Russia

On Thursday, Barack Obama announced the expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats in retaliation for Russian attempts to interfere with the US presidential election. While Theresa May is yet to comment on the unfolding events, the SNP are proving more forthcoming. Paul Monaghan, the MP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, has taken to Twitter to say the decision by the US is ‘regrettable’. Regrettable that the United States has expelled 35 Russian diplomats and closed two Russian compounds. https://t.co/UXU9EXdUWp — Dr Paul Monaghan (@_PaulMonaghan) December 29, 2016 While Monaghan appears unfazed by both the CIA and FBI’s assessment that Russia intervened in the US presidential election, he hasn’t always taken such a blasé approach when

I mean no disrespect to the dead when I say that Islamist terror in the developed world can seem a pathetic affair. Instead of fanatics executing elaborate plots to attack the Twin Towers and Pentagon, we have ‘lone wolves’ radicalised online, who more often than not turn out to be mentally deficient losers, rather than grand villains executing an intricately planned conspiracy. There is a temptation to dismiss the killers as freaks. Like violent storms, they just happen. And like violent storms, there is little you can say about them and even less you can do to stop them. If it ever made sense, dismissiveness is now a clearly inadequate

By next summer, Britain could be the only one of the three major Western military powers unequivocally opposed to the idea of Russian domination of its near neighbours. For François Fillon, the Republican candidate for the French Presidency and the favourite to win, has — as UK security sources point out — pretty much the same view of Russia as Donald Trump does. Fillon favours allying with Russia in Syria and seeking Vladimir Putin’s help to defeat both Islamic State and the broader Islamist terrorist threat. Fillon also wants EU sanctions on Russia, imposed because of its annexation of Crimea and broader interference in Ukraine, lifted. This shift in world

Today’s PMQs could have been a tricky affair for Theresa May. Her decision on Heathrow has seen one Tory MP resign his seat and the Guardian’s story about a private speech she gave to Goldman Sachs during the EU referendum campaign clashes with her conference speech rhetoric about being the scourge of unaccountable global elites. But May got through the session fine, Heathrow wasn’t raised until well after 12.30 and no one mentioned her behind closed doors, Goldman’s address. Corbyn’s delivery at PMQs has improved. But he still can’t go through the gears. He started off using the frustration of the devolved First Minister following their meeting with May on

Although little was agreed upon in yesterday’s debate on Aleppo with regards to a no-fly zone, one thing the Foreign Secretary did suggest was that the public stage mass protests outside the Russian embassy. What’s more, Boris Johnson queried just why the Stop the War coalition had failed to do this as of yet. So, why has the anti-war group — formerly chaired by Jeremy Corbyn — refrained from getting out on the streets to protest Russia’s actions in Syria? Well, because they are not the West — obviously. Although the group — which one compared Assad to Churchill, and defended Russia’s invasion of Georgia — were very active in opposing Britain’s plans for air

Although Jeremy Corbyn’s spokesman described tonight’s meeting of the PLP as barely registering on the Richter scale in terms of hostility, it could hardly be described as an hour of sweetness and light. While the meeting appeared to get off to a good start with loud cheers that could be heard from the corridor, it later transpired that the applause was for Rosie Winterton — the chief whip Corbyn sacked — rather than the Labour leader himself. When Corbyn praised Winterton for her work in the role over the past six years, he was heckled by MPs who questioned why he had fired Winterton if he really thought so much