The lead negotiator from Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal told Sky News that there is no way Iran could have been two weeks away from developing a nuclear bomb.

‘This is not intelligence, this is fabrication’

Robert Malley, the lead negotiator on the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, tells @SkyYaldaHakim: ‘There’s no way that Iran would have been two weeks away from developing a bomb’

Iran latest: https://t.co/fcwiwnqYSb

📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602 pic.twitter.com/zy4F7dLN2W

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— Sky News (@SkyNews) March 4, 2026

He said:

It’s not intelligence, it’s pure fabrication.

He also said that Iran does not currently have a structured programme in place to build a bomb.

Then he added:

Even the most alarmist predictions before the 12-day war were that Iran was at least 6 months to a year away from having a bomb, and that was if they dashed to a bomb, and before Israel and the US had attacked.

It’s not intelligence, it’s a creation of American politicians’ minds.

It’s not uncommon for Western leaders to lie about their reasons for invading countries in the global majority.

So the serial warmongers and oil thieves lied again about their reasons for invading the country with the third highest oil reserves in the world? Very interesting list this. Seems to be a strong correlation between oil reserves & perceived threats from said state! pic.twitter.com/D02paVGBUC

— Lalo Escőbar (@razor5edge) March 4, 2026

Whether it’s lies about drugs in Venezuela, weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, or now nuclear weapons in Iran – it’s all bullshit.

‘Fabrication’ folks. ‘FABRICATION’
Iraq weapons of mass destruction. Remember that? Did you fall for it again?
Are you scrambling for anything that might fill that gap in your internal narrative. You maybe suffering from
Donner-Kruger itis.
Your ignorance is murdering people. https://t.co/qlxB9Jccv8

— liam cunningham (@liamcunningham1) March 5, 2026

Zionists are good at two things and two things only – lying and playing the victim.

Not intelligence,it’s fabrication from Zionist mind https://t.co/54dNx92tNW

— uni 🕸 (@o1wa12) March 5, 2026

Israel has been telling us the same shit for years.

‘Iran is only 4 weeks 3 days away from nuclear bombs’ in 2003

‘Iran is only 8 days from nuclear bombs’ in 2018

‘Iran is only 2 months away from a nuclear bomb’ in 2026 https://t.co/YlAHcckaQw pic.twitter.com/YHmy1rraWY

— brown man (@AiemenRazieq) March 3, 2026

Of course, Iran is not close to building a nuclear weapon, like they haven’t been for the last 25 years. The US will take any excuse it can get to bully black and brown people.

We know – we’ve been hearing the same shit for decades. The US just needed to kill and bully ppl. https://t.co/HWz1Z738jf

— Oscar J (@OscarJ43943261) March 4, 2026

Iran is being made into Iraq 2.0

Remember when they told us the same lies about Iraq?

Well, that bullshit was made up by an Iraqi defector who wanted to bring down Saddam Hussein. The US then used those lies about ‘bioweapons’ to justify the large-scale and destructive invasion of Iraq.

Remember this?
“[Intelligence] concludes that Iraq has chemical and biological weapons, that Saddam has continued to produce them, that he has existing and active military plans for the use of chemical and biological weapons, which could be activated within 45 minutes.” https://t.co/WbQxrJ2viS

— gathara (@gathara) March 5, 2026

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They use the same playbook every single time. They’re not even smart enough to come up with something new.

Same lies they told about Iraq https://t.co/AljCnfVVsW

— Chris87 (@ChrisATFC87) March 4, 2026

“WMD” all over again https://t.co/njj9NLtTUg

— Shant (@ShantDotMe) March 5, 2026

How many times is the US willing to go to war for Israel?

Once again the US is at war for Israel under a fake claim of weapons of mass destruction. https://t.co/O6zdJC7ivw

— Frank Wright (@frankwrighter) March 4, 2026

And why are we even surprised a pedophile is lying again?

So pedophile President @realDonaldTrump lied again https://t.co/HWQjvRI7zb

— Paul Dowson (@PaulDowson89788) March 5, 2026

Trump is full of shit. So is Netanyahu – and whilst some people are starting to see through the repeated lies and fabrications, a large proportion of the West is still believing every word that comes out of their genocidal mouths.

Of course, it doesn’t help that the mainstream media are parroting the lies of the US and Israel – but at this point, that’s what we expect. But until the media and Western politicians grow a backbone, nothing is going to change.

Featured image via Sky News/YouTube

Today, 5 March, home secretary Shabana Mahmood delivered a speech on immigration to left-leaning think tank the Institute for Public Policy Research. She sought to argue for the ‘Labour case’ for gutting the UK asylum system.

In amongst the now-typical guff about public fear over ‘uncontrolled’ immigration, Mahmood also slipped in a new escalation of her party’s racist anti-immigrant turn. Namely, if an asylum seeker works illegally, or otherwise breaks the law, Labour plans to remove support payments and turn them out of their accommodation.

Because a sudden increase in now-homeless asylum seekers will definitely reduce public fear.

Removing support

In amongst her boasts about Labour’s new visa pause and degrading refugee protections to a temporary status, Mahmood explained her newest plans:

So this government will today introduce new, secondary legislation which will remove the duty to provide asylum support, replacing it with a power to do so.

Those who require it, and play by the rules, will rightly continue to receive asylum support. But those who do not will have their support removed.

The generosity of the British people will become conditional on those seeking asylum following the law, living by our rules, and not working illegally.

Taxpayer-funded accommodation will be reserved for those who have no right to work, and will otherwise be destitute.

For context, we might want to take a look at why those asylum seekers are working illegally. After all, the home secretary has been banging on about how generous the government is with its handouts.

According to charity the Refugee Council:

So, asylum seekers will now be faced with a choice between trying to survive well below the poverty line in government accommodation, or turning to illegal work and potentially being thrown out altogether.

It obviously won’t work

Accordingly, the Refugee Council pointed out that this would lead to an increase in rough sleeping. As such, the cost of the accommodation would simply be shifted to local councils and the health service. This seems obvious, given that if you take away people’s homes, they become homeless people.

The charity’s director of external affairs, Imran Hussain, suggested that making asylum decisions faster would be “far more effective” in slashing costs. Again, this makes sense, given that, as Mahmood highlighted:

Last year alone, £4 billion was spent on asylum accommodation.

If only something could be done to make temporary asylum accommodations into a short-term solution, ay?

However, Labour aren’t actually looking to fix the UK’s broken asylum system. Rather, they’re trying to appear ‘tough on immigration’ in a futile attempt to court the far-right. 

Mahmood had the gall to state that:

And when fearful, people turn inwards. Their vision of this country narrows. Their patriotism turns into something smaller, something darker; an ethno-nationalism emerges. The idea of a greater Britain gives way to the lure of a littler England. And other voices […] take hold.

As if her party isn’t blatantly capitulating to that nationalism by joining in far-right rhetoric.

Swinging for the Greens

Speaking of which, the home secretary also used her speech as an opportunity to take another swing at the Greens. Because, you know, Labour genuinely have no other plan after getting their ass handed to them in Gorton and Denton.

A Green Party spokesperson pointed out that Mahmood was:

deliberately misrepresenting Green Party Policy and reducing it to cheap soundbites.

Now, the government’s website removes inter-party attacks from its records of officials’ speeches. This leaves us with some terribly on-the-nose lines like:

Our asylum system is [political content redacted].

It also means that we have to rely on the BBC for the content of the redactions. Fortunately, the state broadcaster informs us that:

Mahmood will use the speech to step up her attacks on the Greens, accusing the party of wanting to create “a world without borders” and calling for “the most expensive and expansive migration policies anywhere in the world”.

Hope is dangerous

The faithful stenographer of the state also helpfully points out that the Green website says it will “treat all migrants as if they are citizens” and “dismantle the Home Office”. It conveniently left out the other half of Mahmood’s creative quote:

The Green Party wants to see a world without borders, until this happens the Green Party will implement a fair and humane system of managed immigration where people can move if they wish to do so.

Fuck them for wanting to work toward a better world, am I right?

Mahmood’s speech today showed two things quite clearly. First and foremost, there is no depth to which Labour won’t stoop in order to try to woo the right.

And second, Labour is clearly rattled. Gorton and Denton shook them to the core, and they have no answers. The coming months will see more of this rightward swerve, and more desperate attacks on the left-wing alternative. And, just like the rest of Labour’s new plans – they won’t work.

Featured image via the Canary

Indian Opposition Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday launched a scathing attack on the Modi government over America’s fatal strike on an Iranian vessel, IRIS Dena. The strike occurred as it was sailing through the Indian Ocean.

Kharge accused Modi of a “reckless abdication” of India’s national interests following. He emphasised that the ship was a returning guest from India’s International Fleet Review 2026 and was unarmed. Initially, there was no response from prime minister Modi.

Modi Govt’s reckless abdication of India’s strategic & national interests is there for all to see.

An Iranian ship, a guest of India was returning, unarmed from the International Fleet Review 2026, hosted by us, and was torpedoed in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).

No…

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— Mallikarjun Kharge (@kharge) March 5, 2026

Only after opposition started mounting, did the government respond, and even then, it was meagre.The Foreign Secretary was the only official pictured signing the Condolence Book at the Iranian Embassy in a formal gesture of respect.

As Maktoob Media reported:

India’s Foreign Secretary signs condolence book for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri has signed the condolence book for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei at the Embassy in Delhi, amidst growing criticism against the Modi government’s silence on the US-Israel attack on Iran.

India’s Foreign Secretary signs condolence book for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei

India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri has signed the condolence book for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei at the Embassy in Delhi, amidst growing criticism against the Modi government’s… pic.twitter.com/8u29HvIMwO

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— Maktoob (@MaktoobMedia) March 5, 2026

Meanwhile, American and Trump-aligned media outlets have been celebrating the cowardly attack, thumping their chests in glee.

Hegseth, who has said the war is being fought for Jesus, was gloating to reporters. In fact, he was admitting that they had:

 sunk an Iranian war ship that thought it was safe in international waters.

Instead it was sunk by a torpedo, a quiet death – the first sinking of an enemy ship by a torpedo since World War II. Like in that war, back when we were still the war department, we are fighting to win.

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He said the ship was:

ineffective, decimated, destroyed…pick your adjective, it is no more.

Murder of Indian guests and Modi’s silence

Professor Priyamvada Gopal questioned India’s legal standing in the face of such an attack, given Modi’s claim that India is the ‘guardian of the Indian Ocean.’

What about the Indian hosts of the Iranian ship on whose doorstep this happened? The self-proclaimed ‘guardian of the Indian Ocean’? Now a weak US vassal state. What terrible fall. https://t.co/RJOxDqBiNC

— Priyamvada Gopal © (@PriyamvadaGopal) March 5, 2026

Esha Krishnaswamy, the host of Historic.ly podcast, said that India wasn’t sovereign, insinuating that it had capitulated to the US and Israel.

Today, India showed that it isn’t an actual Sovereign country

— Esha K (@eshaLegal) March 5, 2026

Anand Mangnale, an Indian journalist said that the absence of any statement from the Foreign Minister, Defence Minister, Navy, or PM signified a failure in diplomatic and defence policy.

This is the same vessel that the US torpedoed. Off the coast of India. It was a GUEST of India visiting for a Naval exercise.

What did @Jaishankar @rajnathsingh @indiannavy & @narendramodi have to say about it?
NOTHING. SILENCE.
Never has Indian Foreign & Defence policy been… https://t.co/WVZJrO4obR

— Anand Mangnale (@FightAnand) March 5, 2026

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Journalist Barkha Dutt shared satellite footage of IRIS Dena participating in multilateral naval exercises held in India’s eastern port city of Visakhapatnamised on 19 February 2026. She expressed horror at the fact that those onboard had likely all been killed.

To watch this is chilling. To think that most of these sailors are now likely dead, killed by a US strike on a ship off the coast of Sri Lanka, who were part of naval exerises reviewed by President Murmu a fornight ago. The war reaches our backyard. https://t.co/sK5fgjGpqY

— barkha dutt (@BDUTT) March 4, 2026

Some pointed out that even Modi’s loyal supporters were turning on him.

Commenting on this, SOAS-based academic Subir Sinha wrote:

First @Zakka_Jacob. Then Kanwal and the other Sibal. And now @ShivAroor, who used to abuse and block people for people criticising his fawning coverage of Modi’s bombastic claims on security and foreign policy! The worms are turning! https://t.co/TcfidC9pJl

— Subir Sinha (@PoMoGandhi) March 5, 2026

So, when is Modi’s statement coming? Maybe never or far too late. The damage is done. However, we can clearly see where his loyalties lie. They are with the US and Israel, not India.

Featured image via the Canary

On 5 March, Ofwat proposed a fine of over £22m to lax water firm South East Water. The news comes on the heels of an investigation into the companies repeated failures across 2020-2023.

These supply disruptions affected upwards of 286,000 people. Often, customers were left without running water, meaning they were unable to bathe, clean dishes, or even flush the loo.

However, the fine isn’t a done deal just yet. Ofwat is running a customer consultation on the fine until 13 April. If you want to have your say, follow the link here.

South East Water ‘failed to plan sufficiently’

The report itself was damning, finding that South East Water:

failed to plan sufficiently, learn from incidents and conduct root cause analysis to maintain resilience within its water supply system, and was therefore unable to cope during periods of high demand or extreme weather. The company also failed to maintain key infrastructure such as service reservoirs, boreholes and major pipes.

Taken together, these issues meant that South East Water’s was more likely to fail in the face of both freeze-thaw events and long dry periods.

Ofwat accused the water firm of lacking organisation, responding slowly to key issues, and failing to learn from previous mistakes. Worse still, the water watchdog stated that:

South East Water has not taken ownership of these issues and as a result, supply interruptions are still happening too often. Our proposed enforcement order sets out the steps we expect the company to take, including senior management responsibility to fix the problems to prevent them from happening again.

‘Significant failings’

Given the severity of the issues, the full fine that Ofwat is proposing is £22.46m. That’s equal to 8% of the South East Water’s annual turnover.

The maximum penalty which the regulator could impose is equal to 10% of a company’s turnover. In South East Water’s case, this would run a bill of just over £28m.

Ofwat’s consultation for customers and stakeholders is already open. After it closes on 13 April 2026, Ofwat will weigh the responses and make its final decision.

Chris Walters, Ofwat’s interim CEO, said:

South East Water’s significant failings caused major disruption and had a huge impact on thousands of its customers. Not only did the company fail in its duty to provide a water supply to meet the demands of its customers, but it also fell short when it came to providing support for customers who lost their supply. They must do better.

This investigation gets to the heart of the company’s supply resilience problems. We want to see South East Water take more responsibility and get on with fixing things for its customers.

Legal challenge

Funding body the Utilities Trust of Australia currently owns a 50% share of South East Water, along with a group of other pension and investment funds.

South East Water has already filed for a judicial review in response to Ofwat’s proposed fine. The water firm also  requested an injunction, although the court swiftly rejected the plea.

Of course, given that the fine was issued for failures back in 2020-2023, it hasn’t taken into account any of the company’s more-recent massive fuckups. Back in December 2025, the Canary reported that:

Only last week, 6,500 properties were without water. Whilst the company restored the supply on Friday, January 16, it then left a further 5,500 homes without water on Sunday evening. This was due to a treatment works fault, a power outage and two burst mains – all at the same time.

And then again, on 19 January:

Over the last few weeks, South East Water left customers across Kent without water on several occasions.

Only last week, 6,500 properties were without water. Whilst the company restored the supply on Friday, January 16, it then left a further 5,500 homes without water on Sunday evening. This was due to a treatment works fault, a power outage and two burst mains – all at the same time.

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Adding insult to injury, South East Water had the nerve to claim that they’ll have to increase customers’ water bills. That’s in spite of Ofwat’s ban on further price hikes, which the company have appealed against.

Meanwhile, the water supplier’s profits have continued to climb. South East Water reported profit before tax of £18.2m for the six months up to October 2025, up from £2.6m the previous year.

To put that another way, South East Water are still failing to fix their mistakes, demanding that customers pay more, and raking in over £15m profit increases.

Further investigation

As such, Ofwat has already launched a new investigation of the supply interruptions in November and December 2025, and January 2026. The watchdog stated that:

This investigation will determine whether the company complied with its customer-focused licence condition, which requires companies to provide a high level of support to customers when issues arise. This licence condition was introduced in February 2024.

However, as the failures from 2020 have made abundantly clear, the threat of fines hasn’t been nearly enough to make South East Water mend its ways. This company is doing less than the bare minimum, leaving customers without water, and letting its infrastructure go to ruin.

And it’s still turning a massive profit.

This is privatisation in action – a system that allows companies to extract money from customers who literally have no other choice. The system is, and has always been, wide open to abuse. We can’t allow this to stand – we must call to end the failed experiment that is privatisation.

Featured image via the Canary

The UK Israel lobby is intensifying its pursuit of UN Special Rapporteur for occupied Palestine Francesca Albanese.

Witch-hunt hysteria

Notorious Israel lobbyist-turned-MP Luke Akehurst is laying the ground for a renewed attack on Albanese, calling for backing from the Starmer regime.

On 20 February, Akehurst asked if the Foreign Office to join in demands for the resignation of Albanese.

Zionist minister Chris Elmore responded yesterday saying, yes, the UK is making representations to the UN against Albanese and demanding “action” against her to — an undoubtedly Orwellian move. See his full response below.

4 March 2026. Along with several other countries, we have raised concerns about a series of comments made by the Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Ministers have raised these concerns directly with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the UK has asked that the comments of the Special Rapporteur be urgently investigated against the Code of Conduct for her post, and for action to be taken to restore the confidence of the international community in the independence and objectivity of this important role.

Israel’s number one defender

Before Labour parachuted him in as an MP, Akehurst ran “We Believe in Israel,” an offshoot of Britain Israel Communications and Research Center (BICOM) — another  lobby group. He also ran Labour First, a right-wing pressure group behind the worst attacks on the left. In 2023, Akehurst also helped infamous pro-Israel stalker Luke Stanger escape expulsion from the Labour party.

Trevor Chinn, a pro-Israel fanatic and megadonor, who sits on BICOM’s executive, has donated thousands to one Chris Elmore, Foreign Office minister. Elmore is also a parliamentary supporter of the racist lobby group Labour Friends of Israel. In 2025, he had a  meltdown with Middlesbrough MP Andy McDonald, who at the time supported a Jeremy Corbyn-proposed ‘ten minute rule’ bill, demanding an inquiry into the UK’s collaboration in Israel’s genocide.

Albanese remains louder than ever

The Israel lobby has tried for years to silence UN Special Rapporteur for Occupied Palestine, Francesca Albanese. She has been an outspoken advocate for the Palestinian people and has repeatedly condemned Israel’s genocide in Gaza – in the face of staggering silence from Western powers. Still, these orchestrated efforts have also failed. This includes an attempt earlier this year to prevent her re-accreditation to the position. The move was overwhelmingly rejected by UN member states on the United Nations Human Rights Council, who backed Albanese.

The Trump regime has also targeted the UN official with vicious, wide-ranging sanctions.

If anything, US hostility has amplified her voice for Palestinians and against genocide. However, as the Akehurst-Elmore exchange makes clear, the Israel lobby has not given up trying to remove her – using the Starmer regime as their latest springboard.

Featured image via the Canary 

The head of the Carers Allowance inquiry has told MPs that there is a ‘force of resistance’ in the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP). Liz Sayce was giving evidence to the Work and Pensions Committee session on what the department has done since her review.

Spoiler: it’s sweet fuck all.

DWP “minimising” problem, says Sayce

Sayce told the committee that rather than own up to their problems and attempt to do better, the DWP has instead attempted to “minimise” the problem. She also said the department had been focused on deflecting blame.

Chair of the committee, Debbie Abrahams, asked Sayce what she thought the DWPs progress had been like, since the carer’s allowance issue was first revealed in 2018.

While Sayce acknowledged that small improvements happened, she skewered the DWP:

What didn’t happen was there was no overarching plan to address the recommendations that the [2019 Work and Pensions] committee made, ensure that the issues and really the injustices that carers had faced with overpayments and nobody senior tracking it

Sayce’s review finally made it clear that the DWP’s ‘systemic’ issues were to blame for many carers being overpaid and that no blame lay at individual carers’ feet. However, just days after her review was published, a senior DWP figure published a blogpost still blaming carers.

Neil Couling wrote:

Incidentally what has been missed in all the [media] coverage is that this error (and hands up we made it and we will put it right) affects only a relatively small number of cases and wasn’t the cause of the original complaint. Because at the heart of the overpayment issues in CA is a failure to report changes of circumstances

Speaking about Couling’s blogpost she said:

I was really distressed by that blog, as I am sure many people were. Because what you were hoping for from senior people at that point was to really share with colleagues across the department the seriousness of this – what has been learned, what is going to be put right. Not attempt to minimise or again place a responsibility back on the carers, as if it was their fault.

Culture of ‘resistance’ in DWP

She then went on to talk about the culture of the DWP as a whole:

When I was doing the review, I found people at different levels who were serious about wanting to improve things, including front line officials. And since then I can see that there are some people who are really wanting to learn and wanting to make change

But there’s also these almost sort of forces of resistance, which which worry me, and it’s about culture.

Sayce did say, however, that it was heartening to see ministers and the permanent secretary refuting Couling’s claims.

She said she thought there was a ‘job to be done’ to ensure everyone across the DWP. Which lined Abrahams up nicely to ask what Sayce thought that ‘job’ should involve.

In her answer, Sayce threw shade at senior officials like Couling:

Culture change is a difficult thing, isn’t it? But I think the first thing is that the there needs to be a modeling from senior people across the department about the importance of learning, the importance of getting things right for the people who are claiming the benefits

Hypocrisy

Sayce also called out the hypocrisy of the department penalising claimants for not responding quickly enough when they have excessive wait times. Asked by Joanna Baxter if she thinks the DWP customer charter for carer’s allowance is enough, she said:

One of the things that came through in the review was that sometimes, maybe for understandable reasons, the DWP didn’t respond very promptly. Somebody would communicate, and they didn’t get a response in a swift timescale, but they were expected to respond within specified timelines.

She continued:

The charter says something like… ‘we’ll reply as soon as we can’ So then you think, well, can the carer reply as soon as they can? There should be a kind of reciprocal rights and responsibilities here

She also raised the issue that while the DWP have contracted out the helplines jobs to bring down wait times, those on the end of the phone aren’t experts. So customers then have to wait for someone actually within the department to get back to them, which can often get lost. Sayce said this is something that also needs to have better regulations.

Speaking about staff, Sayce said that’s why she felt senior members of staff had perhaps brushed the issue under the carpet:

I felt that sometimes there was a kind of effort to almost minimise what had gone wrong to reassure staff that they hadn’t done anything. And actually that’s the wrong thing to do. As a leader in such a circumstance what you need to do, I think, is to own the problem, explain why the system wasn’t right.

DWP culture needs demolishing

Finally speaking about the culture again, she said more needed to be done by senior figures

I think it’s important with culture change to understand where you’re at, to understand what you’re doing, to shift the culture and to track it. The senior team needs to be on that case. It needs to be a bit more systematic than just good intent.

Sayce is right, that more needs to be done to change the culture in the DWP. But when they’ve had so many chances to improve, it’s hard to be as positive as her that they actually want to.

The DWP is a department entrenched in demonising poor and disabled people. For a positive culture shift to happen it needs to be completely stripped back to the bare bones and built again from the ground up. As a department that wants to actually support those who need it, not work against them.

Featured image via the Canary

Republicans in the US Senate have voted to block a Democratic resolution to stop Trump’s illegal war in Iran.

BREAKING: Senate Republicans just blocked our bipartisan War Powers Resolution to rein in Trump’s illegal war of choice against Iran.

They chose fealty to Trump over our troops’ lives.

— Tammy Duckworth (@SenDuckworth) March 4, 2026

They defeated the procedural vote to rein in Trump’s military powers by a 47-52 vote. A separate House vote is set for March 5, today.

However, the Republicans are confident they will win.

The supporters of the resolution say that Trump “exceeded his constitutional authority” by launching war alongside Israel.

Under Article II of the US Constitution, presidents can only launch attacks in self-defence in response to an immediate threat. Otherwise, Congress has the sole power to declare war.

And as we have already established, there was no immediate threat to either the US or Israel.

Additionally, as the Canary has previously reported, even former senior US military officials have said that Trump’s war on Iran is illegal. Even the Pentagon has since stated there was no imminent threat from Iran.

Senator Tim Kaine argued that:

even in a classified setting, the Trump administration could produce no evidence, none that the US was under an imminent threat of attack from Iran.

Make your mind up

Trump has claimed that Iran was aiming to rebuild its nuclear programme. Which he also said Israel and the US “obliterated” in strikes last year. However, there was no evidence of any nuclear programme, this year or last.

The director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency has told NBC News the organisation does not believe Iran has nuclear weapons and:

had not seen elements of a systematic and structured program to manufacture nuclear weapons there.

Trump also claimed that Iran was seeking to develop a long-range missile to attack the US.

Meanwhile, Marco Rubio, Secretary of State, told reporters that Israel was planning to attack Iran, and this would likely have led to “retribution” against US assets in the region.

But again, Trump contradicted this by saying Iran was the one planning an imminent attack on Israel.

Trump can’t even stick to one lie.

But underneath all of that is the Trump administration’s attempts to frame the whole of Iran’s military and nuclear-energy programs since the Islamic revolution in 1979, as an imminent threat to the US.

Additionally, Iran had been in talks with the US to scale down Iran’s nuclear programme in the lead-up to the US and Israel’s illegal attacks.

And this wasn’t the first time that Israel has bombed Iran during peace talks.

Trump is unhinged. Up to now, he has been attacking Iran without any approval from the US government. Worryingly, he now has that approval, which means he will only become even more dangerous. It’s time that other nations stepped up and stepped in – because otherwise, alongside Netanyahu, he is going to murder thousands more black and brown people.

Featured image via HG

Besmira Manaj PhD is governance and geopolitics specialist, and a member of the UK Conservative Party, and Director of Conservatives Friends of Albania. 

Illegal migration is a symptom of weak governance and poor coordination, not the root cause.

The UK debate on illegal migration has become increasingly narrow. Too often, migration itself is treated as the core problem rather than the visible outcome of deeper failures in governance, security coordination and institutional weakness beyond Britain’s borders. This framing may offer political clarity, but it is not a strategy and it will not secure Britain’s borders.

Nowhere illustrates this more clearly than the Western Balkans. Too often treated as a peripheral foreign policy issue, the region has in fact become central to Britain’s long-term border security challenges. Weak institutions, fragmented coordination and entrenched organised crime networks shape migration routes long before anyone reaches the Channel.

For Conservatives serious about sovereignty, enforcement and national resilience, the Western Balkans should be understood as a frontline security issue not a distant diplomatic concern.

Britain’s border problem starts far from Britain.

Public attention understandably focuses on the final stage of irregular migration: small boats crossing the Channel. But this narrow focus obscures the upstream drivers that determine who reaches Europe in the first place and how.

The Western Balkans sit at the crossroads of key migration and trafficking routes into Western Europe. Weak border enforcement, politicised institutions, limited judicial capacity and corruption allow criminal networks to operate with relative ease. These networks facilitate irregular migration, human trafficking, drug smuggling and financial crime all of which ultimately affect the UK.

In recent years, citizens from the Western Balkans have featured prominently in UK asylum and illegal migration statistics. While economic motivations are often cited, the deeper drivers are governance-related: lack of institutional trust, limited economic opportunity and the presence of organised crime networks that profit from instability.

A Conservative migration policy that focuses solely on deterrence at the UK border without addressing these upstream conditions is incomplete by design.

Organised crime thrives where coordination fails.

The Western Balkans remain one of Europe’s most persistent hubs for organised crime. Criminal groups operating in the region are highly networked, technologically agile and deeply embedded in weak state structures. Where institutions lack capacity or independence, criminal actors step in.

This is not an abstract regional problem. Balkan based criminal networks are directly linked to illicit markets in the UK, particularly in drugs, trafficking and financial crime. Fragmented intelligence sharing, weak judicial cooperation and inconsistent enforcement across Europe make these networks harder to disrupt.

For Conservatives, this should be a warning sign. Law and order cannot stop at national borders. Border control without coordination is not control at all.

There are limits to what a technocratic EU can do.

For decades, the dominant response to instability in the Western Balkans has been EU enlargement orthodoxy: long accession processes, technical benchmarks and compliance checklists. While this approach has delivered surface level reforms, it has failed to produce deep institutional resilience or genuine political accountability.

In practice, technocratic conditionality has too often rewarded box-ticking over substance. This has fuelled public frustration, elite capture and declining trust in institutions creating fertile ground for criminality, emigration and external influence.

The UK, no longer bound by EU frameworks, has an opportunity to engage differently. A Conservative foreign policy should avoid replicating Brussels’ bureaucratic instincts and instead focus on targeted, outcome driven engagement aligned with British interests.

Geopolitical competition fills the vacuum.

Where governance is weak and Western engagement is incoherent, other actors move in. Russia, China and Turkey have all expanded their influence in the Western Balkans, exploiting political fragmentation and institutional vulnerability.

Russia leverages energy dependency and disinformation. China offers infrastructure finance with limited transparency and long-term dependency risks. Turkey projects influence through cultural and economic ties. None prioritise rule of law, accountability or institutional independence in ways that align with UK security interests.

Geopolitical competition amplifies instability. Influence gained through weak governance does not stabilise regions it entrenches dependency and undermines reform. A Conservative approach must be clear-eyed: influence is secured through sustained engagement, not declarations.

Migration is a symptom, not the disease.

Treating migration itself as the primary problem risks a serious misdiagnosis. Migration is a symptom of governance failure, economic stagnation and institutional decay. Without addressing those causes, enforcement measures will continue to chase effects rather than resolve drivers.

This does not mean abandoning firm border control. Conservatives are right to insist on enforcement, deterrence and clear rules. But enforcement alone cannot compensate for weak coordination and upstream failure.

Blame without coordination offers political noise, not policy results.

So what should a Conservative strategy prioritise?

First, the UK should prioritise security and governance cooperation with Western Balkan states. Support for border management, judicial reform, anti-corruption bodies and intelligence-sharing delivers direct returns for UK security.

Second, the UK should pursue bilateral and flexible engagement, working with reform-minded institutions and leaders rather than relying on rigid frameworks that reward form over substance.

Third, public–private partnerships should be used more strategically. Investment in energy security, infrastructure and employment reduces the economic drivers of emigration while reinforcing accountability through market discipline.

Finally, migration policy must be integrated into foreign and security policy thinking. Border control is not just a domestic issue it is a strategic challenge that begins far beyond Britain’s coastline.

This is a test of Conservative seriousness.

The Western Balkans are not a peripheral concern. They are a test of Conservative realism in foreign and security policy: whether Britain can pursue an approach rooted in competence, coordination and national interest rather than slogans.

Blaming migration may be easy. Fixing weak governance and poor coordination is harder but it is the only route to durable border control and genuine security.

If Conservatives want to secure Britain’s borders, they must be willing to look beyond them.