U.K. Police Investigate Alleged Anti-Semitic Hate Crimes in Labour Party

Is there an election around the corner?

The Associated Press 

London's Metropolitan Police said its chief, Commissioner Cressida Dick, was handed a folder of paperwork in September that included alleged evidence of anti-Semitic hate crimes within the opposition Labour party. (Facundo Arrizabalaga/EPA-EFE)

British police have launched a criminal investigation into allegations of anti-Semitic hate crimes within the opposition Labour Party.

The Metropolitan Police said Friday that it is acting on a dossier of information given to London police chief Cressida Dick. A police spokesperson says it was handed to her following an interview on LBC Radio.

LBC had in its possession an internal Labour Party dossier that detailed 45 cases that involved social media postings by party members, including one posting that read: "We shall rid the Jews who are a cancer on us all."

The police statement said the person making the complaint "alleged that the documentation included evidence of anti-Semitic hate crimes. The contents have been examined by specialist officers. A criminal investigation has commenced into some of the allegations within the documentation."

Dick told BBC Radio there is evidence a crime may have been committed based on the material given to her.

"If somebody passes us material which they say amounts to a crime, we have a duty to look at that and not just dismiss it," she said.

Dossier received 2 months ago

Police did not provide details about the possible hate crimes detailed in the dossier.

Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn has been dogged for years by complaints about anti-Semitism within party ranks. He has said the party deplores all forms of racism.

The year before Corbyn became leader of the Labour Party, he attended a wreath-laying service in Tunis, honouring Palestinians - The Palestinians who murdered 11 Israeli athletes in the 1972 Olympics. Somehow, these terrorists were heroes in Corbyn's eyes. What does that say about his attitude toward Jews? Did he lay a wreath for the 11 murdered athletes?

Corbyn has also been harshly criticized for comments made in 2016 during the release of an independent inquiry into anti-Semitism in the party ranks.

The U.K.'s main opposition party leader said that "Our Jewish friends are no more responsible for the actions of Israel or the [Benjamin] Netanyahu government than our Muslim friends are for those of various self-styled Islamic states or organizations."

Labour Party officials say the party has not been contacted by police but is ready to co-operate.

The party released a statement saying it had "a robust system for investigating complaints of alleged breaches of Labour Party rules by its members."

"Where someone feels they have been a victim of crime, they should report it to the police in the usual way," a Labour statement said.

'No role' for hate crimes in party

Labour's deputy leader Tom Watson said the allegations were "thoroughly depressing — although, sadly, I'm not surprised."

"If people have committed hate crimes, then they need to be dealt with by the full force of the law. There's no role for them in the Labour Party," he told BBC Radio.

A report in February by the Community Security Trust, a charity that provides security advice to the country's Jewish communities, said anti-Jewish sentiment was becoming more commonplace in Britain.

It said publicity about alleged anti-Jewish sentiment in the Labour Party had been partly to blame for a record number of anti-Semitic incidents in Britain last year. 

Corbyn's Antisemitism Documented in Arsenal FC Attempted Boycott

Corbyn called for boycott of Arsenal FC

in 2006 in protest of club’s deal with Israeli tourist board

Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn offers an Arsenal shirt to the EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier. Brussels, Belgium, July 13, 2017 © Pool / Reuters

Jeremy Corbyn urged fans to boycott his favorite football club, Arsenal FC, in 2006, after they struck a sponsorship deal with the Israeli tourist board, saying it’s wrong to treat both 'Israel and Palestinians as equals'.

The Labour leader, who is a lifelong Arsenal FC fan and supporter of the Palestinian people, called on fans to boycott the club, after Israeli holiday destinations were advertised at the stadium. The £350,000 deal was signed off by Dubai-based Emirates airline, Arsenal's prime sponsor, before going ahead, the Mail Online reported.

Speaking at the Palestine Solidarity Campaign Trade Union Conference in 2006, Corbyn said: “We must campaign against and boycott Arsenal football club for their arrangement with the Israeli tourist board.”

“It is wrong to treat both parties [Israel and the Palestinians] as equals,” he said, adding:

“The situation is the running sore of US foreign policy.”

The revelation has been met with anger from his opponents, with one social media user urging Corbyn to “stop digging” in reference to the anti-Semitism ‘crisis’ within Labour. Another hopes that he is “roundly booed” the next time he attends an Arsenal football match. The Labour supporters, meanwhile, are asking why the Mail has trawled through 12 years of history to find a “non-story.”

Neil Clark, a journalist and broadcaster said that this latest story on Corbyn is part of an ongoing campaign to push him to the point of resignation – and that it will continue so long as he is Labour leader.

"There is quite clearly a campaign to get Jeremy Corbyn to stand down or failing that to really smear him, try to keep this [story] so often, that he is an anti-Semite or that he is someone that has a problem with Jewish people,” Clark told RT.

He also insisted that people should not be surprised by this latest revelation, as Corbyn has long been “a strong critic of Israel” and that everyone should be free to criticize Israel just like any other country.

"Jeremy Corbyn has been throughout his career an opponent of imperialism and a strong critic of Israel and that's his position,” Clark said.

"His criticism of Israel is legitimate. Israel is a country that should be criticized, that can be criticized. We criticize America, we criticize France, people criticize Russia, and they criticize Germany."

But 'we' don't ever criticize Palestinians in spite of their murdering of innocent Israeli women and children, their firing thousands of missiles into Israel, their teaching their children to hate and kill Jews, their fire-bombing thousands of acres of crops, their refusal to even discuss peace, their single-minded goal of eliminating all Jews from the Middle East. No, we criticize the Jews because they do what they have to do to survive.

A Labour spokesman said: “Jeremy has never boycotted an Arsenal game. He does support targeted action aimed at illegal settlements and the occupation of Palestinian territories, and has backed campaigns to bring it to an end.”

Corbyn is on record as saying that he opposes a boycott of Israel as a whole, but supports a a “targeted” boycott of produce from illegal settlements on the West Bank.

Even though many of them employ Palestinians. Thousands of Palestinians work in the West Bank for Israeli companies and about 100,000 work in Israel. 

Is ‘Deep State’ Trying to Block Corbyn Govt? Labour Leader’s Adviser Fears Top Secret Conspiracy

Of course they are! Deep State cannot afford to have a UK PM who is not onboard with demonizing Russia. It would wreck their plans to sell Europe kazillions of dollars of weapons systems and continue to build their NATO Empire.

Demonizing Russia also gives the USA the moral authority to punish China and India, etc., with sanctions

for buying Russian advanced weapons systems. Never mind competing with Russia;

never mind free enterprise; it's buy from US or else. 

Jeremy Corbyn arrives to address a gathering of supporters demonstrating in Parliament Square. June 27, 2016.

© Toby Melville / Reuters

Jeremy Corbyn’s top adviser has questioned whether the ‘deep state’ is maneuvering to block any possibility of a Labour government under his leadership, because the establishment deplores his approach to foreign policy.

Corbyn adviser Andrew Murray has not, to date, been granted a parliamentary security pass, and asks in an article he’s penned in the centre-left publication, the New Statesman, whether such a move is a “political stunt” committed by the “deep state,” in an attempt to prevent a Corbyn administration ever coming into power.

Murray has questioned whether the Mail on Sunday revelations he’s been refused “Commons security clearance” in addition to being “banned from entering Ukraine,” is all just a “curiously-timed episode.”

The Labour adviser writes: “We are often told that the days of secret state political chicanery are long past and we must hope so. But sometimes you have to wonder – this curiously timed episode seems less rooted in a Kiev security scare than in a political stunt closer to home.”

The former chair of Stop the War and current chief of staff to Unite general secretary Len McCluskey, references the Mail on Sunday, which claims a Ukrainian secret service officer told them Murray’s Ukraine ban is because he’s “part of Putin’s global propaganda network.”

Which means, he doesn't adhere to the NATO/DeepState propaganda network. This is unforgivable!

Murray denies such a claim, suggesting the ban is in retaliation to a speech he “made more than four years ago protesting the takeover of Ukraine by ultra-nationalists.”

That's when the Orange Revolution, with help from western powers, overthrew a legally elected government because they were friendly to Russia. They were replaced with a NATO-friendly un-elected government that was and is hostile to Russia. Western/NATO involvement was in contravention to unwritten agreements between Russian President Gorbachev and NATO powers.

It’s Corbyn’s attitude to foreign affairs that Murray says the “deep state” cannot live with, claiming a prospective Labour government would put an end to acting aggressively on the world stage.

He says: “The powers-that-be can perhaps live with a renationalised water industry but not, it seems, with any challenge to their aggressive capacities, repeatedly deployed in disastrous wars, and their decaying Cold War world view.”

Tom Watson, Labour’s deputy leader, has told BBC Radio 4s ‘Today Programme’ that Murray’s “deep state” interference claims are “highly unlikely,” and called  for Corbyn’s adviser to produce the evidence, “otherwise it’s just fake news.”

Watson said: “I genuinely don’t know why he has reached that conclusion and presumably he has more knowledge of that than me.”

Murray signs off his article with an apparent dig at the British intelligence services, stating: “Britain could soon have an anti-war government. Vet that, comrades.”

Corbyn Claims NATO Founded to 'Promote Cold War with Soviet Union' in 2014 Video, is He Right?

I hate it when I agree with someone from the far-left of the political spectrum,

but Corbyn is right on this issue again.

(L) Jeremy Corbyn MP © Elliott Franks/Global Look Press (R) NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg

© Yves Herman/Reuters

Labour's Jeremy Corbyn suggests “NATO was founded in order to promote a Cold War with the Soviet Union,” in a 2014 video that has surfaced on social media, prompting fierce debate about the validity of such claims - is he right?

The Labour leader was speaking at an anti-war demonstration in Newport, Wales, when he told protestors: “1948, NATO was founded in order to promote a Cold War with the Soviet Union. That resulted in the formation of the Warsaw Pact.”

 Nuddering

@NudderingNudnik

 Watch Jeremy Corbyn state that:

"NATO was founded in order to promote a Cold War with the Soviet Union."

Corbyn’s claims have unsurprisingly divided opinion on social media with some suggesting he completely misunderstands or is deliberately lying about the formation of NATO. Others have defended the Labour leader’s position, claiming “He’s right though. NATO should have been disbanded after the Cold War.”

Steve Smith

@torrenttweet99

Replying to @walking_fox and 2 others

No. Shocking to hear his complete misunderstanding or deliberate lies on the subject. 

Do you really think that less than 10 years after the world's bloodiest conflict, ending in the use of the A-bomb that the Western world would be keen to start another one?

Steve - A cold war is very different from a hot one! A cold war requires hundreds of billions of dollars spent on arms without any intent of ever using them. That was the whole point. Global industrialists made a killing during the two World Wars and, in NATO, found a way to continue to make a killing without actually killing anyone.

Xan Phillips

@XanPhillips

Replying to @NudderingNudnik

Thanks for that. Far better to hear the whole spech. He's right though. NATO should have been disbanded after the cold war. As usual too many vested interests. Look at May in Nigeria. Selling arms. Take arms sales out of GDP would be a start.

Ronan Burtenshaw ✔

@ronanburtenshaw

 Unlike galaxy brain @JeremyCliffe, who is smart enough to know NATO's only historical role was spreading democracy and human rights.

        Jeremy Cliffe ✔

        @JeremyCliffe

        He's... he's really quite thick isn't he?

        https://twitter.com/nudderingnudnik/status/1034494951822946310 …

Max Blumenthal, RT contributor and senior editor at the Grayzone Project, backed up Corbyn, tweeting: “Corbyn’s neocon opponents are spreading footage of him making indisputably factual statements to impugn him.”

Max Blumenthal✔

@MaxBlumenthal

 Corbyn’s neocon opponents are spreading footage of him making indisputably factual statements to impugn him. That someone in UK has had the courage to publicly proclaim inconvenient truths like this one only deepens my respect.

In the unedited version of Corbyn’s speech available on Youtube, the now Labour-leader explains that the creation of NATO, and the subsequent founding of the ‘Warsaw Pact’ in 1955, has meant “60 years of a ludicrous arms race which cost us all billions of pounds and dollars and damaged the civil liberties of people all over the world."

NATO, which stands for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, was established after the Second World War in 1949 with 12 founding members: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States. There are currently 29 members.

NATO’s website states, “Its purpose was to secure peace in Europe, to promote cooperation among its members and to guard their freedom – all of this in the context of countering the threat posed at the time by the Soviet Union.”

It’s this “countering the threat posed at the time by the Soviet Union,” which divides opinion on NATO. Does “countering” solely take on a defensive interpretation or does it in practice equate to aggressive posturing?

Brian Johnson

@Saggydaddy

 Corbyn: "NATO was founded to promote conflict with the Soviet Union"

Press: "How dare he the thicko. That's outrageous. Sack him"

NATO: "Err.....we don't mean to point out the obvious but....."

Press: "Sshh you, with your facts. We're journalists we don't need facts" #Corbyn

Lord Ismay, NATO’s first Secretary General, stated in 1949 that the organization's objective was “to keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down.” A philosophy seemingly intact to this day, at least with regards to Russians and Americans.

NATO has continued operating even after the end of the Cold War in 1990 when it could have been the perfect time for the alliance to “shut up shop, give up, go home and go away,” as Corbyn suggested. Instead, they have expanded member nations east of Germany and along Russia’s border, and made questionable forays into wars in Afghanistan and Libya, further exacerbating tensions.

Precisely what I have been saying for a few years now - NATO is obsolete and should be abandoned!

Lest you be confused, I am not a Jeremy Corbyn fan; his antisemitism scares me. There is enough antisemitism in the UK without having a government that is such. Mind you, I fully expect that will be the case, and I expect the next, or possibly the second next government in the USA will also be antisemitic. Then the fun will really start! 

New German Movement Aims to Stem Migration & Offer Direction to ‘Weak and Split’ EU left

Sahra Wagenknecht, the leader of Germany's Stand Up movement © Reinhard Krause / Reuters

The leader of Germany’s Left Party Sahra Wagenknecht has launched a new political movement called ‘Stand Up,’ which aims to be a voice for workers and to unite a divided left across Europe.

While left-wing and not against immigration on principle, the new ‘Aufstehen’ movement presents a case for limiting the number of migrants coming to Germany looking for work, arguing that “unlimited access” to the German labor market is unsustainable and cannot continue.

"There have to be open borders for the persecuted, but we certainly can't say that anyone who wants to may come to Germany, claim social benefits and look for work — it's detached from reality,” Wagenknecht said.

Sevim Dagdelen, a German MP and supporter of Stand Up, said that the movement had close relationships with other left-wing figures like Bernie Sanders in the US, as well as supporters of Jeremy Corbyn in the UK and Jean-Luc Mélenchon in France.

Dagdelen says the left is “split and weak” across the whole of Europe and that there has been an obvious trend towards the right.

“We would like to combine forces to make a progressive breakthrough,” she said. “The left should return to its core ideals and goals. Social questions should be the keystone.”

With polls showing people want “better pay, better pension, a non-confrontational foreign policy regarding Russia,” Stand Up wants to offer them a “political direction.”

Its goal, according to Dagdelen, is to present to people who were disillusioned with the current state of politics in Germany an alternative to the far-right Alternative For Germany (AFD). She says this is something the Social Democratic Party, the Green Party and the Left party had failed to do so far.

“The AFD is getting strong and there is a chance for them to become the people’s party, which is absurd,” she said, but admitted that it was “understandable” that some people were turning toward right wing parties when they saw no other option.

"Integration policy has pretty much rendered the minimum wage defunct. What was once a one euro job now only brings 80 cents,” she said. “People need to be able to earn a wage that lets them live in dignity. If this is not happening, it’s understandable that people become angry and lean towards right-wing parties.”

A new poll found as many as 34 percent of German voters would choose the new movement if elections were held, according to Focus.de.

Blowback or Extremism? Uneasy Debate in UK on Causes of Terrorist Attacks

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May (L), Jeremy Corbyn,

the leader of Britain's opposition Labour Party (R). © Reuters

In the wake of the recent terrorist attacks, Theresa May called for a crackdown on extremist ideology, Jeremy Corbyn called on Arab countries to stop promoting it, while John Pilger told RT he believes the attacks are the “product” of UK foreign policy.

Speaking on how to fight terrorism in the aftermath of the London Bridge attack on Sunday, UK Prime Minister Theresa May said that stamping out radical Islamist ideology is the number one priority, adding that “we cannot and must not pretend that things can continue as they are.”

Terrorism, she said, “will only be defeated when we turn people’s mind away from this violence and make them understand that our values – pluralistic, British values – are superior” to that harbored by jihadists.

In addition to eradicating terrorist propaganda, military action “to destroy ISIS in Iraq and Syria” will be needed, as well as showing less tolerance to the manifestations of extremism at home, she said.

May’s Labour rival Corbyn, who has resumed his election campaign – briefly put on hold in the aftermath of the London carnage – pledged to empower police, granting them “full authority… to use whatever force is necessary to protect and save life,” and boost their numbers with 10,000 additional recruits, while taking aim at May for extensive cuts to the police force.

Echoing May’s concerns over radicalization, Corbyn said that the UK needs to have “some difficult conversations, starting with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states,” who he blamed for “funding and fueling extremist ideology.”

Referring to a recent admission by the Home Office that it may never make public an inquiry delving into foreign funding of Islamist groups, which reportedly implicates Saudi Arabia, Corbyn blasted May for “suppressing the report.” 

Speaking at a campaign rally on Friday, the Labour leader, known for his staunch anti-war stance, stated that by getting mired in military conflicts outside its borders, such as in Iraq and Libya, Britain invites blowback.

“Many experts… have pointed to the connections between wars our government has supported or fought in other countries and terrorism here at home,” Corbyn said. He added that merely pointing out the apparent link between the UK’s policy of meddling and terrorism on its own soil should in no way be interpreted as a justification for terrorism.

According to a YouGov poll, Corbyn’s explanation for the surge in terrorist attacks on British soil seems to strike a chord with people. Around 53 percent of the 7,134 UK citizens who were surveyed said they believe that the wars are at least in part responsible for terrorist attacks against the UK. Only 24 percent said that they do not see any connection, while another 23 percent said that they did not know.

Pilger: Terrorist attacks ‘product of UK foreign policy, 

of being where it shouldn’t be’

Author and documentary filmmaker John Pilger told RT’s Afshin Rattansi he believes that the interventionist British foreign policy of recent decades has backfired. Pilger spoke on RT’s ‘Going Underground’ ahead of the Saturday attack in London.

What terrorist attacks on British soil “have in common is that they are the product of the British foreign policy, of being where we shouldn’t be,” Pilger said.

He believes that the deadliest terrorist attacks in the UK in the 21st century, in particular the recent Manchester Arena attack and the 2005 London Underground bombings, demonstrate “that the rock of British foreign policy is briefly lifted and we see the cause and effect.”

Members of the ‘Libyan Islamic Fighting Group’ (LIFG), who claim to have played a key role in overthrowing Muammar Gaddafi’s regime, were allowed to travel unhindered across Europe when Theresa May was UK Home Secretary.

“When Libya, Africa’s largest producer of oil, was invaded, these salafists and wahhabists in Manchester, known as the Manchester boys, were told they could go to Libya… May was the country’s interior minister, responsible for control orders which were lifted by MI5. One of them talked about going to Heathrow Airport where he is stopped by counterterrorism police, and he gives them a name and a number in MI5, they call it and he sits there and waits, and they say, ‘Oh it’s fine, fine, off you go to battle,’” Pilger said, adding:

“They wanted to overthrow Gaddafi and these people were used.”

Once Gaddafi was removed in Libya, the “next stop” for those fighters, who were by then “at the very least Al-Qaeda affiliated,” was Syria.

“So many of the Manchester boys ended up in Syria fighting the West’s war or efforts to overthrow the government of Assad,” Pilger told Rattansi.

“It is a complicated story most certainly, but it has strands running through it, and the strongest strand is the support of powerful Western governments like the British government, the US government and the French government for what they call assets… This web of collaboration, proxy power in the Middle East invariably will produce this kind of violence and what we’ve seen since 9/11 is that the violence has come home, not only to the US but also to this country,” he said.

“We have to take responsibility for that, it has to be discussed, we can’t walk around with their hands over our eyes and their fingers in our ears, it’s absurd. The people who died in Manchester, and in the London Underground, and the people who died in the Twin Towers, and all those children in Yemen and Afghanistan deserve better.”

What is Britain Doing, Sending More Troops to Iraq/Syria?

British military specialists arrive in

Middle East to train Syrian rebels

FILE PHOTO: Soldiers from the RECCE and PATROLS Platoon, Fire Support Company of The 1st Battalion The Royal Welch Fusilers (1 RWF) mount heli borne Eagle VCP's (Vehicle Check Points) near the southern Iraqi City of Basra. © The British Defense Ministry / AFP

More specialist UK soldiers have arrived in Iraq to train anti-Islamic State rebel forces to fight in Syria, joining the 500 already deployed to the region.

Their arrival was announced as the UK hosts a conference of defense ministers from countries involved in the coalition fighting Islamic State.

The 20 trainers – who are likely to be special forces soldiers – will teach so-called ‘moderate’ fighters infantry skills, combat first aid and other battlefield tactics.

The existing deployment is thought to be made up of around 500 soldiers from the 4 Rifles infantry regiment, which is based near the Kurdish-held city of Erbil alongside specialist soldiers from the Royal Engineers and Royal Signals.

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon has previously stated that anyone receiving UK training would be vetted to ensure that no knowledge was passed on to jihadist groups.

The deployment of UK special forces has come under increasing scrutiny, with critics claiming that it has now become the basic form of UK military operations and as such should be brought under democratic oversight.

Thank you Britain for putting me in the position of agreeing with Jeremy Corbyn; I may never forgive you for that; but he is right on this issue. Parliamentary oversight just might be sufficient to help the government see that by supporting rebel fighters you are prolonging this dreadful war, killing more civilians, making their lives miserable, and creating thousands more migrants.

There is no 'moderate' opposition in Syria. There may be some groups of mercenaries who are not as bad as others, but, in the end, if Assad is overthrown, you have no way of controlling who takes power, whether a 'moderate group' or something far worse than Assad. In all probability it will require a coalition of several rebel groups, which means some of the worst elements of militant Islam will be involved.

Most Syrians don't want regime change, certainly to an unknown entity that could very likely impose Sharia upon the country. 

If the west, and Saudi Arabia stopped supporting these rebel mercenaries, the war in Syria would end in weeks and people could start to rebuild their lives. Eventually, some Syrian migrants might even decide to return home. But, of course, that wouldn't sell bombs and missiles.

The UK is one of the few countries which flatly refuses to comment on covert military activities to either the media or to questions by elected lawmakers in parliament.

Calls for a new war powers act have been backed by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, among others, who made his case to the Middle East Eye website in August.

“I’m very concerned about this because [former Prime Minister] David Cameron – I imagine [Prime Minister] Theresa May would say the same – would say parliamentary convention requires a parliamentary mandate to deploy British troops. Except, and they’ve all used the ‘except,’ when special forces are involved,” Corbyn said.

His comments were immediately attacked by former soldier-turned-Tory MP Bob Stewart, who told the Times that the PM must have the opportunity to deploy troops “when they think it’s crucial.”

Is it Time for NATO to Go?

As I have written before, the last time the need for NATO's existence was questioned, after the collapse of communism, the Bosnian war broke out within months which causes one to ask if NATO makes Europe safer or more dangerous?

Russian aggression, as in Crimea and eastern Ukraine may be a symptom of Putin's lust for rebuilding the old soviet empire and thus may require some measured response. However, America and Canada's interest in this is almost certainly financial in the selling of arms, etc., to the EU.

There is virtually no threat of Russia invading Canada or the USA, so there is little reason for us to be a part of NATO. There is an interest in the EU to form its own military body; I believe that should go ahead and they should use NATO facilities as the basis of the force.

Trump right on Russia, Britain must listen – ex-UK ambassador to Moscow

    U.S. President-elect Donald Trump (L), Russian President Vladimir Putin (R). © Reuters

Britain should take advice from US President-elect Donald Trump by “listening to the Russians instead of lecturing them” to avoid a new Cold War, says former UK Ambassador to Moscow Sir Tony Brenton.

“Trump is right too that our present approach has failed (sanctions have boosted Russian determination), and if we are to avoid slipping into a dangerous new Cold War, we need to listen to the Russians instead of lecturing them,” Brenton wrote in the Telegraph.

The West’s “demonization” of Russian President Vladimir Putin is also out of hand, Brenton added.

“With military expenditure one-tenth of that of the West, Russia is not the threat our ‘experts’ wallow in.”

Brenton says Britain’s “security and prosperity” will lie in Trump’s hands, and Downing Street must look for common ground to push the relationship forward.

“Trump has said some deeply worrying things, from weakening the NATO defense guarantee to encouraging the Japanese and South Koreans to develop nuclear weapons,” he said.

“We are probably the best placed country to help guide this in a sensible direction.”

Brenton added that Trump is underestimating the importance of NATO unity in getting Russia to the conference table.

“There are better ways to press our feckless European partners into spending what they ought to on defence than threatening to withdraw the US guarantee, and we should be working with the US to find them.”

       NATO countries excluding Canada and the USA

As US security policy is not yet finally formed, Brenton says it is time to “back Trump’s objectives, while moderating his intended methods.”

“ISIL cannot be disposed of by bombing - it requires painstaking political and intelligence work which draws in moderate Muslims rather than alienating them.

You're presuming the USA actually wants to get rid of ISIS. That has not been obvious from their tactics over the past 5 years. ISIS has support from some of America's closest friends, ie arms purchasers.

“The Iran agreement may not be perfect but it is better than the only real alternative, military action.

“The same applies for Syria. Tragic though the fate of the Syrian people is, the alternative of a proxy war with Russia and opening the door to Islamic rule is much worse.

“One suspects that Trump, with his aversion to US over-extension, can be persuaded of all of this.”

NATO should demilitarize border with Russia, or face new Cold War – Corbyn

    Jeremy Corbyn talking to Andrew Marr on Sunday © liarpoliticians / YouTube

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn says NATO’s current policies of adding more troops in eastern Europe is only increasing tensions, and has proposed a demilitarized buffer zone on the alliance’s border with Russia.

“There has to be a process that we try and demilitarize the border between what are now the NATO states and Russia so we drive apart those forces, keep them further apart,” Corbyn told Andrew Marr on the BBC. “We can’t descend into a new Cold War.”

It's not often I agree with Jeremy Corbyn, in fact, I doubt that it has ever happened before, but I agree with him here. Surely, the western world has matured to the degree that we can find a way to stop sabre-rattling and start working together.

Corbyn previously said that NATO “should have been wound up” after the fall of the Iron Curtain, and refused to commit the UK to the principle of collective defense if he were to become Prime Minister.

The Labour MP expressed skepticism that under the current international system any rapprochement with Moscow was possible.“Donald Trump clearly thinks he can have a strong relationship with Putin on the basis that he is a strong leader. But, it’s not about strong leaders, it’s about movements towards coexistence and peace,” explained Corbyn.

As a solution, the 67-year-old proposed the OSCE and the Council of Europe as potential “forums” for building new ties with the Kremlin.

During the 15-minute sit-down interview, Corbyn repeatedly reiterated that his anti-NATO stance did not equal unequivocal support for Russia, saying he has “many criticisms of Putin, of human rights abuses, and the militarization of society.”

NATO is currently placing a new 4,000-strong fast-response force in eastern Europe, with most soldiers scheduled to be stationed in the Baltic States, which have spoken out most insistently about a supposed threat from Moscow.

Last week, newspapers reported that NATO is trying to cut down the time for deploying a force of 300,000 to eastern Europe from 180 days to two months, citing Russia’s increased defense spending, and conflicts in eastern Ukraine and Georgia in 2008.

The US is also continuing with its plans to roll out a missile defense shield over Europe with bases in Poland and Romania, despite long-standing objections from Moscow.

Number of Hate Crimes Against Jews in Britain has Reached Shocking High

Number of hate crimes against Jews soars as report says anti-semitism is at the 'core' of far-Left beliefs 

By MARTIN BECKFORD, HOME AFFAIRS EDITOR FOR THE MAIL ON SUNDAY

The number of hate crimes against Jews in Britain has reached a shocking new high, campaigners warn today.

An alarming new report shows that police forces recorded almost 1,000 anti-Semitic offences in 2015 – a 25 per cent rise on the previous year.

Violent attacks on Jews soared by 50 per cent and yet there was a worrying decline in the number of cases where suspects were charged.


The findings come as the Labour Party is gripped by anti-Semitism allegations, some of which are levied at Ken Livingstone, pictured

Campaigners fear the worrying trend is being driven by Islamists, neo-Nazis and far-Left activists and students, who use social media to share sickening images similar to those seen in Nazi Germany.

As I have been saying: anti-Semitism will increase proportionately with the increase in the Muslim population.

In one shocking case, a mob shouting ‘Kill the Jews’ stormed a synagogue in Stamford Hill, North London, smashing windows and attacking worshippers.

The report says that there has been a ‘growth in anti-Semitism as a core part of far-Left’ ideology. The findings come as the Labour Party is gripped by anti-Semitism allegations: MP Naz Shah and former London Mayor Ken Livingstone have both been suspended in the past week, and an internal investigation has been set up by beleaguered party leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Last night, Gideon Falter, chairman of the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism, which published the report, said: ‘This data should alarm those responsible for enforcing the law. They are failing British Jews badly.

MP Naz Shah, pictured, and former London Mayor Ken Livingstone have both been suspended in the past week, and an internal investigation has been set up by beleaguered party leader Jeremy Corbyn

‘If the situation continues to deteriorate, the Jewish community will be faced with the kind of rampant anti-Semitism seen in other European countries, which has left Jews feeling fearful and abandoned, and many of them convinced that they have no choice but to emigrate.’

He added: ‘Britain’s fight against anti-Semitism and extremism cannot be allowed to fail.’

The charity asked every force in Britain how many anti-Semitic incidents and crimes they had recorded in each month of 2014 and 2015, as well as the number that involved violence, and the proportion that led to prosecutions.

Only 13.6 per cent of incidents led to charges in 2015.