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North Korea on Saturday warned Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that he could soon see a "real ballistic missile" while excoriating him as the "most stupid man ever known in history". The colourful condemnation comes two days after the isolated state tested what it called a "super-large multiple launch rocket system", with South Korea reporting that two projectiles came down in the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea. In the wake of the launch, which was supervised by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Abe termed the fired weapons "ballistic missiles" that violated UN resolutions. "It can be said that Abe is the only one idiot in the world and the most stupid man ever known in history as he fails to distinguish a missile from multiple launch rocket system while seeing the photo-accompanied report," a foreign ministry official said in a statement carried by state news agency KCNA. "Abe may see what a real ballistic missile

French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday that European nations should be involved in any talks to forge a new pact limiting mid-range nuclear missiles held by the US and Russia, after a landmark Cold War-era accord fell apart this year. "We cannot just content ourselves with bilateral treaties," Macron said after talks with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Paris. Washington and Moscow walked away from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty in August after each accused the other of violating the terms of the deal. Russia has called on the US and other NATO member to implement a moratorium on deploying medium-range missiles, something Stoltenberg has so far ruled out. But Macron has made no secret of his wish to engage with Russian President Vladimir Putin on a range of disputes, saying he would raise the issue at a NATO meeting in London next week. "We want a lucid, robust and demanding dialogue with Russia, with neither naivety nor c

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan lashed out on Friday at Emmanuel Macron over his criticism of Turkey's military intervention in Syria, saying the French president was suffering "brain death", a phrase Macron recently used to describe NATO. Erdogan used a televised speech to launch a stunning attack on Macron, just days before the two men join other NATO leaders in England for events to mark the alliance's 70th birthday. "I am talking to France's President Emmanuel Macron, and I will also say this at NATO. First of all, have your own brain death checked. These statements are suitable only to people like you who are in a state of brain death," Erdogan said. He was referencing Macron's much-publicised recent claim that NATO was suffering "brain death" owing to the lack of strategic cooperation among members. "You know how to show off but you cannot even properly pay for NATO. You are a novice," Erdogan said. The French go

I have come to realise that my pro-Israel focus is of relatively minority interest, even for BBC bias nerds. It’s a bit niche, or it was until a few months ago. While this stuff is important to many of us (me) I could easily dominate this blog with material that would invite “people” to dismiss it as “Zio" - not that I need approval from them - but for that reason I’ve condensed this material, harvested from a particularly vibrant link-rich post on the Elder of Ziyon website into what Craig referred to the other day as a ‘pamphlet’.  It’s turned into a giant post, but I hope it isn’t dismissed as another tl;dr  - It’s more of a digest, a compendium. Dip in. 1) For me, a must-read. Many of EoZ’s pieces are American-authored and primarily aimed at an American audience. However, since the Labour Party’s antisemitism hit the fan, British politics has been catapulted into the spotlight. Jeremy Corbyn Reminds Us Why Israel Exists. National Review As Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis corr

Politics is pretty shite , isn't it ? Whether you're a left-leaning kale-munching vegan anarchcic panpsychic hipster who hates the idea of "rules", or a right-wing "lock 'em up and throw away the key if they so much listen to jazz music" type, I suspect we can all agree that politics is about as much fun as an unexpected brick to the gonads. Science, on the other hand, is very much not shitty. Most of the hardcore, truly anti-science "it's all subjective and everything is made of wishes and moonbeams" brigade are largely confined to the realm of the internet. Admittedly the sort who think science is great except for this one thing (vaccinations/GM food/global warming/whatever) are rather more numerous, but that's another issue. Most people, having the common sense to realise that computers wouldn't work and planes wouldn't fly if our basic scientific theories weren't at least on to something, accept that science more

Ah, a BBC reality check! Did Samira Ahmed give the BBC's Chris Morris a tough time on 'Newswatch'? Reality Check The claim:  That Samira Ahmed really put the BBC's Reality Check chief reporter Chris Morris through his paces on 'Newswatch' this week. The verdict:  No, she didn't, It was a very soft interview. But our boss did great. Well, maybe not... Here's a transcript of this week's Newswatch main interview: Samira Ahmed : Disputes over facts and figures are part of any election campaign but this time around, the arguments seem more numerous and acrimonious than ever - hence the need for independent and neutral verification of the claims made, by organisations such as the charity Full Fact, Channel 4 News's FactCheck, and Reality Check on the BBC. The latter is usually fronted by Chris Morris, and recently, he's been very busy man. Here he is on Wednesday scrutinising Labour's claims that the NHS wa

Hats off to the Polish chef have-a-go hero who stood up to the London Bridge terrorist with a narwhal tusk he grabbed from the wall of Fishmongers Hall. pic.twitter.com/AcvmHYXOmS — James Melville (@JamesMelville) November 30, 2019 An extremely minor point, but ( as per Newssniffer ) it took over eight hours for the BBC's main report to be corrected on a factual point. From 23:44 last night till 8:12 this morning, the BBC report talked of:   a narwhal tusk - a long white horn that protrudes from the  porpoise  Finally, at 8:12, that changed to:  a narwhal tusk - a long white horn that protrudes from the  whale  Narwhals are, indeed, whales not porpoises.  

I read a discussion this morning on Twitter re the London Bridge terrorist attack: Ben Cobley : I wonder how the Guardian 's columnists are going to deal with this. Almost everything about it fails to fit their daily narrative. My prediction - they will focus on attacking the right for how it reacts .  Also they will no doubt start ordering us to not use language that might help describe events accurately - notably linking 'Islamic' with 'terrorism' as Newsnight did last night. Anyone who does this will be accused of fomenting hate against Muslims and aiding the far right. Dr Paul Stott : We will see what I call the pivot response to terrorism. After reporting, blandly, what has happened, they will pivot coverage to what they will really want to talk about - the right's reaction, 'Islamophobia,' Tommy Robinson etc etc That reference to Newsnight linking 'Islamic' with 'terrorism' sounded so unlikely that I checked , and (as I shoul

Meanwhile, in the more sewer-like parts of social media, elements of the left and the Islamic community have been heavily promoting the false flag concept. 'Isn't it too convenient that this attack happened during an election, just like the last terrorist attack at London Bridge?' 'Why is there a tweet from Boris Johnson that is time-stamped some five hours too early?' (I remember that one from past right-wing false flag allegations! It's something to do with time zones and Twitter default settings.) And there are Corbyn supporters accusing the police of 'state murder'. And there are others blaming the Conservative Party for producing a fake Jeremy Corbyn tweet (saying 'A man was murdered by British Police in Broad daylight'). Maybe BBC Trending can look into this sewer and report back?

The BBC's Frank Gardner writes : So we’re now told that the attacker in the London Bridge shooting was a convicted terrorist, a former prisoner out on licence. Quite a number of convicted terrorists are coming to the end of their sentences.

As discussed on the Open Thread , here's Evan Davis on last night's PM talking to the former  Assistant Commissioner  for  Specialist Operations  of the  Metropolitan Police Service  Sir Mark Rowley about the terrorist attack in London. Sir Mark had to correct Evan Davis: Sir Mark Rowley : While the ideology here looks more Islamist - that looks most likely - we shouldn't forget the sort of significant right-wing that the intelligence services are dealing with. So a big challenge. Evan Davis : Yeah, I was going to ask you that because, I mean, I think at one point we were hearing there was as much going on in anti-terror towards right-wing, far-right, as there was towards Islamists. Sir Mark Rowley : I don't think that's quite accurate, Evan. Evan Davis : OK. Sir Mark Rowley : The bigger problem has always been in recent years Islamist. The challenge though is that the faster-growing part... Evan Davis : OK. I think that's where I'm, yeah, getting