Peter Westmacott
@PeterWestmacott
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Former British Ambassador to Turkey, France, USA. On various boards & think tanks. Author of ‘They Call it Diplomacy’ (2021). Anxious Arsenal supporter.
London, England
Joined February 2013
Not biases, facts. @martinwolf_ is right. Before the referendum I was shouted down by Brexiteers for talking about the economy and Britain’s international standing, not sovereignty. They mattered then and matter now.
True to form, some pro-EU propaganda this morning from the FT’s Martin Wolf. There’s always a graph to confirm your biases, and allow you to draw the same conclusions you did 10 years ago.
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Trump’s “Ukraine” plan is not a peace plan. Like all his plans it is a grossly 1-sided pact cooked up with a strong man (with commercial deals on the side). It betrays Ukraine, the Western alliance and our most fundamental values. When are we going to admit what is happening?
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This is shocking
In a normal world, this should be an immense scandal in Europe. Le Monde has a long article ( https://t.co/YMCO5sHYcL) describing the hellish life of Nicolas Guillou, a French judge at the ICC in The Hague, due to U.S. sanctions punishing him for authorizing arrest warrants
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Not a great surprise @BarakRavid. Since 2008 US Qualitative Military Edge (QME) legislation has given Israel an effective veto over all US military exports, and other countries’ exports with US content, to the Middle East.
🇮🇱🇺🇸🇸🇦Scoop: Israel does not oppose the U.S. selling F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia, but wants it be conditioned on the kingdom normalizing its relations with the Jewish state, two Israeli officials told me. My story on @axios
https://t.co/ToqukmYieD
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SUPERB and angrily unvarnished response, by former BBC chairman, Lord Patten. "I don't think that we should allow ourselves to be bullied into thinking that the BBC is only any good, if it reflects the prejudice of the last person who shouted at it." ~AA
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Worth reading Fraser Nelson’s post in full. Few people have spelled it out so clearly. Either the government incentivises people to go to work or immigration spirals even further out of control, the country goes bust, and we lose a generation.
Pat McFadden tells today’s Sunday Times about an “opportunity crisis” and a “disease” of worklessness. The crisis is of incentives - work not paying enough relative to welfare. The disease in a broken welfare system - but it’s one he can cure. My take:
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The longevity of the Mafia in Italy serves as a warning that, once this style of rule embeds itself in the state, it is “very difficult to extract,” @AdamSerwer argues.
theatlantic.com
Trump is saying, essentially, If you don’t want to get hurt, you’ll do what I say.
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Really fascinating @EmmanuelMacron on Russian interference "on steroids" in our democracies "A formidable cocktail of unbridled capitalism and the illegitimate heirs of communism with us, in between, desperately trying to sort truth from lies with our "tweezers" My English s/t👇
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Exactly the kind of partnership European NATO allies need to strengthen their defences and their defence industries. #Türkiye #NATO
NEW: Turkey and UK sign Eurofighter jet deal worth up to £8 billion for 20 UK Typhoon fighter jets – the biggest fighter jet exports deal in a generation: UK statement
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Even better if this means Senate Republican leadership will finally allow a vote on @LindseyGrahamSC’s Russia Sanctions bill.
Breaking: *BESSENT: WILL ANNOUNCE SUBSTANTIAL PICKUP IN RUSSIA SANCTIONS *BESSENT: WILL ANNOUNCE RUSSIA SANCTIONS TODAY OR TOMORROW “We are going to either announce after the close this afternoon or first thing tomorrow morning, a substantial pickup in Russia sanctions"
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A worrying mega poll about France in Le Monde today: 81% don’t think democracy is working for them 66% think most politicians are corrupt 71% think their living standards are getting worse. 57% have trouble making ends meet 85% think France ‘needs a real leader to restore
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Breaking news: Donald Trump urged Volodymyr Zelenskyy to accept Russia’s terms for ending its war in a volatile White House meeting on Friday, warning that Vladimir Putin had said he would 'destroy' Ukraine if it did not agree https://t.co/GnT3RDXZKp
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Trump got the Israeli hostages back and Netanyahu is now free to bomb what's left of Gaza flat
BREAKING: Israel says it launched 'massive wave' of attacks on southern Gaza 🔴 LIVE updates: https://t.co/R5Fa0ujkY0
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Everyone's quoting the Washington Post writing something like "Putin agreed to give up the occupied parts of the Zaporizhia and Kherson regions in exchange for the rest of Donetsk region" in a phone call with Trump—and, supposedly, that's great progress. But that's nonsense.
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Carole Cadwalladr was right and we’d be in a better world if more people had listened.
Nathan Gill has pleaded guilty & this tweet has been doing rounds today. Now imagine my investigation into Russian interference hadn’t been crushed by lawfare, my news org had doubled down & carried on & govt had opened an inquiry as MPs demanded. 😢
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Exceptional, super-sharp piece by @TomTugendhat acknowledging *space power* (via space infrastructure) as a vital aspect of future geopolitics. Welcome to the debate, Tom!
washingtonpost.com
His SpaceX deal could fundamentally alter the relationship between a state and its citizens.
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An amazing evening that makes me prouder than ever to be a Somerset boy who learned his cricket in Taunton
SOMERSET WIN THE 2025 VITALITY BLAST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 #WeAreSomerset
#FinalsDay | #Blast25
@ItsTradeNation
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SOMERSET WIN THE 2025 VITALITY BLAST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 #WeAreSomerset
#FinalsDay | #Blast25
@ItsTradeNation
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L’incursion de 19 drones russes en Pologne, une erreur? Réponse du Premier ministre polonais: « Nous souhaiterions nous aussi que l'attaque de drones contre la Pologne soit une erreur. Mais ce n'en est pas une. Et nous le savons. »
We would also wish that the drone attack on Poland was a mistake. But it wasn’t. And we know it.
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Vance: "If you go back to World War II, if you go back to World War I, if you go back to every major conflict in human history, they all end with some kind of negotiation." Washington Post, May 8, 1945: "Germany Surrenders Unconditionally."
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