Sea Swimmer

[Sea Swimmer @fromspringon]

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[Thanos Angelopoulos @Th_Angelopoulos]

.@MikeTappTweets, nine questions. Each yes or no.

1) Did the International Criminal Court issue arrest warrants on 21 November 2024 against Benjamin Netanyahu for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza, including the use of starvation as a method of warfare? Yes or no.

2) Is the United Kingdom a state party to the Rome Statute, legally obligated to arrest Netanyahu if he enters British territory? Yes or no.

3) Has the UK government continued to license arms exports to the State of Israel since those warrants were issued? Yes or no.

4) Has the UK government continued diplomatic and political cooperation with the government headed by Benjamin Netanyahu since those warrants were issued? Yes or no.

5) Does the United Kingdom's existing criminal legislation, including the International Criminal Court Act 2001, contain offences applicable to those who provide assistance to persons under ICC arrest warrant for war crimes? Yes or no.

6) Could a UK government minister who has personally and publicly endorsed the continuation of arms exports and political cooperation with a government headed by an ICC indictee face individual legal exposure under those same provisions? Yes or no.

7) Is it the case, as documented by the Campaign Against Arms Trade and Transparency International UK, that the United Kingdom maintains an extensive and ongoing revolving door between government and the arms industry, including the movement of former ministers and senior Ministry of Defence officials into companies that profit from continued UK arms exports to the State of Israel? Yes or no.

8) Does Section 53 of the International Criminal Court Act 2001 require the consent of the Attorney General, a political officer of the government, before any prosecution under that Act can be brought? Yes or no.

9) Does the availability of procedural or constitutional defences to government ministers acting in their official capacity alter the underlying factual conduct of those ministers? Yes or no.

If the answer to each of the above is yes, the following should be happening under the United Kingdom's own legal and policy framework.

The Strategic Export Licensing Criteria requires the government not to issue or maintain licences where there is a clear risk that the items might be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international humanitarian law. The government has already made that assessment for around thirty licences.

The ICC arrest warrants, and the charges they contain, materially strengthen the case that this risk applies more broadly. Full suspension of the remaining relevant licences is the only position consistent with the UK's own published rules.

Continued authorisation of exports in these circumstances also raises serious questions about potential ancillary liability under the International Criminal Court Act 2001. An investigation by the Attorney General into ministerial decision-making, with knowledge of the ICC warrants, would be the appropriate next step.

Parliament has a duty to hold individual ministers to account for these decisions.

None of this is happening.

Tell us, Tapp, why none of this is happening?

[Policy Tensor @policytensor]

Iran has to force the decision sooner rather than later in order to harvest the midterm premium. If Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab can’t work sooner, as @JavierBlas suggests, then they have to look at other options.

A counter-base campaign is attractive option for Iran for three reasons. First, it furthers the objective of pushing the US out of the region. Second, it allows them to drive a wedge bw the US and the Gulf Arabs. Third, the attacks themselves and especially the US responses to the same, widen the war risk premium.

We should expect them to roll out a carefully planned compellence campaign whereby they not only shoot at tankers but also US bases in order to compel the US to accept Iranian authority over Hormuz.

[Marta Havryshko @HavryshkoMarta]

Now we finally know why Western think tanks somehow manage to remain spectacularly blind to neo-Nazis in Ukraine: apparently, they imagine Azov boys will one day protect them from the Big Bad Russian Bear.

Seriously, what are they smoking over there?

What on earth has happened to Western political analysis over the past few years? When did sober assessment give way to geopolitical wishful thinking dressed up as expertise?

[Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt @FranceskAlbs]

Defining Zionism as a colonial ideology isn't prejudice: it's thought, hence constitutionally protected -says a Court (Bristol v. Miller, 2026 - EAT 84).

Law, when true to itself, doesn't protect comfortable opinions but the right to dissent from power.

https://t.co/OvwWtk7AJy

[Glenn Greenwald @ggreenwald]

Huge victory for free expression in the UK (something that can rarely be said):

For years, Israel's loyalists in the UK demanded @Tracking_Power be fired as a university professor for his anti-Zionists beliefs. They finally succeeded.

A court today held that anti-Zionism is a political philosophy protected like any other, and his firing was thus illegal:

[Richard Seymour @leninology]

National Care Service is an excellent idea regardless, but I'm unclear how much councils actually save, if they then lose ringfenced social care grants, NHS funding (Better Care Fund), and the adult social care precept raised through council tax. Anyone know the answer to that?

[Glenn Greenwald @ggreenwald]

These increasingly dire warnings about how the US has largely depleted its anti-missile defense systems and even offensive weapons like these have been circulating in DC for 18 months at least.

The US gave them to Ukraine and Israel, and used them against Yemen and Iran, and to protect Israel and Persian Gulf dictatorships.

The US spends more on its military than any other country *by far.* And yet the Pentagon hasn't been able to pass an audit in many years, and doesn't have the weapons needed to fight a protracted war against Iran, to say nothing of doing something like defending Taiwan.

One can debate if that's a good or bad thing -- that's a separate question -- but the corruption and waste of US taxpayer money to fill the pockets of Boeing, Raytheon and Palantir is virtually unlimiated.

[Chris Smith @renewablesmiffy]

“Don’t trust Carbon Brief”. Fails to say why.

Ignores the data being produced by The North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) who have been officially publishing the dedicated, annual UK Oil and Gas Reserves and Resources Report since 2017

[audrey White @RedRosa91940184]

Here we go , already Friday's hearing postponed to a tentative Friday 21st August. They honestly don’t know which way to turn. These people mess with your head - they really do. I don’t know a more sincere honest peace loving beautiful person than my dear friend and comrade Alma . Everyone at the front of opposing genocide is special. Support them, retweet them, join them, be them .

[أنس الشريف Anas Al-Sharif @AnasAlSharif0]

في مشهد يدل على حجم الابادة التي تعرضت له غزة ...

عائلة واحدة بغزة تشيع 112 شهيدا من أبنائها بعد أن تمكنت من انتشالهم بعد ارتقائهم خلال حرب الإبادة.

[Seyed Mohammad Marandi @s_m_marandi]

The EU, US, UK, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia facilitated this and the entire ongoing genocide.

[courtneybonneauimages @cbonneauimages]

Today is the sixth anniversary of the Beirut port blast, the largest non-nuclear explosion in history. 236 men, women and children were killed and 7,000 were injured. Nobody has been held accountable.

[The Crispin Flintoff Show @CrispinShow]

There is genuine hope following David Miller’s legal victory.

It has established a foundation for all of us to speak out against Zionism without fear of being smeared or losing our livelihoods.

Miller’s determination, clarity and unwavering principles have been an inspiration.

[Policy Tensor @policytensor]

Why Iran must escalate

In the last 24 hours, besides shooting at vessels, Iran has shot down an MQ-9 Reaper drone over Hormuz and launched a drone attack on a US base in Kuwait.

Are more attacks imminent? I think so. Here is why.

The reason why Iran must escalate is that its objective is compellence, not deterrence. If it were deterrence, it would not be escalating out of the blue but rather responding to any US attacks, even if disproportionately. But because the Iranian objective is to compel the US to capitulate on the Hormuz question and the US is not attacking Iran, Iran must escalate.

The trigger might very well be what @JaviarBlas told us today: the seige is not working fast enough. At least not fast enough to exploit the midterm window of opportunity.

The more He screams and shouts and the more aggressively he responds, the higher the price of oil and the tighter the noose.

Simply put, Iran does not want things to cool down. It needs the temperature high enough to cook the US.

[Glenn Diesen @Glenn_Diesen]

After the strategies of killing the Iranian leadership failed, targeting military and civilian infrastructure failed, and bombing civilians failed, the US military is asking its soldiers for new ideas. Diplomacy is seemingly not considered, unless it is used as deception.

[Mark Ames @MarkAmesExiled]

We’re out of crucial defensive weapons systems, and now we’re out of crucial offensive weapons. Other than that, Sir, how’s the war going?

[Power to the People ☭🕊 @ProudSocialist]

Trump is pushing for more data centers because his financial disclosures show he bought $25 million worth of stocks in the companies constructing them. He is not even trying to hide his corruption anymore. He is openly profiting off the presidency because he knows he’ll never be held accountable for any of his crimes.

[Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt @FranceskAlbs]

Sánchez' government is paying a huge price for its integrity, like any other -institution or person - daring to challenge the global Apartheid: ICC, Palestine solidarity movement, Human Rights system...

Stay strong Spain.

No Pasarán!

[Mark Ames @MarkAmesExiled]

This argues that Ukraine’s goal in hitting Wildberries logistics hubs is to trigger a Russian financial crisis hitting its shaky lenders like VTB. Yet another doomed Ukrainian hail mary, but the economic pain to Russia’s ruling class is its own reward.
https://t.co/9l4sStYrJu

[Glenn Diesen @Glenn_Diesen]

EU Commissioner for Defense Andrius Kubilius, argues that [NATO-backed] attacks deep inside Russia have the purpose of bringing pain to Russian society

[Glenn Greenwald @ggreenwald]

The policy of NATO -- fight Russia all the way to the last Ukrainian -- continues.

Among the most horrifying scenes has been watching Ukrainians who know they are being used as cannon fodder in a futile war be violently dragged off to the front line while the west cheers.