Latest / UK Column Radio / UK Column News - 11th July 2025

Transcript

UK Column News - 11th July 2025 · UK Column Radio

0:08
Hello, it's Friday the 11th of July 2025, just after 1:00.
0:11
Welcome to UK column News. I'm your host Mike Robinson, my
0:14
Co host in this studio today, Patrick Hennigson.
0:16
Welcome to the program, Patrick. Great to be with you, Mike.
0:18
And journalist Mark Anderson joins us by video link from the
0:22
United States. Now, yesterday, Keir Starmer and
0:26
Emmanuel Macron did some deals. The headline deal was one where
0:30
a bunch of migrants would continue to cross the Channel in
0:33
small boats. They would be sent back to
0:35
France. And in return, Britain would
0:37
take exactly the same number of people from France, except these
0:41
would be people that France is particularly keen to get rid of.
0:44
I suspect that is what's going to go on.
0:46
So, you know, this can be ignored because it will do
0:50
nothing to reduce the number of people coming into the UK.
0:52
And in any case, we should always keep in mind that the
0:56
main source of migration in the UK by far is regular migration.
1:00
The small boats remain a small problem.
1:02
It's a diversion. And so my question is, what was
1:06
it that Star Starmer was diverting from?
1:08
Well, first of all was his nuclear deal.
1:12
And France and the UK will, they say, deepen their nuclear
1:15
cooperation and coordination. A Franco British nuclear
1:18
steering group is going to be established and that's going to
1:21
provide political direction for this work.
1:24
So this is absolutely a political agenda.
1:26
It's not something which is being driven by any other need.
1:30
It'll be led by the presidency of the French Republic and the
1:34
Cabinet Office in the UK. It's going to coordinate across
1:37
nuclear policy capabilities and operations.
1:39
And they say quotes. Our nuclear weapons exist to
1:43
deter the most extreme threats to the security of our nations
1:46
and our vital interests. Our nuclear forces are
1:48
independent but can be coordinated and contribute
1:51
significantly to the overall security of the alliance.
1:54
They don't specify in their press press release which
1:57
alliance they're speaking about. But anyway, in the final
2:00
communique, then they reaffirmed their determination to, quote,
2:04
ensure Russia does not prevail in its illegal war of
2:07
aggression, as well as their commitment to lasting support to
2:11
Ukraine. They convened the coalition of
2:14
the willing over the last couple of days with more than 30
2:17
nations participating, they say, all supposedly committed to
2:20
Ukraine's long term security. And in the course of that
2:23
meeting, Secretary of State for War John Healey repeated
2:26
Starmer's position that they're, quote, ready to put troops in
2:29
Ukraine to help reinforce a ceasefire.
2:32
Of course, no mention of how that ceasefire is going to be
2:34
arrived at so far. They agreed to launch a counter
2:38
shadow fleet partnership to, quote, crack down on dangerous
2:42
Russian backed vessels in the channel, reduce Russian oil
2:44
revenues via these vessels and safeguard our maritime security.
2:50
We are committed, they said, to defending democracy and
2:53
stability in the wider European neighborhood and have agreed to
2:56
work together on new support to strengthen resilience in the
2:59
Western Balkans and Moldova. We'll come back to that in a
3:02
couple of minutes. They went on to let us know that
3:05
Ukraine is is not enough. Iran will never have a nuclear
3:10
weapon they said, and so they'll work with Germany to make sure
3:13
that this doesn't happen. And don't forget China because
3:16
China also has to be dealt with. I think North Korea must be
3:19
breathing a sigh of relief at this point.
3:21
They aren't even thought sorry, North Korea hasn't even thought
3:25
about anymore. So they, Starmer and Macron also
3:29
announced Lancaster House 2.0. That is the new iteration of the
3:34
Lancaster Lancaster House treaties which were signed by
3:36
David Cameron in 2010, which brought Brit brought Britain
3:40
into a 50 year defence pact with France and they announced they
3:44
combined joint force, otherwise known as combined joint
3:47
Expeditionary Force 2.0 and which will, they say build a
3:52
shared capability of sufficient scale for war fighting and ready
3:56
to operate in all domains, including space and cyber in the
4:00
defence of Europe. And they said, and I quote, we
4:03
will maximize our impact against the highest threat terrorist
4:06
groups, including deepening our counterterrorism cooperation in
4:10
Syria. And if you haven't just fallen
4:12
off your chair, well, I would seriously consider it because
4:15
that's just such an incredible thing for them to say.
4:17
Here's here is a quote from the communique.
4:21
As we've explicitly stated since 1995, we do not see situations
4:26
arising in which the vital interests of either France or
4:29
the United Kingdom to be threatened without the vital
4:32
interests of the other also being threatened.
4:34
France and the United Kingdom agree there is no extreme threat
4:38
to Europe which would not prompt a response by our two nations.
4:41
Now taking all of this into account, Patrick, I do wonder
4:46
what does that remind you of? Well, this, this is exactly
4:49
where we were prior to World War One.
4:52
So this is power politics writ large after the concert of
4:56
Europe. And all of these entangling
4:58
alliances and loyalties and so forth led to a situation where
5:02
all it took was an assassination in the West Balkans.
5:06
And all of a sudden you have all the various accesses and blocks
5:10
hit it against each other. And there's the most important
5:13
part, absolutely dedicated to a military path to resolve
5:18
disputes. No diplomatic track at all.
5:21
The only way you can just resolve these is through
5:24
military means. Isn't that what we're saying
5:26
right now? Do you see anybody talking about
5:30
political resolution or diplomacy to solve the Ukraine
5:33
crisis? Because I don't.
5:36
No, there is absolutely no effort at diplomacy whatsoever.
5:39
In fact, as as we have pointed out several times over the last
5:42
few weeks, the rhetoric from both Britain and the United
5:45
States is that basically Putin is effectively refusing to
5:49
engage. It's similar to the the sort of
5:53
strategy of Israel of putting a deal on the table that the other
5:56
side absolutely cannot accept and then claim that the other
6:00
side has refused to engage with it.
6:02
It's a pantomime of negotiations.
6:04
It's it's getting old as well. Look, on the conventional front,
6:07
what have what have Britain and the French done in response to
6:11
the gravest threat Europe has ever faced since World War 2
6:14
that they tell us as you the war in Ukraine, What have they done?
6:17
They haven't engaged aged at all.
6:19
All they've done is pump weapons into a proxy to Ukraine and then
6:23
do special forces to try to blow things up and sabotage and so
6:27
forth. It's been an utter disaster and
6:29
a failure. So I guess they're going to do
6:31
more of that because I don't see much on the conventional front
6:34
from the British or the French side and France's has spent
6:37
force as far as the conventional military go.
6:40
But on the nuclear side, Mike, that's a problem.
6:43
That's a problem because you have the Britain does not have
6:47
an independent nuclear deterrent.
6:48
It is controlled by the United States on every single
6:51
conceivable level, including the command level.
6:54
Now, France may be less so, but even France is tethered to the
6:59
United States in different ways. But having an independent to to
7:02
what I would say to belligerent actors in Europe acting with
7:08
their own agenda. We know Britain has their own
7:10
geopolitical agenda and without the United States and Europe
7:14
could very easily kick off a crisis or a war that would
7:18
ultimately drag the United States into a European or a
7:22
precursor to a World War Three situation or a European
7:25
conflict. But that already happened twice
7:27
in the last century, right? So I think we shouldn't really
7:30
be going there. But this is where the this is
7:32
the conversation that we'd like to have, but it's not the
7:35
conversation they're having. So it's on the French front,
7:40
though there's something to be even more worried about.
7:43
We'll bring this up on the screen here.
7:45
And by the way, this is from the National Security Archives at
7:48
George Washington University in the United States.
7:51
And we've carefully gone through a lot of these various files to
7:54
pick out the highlights, the untold story of Israel's nuclear
7:59
deception. And let's look at that.
8:01
How did Israel get nuclear weapons?
8:04
How did they get nuclear power? Well, they got it with the with
8:06
the help of the French, and they stole the other bits from the
8:09
United States. Israel had illegally obtained
8:13
nuclear capabilities since 1967, largely due to substantial
8:18
support from France, which helped it to become the 6th
8:23
nuclear power worldwide, ensuring France a seat on the UN
8:27
Security Council. The big club, right?
8:29
But here's the problem with this.
8:31
This is the detail that nobody wants to talk about.
8:35
In 1965, US visitors were told that spent fuel would probably
8:40
be returned to France from Israel for chemical processing.
8:44
Although he quote gave the impression that no detailed
8:47
consideration had yet been given to this problem, we now know
8:50
this was misleading. Israelis never returned the
8:53
spent fuel to France. Instead, they reprocessed their
8:56
own, and it was a radiated reactor core every six months.
9:00
So, So basically what happened here Mike, is that Israel stole
9:04
from new mech facility the the weapons grade material then this
9:09
the plans the know how and France built the Demona is a
9:13
copy of the French nuclear reactor.
9:16
OK, so they got their civilian nuclear reactor program built by
9:22
France. In return, Israel gave the
9:24
weapons grade material and, and know how to to France.
9:29
So both of them built their nuclear programs together.
9:32
And then France did the testing for the Israeli nukes.
9:36
Where did it? How could Israel do testing?
9:38
And when it's the size of whales, they, they sent it out
9:41
to Bikini Atoll in the South Pacific and to South Algeria or
9:46
in around Mali. That's where in their colonies
9:49
in Sahara and Africa. That's where the French tested
9:51
their nukes and they tested Israel's at the same time.
9:54
This is how it happened. So France is is partnered to an
9:58
illegal not under supervision of the non proliferation treaty.
10:03
Israel has between 90 and 300 nuclear warheads undeclared.
10:06
Nobody knows because they won't allow inspectors in a totally
10:10
illegal nuclear weapons program sponsored and facilitated by
10:14
France. Right.
10:16
So this is a kind of a problem. If the British and the French
10:20
are working with their own so-called independent nuclear
10:22
deterrence, you really have to add Israel to that tripartite
10:28
nefarious arrangement. OK, well, sticking with Israel
10:32
then of course something else has happened in the last couple
10:35
of days is that Benjamin Netanyahu has been over visiting
10:39
the Dawn. Yes, yes, the the the warlock
10:42
himself has parachuted into Washington, probably asking for
10:47
things and and hoping to get money and weapons and so forth,
10:50
doing a bit of his Zelensky himself.
10:52
But Netanyahu is also trying to throw his weight around,
10:55
obviously. But but listen to this.
10:57
This is this is the meeting around the big table.
11:00
Trump with his team assembled, Netanyahu with his team and he
11:03
presents Donald Trump with a nomination for the Nobel Peace
11:09
Prize. I I really this is this is
11:11
special watch this we're. Going to have a lot of great
11:15
results. So it's great to have you.
11:16
Thank you very much. Thank you.
11:19
I want to express the appreciation and admiration not
11:23
only of all Israelis, but of the Jewish people and many, many
11:30
admirers around the world for your leadership, your leadership
11:33
of the free world, your leadership of a just cause, and
11:39
the pursuit of peace and security, which you are leading
11:42
in many lands, but now, especially in the Middle East.
11:45
We have great opportunities. President has an extraordinary
11:49
team, and I think our teams together make an extraordinary
11:54
combination to meet challenges and seize opportunities.
11:59
But the President has already realized great opportunities.
12:03
He forged the Abraham Accords. He's forging peace as we speak
12:08
in one country and one region after the other.
12:10
So I want to present to you, Mr. President, the letter I sent to
12:15
the Nobel Prize Committee. It's nominating you for the
12:19
Peace Prize, which is well deserved, and you should get it.
12:23
Thank you very much. This I didn't know.
12:27
Well, thank you very much. Coming from you in particular,
12:31
this is very meaningful. Thank you very much, baby.
12:34
Thank you. Thank you for everything you're
12:35
doing. Thank you.
12:37
It's a great honor. When Trump said coming from you
12:43
BB is extra special, I mean it's almost like that was a joke of
12:47
sorts. I mean, this could just as
12:49
easily be a skit from pick your comedy program, yes.
12:53
I mean, pretty breathtaking, isn't it?
12:55
So. So Donald Trump, after having
12:58
waged an undeclared war of aggression against Iran and in
13:02
violation of every single UN Charter clause and treaty, he's
13:07
been, you know, recommended the Nobel Peace Prize via Benjamin
13:10
Netanyahu, Who should get the Nobel Peace Prize?
13:13
Well, I would say argue that this woman should get the Nobel
13:17
Peace Prize. Francesca Albanese, who's just
13:19
been sanctioned by the United States, sanctioned by Marco
13:23
Rubio. Let's take a look at this now.
13:25
She is the special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian
13:29
territories. And this is what Marco Rubio
13:31
said today. I'm imposing sanctions on the UN
13:34
Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese
13:38
for her illegitimate and shameful efforts to prompt the
13:43
International Criminal Court action against the against US
13:47
and Israeli officials, companies and executives.
13:50
Albanese's campaign of political and economic warfare, This one
13:55
woman from Italy, she's waging warfare against the United
13:58
States. Imagine that.
14:00
And Rubio continues against the United States and Israel will no
14:02
longer be tolerated. We will always stand by our
14:06
partners in their right to self-defense.
14:09
So Israel's only trying to defend itself in Gaza.
14:12
If you can believe that the United States will continue to
14:14
take whatever actions we deem necessary to respond to law and
14:20
protect our sovereignty of that of our sovereignty in that of
14:25
our allies. I mean, wow, that's pretty
14:28
extraordinary stuff. Here's her response.
14:32
We'll bring this up on screen here.
14:34
Francesca Albanese response saying, just to be sure, on this
14:37
day more than ever, I stand firmly and convincingly on the
14:40
side of justice, as I always have done.
14:43
I come from a country with the tradition of a list illustrious
14:46
legal scholars, talented lawyers and courageous judges who have
14:50
defended justice at great cost and often with their own life.
14:54
I intend to honor that tradition also.
14:57
It is called the Rome Statute for a reason.
15:00
And I'm, I'm proud of it. So she's not backing down from
15:05
Rubio. I mean, it's kind of a
15:06
disgraceful move by Marco. And to announce that while
15:09
Netanyahu is in Washington, was he sending a signal to the
15:13
Israeli lobby? Like, hey, I'm still with you,
15:16
100% send more money for my presidential campaign in 2028,
15:20
probably. Here's her response, though, in
15:23
an interview she did with Al Jazeera English.
15:26
This is Francesca Albanese responding to the charges.
15:31
I want to remind everyone that the reason why these sanctions
15:35
have been imposed is the pursuit of justice.
15:39
Of course, I've been critical of Israelis has been committing
15:42
genocide and crimes against humanity and war crimes, and not
15:44
because I say that there are criminal proceedings and
15:47
international Court of Justice proceedings against Israel for
15:51
these crimes. Isn't it enough?
15:54
And what I've exposed is that this genocide doesn't only go
15:57
ahead because of the relinquished territorial
15:59
ambitions of Israel or because of ideological affinity of some
16:03
groups with what Israel is doing, but also because there
16:07
are companies who are profiting from it.
16:09
And excuse me, I mean, I record the, the offensive and rude
16:13
posture that has come from some of these companies in reaction
16:17
to, to my report like Google. But I, I mean, look, I'm also
16:23
user of Google. I don't, I don't want the end of
16:26
Google. I want Google to stop being, I
16:30
mean making profits by supporting a government that has
16:34
killed 60,000 people, including 18,000 children.
16:38
Is it too much to ask? So of course the sanctions are
16:41
going to to affect me and they are not going to stop my quest
16:47
for respect of justice and international law, as I've been
16:51
mandated to do by the Human Rights Council.
16:55
So, and she doesn't want the end of Google.
16:58
Microsoft is also named in her report.
17:01
I know a lot of people like to see the end of Microsoft
17:03
actually, but that's another debate.
17:05
It is indeed now. At the beginning of this month,
17:09
Matt Campbell was back in the High Court in the continuing
17:12
effort to force the British government to hold a proper
17:15
inquest into the death of his brother Jeff.
17:18
Jeff died in the North Tower of the World Trade Centre on the
17:20
11th of September 2001 and his remains were identified through
17:24
DNA analysis in 2000 and two 2000 and four 2008 and 2013.
17:30
The coroner's original findings stated that at 8:46 AM on the
17:34
11th of September 2001, the deceased was on the 106th floor
17:38
of the North Tower of the World Trade Center when an aircraft
17:41
was deliberately flown into the building, causing its collapse.
17:44
10:28 AM. This event was part of a
17:46
coordinated attack by the Islamist militant group Al
17:49
Qaeda. The Campbell family.
17:51
That's the end of the quote, sorry.
17:53
The Campbell family, of course, disputes this finding and
17:56
alleges that substantial evidence was not considered by
17:59
the coroner and as a result they've been campaigning to have
18:02
a new inquest held, including taking the Attorney General to
18:05
court. So I'd like to welcome Matt
18:08
Campbell to the programme. And Matt, the first question I
18:11
have is what happened in the latest court hearing?
18:16
Well, yeah, they didn't do judgement on the date on the
18:20
18th of June. They gave us handed down a
18:23
judgement on the 1st of July and we lost, which you know, we kind
18:30
of half expected. The day went very well for us,
18:33
certainly wouldn't. There was 2 judges.
18:35
One of the judges was very on side I think with the arguments
18:38
they were making. But essentially they have made a
18:41
ruling and said that they're tied by precedent set in a
18:46
higher court in the Court of Appeal some years back going
18:50
back to 1978. And whilst it's obviously
18:55
disappointing that, you know, that decision has been made,
18:58
that ruling, we kind of expect in the ruling that there'd be
19:02
some positive noises towards what we were trying to do.
19:05
So that would be a route for us to go and appeal.
19:09
But they kind of made it really easy for us by basically saying
19:12
I just read the relevant section from the judgment.
19:16
He said. In our judgment, the combined
19:18
effect of Gurier EDA and expert Taylor, they're the cases that
19:21
set precedent. It is that it is not now open to
19:25
any court below the Supreme Court to decide otherwise,
19:28
however anomalous this may seem in the light of the rest of the
19:32
modern law of judicial review. And that language is really
19:36
important. I mean, anonymous is actually
19:37
mentioned in another section. I mean, it just sticks out like
19:41
a sore thumb. And what we're looking to do is
19:46
apply for a what's called a leapfrogged certificate straight
19:50
to the Supreme Court, where essentially, as that ruling
19:53
said, they're the only, that's the only court that can make a
19:56
decision on this completely unencumbered by, you know,
20:00
previous law. But whilst it's it's in place,
20:04
it doesn't really have a place in, in the way that judicial
20:07
review has evolved and that and the law around that.
20:10
So we're, you know, confident that we would get that
20:14
certificate and we would be able to apply and, you know,
20:17
ultimately be heard in the Supreme Court.
20:19
And efforts are underway right now hurriedly, because we have a
20:23
deadline fast approaching to raise the necessary funds to do
20:27
that. I mean, the that's, that's a
20:31
positive piece of news that, that, that there's a prospect of
20:35
getting it to the Supreme Court. My question then would be, what
20:39
are you, how confident are you that about how the Supreme Court
20:42
would look at the case? Do you think that there is a
20:45
real possibility of of a positive outcome?
20:49
Yeah, I think, I mean for for the reasons that we argue, but
20:52
actually they were made in the actual judgement.
20:56
It it just, it's so anomalous to the way that other areas of,
20:59
say, the attorney general's decisions where their property
21:03
powers or the statute powers to have something like an inquest
21:09
not be able to be overseen or looked at by the judiciary, just
21:14
flies against what the judiciary can investigate or can look at
21:19
the decisions that the attorney general makes.
21:21
So, you know, this is certainly an opportunity for the courts to
21:24
wrestle back some power, much needed power, I think from, you
21:28
know, the likes of the attorney general.
21:30
You obviously change with every single government.
21:35
Sorry, yeah. Have you got any thoughts on
21:38
this? Well, I just wanted.
21:39
To get to Matt's, Matt's comment on this, I mean, Matt, for, for
21:42
you and your family, this has been a long, long road and
21:46
you've been through so many different legal proceedings and
21:48
attending all these hearings, all the preparation, all the
21:51
lawyers and solicitors you've been working with.
21:54
What what's this been like for, for you and your family?
21:57
How? How difficult has this been over
21:59
the years? It's just difficult because it
22:03
keeps going on. I mean, it's dragged on so long.
22:05
I mean, we, I first started thinking about opening My
22:08
brothers in CEST about six months after we had it in 2013.
22:12
My mum's always been very supportive, I mean, as of my
22:15
entire family. But she was there in the High
22:18
Court, you know, it was a week before her 80th birthday.
22:20
I don't think she expected to be there trying to fight for truth
22:23
and justice for my my brother, you know, the week before 80th.
22:27
Crazy. Yeah.
22:29
Incredible. Yes.
22:30
OK. Well look, Matt, I think we'd
22:32
like to wish you all the best with this.
22:34
How do people find out more? I've on X Matt Campbell 911.
22:41
Otherwise, if you go to the Internet International Centre of
22:44
911 Justice, that's ic911.org, They they cover what I've been
22:48
doing pretty well. That's going to happen in the
22:51
next few weeks. So yeah, fingers crossed we can
22:54
we can get that certificate and apply to the Supreme Court.
22:57
Brilliant. Thank.
22:58
You and and we should absolutely recognize the support of
23:01
ic9911.org. If you haven't seen the
23:04
ic911.org website, please do. We've held events with them in
23:08
the past and we will be in the future.
23:10
So. So we'd like to wish you all the
23:12
best, Matt and you. Keep us posted on how things are
23:16
going. Yeah.
23:18
Cheers. Thanks, Mike.
23:19
Thanks, Patrick. Thanks.
23:21
OK, where does that take us? Then we'll head to the to the ad
23:27
break. And if so, we'll say if you like
23:29
what the UK column does, you'd like to support us, please have
23:32
a look at the front page of the UK column website.
23:34
You'll see a link there to a page.
23:36
We'll give you all the details. Once again, a massive thank you
23:39
to everybody that's supporting us financially and but if you
23:43
can't do that, at least share the material if you possibly
23:46
can. So that's that.
23:48
Now tonight at 7:00 PM, the work weekly banter with Charles,
23:53
myself and Jerem will be live. So join us for that if you can.
23:58
It's another interesting conversation.
24:01
And yesterday's interview with Michael Yon is on the website.
24:07
Now question is who's running the jungle?
24:10
If you didn't see that yesterday, it's not available
24:12
for on demand for now the and then the final thing to mention
24:17
today is the UK column on location event taking place on
24:21
Saturday the 18th of October 2025.
24:24
The tickets will be available from the end of this month on
24:26
the 20th of July. That's Monday.
24:28
So keep that date in your diary as well and hopefully we see as
24:33
many people as possible there too.
24:36
OK, now the propaganda machine took a new turn in the last few
24:42
days with claims of Russian use of chemical weapons in Ukraine.
24:47
Now, during a press conference, Donald Trump was asked about it.
24:51
Let's have a listen to this little exchange.
24:55
What does US? Intelligence believe And what do
24:58
you believe about the use of chemical?
25:00
Weapons and would you would. You free the Well, I'd ask.
25:05
John, maybe to discuss it, if you'd like, John.
25:10
Well, Mr. President. Obviously chemical weapons, if
25:15
it's documented in its use, it's illegal.
25:18
It's against all international laws of armed conflict and
25:22
treaties. And obviously I can't share in
25:25
this room with this audience the intelligence that I can share
25:27
with you privately, but obviously you're not going to
25:29
stand or allow for any violations of international law
25:32
by anyone. That's right.
25:34
Thank you so very. Briefly, Patrick, that was very
25:39
interesting little exchange he had to seem.
25:41
It seems like he had to go to Hesketh to find out who he
25:43
needed to speak to about this question.
25:45
Well, John, John Ratcliffe absolutely in the pocket of the
25:49
Israeli lobby, everybody knows that, and probably in the pocket
25:52
of Mossad as well. So a very vague though, and you
25:56
know, the timing of this mic is so suspect, but there's more on
25:59
this. Well, it could be.
26:00
Coming back to this, but before we come back to the main part of
26:03
this report of Patrick, let's just have a look at the British
26:06
statement on this, because the statement goes that a statement
26:11
published last week by the Dutch in German intelligence services
26:15
indicating Russian use of chemical weapons on the front
26:17
line is deeply concerning. The OPCW has now published 3
26:21
reports confirming the presence of CS gas in samples collected
26:25
by Ukraine from the battlefield. That is why the UK announced the
26:29
second package of sanctions this week against 2 senior military
26:32
officials and a Russian Research Institute for their involvement
26:36
in Russians chemical Russia's chemical weapons violations.
26:40
So you know, as was stated by EU guy in the US there and also the
26:46
British statement, no actual evidence of Russian use of
26:50
chemical weapons. We've seen this MO before,
26:52
haven't we? Yeah.
26:54
It's tell but don't show. It's always the problem here.
26:58
So here's the thing CS gas by the way, I mean I've I've been a
27:02
victim of CS gas tear gas basically that our police use in
27:06
America. So but as that constitute a war
27:10
crime we don't know is still undocumented.
27:12
But here's the problem. The timing of this MIC is so
27:14
suspect. Why did why was this pushed this
27:17
week? Well, I don't believe in
27:19
coincidences and politics. And let's bring this up on
27:22
screen here. Date is July 1st.
27:24
Note the date there. Russian forces discover a cachet
27:28
of Ukrainian chemical drone munitions as if by magic on the
27:33
week before. So Moscow has accused Kiev of
27:35
systematically violating the Chemical Weapons Convention.
27:39
And let's look at some of the details here.
27:41
Footage released by the FSB in chemical protection protection
27:45
gear. So they found vials of
27:48
chloropicrin or chloropistrin. OK, Choking agent prohibited
27:53
under the Chemical Weapons Convention.
27:56
According to the agency, substances were packaged with
27:59
plastic explosives rigged into improvis.
28:02
Improvised improv, improvised munitions.
28:06
Pardon me, designed to be dropped from drones.
28:10
So. And they go on.
28:12
Oh, sorry, we'll go back there. If you could reverse the frame
28:16
for me, that would be wonderful. So here's the problem with this.
28:21
OK, the that was last week. OK, that was last week, July
28:27
1st. And so Russia was scheduled to
28:30
present this on the 8th of July. Trump's statement was on the 8th
28:35
of July, so the Russians were. Going to present this to him.
28:38
It was. It was presented to the OPCW at
28:41
the executive committee meeting. So do you believe in
28:43
coincidences? Not really, no.
28:45
And so here's the Atlantic Council here, obviously pro war
28:49
think tank. On July 10th, Russia accused of
28:52
escalating chemical weapons attacks in Ukraine.
28:55
So again they're saying Russia's using chloropicrin, exactly what
29:02
Russia found a week ago in the Ukrainian A makeshift lab.
29:07
And this was banned as an anti riot agent first used by the
29:10
Germans during World War One. So again, they're bringing the
29:12
Germans in to kind of bracket Russia with with Nazi Germany.
29:18
So again, create the war crimes, Sir.
29:20
So back to this. And again, as I was saying, it's
29:22
going to be submitted here, Mike, to the executive session
29:29
on July 8th, OK, as we said. So here is the chemical in
29:33
question again used by Germany in World War One band.
29:38
So it's infamous in that respect.
29:40
So July 9th, 2024, exactly 1 year ago, Ukraine violation of
29:45
the Chemical Weapons Convention, Russian engineering troops
29:49
discovered a laboratory that was using hydrogen cyanide.
29:54
OK, very well documented. They sent all of the information
29:58
to the OPCW. OK, so and just further on that,
30:02
the facility had a Rotary evaporator and several chemical
30:07
reactors, protective clothes, clothing was there, including US
30:12
made gas masks and Polish hazmat suits.
30:15
Interesting, allegedly found the site.
30:18
So all of this has been supplied to the authorities.
30:22
And just to be clear, to date, Russia's filed 40 diplomatic
30:26
notes, 40 regarding Ukraine's use of toxic chemicals in the
30:31
battlefield over the last three years.
30:33
And this is from one of their senior ministers there.
30:36
So in terms of Mike, the evidence, the preponderance of
30:40
evidence is absolutely on the Russian side in what they've
30:43
presented to the official bodies.
30:45
So so just. To be clear, this is not a case
30:47
of he said, she said, because Russia is providing
30:50
documentation, they're providing evidence to the OPCW.
30:54
And my question to you would be very briefly, is the OPCW past
30:58
the politicization that we've seen of it in the last few years
31:02
or are they actually in a position to do anything?
31:07
So whether they can attribute blame or not, that mechanism,
31:10
which I'm not sure about the technicalities of that, but that
31:13
was something that they didn't have, but that they acquired
31:17
through their executive during the whole Syria OPCW scandal.
31:21
But the Syrian question is very different than this.
31:24
This is a battlefield between two state actors, A very well
31:28
documented Russia's providing GPS location, they're providing
31:32
chain of custody, all of the things that Britain in the White
31:35
Helmets and everybody that was saying Assad was never did.
31:39
So Russia's doing all that. So all of the Russian claims
31:41
could be debunked very easily by the experts.
31:44
And Russia's also offered to facilitate more of an
31:49
investigation should the OPCW want to go down that road.
31:54
But as yet they haven't, right? Why haven't they?
31:56
They haven't pursued any of the charges in a serious way against
32:00
Ukraine. So yes, Mike, they are very
32:02
politicized, but Russia is going to go with the institutions that
32:05
are available. This has always been their stoic
32:08
policy here. So here's a here's a video on
32:11
it's a documentary called toxic the Toxic war.
32:15
And this was on RT International last year, I think.
32:19
So this is around Difka. The big battle after Bakmut was
32:23
a Difka just over a year ago. Watch this this trailer here.
32:53
What? I.
33:21
That's available on Rumble in its entirety.
33:24
Unfortunately, Mike, if you're in the UK, you're not allowed to
33:26
see any of the material which we just showed because the British
33:30
government banned RT. So if you're trying to be a do
33:34
journalism or make a case or look at counter arguments, you
33:37
can't do it because of censorship.
33:39
So again, if you want to debunk any of these claims made by
33:41
Russia, you're more than welcome.
33:43
That documentary was filmed around the village of Ugladar,
33:46
which is just not in the vicinity of a deep cut, but
33:50
where heavy fighting was going on.
33:51
And again, all of that which was shown you in that documentary
33:55
film was supplied to the European authorities, to the
33:59
OPCW. So Russia's not hiding anything.
34:02
They've got a lot of evidence that they've been supplying, but
34:05
no action has been taken. No, no inquiries into Ukraine's
34:08
use of chemical weapons. But yet they're ramping up the
34:11
Russian chemical weapons card making.
34:14
Don't you think that's kind of bizarre in a way?
34:16
Because it's, you know, it's, that's the last card you pull.
34:20
And if you look at the British statement on this issue, the
34:23
opening paragraph is Russia has launched a record-breaking
34:27
attack of drones and missiles on Ukraine and they're under threat
34:32
and so forth. And then Russia has the audacity
34:34
to use chemical weapons. I mean, honestly, does Russia
34:37
need to use MacGyver style chemical weapons when they have
34:42
Arushnik missiles and they're absolutely pounding Ukraine?
34:45
So this is basically we're losing the war.
34:48
That's the subtext. We're losing badly to Russia.
34:51
Let's pull the chemical weapons card because isn't, wasn't that
34:54
the case in Syria as well? The rebels were getting hounded
34:58
and pounded in, in Ghouta, in Kanchehun, in Duma.
35:03
And as if by magic, a chemical, yeah, a chemical attack
35:06
manifests itself and all of a sudden you have air strikes and
35:10
by the US and everyone's up in arms in the outrage.
35:12
So it's just this pattern that we can't escape in the West.
35:16
The chemical card is literally the last card of desperation.
35:20
Absolutely. Well, let's then welcome Mark to
35:23
the program. And Mark, the since we've been
35:27
talking about the destruction of Ukraine, the conversation about
35:30
the reconstruction and the recovery of Ukraine continues.
35:34
So what's the latest on that because it's been another
35:37
conference? Indeed.
35:40
Good day, everyone. Yeah, the your your Ukraine.
35:43
Excuse me, The Ukraine recovery Conference.
35:45
It's surely here in Texas. The 4th Recovery Conference is
35:51
winding up today in Rome, Italy. And that this first slide kind
35:56
of gives the overall framework of what's been going on actually
36:00
the last eight years. And they had the Berlin
36:05
conference last year, the year before London, the year before
36:08
that, Logano, Switzerland. And prior to those 3 and now the
36:13
4th Recovery Conference that have won on the last four years,
36:17
there were four prior reform conferences in Vilnius, Toronto,
36:22
Copenhagen and London dating from 2021 back to 2017.
36:27
So overall this year that's winding up in Rome is the 8th
36:31
Ukraine event. Four of them have been reformed
36:35
and now four of them have been recovery.
36:37
And this is a little bit of an explanation of the philosophy
36:41
behind it. They're dedicated to the swift
36:43
recovery, they say, in the long term reconstruction of Ukraine
36:47
since the beginning of what they call Russia's full scale war of
36:50
aggression. And governments, international
36:52
orgs, financial institutions, businesses, regions,
36:55
municipalities, civil society have come together.
36:57
And they're united, they say, by a shared commitment to
37:00
strengthen the long term resilience of Ukraine.
37:03
And it reflects the Lagano principles laid down in
37:06
Switzerland back at that event. And some of those principles are
37:09
reform focus for Ukraine's European integration.
37:13
And that's really the main goal here along with multi
37:16
stakeholder engagement. That's another example, gender
37:19
equality, inclusion, some very liberal social sentiments there
37:23
as well as environmentally speaking, sustainability, a very
37:27
green philosophy. And this year in Rome, as they
37:32
wind up yesterday and today, these are the four planks They
37:36
have business dimension, human dimension, logical and regional,
37:41
excuse me, local and regional dimension, pardon me, which
37:44
includes recovery of municipalities and regions.
37:47
But the all important fourth one, the EU dimension, EU
37:51
accession and related reforms. Again, that's really kind of
37:54
where this is going to make your crane part of the EU officially.
37:59
And this is a quote that sort of sort of summarizes that 4th
38:05
plank. Now that's a picture of Ursula
38:06
von der Lion at last year's recovery conference in Germany,
38:11
as I indicated in the Photo, Credit there to make it clear.
38:14
But this quote comes from the organizers this year,
38:18
emphasizing that 4th plank advancing European integration
38:22
and the perspective of joining the single market will help
38:26
align Ukraine's policies and institutions with European
38:29
standards and Dr. long term economic and social progress.
38:33
So again, that's really where this is headed, irrespective of
38:38
the war. They definitely want Ukraine
38:40
fully in with both feet into the European Union.
38:43
But what's interesting, I took a little harder look at this and
38:46
they had what they called all these side meetings.
38:49
Well, there was a total of 26 side meetings around July 9 and
38:54
10 before the official Ukraine Recovery conference took place
38:58
in Rome. And these are just some samples.
39:00
And I think the side meetings is really where the action was.
39:04
Energy solutions for sustainable regional development
39:07
investments, innovation and resilience investments is a big
39:11
thing. Another one, private Public
39:13
Partnerships and regional development, unlocking
39:16
opportunities together. I got a couple other examples of
39:19
these so-called side meetings, and this one's interesting.
39:22
Strong media, transparent recovery, how journalism builds
39:26
Ukraine's future. And of course, that's
39:29
conventional journalism. No, no real alternative
39:32
journalism is allowed. And then the Marshall Plan
39:36
governance, The last example here of the side meetings, I'm
39:39
showing 4 out of 26. This last example, a forum on
39:43
the eve of the Ukraine recovery conference, and it gets into the
39:47
German Marshall Fund of the United States and basically
39:50
compares rebuilding Ukraine with the Marshall Plan in the
39:54
aftermath of World War 2. There's a comparison being made
39:57
there. And lastly, we have Larry Fink,
40:01
everybody's favorite financier. And what's interesting here is
40:05
the the left slide is from the Ukraine government itself in the
40:09
latter part of December 2022. So the conflict wasn't even a
40:13
year old and President Zelensky was discussing with the CEO of
40:18
BlackRock, Larry Fink, the coordination of efforts to
40:20
rebuild Ukraine. Even back then it was a much
40:23
younger war yet. This other slide is from July
40:29
7th, just a few days ago, and this is from the Kiev Post.
40:33
And after all this time, BlackRock, they say, is backing
40:36
out of a Ukrainian rebuild funding initiative.
40:41
So Larry Fink was supposed to reportedly show up in Rome.
40:45
Now, he probably still went, I imagine, but he was supposed to
40:48
go to Rome and kind of present the findings and present the
40:52
overall plan of how to rebuild your crane.
40:55
But reportedly they're pulling back.
40:58
The things didn't go quite as well.
41:00
It's a little bit vague, but he's saying that people that
41:03
were going to be involved in the investment got cold feet, among
41:07
other things. So apparently he was not
41:09
prepared to make that presentation in Rome.
41:13
These are just some of the developments.
41:14
But obviously we've been concerned about BlackRock and
41:17
their machinations a long time. Who's going to control the
41:19
resources of Ukraine, The farmland?
41:22
Will Will Ukrainians become serfs in their own land?
41:25
These have been concerns a long time.
41:27
So back to you guys on this subject I guess.
41:30
Maybe it's the way the financial situation in Ukraine, such a
41:34
mess at the moment. Maybe it's too big a mess even
41:37
for Fink. No, it's.
41:38
It's because all the high performing mineral energy assets
41:41
are in the East under Russian control.
41:43
That's why they're backing out. So.
41:45
So is this another? Acknowledgement that the the the
41:47
wars lost them. It was all.
41:49
A delusion from the beginning, because they're pretending to do
41:52
this reconstruction confab, when in fact there was nothing really
41:55
worth reconstructing because all the damage done on the Russian
41:58
side. Guess who's going to be
41:59
rebuilding that? Russia and maybe China, but not
42:03
the West. So there's no contracts
42:04
available. We were saying this two years
42:07
ago. We were saying this two years
42:09
ago. But anyway, it's good that
42:10
Larry's caught up with us, yeah. Isn't that just Mark?
42:13
Let's change topics and and what's the latest on the
42:16
International Health regulations?
42:20
Well, this. Is an all important deadline
42:22
that I talked about a few weeks back.
42:24
We have to keep an eye on these things, of course, to keep our
42:26
readers in the US as well as abroad up to speed on this.
42:31
It's a very, of course, perilous thing.
42:34
The International Health Regulations and the World
42:36
Pandemic Treaty, there's a lot of concern that if there's
42:39
another major declaration of international concern in terms
42:42
of a pandemic, that the lockdown could be even worse than
42:45
2020-2021. We don't want that.
42:48
We may never recover from it freedom wise.
42:51
So this James Roguski very urgently share this with me in
42:54
the wake of me being on one of his programs that I mentioned
42:57
recently. It's an open letter to world
42:59
leaders. The deadline to reject the 2024
43:03
amendments, that's when they were made last to the
43:04
International Health Regs is July 19th this month, 2025.
43:09
And this is a call for leaders around the world to invoke
43:12
Article 61 of those regulations and reject the amendments.
43:16
And the all important website is reject theamendments.com the so
43:21
the the regs contain their own element for not taking part.
43:25
Individual nations can can opt out.
43:27
That's what's being stressed here.
43:30
The basic status of The Who member states under the IHRI
43:34
mentioned the deadline July 19th for the heads of state of 192
43:39
out of 196 nations that are parties to those regs to reject
43:43
the 2024 amendments. There are 4 holdouts, Iran of
43:47
all places, Netherlands, New Zealand and Slovakia.
43:51
They operated a little differently in the context of
43:53
the procedure of this. So the deadline for these Four
43:58
Nations to reject the 2024 amendments is March 19 of next
44:02
year. They're on a little bit
44:03
different track again, due to the procedures and the the red
44:07
tape of how this thing operates. And Raguski is mainly calling on
44:12
people to call the White House in the United States for those
44:16
US listeners that are inclined to do that.
44:18
I know that number is 202-456-1414.
44:23
And you can wait to talk to an attendant who takes public input
44:27
in person. Evidently it's not prerecorded,
44:29
it's an actual live attendant. But you're you're advised to
44:32
give very brief comments and to be patient and wait to be
44:37
connected. The difficulty for UK and
44:40
European residents is is a little more pronounced in terms
44:44
of getting their voices heard. But it's best to contact your
44:46
members of Parliament and spread this, you know, spread the link
44:50
to this episode of UK column. Go to rejecttheamendments.com
44:54
and and spread that word. You know, spread that website
44:57
around your social media. That's what regards he's
44:59
suggesting anyway. He, he provided top 10 reasons
45:03
to reject the amendments. These are just a couple
45:06
examples. He's saying director general of
45:09
The Who Tadros, he would be empowered if these amendments
45:13
are improved to declare a pandemic emergency based solely
45:16
upon his determination with no checks and balances.
45:19
And the director general, Roguski is also pointing out,
45:24
failed to properly submit the final version of the proposed
45:27
amendments with at least four months prior notice as required
45:31
by Article 55, Section 2. So evidently that rule was
45:36
abridged. And also another example of the
45:39
top ten. It's absolutely unacceptable
45:41
that healthy people who are merely suspected have have of
45:44
being exposed to a contagion may be quarantined.
45:48
Article 27. So that's a protest saying
45:51
that's unacceptable. And this just shows that there
45:53
is a online poll about this at reject the amendments at that
45:57
website. So this is just a punctuated
46:01
kind of urgent message guys to to keep an eye on this issue
46:05
amid all the other headlines we're dealing with.
46:07
Thanks Mark. Now Patrick.
46:09
On Wednesday, Charles ended the program with this rather strange
46:14
tweet that came from Grok or Strange Grok 4, and with the new
46:20
improved. Grok the new improved.
46:22
Grok the Singularity. Is upon us, I hear.
46:24
Yes. Which of?
46:25
Course is X's AI platform. What happened following that?
46:30
Well, the. CEO resigned Linda Yakarino,
46:34
we'll bring this up on screen here.
46:36
So she basically resigned and and partly because of this
46:39
meltdown by Grokwood, which is being characterized as
46:42
anti-Semitic meltdown. And just look how the press is,
46:46
is is basically positioning this ex advertisers very key because
46:51
she was brought on as CEO to increase their advertising
46:54
revenue because that's her wheelhouse.
46:56
Ex advertisers remain silent after Grok goes off the rails
47:00
and the CEO resigns. So Grok apparently is
47:03
anti-Semitic. So if the if the singularity is
47:06
here, I guess the singularity is going to be anti-Semitic, at
47:10
least the one that Elon's programming here.
47:13
But but Linda Yacarino, you know, that's, that's
47:16
interesting. She's taking this, you know,
47:18
moral stance, right? Just look at this.
47:21
Remember the Israeli attack on the using the pagers in Lebanon
47:26
that killed hundreds and, and and injured thousands, including
47:29
medical workers, women and normal people?
47:33
That there's Linda Yacarino basically, and that's her tweet
47:37
at the time. Take a closer look at that.
47:39
We'll just do move that up and show she gave a little explosion
47:43
emoji to basically say how cool it was that the Mossad waged
47:48
this pager attack on the Lebanese.
47:51
So she herself is a little bit of an extremist, but I'll be an
47:56
acceptable extremist as far as the US establishment go, IE pro
48:00
Israel. So I just thought I'd throw that
48:03
any particular? Statement on this she said
48:05
anything publicly yet about. What about Croc?
48:09
Yeah, she, I need to, obviously we haven't reported on the
48:12
details of that because we just got this story just in the last
48:16
24 hours, but maybe we can elaborate on that in the future.
48:19
We don't have, I don't have that to hand.
48:21
Yeah, sure. OK.
48:22
No. Problem.
48:22
That's cool, Mark. Let's bring you back then.
48:25
And of course, the tragedy in Texas, where you live over the
48:28
last few days, has been with respect to the flooding and the
48:32
deaths resulted. Indeed, it's about 220 miles
48:38
north northwest of where I live. And this is from the US Drought
48:42
Monitor, a legitimate source of information here.
48:45
Kerr County, Texas, interestingly enough,
48:47
experienced a dry spell or drought before the flash
48:50
flooding. Flooding that took place on
48:52
Independence Day, the 4th of July in the early morning hours
48:55
according to the US Drought Monitor.
48:57
And I emphasize this, Kerr County was experiencing severe
49:01
to exceptional drought conditions before the downpours
49:03
began. Drought conditions in Kerr
49:06
County have persisted since the start of 2025.
49:09
This dry spell likely contributed to the severity of
49:12
the floods as the compacted soil, which can turn to clay and
49:16
kind of act like a retaining bowl from the drought, reduced
49:19
the grounds ability to absorb rainfall.
49:22
And as we've heard and our hearts and prayers go out, of
49:24
course, 120 plus dead in a six county area total and 170 plus
49:31
missing. Those aren't necessarily the
49:33
latest numbers, but they're reasonably close.
49:36
Now this is AUS drought monitor map and you'll see that along
49:41
with the Texas, New Mexico border a little further east in
49:45
Texas. And then where I put the arrow,
49:47
Kerr County, Texas is here. Those were three of the main
49:52
major drought areas as of July 1st, that deep red color so that
49:58
it really was very dry there and that's definitely a contributing
50:02
factor. You can also have situations
50:04
where the ground is so saturated, there's nowhere to go
50:07
but up see. So it can it can get you both
50:10
ways. Now moving on from there,
50:13
there's a number of other points of interest.
50:15
This shows some B roll of a major bridge there through Kerr
50:19
County. This is from a Fox News
50:21
affiliate probably out of San Antonio, and it gives you some
50:25
idea of the the severity of the flood, that's for sure.
50:31
A house is swept away, such as that one butting up against
50:34
highway, highway right of ways and things like that.
50:39
A pretty scary situation along the Guadalupe.
50:42
I've been along that part of the Guadalupe River once a very
50:46
popular area. There's a summer camps and all
50:49
sorts of activities all along that river.
50:52
It's it's a very pretty area northwest of San Antonio in
50:58
what's called Hill Country. So we got to look at that now.
51:03
This is an Associated Press item getting into the controversy
51:09
that exists on social media. Not taking sides here, just
51:12
reporting the phenomenon. Associated Press fact Focus.
51:17
No weather modification. Excuse me, no comma.
51:20
Weather modification Did not 'cause the deadly flash floods
51:24
in Texas. Got to make sure I honor that
51:26
comma there when I read it. The claim my sum is a July 2nd
51:31
cloud seeding operation by Rainmaker Technology
51:34
Corporation, which does exist and they did, they did conduct
51:37
an operation. The claim is that they somehow
51:39
caused the floods in Texas Hill Country on that weekend.
51:43
The facts as Associated Press sees it, is it's not possible
51:47
that cloud seeding generated the floods as the process can only
51:50
produce limited rain using clouds that already exist.
51:53
I think that's generally thought to be true forecast predicted
51:57
for that weekend, forecasting rain were prior to July 2nd in
52:02
what's generally known as a flood prone area.
52:05
And a friend of mine, Ron Avery, who lives to the east over in
52:08
Seguin, he used to live along the Guadalupe River.
52:12
He said most of it at least is indeed a flood prone area.
52:16
He even built a house there and he had to put the house kind of
52:19
on stilts, he was telling me. But anyway, just as a point of
52:24
fact about Rainmaker as a company, this is almost a
52:27
separate story. This is their website.
52:31
Their slogan is making Earth habitable.
52:35
And when you read their stuff, they kind of take a more climate
52:38
change is real green sustainability kind of
52:42
philosophy. Whereas other cloud seeding
52:45
companies I've looked at like the South Texas Weather
52:47
Modification Association, they tend to take a more non
52:51
political or apolitical stance. Whereas Rainmaker again is more
52:55
of that green philosophy. But here's Augustus Dorico and
53:01
for the record he's the Rainmaker Technology Corporation
53:04
founder and CEO. And for the record, he was a
53:08
Peter Thiel Fellow. In 2024, he received a $100,000
53:12
Teal Foundation grant. And this picture is taken from a
53:16
YouTube interview of him over 2 hours long by Shawn Ryan, a
53:20
noted commentator who that identifies himself as an ex Navy
53:24
SEAL and ex CIA contractor. So August Historico, I watched
53:30
part of it. He explains a lot of things
53:31
pretty clearly. He says they actually work more
53:34
on making it snow than they do on making it rain, and they
53:37
emphasize using drones to do so. Now this is a little bit about
53:42
their philosophy from that website, just to give you a
53:44
flavor of it. Increasing global consumption
53:48
and changing climate patterns are accelerating the depletion
53:51
of freshwater resources. Humanity is responsible for
53:55
protecting the vitality of the natural world of civilization.
53:58
Rainmakers precipitation enhancement technology is the
54:01
only immediate scalable solution to create abundant freshwater.
54:06
And then I've got a little something on the areas they
54:08
cover and that is keep growing, which is agricultural to help
54:14
the farmers supply utilities, mitigate drought.
54:19
And maybe that was part of the July 2nd plan when they were in
54:24
Rungi and Karn County. Rungi is a city in Karn County,
54:28
Texas, on the other side of San Antonio, where we learned from
54:32
that drought newspaper that I mentioned a little while ago, We
54:35
learned that there was very dry conditions.
54:37
So whatever limited operations they had July 2nd may have been
54:41
to mitigate drought and nothing more and restoring ecosystems.
54:45
So that that's the essential stuff for today on this just to
54:48
get the full gamut of what's being discussed and what the
54:51
controversies are. But overall, that pretty much
54:54
wraps it up for now, guys. Thanks.
54:57
Mark, do you have any thoughts on the controversy itself?
55:00
Well, A. Couple of points jumped out at
55:01
me, of course 1 is that there was forecast for major storms
55:07
beforehand so and prior to the cloud seeding on July 2nd.
55:13
So that would lend one to believe that yes, there was a
55:16
monsoon on the way. And so that would sort of cancel
55:20
out the theory that the rainmaker caused the a major
55:25
monsoon, 15 inches of rain in a very short space of time.
55:28
The other thing is they do do cloud seeding in these areas.
55:32
This specific area as well has had cloud seeding done to it for
55:36
for many, many years. So why haven't there been a
55:39
massive flood, for instance, like this one we've seen this
55:43
week? Or is just we're looking at a
55:45
situation where it is feast or famine when it comes to the
55:49
weather and some of these drought prone areas and flash
55:53
flooding is just a reality? Certainly I I found that to be
55:56
the case in other parts of the United States.
55:58
Texas is particularly bad in that respect, yes.
56:02
OK, well, look, we're going to thank you for that, Mark, but
56:05
we're going to finish today with a little bit of a an amusing
56:09
story, I suppose we could say in a certain sense.
56:12
And and that's this because the UK column has been reporting on
56:16
the narrative building by successive British regimes for
56:19
war in the Arctic since around 2016.
56:22
And if you use the search function on the UK column
56:24
website and just put the word Arctic and you'll see all the
56:27
reporting that we've done over the years.
56:29
Now the narrative goes a lot like this.
56:32
Climate change is opening up the northwestern and N northeastern
56:36
passages for navigation resource exploitation, and that this is
56:40
causing competition with Russia and China for navigation and
56:44
mineral rights. Now, this is largely what, for
56:47
example, what's behind Trump's claims on Canada and Greenland
56:50
in recent months. Now yesterday, the BBC finally
56:54
caught up, although rather than challenging the narrative, they
56:57
naturally support it. But they published this article.
57:00
The struggle for control of the Arctic is accelerating, and it's
57:03
riskier than ever. Which is really.
57:06
Quite a coincidence, because just a few hours prior to the
57:09
BBC publishing their article, a screening was held.
57:13
I'm sorry. Oh, right.
57:15
OK, so I've just blown that, but a screening was held for a
57:19
documentary. Documentary produced by someone
57:22
who has worked very closely with the BBC for many years.
57:25
That's David Bailey and well, Patrick and I attended the
57:30
screening. The film was complete propaganda
57:33
piece. I think it's fair to say,
57:34
Patrick, or do you think I'm unfair in saying that it it did?
57:37
Appear that way very pro military about the, you know,
57:41
almost saying we need to militarize the Arctic to to to
57:44
counter the Russian threat and the Chinese who are both up to
57:48
no good. And so we need to pour lots of
57:50
resources into the Arctic because this is the new
57:53
frontline in in the new sort of not so cold, Cold War and.
57:58
And lots of imagery like this. This is just a short excerpt
58:01
from it. Now, this film has yet to be
58:03
released in the UK, although it has been released in other
58:06
European countries, including those in the Arctic region.
58:10
But you know, the message very much is that both sides, by that
58:16
I mean the West and Russia and China are, are arming.
58:20
Now, one of the things that though I found quite strange in
58:24
the narrative that was being presented was of course, the
58:28
reason for this, Patrick, is climate change means that in
58:32
fact, we have easy navigation through across the Arctic region
58:38
and so on. And it's therefore possible to
58:41
get places, not only to get places, but to exploit the raw
58:44
materials as we're as we're saying.
58:46
And so that's on one hand and yet on the other hand, they're
58:49
busy talking about the fact that China and Russia will China in
58:52
particular, investing huge amounts of money building Ice
58:55
Breakers like they're going out of fashion.
58:58
And and so the question is, how do these these two positions
59:02
stack up? Because it seems to me that if,
59:03
if the ice is melting and we're heading towards an ice free
59:07
Arctic, then there's no need for Ice Breakers.
59:09
Well, I. Think not yet, because there is
59:12
no ice ice free Arctic and and Al Gore was promising an ice
59:16
free Arctic. You remember the The
59:17
Inconvenient Truth back in in 2005 basically saying that it
59:21
will be ice free by like 2010 or something like that.
59:24
Anyway, here we are in 2025. It's still not ice free.
59:28
And the definition of ice free, according to the experts, isn't
59:31
no ice. It's less than 1,000,000.
59:35
Square. Miles of ice cover.
59:37
And so if you look at the work of Tony Heller at Real Climate
59:42
Science or Piers Corbin and some of these other what you might
59:46
call climate skeptics, you'll note that there is still heavy
59:50
ice cover most of the year in the Arctic.
59:53
And it's only during certain times in the summer where
59:55
certain passages are opening up. And again, we don't want to get
59:59
into the climate debate, but ergo, the thesis is because it's
1:00:03
melting. This is why Russia is ramping up
1:00:06
its military activity to take over the resources of the
1:00:09
Arctic. But there's no no one saying
1:00:12
that. Isn't the reason Russia's
1:00:15
remilitarizing is because of the NATO expansion into Finland and
1:00:19
Sweden and let's say the blowing up of the Nordstrom pipeline and
1:00:23
a few other things? And they'll say, no, no, no, it
1:00:26
doesn't have anything to do with that.
1:00:27
It's, it's because of Ukraine that NATO has expanded, because
1:00:31
somehow what happened in Ukraine means that Sweden and Finland
1:00:34
are under threat. So that's the logic.
1:00:38
And I'm, I'm sorry, but this is just, it's disingenuous at best.
1:00:43
This is the same type of circular logic you see at every
1:00:46
level of the NATO strata. And certainly our media has
1:00:49
bought into that narrative. So the reality is this type of a
1:00:53
film, this, these types of stories in the BBC are sending a
1:00:57
clear message, Mike, which is that war is coming, war is
1:01:01
inevitable. There's no chance for diplomacy.
1:01:04
We can't compromise with the Russians or the Chinese, and
1:01:08
because they're up to no good as well.
1:01:10
And so there's no diplomatic track.
1:01:12
So get ready for war. But yet Europe is not wanting to
1:01:16
actually fight with Russia because they are afraid to even
1:01:18
send any troops into Ukraine. Why is that?
1:01:22
Because they don't want to fight Russia.
1:01:24
They want Ukraine to be the proxy and they want to keep
1:01:27
making money on all the defense industry contracts and so forth
1:01:32
that are causing defense stocks in Europe to go through the
1:01:34
roof. If you have a stock portfolio
1:01:37
with any of those companies and you know what I'm talking about
1:01:39
so there's money to be made here.
1:01:41
These are good jobs, good defense jobs.
1:01:43
They call them. You remember just like good
1:01:46
green jobs. You remember that good green
1:01:47
jobs Well, now it's forget the green new deal.
1:01:50
Now it's the defense. It's the defense new deal, good
1:01:53
defense jobs. So they want to remilitarize and
1:01:56
mobilize society to fight a war that, let's face it, Europe's
1:02:00
not really interested in fighting, and they would require
1:02:03
American backup to do it anyway while all America is receding
1:02:06
from the European theater. But hey, let's make some money
1:02:10
along the way. And it's a great distraction
1:02:12
from all the real problems, the real problems in this country,
1:02:16
in Europe and in the region, not to mention an increasing wealth
1:02:20
gap, which is going to increase even more with these types of
1:02:24
agendas. Mike.
1:02:25
So resilience, it's all about resilience, Defence resilience,
1:02:30
absolutely. And as I say, this is just the
1:02:33
latest salvo in a narrative that's been building for several
1:02:35
years now, which we've been tracking.
1:02:37
So do have a look at the UK column website for the history
1:02:41
of this. OK, let's leave it there for
1:02:43
today. I'm going to say thank you very
1:02:44
much to Matt Campbell for joining us.
1:02:46
Thank you to Mark and Patrick, of course, and thank you for
1:02:48
everybody that's been watching. We'll be back in a few minutes
1:02:51
of UK Column member for UK Column News Extra.
1:02:54
Otherwise, have a great weekend and we'll see you at 1:00 PM as
1:02:57
usual on Monday. See you then.
1:02:59
Bye bye.