"thinkers"

It’s arguable that Britain’s path to this point — where it is at risk of decaying into a ‘competitive authoritarian’ regime — can be traced back to the first of the ‘conservative’ think tanks.

Britain’s democracy is in a perilous state. While 100 scholars of democracy recently posted a letter expressing their fears about the imminent threat to America’s political tradition — echoing many voices — the awareness of the threat to Britain’s Westminster system is less prominent, drowned out by the shambolic handling of the Covid crisis.

BY Lucy Hamilton

Like America and Australia, Britain’s government is at risk of decaying into a “competitive authoritarian” regime.

cons

Speaking on Thursday, Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly said that the French government will look to ensure that the financial loss to the country and the Naval Group is limited as much as possible, after the contractor's huge submarine deal with Australia was ditched in favor of the UK and US as suppliers.

waterloo

"I am angry and bitter. This isn't done between allies," Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told franceinfo radio on Thursday morning, after the leaders of Australia, the UK and US convened a virtual press conference on Wednesday night, announcing the AUKUS pact and the delivery of conventionally-armed nuclear-power submarines to Canberra.

treason

Kash Patel, the former chief of staff for the Defense Department, said Milley violated laws governing the chairman’s ability to exercise “any operational authority.”

“Congress put this in the statute because the U.S. military is to be led by a civilian, the commander-in-chief,” Patel told Fox News. 

“Furthermore, by law, the national command authority goes from the president to the secretary of Defense to include anything relating troop deployments, operations in theaters of war, and nuclear command.”

porter

The rules of Parliament's register of interests require MPs to declare footy tickets, flights, gifts, Chairman's Club memberships, assets, investments, and any other financial arrangement that "may conflict or may be seen to conflict with their public duty." When a politician is given "free stuff", voters at least deserve to know who's trying to curry favour.

Porter obviously received enough financial assistance that he felt the need to update his register three days ago. He revealed his legal fees were at least partly paid by "a blind trust known as the Legal Services Trust". But that's all he was giving away.

flu

We all have the word "Democracy" in our mouths and our media warn us against the authoritarian drifts of illiberal countries. However, some of us refuse to organize contradictory debates on the attacks of September 11 as well as on the reaction to the Covid-19 epidemic.

The celebrations of the 20th anniversary of the attacks of September 11, 2001 give rise to two absolutely contradictory narratives, depending on whether one refers to the written and audio-visual press or to the digital press. For some, Al Qaeda declared war on the West by plotting a high-profile crime, while for others the same crime masked a domestic coup d’état in the US.

sub

The ABC understands Prime Minister Scott Morrison convened a National Security Committee of Cabinet on Tuesday ahead of coordinated announcements in Washington and London.

Cabinet ministers were given special COVID exemptions to travel to Canberra for the top-secret discussions.

In a highly unusual step, the Prime Minister also invited Labor leader Anthony Albanese and three of his senior shadow ministers to be briefed on the plan.

American media reports say US President Joe Biden is scheduled to deliver "brief remarks about a national security initiative" on Wednesday afternoon in Washington local time.

coal

Up to 80 workers at New South Wales' largest coal mine have been ordered by BHP to accept transfers to interstate mines or resign from their positions.

• BHP is searching for a buyer for its Mt Arthur mine
• The company is winding up its labour hire arm at the mine, which employs 80 people
• A worker says he feels "chucked in the gutter" over the move

A worker who is facing the ultimatum said he felt "left in the street" by the company.

james

Is James Packer feeling the squeeze? It’s been 15 days since the sun set on the Euro summer, but James Packer is packing away the toys - for good. The embattled casino magnate, who turned 54 last week, has put his 108-metre giga yacht IJE on the market with a price tag of $280 million.

Britain’s exclusive Burgess super yacht brokers have effusively spruiked the largest yacht that Italian shipbuilders Benedetti have constructed, boasting of the “timeless sculptural exterior” from “sought-after designers Redman Whiteley Dixon” and a “relaxed beach house-style interior” of the “ultimate world-cruising family yacht”.

scumnukes

Biden to launch NUCLEAR tech working group alongside UK and Australia in apparent bid to push back against China – reports

idiot

In his new book, Yale historian Samuel Moyn explores whether the push to make U.S. wars more “humane” by banning torture and limiting civilian casualties has helped fuel more military interventions around the world. He looks in detail at the role of President Obama in expanding the use of drones even as he received the Nobel Peace Prize.

“What happened after 2001 is that, in the midst of an extremely brutal war on terror, a new kind of war emerged. … It was important to Americans to see their wars fought more humanely,” says Moyn. “Even though this represents a kind of progress, it also helped Americans sustain war and helped make the war on terror endless.” Moyn’s new book is “Humane: How the United States Abandoned Peace and Reinvented War.”

scomonuke

Secretary of State Antony Blinken faced bipartisan criticism Tuesday over the botched US withdrawal from Afghanistan — as a top Senate Republican questioned whether President Biden is actually calling the shots in the White House.

Blinken’s second consecutive day of grilling by Capitol Hill lawmakers even saw the Democratic chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee blast last month’s humiliating exit — which included the killings of 13 American service members — as “clearly and fatally flawed.”

Also during Tuesday’s hearing:

trumpnuke

Of course. "Trump was going to bomb the planet with nukes"...There is a bit of misunderstanding around the trap in the MSM about this. And I mean DELIBERATE MISUNDERSTANDING about what Trump has said or not said… For example: 

President Donald Trump has floated the idea of thwarting hurricanes headed for the US by bombing them, including by dropping nuclear bombs on hurricanes to disrupt their course, Axios reported, citing conversations with sources who heard Trump's comments and were briefed on a National Security Council memo that recorded the comments.

TRUMP DENIES IT OF COURSE BUT THIS "MEMO” MADE "GOOD COPY” for the pundits...

gladys

Gladys Berejiklian's own Treasury officials appear to have initially advised against setting aside $5.5 million for a grant pursued by Daryl Maguire, but the grant was later approved and came from a fund overseen by Ms Berejiklian, according to an internal government memo obtained by 7.30.

abbott

 Former prime minister Tony Abbott has been fined $500 for allegedly failing to wear a mask as required by public health orders.

Mr Abbott was photographed this week by a member of the public in Manly who observed him talking to a friend at Fairy Bower near the main beach.

He was subsequently reported to NSW Police, who confirmed on Saturday the former prime minister had been issued with a fine.

“A 63-year-old man was issued a $500 Penalty Infringement Notice on Friday (10 September, 2021), for failure to comply with wearing face covering directive,” police said in a statement.