The EU army and borrowed Nukes

Lost in the election noise last week was the EU defence 'Reflection Paper'. I'd like to say it's worth reading but in fact only the assumptions and ambitions are noteworthy amongst the Federast waffle. The EU's ambitions are clear; three options are presented from 'Co-operation' to 'Shared' to 'Common'. Co-operation is the do-nothing option and is dismissed. 'Shared' means armed forces that remain under national control but integrate - a sort of EU NATO - and the Commission's favourite, 'Common', which means a single Euro defence force controlled by Brussels and merely funded by member states.  Believe me, the EU really does want its own army, navy and air force all badged with that vile twinkly yellow noose.

The assumption made is that the EU's multiplicity of kit - many types of main battle tank and so on - is uneconomic and rationalising ('consolidated procurement') could save €25bn to €100bn annually. It's bollocks of course. 'We have 17 types of combat tanks; the Americans have one' says Juncker in an interview with Der Spiegel  and the paper expands on this. The truth, though, is that this is driven by Euro defence firms greedy with hunger for taxes; US procurement and R&D is €108k per soldier compared to the EU's €28k, we're told. The bloody Germans want some of that, as do the French. And they'll have to give the Italians room at the trough, too. If you thought US defence cost overruns and defence corruption, fraud and mis-accounting were bad you've seen nothing - just wait until those Euro firms start in earnest. 

As I've posted below, I think the timing is important. EU free-riders will not now increase their NATO spending by a cent. The EU is calculating what's needed to make a Common EU army and national expenditure will be so directed; the spending may be badged as 'NATO' in the short term, but this will be mendacious. They've almost certainly also got an outline idea of how to fudge the divorce.

Which brings me to an interesting footnote - shared Nukes. The US, to help little countries without the bomb to feel included, has distributed 180 B61 air-launched nukes to Turkey, Germany (?), Belgium, Italy and the Netherlands. These 'dial-a-yield' devices can be set on loading to yield from 0.3 to 170 kilotons (Hiroshima was 15) and they can be launched from a variety of national NATO aircraft - but need US consent to 'unlock' them. Will Mr Trump now ask for them back?

Cheer up! It could have been worse

Amidst the glum faces and recriminations this morning there are some silver linings. For a start, the ScotNats have been cut off at the knee - Ruth Davidson must surely now be in the running to replace Mrs May - and the Union is that little bit safer. Likewise with the leverage the DUP will now wield to ensure our border with Eire remains as it is now. Peace in Ulster is too important.

As for Brexit, well, it looks as if it will be a lot softer than it was last week. Mrs May will be forced to find consensus. In doing so the 48%, who have with some justification felt totally left out of their own governance, will now feel a tad less aggrieved. However, the power of the 22 Committee and the hard Euroskeptics will pushback strongly. Overall, I'm not devastated by any of this. Slowly Slowly. Our national congruence is just a tad healthier than it was yesterday, and that's important.

We Brits don't like snap elections intended to make PMs more powerful. When Heath asked "Who runs Britain?" in 1974 we answered "Not you, chum".  Mrs May has had a lesson in the dangers of hubris and must now expand her old discredited Home Office circle of advisors. 

On the upside the PLP will remain in chaos and Yvette Balls can now put away her leadership ambitions for another year and keep trying to live down her house-a-migrant promises. Fat Boy Watson will stay off our screens and we can watch Chuka Ummummma wriggle and squirm in newly discovered Corbynism. Hey ho.

Universities must banish Islamism

The government, through HFE funding, can force an immediate change for all new undergraduates wishing to attend UK universities that will significantly curb Islamism and make Islamist speech and action as unacceptable as racism or sexism. Simply, all new students must sign a declaration abrogating the seven key indicators of Islamism, and agreeing that should they be caught expressing or arguing such views it will be grounds for immediate expulsion. 

Islamism is not a matter for freedom of thought. Islamism is not a human right. Islamism is a perverse and inhuman death-cult that has no place whatsoever in a western democracy. It must be stamped out from every aspect of public life.  

Islamist failure in places one loves

Everything worthwhile on the slaughter by the Islamist animals in London over the weekend has already been said. We now wait action by whomever wins the election on Thursday. And yes, I voted more than a week ago for an MP for my inner London Constituency just ten minutes by train from London Bridge station. That's the point. The scene of this latest atrocity is as familiar to me as any place can be. Oh, it's happened before of course; I used to walk past tiny little St Etheldreda's each day - a simple medieval gem that had survived both the fire of London and the Blitz only to fall to the Provisional IRA. And the Baltic Exchange. And even to the bomb left on Platform 4 at London Bridge station that fortunately detonated twenty minutes before I was due to stand waiting for my train. 

The thing about this part of Southwark is that it's only partly gentrified and still scruffy with a bit of an edge. That's the joy. The National Trust's 'George' and the Market Porter may be a tad upscale but the Globe used to be (until its refit) a comfortable shithole with a front door to the street and a useful back door onto the cheese stalls. The Old Kings Head over the road is also truly trad with a hipster-repellant Sky Sports big screen. And alongside the costas and starbucks are places such as Cafe Rossi - Full English with two rounds and a mug of tea for a fiver. Fried chicken and betting shops share street frontages with hipster bespoke cheese emporia and bakers making sourdough with vaginal yeast. This is where I bought my weekly pound of real dry bacon and indulged in half a dozen freshly shucked Mersea Island natives standing at a formica counter. Here was where we met after work to tie-on a session - with a short intoxicated stumble to the station to get home. 

Nah those sodding little Islamist buggers can't ruin it. Only the hipsters, the city wealthy and the dreary sterile gentrifiers can do that. 

Cafe Rossi - All day breakfast a fiver