I am not the slightest bit interested in the majority of your post, it is irrelevant. However I will say that I sense you might assume political affiliations I do not have.

what’s the alternative to nuke sharing? Germany builds its own arsenal and you have no stake or say in it whatsoever. Does that sound more appealing to you?

If Germany are allowed under international law to build nuclear weapons then it is their choice whether they do so or not. I don’t mind either way.

Well clearly we did hold cards. The very post you replied to has pointed out exactly the cards we held, and still hold.

What I will say is remainers (including the UK government charged with managing the negotiations) weakened the UK’s bargaining position just like your attitude would weaken the UK’s position going forward.

But his isn’t a brexit argument, that is a long-resolved issue.

This is about the UK’s relationship with the EU. And notice I say EU, not Europe. I read media reports conflating the EU with Europe every week. Even this week talking of EU countries creating a ‘European Army’: well if they are going to define Europe as ‘EU countries’ (a corporatist takeover of the continent, if you like lol and most certainly something that I have read done week in and week out for years) so be it. Why wouldn’t we maintain our special relationship with the US, and lean towards Russia, while maintaining our friendly relationship with China?

You reap what you sow.

Now if the EU wants the protection of our nuclear weapons they demonstrate how the have significantly changed their attitude towards the UK on an ongoing basis and the EU’s role in Europe, and they pay economically.

They did everything they could to weaken the UK. To punish the UK for deciding to leave the EU.

No quarter given.

But the reason people voted to leave the EU was the importation of cheap Eastern European labour that was used to undermine pay and conditions for British workers of every origin. Saying brexit was the result of ‘Russian interference’ is as reductionist as saying ‘Hilary’s emails’ was why people voted Trump in first time around. The bbc and others framed the debate as EU ‘liberalism’ (is that social or economic liberalism?casue political liberalism is the soft and fuzzy one covering the hard and ruthless other) v. something xenophobic. The reality on the ground was far more complex. Like in the US, the stories of poor people harmed by liberalism were ignored. They still are being. As long as they are the Reform party will continue a rise to power and you will see a UK split from EU countries further anyway.

But ok. If it was reasonable for the EU to treat the UK badly over brexit, then it is more than reasonable for the UK to give no quarter back now that the Germans are asking for the protection of our nuclear weapons.

Now, to some degree the UK is going to remain aligned with the US. Our military and intelligence capabilities seem to be very much intertwined. The alternative for the EU, a UK completely aligned with the US, Russia, and a friend of China, is the alternative to the EU winding back the harm they have intentionally caused the UK.

Perhaps they should have been reasonable when the UK decided to leave the EU.

I doesn’t look like us Brits can completely break with the US in military or intelligence terms, at least for the time being (if not foreseeable future). But closer military co-operation with the rest of Europe clearly has to happen, assuming maintenance of our nuclear capability isn’t completely reliant upon, or tied up with the US.

The Chinese are going to build their biggest embassy in Europe in London about half a mile or so from the US embassy. I’d guess the UK will continue trying to play a mediating role.

I am English.

Most likely you meant to reply to somebody else, but it’s possible you picked up and ran with a response to my question. If that’s the case then thanks for the effort!

What does this mean? People putting on a ‘work voice’ or something?

This is what Canadian and European rivals of the US should have been doing for some time, and should be doing now.

Unfortunately I think there is a good chance that history will come to view brexit as a warning shot that was ignored.

Farage was given a decade or more of regular airtime on the bbc despite not having one MP. This is a top-down driven rise to political power.

Young people have and are witnessing their quality of life and future prospects diminish on an ongoing basis. The spectre of climate change is a crisis multiplier that is not just being ignored by both the red and blue Tories. Protests against government inaction are severely criminalised, and the surveillance state built to ‘protect’ society is pushing the UK into an extreme, data-totalitarian society, that will inevitably breed extremists.

All of this has rendered mainstream parties non-credible. It is just more of the same austerity. More economic inequality.

With the best will in the world, the scale of immigration (not far off a London a decade) is not sustainable. It is impacting the unskilled labour markets and ‘benefits’: many of these potential Reform voting young people are directly harmed by, so it’s use is the easiest of wedges for any politician to use. This immigration is nothing compared to the coming climate change refugee crisis. We haven’t seen anything yet.

The home-owning-electorate’s response: “These people are racist. We should rejoin the EU” (thus completely disenfranchising former brexit, now potential Reform voters) can only make this situation worse, if anything driving those young voters into the hands of worse extremists.

Yeah it is other countries fault, lol.

His name is Trump. Russia completed sidelined America’s military.

The Taliban humiliated him. He has one entirely exploitable strategy: try and be a bully and back down when he gets called out.

The result is widespread boycott of American manufacturing, Europe pulling away from a reliance on the US including manufacturing their own arms, a pivot towards BRICS and China, and a hastened end to the dollar as global reserve currency followed by an America that has to pay its debts.

What a fool. America’s second vote for Trump has shown the world it is an unreliable partner.

What was Trump’s record with negotiating peace last time?

I recall him capitulating in Afghanistan. Was he successful anywhere else? He appears to like to rant and rave, and wants to throw his weight around, but he is clearly an exploitable, weak leader.

Here are the four points the bbc is reporting, which are completely different to yours. https://www.bbc.com/news/live/cn5220x56pqt

• To keep military aid flowing into Ukraine while the war is ongoing, and increase economic pressure on Russia

• Any lasting peace must ensure Ukraine’s sovereignty and security, and Ukraine must be at the table for any peace talks

• In the event of a peace deal, European leaders will aim to deter any future invasion by Russia into Ukraine

• There would be a “coalition of the willing” to defend Ukraine and guarantee peace in the country