Joseph Belbruno Blog

  It’s time to rip up outdated refugee convention When even a centre-left peer is calling for reform, it’s clear the situation is unsustainable Melanie Phillips @melanielatest Melanie Phillips Much discussion around how to stop the illegal migrant traffic across the Channel has centred upon the rule of human rights law in preventing Britain from getting to grips with the problem. There’s another elephant in this particular room, however, and that’s the international law governing refugees. In a speech in the House of Lords, amplified on Joshua Rozenberg’s A Lawyer Talks podcast (full disclosure: said podcaster is m’learned husband) the former director of public prosecutions Lord Macdonald of River Glaven made the case that reforming refugee law was pivotal to tackling the issue. His concern was that the current scale of mass migration and the organised crime gangs profiting from it are weakening faith in democratic institutions, driving populist politics across Europe and the rise ...

  Zelensky’s plea for defence as Russia launches largest aerial assault Ukraine Tom Ball - Kyiv Russia has launched its biggest aerial assault on Ukraine since the start of the war in a sharp escalation in the strikes on civilians intended to wear down air defences and break public morale. Air raid sirens rang out on Saturday night and into the early hours of Sunday as more than 500 drones, missiles and glide bombs were launched at cities across Ukraine. Of those, 475 were either shot down or lost, probably after being electronically jammed, Ukraine’s air force said. Almost 90 per cent of the weapons fired were Shahed drones — originally made by Iran — after Moscow increased its production of them this year. Russia also launched seven Iskander ballistic missiles and four hypersonic Kinzhal missiles. Many of the areas targeted were hundreds of miles from the front lines. They included the western Ukrainian regions of Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk and Ternopil. Cherkasy, Poltava and Kremench...

  Staying the Course A warning that Iran is still capable of building an atom bomb and Russia’s biggest air attack on Ukraine are reminders to Donald Trump that dictators rarely play ball It wasn’t only Iran’s buried nuclear sites that received a pounding from the Pentagon last week. The White House press corps was firmly in the crosshairs of Pete Hegseth, America’s defence secretary, for daring to report that Tehran’s not-soclandestine atomic weapons programme may not have been damaged to the terminal degree initially suggested by the Trump administration. Rubbishing a leaked preliminary damage assessment suggesting the less than total success of two B-2 bombing raids and a Tomahawk missile strike on three Iranian nuclear installations, Mr Hegseth pulled no punches. The Washington press, he said, was “cheering against” his boss instead of lauding a superbly successful feat of arms. Donald Trump was similarly incensed, claiming the operation was indeed an unqualified triumph. Now c...

The beasts who howled antisemitic threats at Glastonbury must be herded in concentration camps and be shot dead like the vermin they are! A broadcasting failure that spread despair — and fear Comment Danny Cohen At the weekend tens of thousands chanted for the death of Jews. This did not happen in Iran. It did not happen at a farright rally. It happened in Britain and was broadcast live by the BBC. Britain’s Jewish community is feeling a mixture of shock, despair and fear. Racist experiences since October 7 have left many Jews feeling distressed and isolated but these events at Glastonbury are particularly threatening. Can you recall any other occasion in our country when a crowd of that size chanted for anyone to be killed? Yet this was broadcast live by the BBC as entertainment and permitted by the Eavis family who run Glastonbury and claim that its values are peace and inclusivity. The BBC should be held to account at the highest level for these failings and Glastonbury should n...

Sandbu fails to mention (astonishingly) the biggest government strategy for financial repression: - inflation! Through inflation, governments devalue interest repayments and the real value of debt whilst increasing tax revenue! Get ready to embark on a new era of financial repression Martin Sandbu martin.sandbu@ft.com · 30 June 2025 The trade war unleashed by Donald Trump may be just the precursor for much larger turmoil in the global economy. Whatever tariffs look like when the dust settles, deficits, surpluses and trade patterns will still be shaped by financial flows. It is only a matter of time before another economic policy war flares up — indeed it has already begun. Welcome to the new age of financial repression. Financial repression refers to policies designed to steer capital to fund government priorities, rather than where it would flow in unregulated markets. In the postwar decades, western countries used regulation, tax design and prohibitions to both limit capital flows ac...

  Bedrohung aus Russland: Europa rüstet auf – mit Geld aus den USA Investition in Verteidigung : 27.06.2025, 18:43 Lesezeit:  4  Min. Die EU will in militärischen Fragen unabhängiger werden. Das Kapital dafür kommt oft aus Amerika. Daran sind die Europäer selbst schuld. Geld verdienen macht Spaß, noch viel mehr, wenn man damit ganz nebenbei das Richtige tut. Wer den ökonomischen Nutzen maximieren und zugleich das politisch-moralische Gebot der Stunde befolgen will, sollte sich dem europäischen Rüstungssektor zuwenden. Unternehmer wie Investoren wissen: Diese Branche wird in den kommenden Jahren viele Leute sehr reich machen. Und sie ist zugleich der Schlüssel, um Europas Abhängigkeit von den  Vereinigten Staaten  in der Verteidigung zu reduzieren. Mehr Europa, weniger Amerika – das ist der Anspruch, den nicht zuletzt die Industrie selbst gern nach vorne stellt. Getan hat sich in der Branche zuletzt einiges. In Rekordzeit ziehen Rüstungshersteller wie Rheinmetall...