying more parts of UK tech...

Unless governments are so strapped for cash they're willing to take the risk. But furthermore, given all 6th gen aircraft are by definition meant to operate in system...what do you export exactly?
In the UK FCAS is the system, Tempest is the plane; how much of this can you export, even to allies?

A demonstrator in 2027, and entry into service from 2035 onwards? That's incredibly fast, and there is a ton of work to be done to get there.

And a proliferation of 6th gen fighters will also eat into export possibilities. F-47, FCAS NGF (one or two?), Tempest, a Swedish?, that's a lot.

The main problem at the moment is that neither of the three GCAP partners has the money to confidently drive procurement. Japan is in the least bad position - and also is pushing the most for a fast entry into service. But the schedule for Tempest is insanely ambitious.

The UK is just about upgrading some tanks to the Challenger 3 standard, but has no plans beyond that. It has to buy F-35As AND GCAP simultaneously, but is still struggling to make GCAP affordable.
And in all domains, it's throwing around fantasies of drone war as a miracle cure.

Further problem: the UK, like many other Western states, is now forced to simultaneously invest to fill massive gaps in the present AND invest in future capabilities.
And it can't afford it but won't admit it, hence vague techno-utopian 'AI+drones will solve it' speak.

Félicitations!

And we thank the EU for this.

We used to joke in Europe that the American OODA loop is Observe, Overreact, Destroy, Apologise but I think it might now be Overcompensate, Obfuscate, Denigrate, Annihilate

The US military has 22 sites in the UK.

Every day long range US bombers are taking off here to drop bombs on Iran.

This is a rogue state carrying out war crimes, and threatening more.

The UK Government must grow a spine - and stop our bases being used for this war.

What about strikes to support/enable illegal attacks? What about « dual-use » objectives?
If the UK government wants to argue it has a legal/moral case to refuse to support illegal strikes, it has no choice but to draw an absolute line. Refuse to support the war. Cut it all off.

Or else, the really knotty cases will come: can a tanker based in the UK refuel a US-based B-2 on its way to commit an illegal strike?
Can transport aircraft ferry munitions for these strikes from the UK to the Middle East?
Can UK-based intel analysts support these strikes?

Obviously the government hates having to make these case-by-case decisions. There’s a very easy way to draw a clear line that is beneficial politically, ethically, legally, and economically. Cut all support to the War through UK bases.

Look, if you think your ally may do wildly illegal stuff some of the time he uses your bases, in the course of all the other things for which he uses your bases…you have a duty to cut it all off. Anything else is just semantics.

I wonder how much European capitals have considered what their response would be if the US uses nuclear weapons in Iran this week.

I also have a third (also unoriginal) thought, which is that you can quite easily cloak a strategy of reprisal, punishment & scorched earth ("back to the stone age") as a collection of - mostly - individually justifiable and lawful targets. bsky.app/profile/shas...

a post that reads "we are hiring. Assistant professor in Middle East Politics. Apply by 07-April-2026"

Applications for our Assistant Professor in Middle East Politics post are closing soon. Apply now or find out more at durham.taleo.net/careersectio...
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