524. Starmer’s Mandelson Mess and the Iranian Nuclear Threat

“Appointing Peter Mandelson in the first place was a massive lapse of judgment. We now know that even the Trump transition team was warning him against appointing Mandelson, which is very, very odd given that they thought Mandelson was their Trump card with Trump. He knew about Epstein. He knew about the financial links and he pushed ahead.”

“What appears to have happened, as we said the other day, that the cabinet office process led to a suggestion being made to the foreign office, that there were warning signs that they needed to be worried about, and that Olly Robbins took the judgment that with mitigation, which was put in place, it was manageable and he could go ahead. What he has also been saying to the Foreign Affairs Committee is that he did feel under pressure.”

“It worked. This was an amazing deal which until Trump came along and wrecked it, managed to get a massive reduction in the amount of stockpiles that Iran had, uranium stockpiles, a reduction in the enrichment down to a very low degree. And an inspection regime which allowed inspectors in very, very regularly to make sure that Iran was not enriching and a limit on the number of centrifuges. And in return, sanctions relief.”

“I honestly don't think we can because it goes back to a point we made right from the start of this war is that it's never been clear what his big strategic purpose is. Unless you have that, if you're dealing with somebody who's volatile, unpredictable, driven by spasm, tweeting through the night, making policy as you say, regardless of what the facts are with the people who are actually on the ground, then it's impossible to work it out.”

“Sudan is really what shows what goes wrong in the new Trump world. This is a conflict where, as you've pointed out, hundreds of thousands have been killed, millions have been displaced, tens of millions are now facing food insecurity, where there is credible reports of genocide, rape, and it's being driven as a proxy war. This is exactly the kind of situation that the international, much lamented, hypocritical global world order was set up to try to deal with.”

“Médecins Sans Frontières, they said there had been 4,000 cases of sexual violences at facilities that it was working in. 97% of the victims were men or girls. In South Darfur, 20% under 18, including 41 children under five. And their report said sexual violence is now part of everyday life of these people in most parts of Sudan.”