Time for Change: Campaign for an Independent Green Thanet MP and Ramsgate Mayor

  The Thai-Cambodian border is once again a theatre of contested sovereignty, civilian resistance, and diplomatic choreography. In Sisaket and Ubon Ratchathani provinces, Khmer villagers were seen dismantling Thai barbed wire barricades , a symbolic act of defiance that underscores the fragility of the July 28 ceasefire brokered by Malaysia, China, and the United States. In all sincerity it's hard to see new barbed wire barriers as anything but a provocation at best or pre-truce land grab at best. Despite formal agreements to freeze troop movements and refrain from provocations, both sides accuse each other of violations. Thailand claims Cambodia has planted new PMN-2 anti-personnel mines, injuring soldiers and civilians. Cambodia counters that Thai troops breached the ceasefire with a mission creep of entering contested zones near Ta Moan Temple.  The ASEAN observer mission , obstructed by drunk Cambodian forces during a recent inspection, revealed the depth of mistrust and w...

  The UK Government is investing £250 million to expand MOD Cadet forces by 30% by 2030. On paper, it’s framed as youth development. In practice, it risks becoming a taxpayer-funded pipeline for militarised identity, with questionable outcomes and disturbing ethical shadows. 98% Dropout: The Quiet Failure Despite the fanfare, internal MoD data and independent reviews suggest that up to 98%(!) of cadets never enlist in the Armed Forces. Even among those who do, dropout rates are disproportionately high for under-18 recruits. A 2013 report by Child Soldiers International found that training minors costs twice as much as adults, with 36.6% dropout compared to 28.3% for adult recruits. This isn’t just inefficiency—it’s systemic waste. The MoD spends £88,985 per minor recruit , compared to £42,818 per adult , yet the majority never serve.  That’s not investment. That’s massive tax leakage. And in the unmanned drone era only likely to increase? Child Soldiers by Design? Also the ...

  Here’s a breakdown of the   41 states that have  neither signed nor ratified   the Rome Statute and the   29 states that  signed but did not ratify   it — meaning they are   not full members   of the International Criminal Court (ICC) as of 2025: 41 States That Have Neither Signed Nor Ratified the Rome Statute These countries have  no formal legal ties  to the ICC: Asia-Pacific : China, India, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, Vietnam, Nepal, Bhutan, Laos, Myanmar, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Thailand Middle East & North Africa : Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Oman, UAE, Bahrain, Lebanon Africa : Angola, Eritrea, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Cameroon Europe : Belarus Americas : Cuba, Nicaragua Others : North Korea, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan 29 States That Signed But Did Not Ratify the Rome Statute These countries  expressed initial support  but never completed the ratification proces...

  Ban White Phosphorus: Gaza’s Agony and the Thai Border Flashpoint In Gaza, white phosphorus has become a symbol of indiscriminate suffering. But it’s not just the Middle East where this incendiary substance is raising alarms. Along the Thai-Cambodian border , recent clashes have reignited debate over its legality, deployment, and humanitarian impact. Gaza: A Humanitarian Catastrophe According to Al Jazeera ov er 61,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 2023, with starvation deaths now exceeding 260. Amid this devastation, reports of white phosphorus use in civilian zones have drawn condemnation from rights groups. Its effects—deep burns, toxic smoke, and environmental contamination—are incompatible with international humanitarian law, especially in urban warfare. Thai-Cambodian Border War: A Legal Grey Zone In August 2025, the Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC) accused Thai forces of firing white phosphorus shells into Oddar Meanchey province during a five-day bord...

  The Bitter Irony of Cambodia’s Landmine Legacy: From Clearance Champion to Alleged Violator In the shadow of the Ottawa Treaty and decades of humanitarian mine clearance, recent allegations against Cambodia have cast a dark irony over its international reputation. Thailand’s military claims that Cambodian forces have planted new anti-personnel landmines along disputed border zones—injuring Thai soldiers and reigniting tensions that many hoped were buried with the mines themselves. This is not just a geopolitical flare-up. It’s a symbolic rupture in Cambodia’s carefully cultivated image as a post-conflict nation committed to peace, reconstruction, and the eradication of indiscriminate weapons.  The irony is sharp: a country that once bore the brunt of Cold War proxy violence and became a global poster child for mine clearance now stands accused of deploying the very tools it vowed to eliminate. A Legacy of Mines—and Redemption Cambodia’s terrain is scarred by more than 1 mill...

  Thai Defence Communications: Glitter Over Guns? by Tim Garbutt Panadda Wongphudee’s appointment as Thailand’s defence spokeswoman is emblematic of a media-first strategy . Her beauty queen past (Miss Thailand 2000) and celebrity status are leveraged to counter Cambodia’s Lt Gen Maly Socheata, who herself blends military rank with media presence.  The Thai Defence Ministry’s comment—“she is more beautiful”—wasn’t just a jaw droppingly foolish jab, but a signal that optics could matter in this information war. Panadda’s reported experience in border camps and her upcoming series on muzzle velocity and field logistics (if confirmed) would mark a shift from symbolic to substantive. If she’s documenting first-hand military operations, it could redefine her role from spokesperson to embedded communicator. Or provide Lt Gen Maly to highlight her inexperience on defence matters, much as USA's Pete Hegseth struggles with walking and talking as Defence Sec. Certainly Pannada's borde...

  Losing the Narrative Abroad: Thailand’s Diplomatic Stumble and Cambodia’s Symbolic Surge by Tim Garbutt In the wake of the recent border clashes between Thailand and Cambodia, a troubling pattern has emerged: Thailand is losing the international narrative, while Cambodia is winning hearts and headlines. Despite the ceasefire brokered on July 28, Thailand’s diplomatic posture remains reactive and fragmented, allowing Cambodia to dominate the global conversation with symbolic gestures, strategic messaging, and emotionally resonant media. Thailand’s Communication Breakdown The Bangkok Post’s editorial, Losing the Narrative , lays bare the Thai government’s failure to assert its position on the world stage.  Bangkok Post - Losing the narrative Despite evidence of Cambodian shelling of civilian areas and violations of the Geneva Convention, Thailand’s response has been muted, delayed, and largely invisible to foreign audiences. A joint press briefing by the Thai military and Fore...

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  The Twin-Front War That Wasn't: Strategic Noise and Realpolitik Realities by Tim Garbutt Amid the rising crescendo of what some call “NATO anxiety journalism,” the suggestion in the ipaper that Russia and China might simultaneously launch coordinated offensives—against the Baltics and Taiwan respectively—has stirred up speculation and policy chatter. But beneath the surface, the scenario reveals more about Western insecurities than strategic likelihood. Mark Rutte’s recent comments, imagining Xi Jinping phoning Vladimir Putin for a diversionary NATO assault before moving on Taiwan, tap into a growing trend: threat inflation. The idea of a synchronized blitz, while logistically nightmarish and diplomatically toxic for both aggressors, serves more as a rhetorical tool than a tactical forecast. The Myth of Mutual War: Allies, Not Accomplices One core flaw in the twin-front hypothesis is the assumption of strategic altruism. Even if China were to move on Taiwan, the notion that Russi...

  Isambard AI: The Pandemic Sentinel the UK Deserves In a world of unpredictable viral mutations, borderless outbreaks, and shrinking response windows, the UK needs more than a playbook. It needs a sentinel — a system that sees before others blink . That’s where Isambard AI at Bristol Unversity, the UK's fastest computer, comes in. While most public health strategies remain reactive—waiting for symptoms, hospital surges, or government alarms—Isambard operates differently. It's designed to scan, analyse, and forecast disease drift from the molecular up to the infrastructural , using data sources the NHS barely touches. Isambard isn't an app, a dashboard, or a chatbot. It's a national intelligence layer for health—capable of processing every swab, every lab result, every bio-kit sample, and turning it into actionable insight within hours. And it doesn’t need crisis permission to do it. Its design philosophy is rooted in constant, strategic vigilance. Imagine a scenario: ...

  Border Patrol or Battlefield? How America’s Military is Turning Inward by Tim Garbutt In a scathing new investigation, The Intercept reveals that under President Donald Trump’s renewed administration, the U.S. military has quietly deployed over 20,000 troops across American soil, with estimates suggesting the true number could be far higher.  What began as “border support” has morphed into a sprawling, multi-agency network of armed forces conducting ICE raids, guarding federal buildings, and patrolling immigrant neighbourhoods from California to Florida . While the Pentagon publicly claims operational control along the southern border, its accounting is murky—multiple agencies involved in Joint Task Force–Southern Border (JTF-SB) and Task Force 51 refuse to give concrete tallies. The result? No one officially knows how many troops are deployed, what they’re doing, or who’s overseeing their mission. Posse Comitatus: Eroded Beyond Recognition Experts like Elizabeth Goitein...

  As rockets fall on petrol stations and Times Square lights up with Thai flags, the Thai-Cambodian border conflict has spilled far beyond the jungle terrain. It’s now raging across screens, feeds, and hashtags—where keyboard warriors have become frontline combatants in a war of words. This isn’t just a geopolitical standoff. It’s a digital psyop, a media melee, and a test of national resilience in the age of algorithmic warfare. From Border Blasts to Facebook Feuds The July 24 Cambodian rocket strike on a PTT station in Si Sa Ket province, which killed eight civilians and injured 13, was a brutal reminder of the conflict’s human cost. Yet even as the debris settled, the battle shifted online. Cambodian influencers circulated images alleging Thai use of poison gas and suicide drones—claims swiftly debunked as wildfire suppression photos from California. Thai netizens responded with hashtags like #TruthFromThailand , rallying behind military denials and patriotic slogans. The digit...

  The UK’s Motability Scheme, once a beacon of social mobility for disabled citizens, now stands as a monument to quango excess and parliamentary inertia. With £4 billion in reserves , £100 million in staff costs , and a CEO once paid £1.7 million , Motability Operations Ltd has morphed from a charitable initiative into a taxpayer-backed leasing empire—largely shielded from scrutiny. The Numbers That Don’t Add Up Motability employs around 2,000 staff , with an average cost of £50,400 per head . That figure includes generous pensions, bonuses, and executive packages.  The highest-paid director received £747,000 in 2024, while former CEO Mike Betts pocketed £1.7 million(!) in 2017—benchmarked against FTSE 250 firms(!), despite Motability facing no market competition. The scheme’s £4 billion reserve is justified as a “financial shock absorber” for its £14 billion fleet. But this dwarfs the reserves of other public bodies: BBC Licence Fee Revenue : ~£3.8 billion National Lotter...

  David Williams , the Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Defence , is to be  resigned in autumn 2025. This follows just weeks from the revelations of a catastrophic Afghan data breach, and Superinjunctions, that exposed personal details of up to 100,000 individuals , many of whom were part of the ARAP (Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy) scheme. Key Details The breach involved names, emails, and phone numbers of Afghan nationals who supported UK military operations. The MOD secured a contra mundum superinjunction — a rare legal order that not only blocked reporting on the breach but also concealed the existence of the injunction itself. The fallout led to the creation of a covert Afghanistan Response Route (ARR) to evacuate those at risk. Allegations emerged that Taliban-linked individuals infiltrated the evacuation process. Estimated cost of the cleanup: £7 billion , largely spent on resettlement  The MOD sill in turmoil from Sir Ben Key as First Sea Lord...

 Trump is now formally nominated for the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize by at least three countries .  His role in rapid-fire diplomacy —including ceasefires in Southeast Asia and the Middle East—is being hailed by allies. However, Ukraine’s disillusionment and Pakistan’s reversal after U.S. military action have cast doubt on the consistency of his peace credentials. Confirmed Nominations: Cambodia – Brokered ceasefire with Thailand after 5-day border war Pakistan – Helped de-escalate tensions with India earlier this year Israel – Ceasefire deal with Iran credited to Trump’s intervention Controversies & Withdrawals: Ukraine – MP Oleksandr Merezhko withdrew support, citing Trump’s failure to act on Russian aggression Pakistan – Condemned Trump’s approval of U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear sites days after ceasefire With the Nobel ceremony on December 10th, and some of the nominations questionable as geopolitical brown-nosing and as to the reality Trump's role, 2026 is more likel...

  As of July 31, 2025 , the UK has recorded its highest-ever number of migrant arrivals by small boat this early in the year despite political promises to the contrary: Key Figures Total arrivals : 25,436 migrants Boats used : 432 vessels Single-day peak : 898 migrants in 13 boats on July 30 Average per boat : 59 people , with some days reaching 75 per boat Year-on-Year Comparison Year Date 25,000 Milestone Reached Total by Year-End 2025 July 31 Projected to exceed 50,000 2024 September 22 ~45,000 2023 October 2 ~45,774 2022 August 27 45,774 This marks a 51% increase over 2024 and 73% over 2023 at the same point in the year. 200k migrants would be a city x2 the size of Canterbury. Contributing Factors Benign weather : Calm seas and warm conditions have enabled more crossings Smuggler tactics : Use of “taxi boats” and longer launch routes to evade detection Border enforcement gaps : French patrols criticized for lax response eg not seizing/puncturing boats on beaches or shallow ...