The ruling Labour cabinet would face decimation if there was an election today. And if opponents to its left could join forces against the increasingly authoritarian Labour, the UK would stand a much better chance of stopping the far right from entering government and building on Keir Starmer’s legacy of repression.

| Nowcast UK – State of the Cabinet*
June 13, 2026

16 cabinet ministers risk losing their seat if an election was held today

* At time of posting pic.twitter.com/OysjbzSQ1i

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— Josh Housden (@JoshHousden) June 13, 2026

The good news is that polling shows we have a real chance to throw the vacuous corporate lackeys of Starmer’s cabinet out of power. Labour has:

• Failed to make meaningful improvements to our lives.
• Treated opponents of genocide as terrorists while cracking down on our freedoms to protect Israel.
• Let lobbyists influence our education system to try and silence people’s social conscience.
• Sought to limit the information young people get (possibly to reduce their anti-genocide activism and mass exodus away from Labour).
• Pandered to the far right.

From the Greens to the Lib Dems, and from the SNP and Plaid Cymru to independents, the prediction is that people to the left of Labour will abandon it in massive numbers.

We could be celebrating the losses of awful Labour right-wingers like Rachel Reeves, Steve Reed, Yvette Cooper, and David Lammy. And although Wes Streeting isn’t in the cabinet anymore, we could celebrate his exit too:

Independents can defeat Wes Streeting in Ilford North. pic.twitter.com/EX8VtqC3Et

— Ed Sykes (@OsoSabioUK) June 15, 2026

The bad news, of course, is Reform. Because the far-right party hasn’t just been biting chunks out of the Conservative Party. It has also used its dodgy billionaire money to convince people in neglected working-class communities to ignore its hateful divisiveness and send Labour a message.

If people to the left of Labour manage to coordinate their resistance, though, a Reform-Tory government isn’t inevitable.

Unite the left, and Labour could lose even worse

While the polling shows lots of Labour cabinet members losing their seats, it also shows some who could still remain MPs. Those are James Murray, Keir Starmer, Peter Kyle, Heidi Alexander, Douglas Alexander, Alan Campbell, and Emma Reynolds.

Starmer, however, absolutely can lose. That would just require a deal between independent left-wingers and the Greens to make sure there is no splitting of progressive votes:

Keir Starmer would keep his seat if his opponents on the left were divided. He would lose it if there was a joint campaign to get him out. pic.twitter.com/AxISkTJSIF

— Ed Sykes (@OsoSabioUK) June 15, 2026

Murray could potentially lose Ealing North too, if Greens and Independents can join campaigning forces. There are other areas in London and cities around the country where this may also be the case.

In some places, the Green Party is the strongest opponent to Labour. In Hove and Portslade, for example, it could defeat prominent Labour Friend of Israel Peter Kyle if it benefits from some of the energetic Independent campaigning of 2024.

In Scotland, Douglas Alexander could lose Lothian East to the SNP if Greens could help to tip it over the line. In fact, some kind of anti-Labour deal between the two could throw Labour out of Scotland entirely by taking Edinburgh South too.

With Campbell in Tynemouth, Reynolds in Wycombe, and Heidi Alexander in Swindon South, Reform is currently Labour’s main challenger.

In short, Starmer’s Labour could lose even worse. And left-wingers could benefit from that in some places. But to stop both Reform and Labour, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. Different strategies will work in different places, and different parties are more likely to win.

Everyone to the left of Labour needs to find a way to work together asap. And changing our voting system should be a key point to unify us. Because making our electoral system proportional is the best hope for stopping the far right and ending Labour-Tory dominance.

Featured image via the Canary

By Ed Sykes

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Human rights activists have mounted a protest against Israel’s abduction and torture of thousands of Palestinians. And it did so right outside the Israeli embassy last Saturday, 13 June 2026.

Protest at the Israeli embassy

The Red Ribbons campaign aims to make sure that the illegally detained, tortured – and often raped – overwhelmingly civilian detainees are not forgotten. Their protest at the Israeli embassy was photographed by activist cameraman BetterThanReal, who kindly provided them to the Canary. It included a bloodied re-enactment with activists representing some of the huge number of bound and abused prisoners held indefinitely in Israeli torture camps:

Protesters also drew attention to the ongoing, 18-month imprisonment and torture of Gaza medical director Dr Hussam Abu Safiya and to the plight of women and children held as hostages by Israel:

Palestinian prisoners and their families told TRT World earlier this month some of the horrors they faced while detained without charge:

Double standard

Around ten thousand Palestinians are currently held in these camps facing sexual torture, rape and even the use of dogs to rape. Western governments and media fanned a moral panic over a couple of hundred Israeli prisoners of war in Gaza who were well treated and faced more danger from their own side. But thousands of tortured and raped Palestinians barely registers as the west colludes in Israel’s racist, terrorist colonial project.

Featured image via the Canary

By Skwawkbox

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The Labour MP who has launched another attempt to rush assisted dying through parliament has urged the Lords to ‘finish the job’. Labour MP for Rochester and Strood Laura Edwards is attempting to push assisted dying through parliament again using dirty tricks.

BREAKING: The Assisted Dying Bill will be reintroduced to Parliament next week by Labour MP Lauren Edwards pic.twitter.com/uzvJm5mIoR

— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) June 14, 2026

Dirty tricks again on assisted dying

Under the Parliament Act, if the same bill is passed by MPs in two consecutive parliamentary sessions, peers have no power to stop it. While Lords can suggest amendments, there’s also no requirement for the Commons to pass them.

And here’s the worst part: if the Lords don’t agree to pass the bill and it gets talked out by the end of the parliamentary session, it becomes law by default.

The original Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, was voted through by MPs after Kim Leadbeater used every weapon she could to stop those concerned about coercion and disabled people voicing opposition. At every turn Leadbeater painted opposition as anti-choice, as opposed to disabled people terrified for our community.

It then went to the Lords, where those for the assisted dying bill, including media shills, tried to tear down those attempting to bring amendments.

In the Lords, so many Peers wanted to speak that the debate had to be spread over two days, with two-thirds of speakers being against the bill. It progressed to committee stage, where the corrupt committee restricted evidence.

After that it went back to the lords, where Falconer casually said that both pregnant people and poor people would be allowed assisted deaths. The bill eventually ran out of time, as so many peers wanted to scrutinise it, which again was criticised.

Lauren Edwards is as bloodthirsty as Leadbeater

Speaking to BBC Radio 4, Edwards said she was ‘playing by the rules’ and asking the Lords to do the same regarding the assisted dying bill.

She said:

Laws passed in the House of Commons are then refined by the House of Lords, but they don’t have the opportunity to block them.

It’s perfectly reasonable for us to ask the House of Lords to finish the job.

To be clear, this is a law that would usher in state-supported euthanisation for disabled people. If I were attempting to be an architect for this, I probably wouldn’t have used a phrase that makes me sound like a blood thirsty ghoul, but you do you, Lauren.

Furthermore, it’s not really ‘playing fair’ if you’re taking away the other team’s powers, is it?

By using this loophole, Edwards has to use the exact same assisted dying bill Leadbeater introduced, which means there would be no protection for anyone vulnerable from being coerced into it. As Labour MP Ashley Dalton pointed out, we can’t expect the ‘for’ side to be open to commons amendments either, as they rejected them all last time

Dalton replied to a tweet suggesting MPs use this as a new opportunity to ‘fix it rather than criticise it’ with:

Commons Committee tried, but almost all amendments were rejected by the proponents of the bill. The proponents even brought 77 amendments themselves to the Lords it was in such a bad state when it left the Common. Remains to be seen if they incorporate any of these in the new bill.

Edwards hasn’t listened

It seems that Edwards cockily thinks she can rely on the Commons to vote for the same assisted dying bill twice. However, MPs have had over a year to realise they were rushed into a terrible decision. That while many people support assisted dying in theory, anyone who looks at the bill can see how flawed and lacking in safeguards it is.

One things for sure, disabled people have another fight on our hands. But Labour should already know we will not quietly let them kill us.

Featured image via the Canary

By Rachel Charlton-Dailey

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Brighton stood up against far-right intimidation on 13 June 2026 as thousands of anti-fascists massively outnumbered a South East Patriots march. The Carnival Against Fascism mobilisation was stunning to see, and blocked the racist scumbags at every single turn.

Wandering around with the far-right, I observed an obvious disconnect between the far-right’s public branding and the unfiltered racism of its members. In short, brighton proved its resilience and commitment to standing up to hate.

The performance of innocence

The South East Patriots tried so hard to project a respectable public image for the cameras. I struggled to get myself into their crowd, as policemen had blocked off the four main streets. But they didn’t cover the tiny side streets. Wandering into a street packed with leering men, a sea of flags, and empty beer cans was nothing new. But the banner “Calling people racist when they don’t agree with you is getting really boring” was.

Sh*t like that reeks of desperation. Away from the cameras, the language quickly became that of the most disgusting white supremacy. Let’s be honest, fascists love throwing out slurs and the crowd in Brighton was no different. But watching a young teen calling someone a “sand rat” whilst laughing with his dad hit home.

The dehumanisation of Black and Brown people permeates the entire movement. They can claim what they want through their banners. However, the language these thugs dispense daily, in person, confirms their deep-seated racial hatred towards people they don’t even know.

When Black and Brown people consistently warn us that these marches threaten their entire existence, we need to listen, because it’s getting worse in Brighton especially.

Under the lying banners

The aggression is never just verbal. Speaking to one of them, he took a sip of his Peroni, looked me dead in the eye, and said something that shocked me so much, it nearly blew my cover. He pointed across the police line at the thousands of anti-fascists stood in opposition, picked one lad stood at the front and said:

“I swear, if I had cancer, I’d take a gun and shoot every one of them on the other side, starting with that Black c**t”

This is the very real danger of the modern far-right. They don’t want a political debate. They want a war and view that anyone who isn’t white is a target for eradication.

The crowd also actively weaponised the teeny space they occupied. One woman openly boasted about carrying a large supply of stink bombs. She dropped a bunch of them whilst wandering through the Antifa crowd, handing them out for people to throw over the police line. It was silly of her to offer me over half as they got binned.

“Hyper-masculinity” and hostility

The demographic makeup of the fascist assembly was, unsurprisingly, overwhelmingly male. You know, the typical lads, above the age of thirty with bald heads and shit lion tattoos. Out of around 300 fash there, I saw less than 30 women. This gender imbalance matches wider research by Hope Not Hate which shows far-right spaces rely on this weird hyper-masculine posturing. Aggression, dominance and an inability to listen, you know the type. Clearly, brighton’s experience reflects disturbing national trends.

During the violent far-right riots in Ballymena, 36% of the men arrested had previously been reported for domestic abuse. And 41% of those nicked during wider riots had prior domestic abuse records. So if they’re willing to beat their partners, what the hell can they do to people they don’t know?

The few women present in Brighton were paraded at the front. One woman draped in a flag shouted into a megaphone to lead the chants at one point. The far-right use their women as a shield to appear less threatening, even while the males around them project intense physical aggression.

This aggression targets anyone who doesn’t play ball. The amount of times they screamed at me to take off my mask got boring. They completely fail to see those protecting their health or privacy through face coverings. They view masks as nothing more a marker of infiltration.

Ruined march exposes two-tier policing

Their weird street posturing quickly broke down as Antifa blockades derailed their schedule. We turned their march into a slow, sluggish crawl as they were rightly cut off at every turn. Must have been upsetting, listening to FatBoy Slim play a secret DJ set, whilst being trapped under a bridge.

But whilst our community stalled the thugs, the police response exposed a dark double-standard. Officers handled the far-right with kid gloves, matching their aggression with little more than shouting and the occasional shove.

But anti-racism protesters were met with outright aggression. After being rumbled by Nick Tenconi’s security team, I was forced to leg-it and rejoin our side for safety.

At one point, me and a friend were walking casually towards a police line when the copper instantly withdrew his baton. This heavy handed approach from the state made one thing very clear — the police reserve their violent intimidation tactics for people opposing fascism.

Brighton, you did everyone proud on Saturday. The incredible show of love and solidarity was one of the most stunning I have seen. But the far-right demonstration showed me that this love isn’t enough.

As the far-right grow more desperate, we must be prepared and equipped to prevent this behaviour from spiralling.

Featured images via AntifaBot

By Antifabot

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Finally, Indian PM Narendra Modi’s “blind devotion” to Israel is being questioned. However, Israel propagandists like Eylon Levy, The Times of Israel, and Jewish Insider are pushing deeper links to Israel.

In India, Jairam Ramesh, Congress Party’s spokesperson, welcomed the unrestricted reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, which would bring relief to India. But he also cautioned that deeper economic challenges remain unresolved.

And, in a demonstration of staunch opposition, the Congress Party have also said that Modi should reconsider his “blind devotion and unconditional support” for Israel. And the party have also accused Modi of not representing India’s national interests, and demanded a more balanced approach.

Pakistan’s role as a mediator is being seen in India as a “monumental failure” of Modi’s foreign policy, for a country that pioneered the non-aligned movement.

The Wire reported:

India lost its moral guardrails; its outrageous pro-America/Israel stand on UN resolutions would have given Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru sleepless nights even in the tranquil heavens. India thought it would earn brownie points for being part of Trump’s tutored school choir. Trump instead saw India as an easy pushover. Enter Pakistan. The rest is history.

Zionist pitch for deeper India-Israel ties

Meanwhile, Eylon Levy, a former spokesperson for Israel, posted on X that India should deepen its military and economic ties with Israel and abandon its “unsustainable” neutrality in the face of the Iran deal, which he called a “disaster for India.”

It is no accident that India’s right-wing are fervent supporters of Israel, united as they are by Islamophobia. The fact the Iran deal elevates Pakistan also threatens the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) trade corridor, and endangers Indian workers in the Gulf.

The Times of Israel and Jewish Insider are both supporting what they call “India, Israel, and the UAE: The New Power Triangle in the Middle East.”

Jewish Insider said that “alignments” between Israel, the UAE, and India had created new opportunities for cooperation, citing the May defence pact between India and the UAE.

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A post shared by Jewish Insider (@jewishinsider)

The Times of Israel frames India as a country that engages with Iran through forums like BRICS while also expanding defense and economic cooperation with Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv. It discusses IMEC as an opportunity facing challenges amid regional tensions.

Indian seafarers killed by the USA

The death of Indian seafarers in US attacks on commercial ships navigating through the Strait of Hormuz has sparked outrage across India’s political spectrum, with all opposition parties condemning the “dastardly attack” and accusing the US of acting like a “gangster trying to impose its hegemony over the entire world.”

The five left parties – Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India Marxist-Leninist (Liberation), All India Forward Bloc, Revolutionary Socialist Party – have issued the following joint statement: pic.twitter.com/QHvUqMl73C

— CPI (M) (@cpimspeak) June 15, 2026

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In a joint statement, CPI(M), CPI, CPI (ML), and others demanded that the Modi government ensure proper compensation to the families of the slain seafarers and pursue all diplomatic means to punish those responsible, while calling on the people of India to protest against US aggression.

They call Modi’s government “junior partner” to the US, failing in its duty to protect Indian citizens, and reneging on India’s longstanding tradition of an independent foreign policy.

Congress’s Rahul Gandhi called Modi an “obedient servant” and “compromised” by foreign powers.

Compromised PM के राज में एक भारतीय होने का मतलब दुर्गति है।

विदेशी ताकत हमारे नागरिकों को मारती है। हमारी सरकार एक आज्ञाकारी नौकर की तरह चुप-चाप आदेश मान लेती है – और हमारे नागरिक सड़ने के लिए छोड़ दिए जाते हैं।

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इस भारतीय को घर लाइए। अभी। https://t.co/WE7Y69wHZt

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) June 14, 2026

The Guardian also reported that the “seemingly blase” response from the US government to the killing of the sailors has been the cause of great consternation in India.

Modi and Trump are expected to meet during the current G-7 summit in France. Will US/Israel axis propagandists have won or not – time will tell.

Featured image via the Canary

By The Canary

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The number of disabled children who are kicked off benefits when they are reassessed as an adult has doubled in two years.

Under the Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) rules, children get disability living allowance (DLA) until they are 16. Instead of just automatically moving on to Personal Independence Payment (PIP), they then have to reapply.

It should be a straightforward process, but because PIP is a needlessly cruel system, many find it harder to qualify for.

Disabled kids suddenly not disabled at 16

Information service, Benefits and Work, examined the statistics on moving from Child DLA to PIP on DWP StatXplore. Its team found that between 2023 and 2025, the rate of failure doubled.

From August to October 2023, 11% of claimants who had received DLA failed the assessment to get PIP. But for the same quarter in 2025, the failure rate had jumped to 23%.

Those are the most recent stats available, so the situation could be much worse by now.

Not only that, but success rates where the claimant gets more money with PIP than they did from DLA have also fallen.

Between August and October 2023, 69% of claimants saw an increase in their award from moving to PIP. But in the same quarter in 2025, this increase rate was 54%.

So, despite there being no changes to the PIP assessment yet, it’s clearly already a ridiculous system to qualify for, if there’s such a discrepancy between children getting DLA and over-16s getting PIP. A young person’s disabilities don’t magically disappear on their 16th birthday.

Higher poverty rates

It’s especially worrying to see that so many disabled young people are left without support once they turn 16, when you consider how many disabled children live in poverty.

The children’s charity Variety found that 21,000 disabled children live in temporary accommodation. This equates to one out of every eight children facing homelessness.

It’s also important to consider that temporary accommodation often cannot meet the needs of disabled people.

Temporary accommodation is supposed to be a short-term fix, but Variety found that, on average, disabled children spend six to 10 months in temporary housing. Some cases exceeded six years.

Whilst there have been no policy changes since 2023, there has been a sustained campaign by the Tories and then Labour to demonise benefits claimants.

These latest statistics evidence another way that the DWP is trying to make life harder for people with disabilities.

Featured image via cottonbro studio

By Rachel Charlton-Dailey

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Two of Reform’s Wigan councillors have been pictured with a sign that reads “I would rather vote for Jimmy Saville than Labour”. The problem with that statement is it implies the people standing by it would vote for Jimmy Saville. The problem with that is the fact that Saville was a notorious paedophile:

Reform UK’s #Makerfield campaign team for @RobKenyonReform, including 2 Wigan councillors Gemma Painter and Lilian Rogers.

Photo ops with Jimmy Saville jokes.

Sick.@reformparty_uk and Kenyon, anything to say?

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Share this, make sure everyone in Makerfield sees it. pic.twitter.com/GHT3TFWCHj

— Reform Party UK Exposed (@reformexposed) June 15, 2026

Reform ignore crimes of Jimmy Saville

Here at the Canary, we’ve been as critical of Starmer as anyone. Arguably, we’ve been more critical, because we’ve been pointing out his flaws and deceptions since before he became Labour leader.

As bad as Starmer is, he’s clearly not worse than Jimmy f*cking Saville. You could argue that Starmer’s position as PM gives him a greater ability to cause damage, but that argument falls down when you’re saying you’d vote for Saville to replace him.

While Saville has once again become something of a joke, this man was a serious offender. 450 people accused him of sexual abuse. 82% of the victims were female; 80% of them were children. Saville used his position as a children’s entertainer to get away with this, as well as his connections within the media and charity sectors. He was a plague on this country, and no one should forget that.

Reform politicians have tried to paint themselves as the party which will tackle ‘grooming gangs’. Farage and his underlings told us the other parties don’t take the issue seriously, and yet here they are laughing about the most prolific sexual abuser of the past century.

And another pic.twitter.com/r5HNSZlFP9

— Reform Party UK Exposed (@reformexposed) June 15, 2026

“Reform Will Fix It’

This isn’t the only time that Reform has shown an unusual interest in Saville. In March this year, the party decided to borrow the dead paedophile’s ‘Jim’ll Fix It’ catchphrase:

WATCH: Nigel Farage is repeatedly heckled at the launch of Reform UK's London local election campaign pic.twitter.com/QCshvLKvU0

— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) March 28, 2026

Even some of their far-right supporters took issue with this, which is presumably why they’d later drop the catchphrase:

Reform will 'fix it's a bit Jimmy Saville esque if you ask me, but they are putting out the right message. https://t.co/Gz5HozCc3o

— ARAMINTA (@Glasvirgin) March 26, 2026

Reform’s cynicism around abuse doesn’t end there either. As we’ve reported:

• Grooming gang victims demanded an apology from Farage after he spread lies about them.
• Farage said it would be wrong to ban Twitter even though its AI was at the time producing Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM).

There’s also this:

A man is judged by the company he keeps. pic.twitter.com/vOZLwzKTje

— Reform Party UK Exposed (@reformexposed) October 28, 2025

If you’re unfamiliar with Andrew Tate, here’s a video of him explaining the techniques he used to traffic women:

Here he admits in more detail to tricking women, giving them the false impression of love, and using a "bottom bitch" for manipulation for the sole purpose of putting them in front of a camera and making money off of them.

Deception and exploitation. This is human trafficking. pic.twitter.com/XtS6uU2E5g

— Ridvan Aydemir | Apostate Prophet (@ApostateProphet) June 23, 2023

Unsurprising

Given all of the above, it’s not surprising that a Reform supporter would rather vote for Saville than Starmer. If anything, it seems like some people who support Farage just wouldn’t have a problem with Saville full stop.

These are not people who take abuse seriously, and as time goes on, that couldn’t be more obvious.

Featured image via Twitter

By Willem Moore

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The post How the left turned on the Jews appeared first on spiked.

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The United Nations (UN) has said that over 1000 people have been killed by drones in Sudan in 2026. Both the Sudanese state military and the UAE-backed Rapid Support Forces militia use drones. The three-year old war has displaced millions and killed thousands.

UN human rights chief Volker Turk said:

We are seeing a global shift in how war is waged.

The UN has warned for many years against the development of lethal autonomous weapons. This reality is now upon us.

Adding that:

Relentless drone attacks have caused mass casualties and terrorized civilians.

Turk was speaking at a UN event in Geneva about the rise of drone warfare around the globe. A senior UK minister was also in attendance…

Sudan under attack

The RSF, backed by the UAE, is fighting the Sudanese government, with gold interests and regional influence at stake.

Numerous foreign actors, including the UK, have caused the war to fester through active participation and/or outright passivity. Israel, too, is a player in the war.

The war in Sudan is theoretically between the Arab-majority RSF and the Sudanese government. But foreign states pursuing their own interests are backing the combatants. Turkey, Egypt and many more countries are pursuing their own interests in Sudan too.

The RSF has killed Sudanese civilians in vast numbers. Some estimates say 150,000 people have died and more than 10 million civilians have been displaced by fighting.

Massive increase in drone use

The UN reported:

The US-based Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) observed an 81% increase in drone attacks and a 600% increase in drone-related deaths in the war-torn east African country between 2024 and 2025.

And at the Geneva summit, Turk warned:

The prospect of billion-dollar, AI-enabled weapons [being] brought down by billion-dollar, AI-enabled defensive shields exposes the horror, emptiness, and futility of war.

Autonomous weapons cannot become a license for atrocity crimes.

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UK Africa minister Jenny Chapman was also in attendance. Displaying more neck than a herd of giraffes given the UK’s role in the war, Chapman told the audience:

Sudan’s warring parties have increased their brutality from the skies, using drones supplied by their backers to target civilians and aid workers.

This is deplorable and must stop.

Adding that organisations must:

document abuses and preserve evidence – essential steps to breaking the cycle of impunity.

UK role in slaughter is known

As the Canary has reported repeatedly:

British military components have shown up on the battlefield in RSF hands. The UK is a major arms supplier to UAE.

Even more damningly:

Sources have also claimed the UK downgraded the [humanitarian] situation in Sudan to avoid “pissing off the Emiratis”.

The Canary reported on 11 June that the first war crimes claim had been lodged against RSF in Kenya. Twelve victims backed by a Swiss legal NGO urged Kenya’s chief of prosecution to pursue the case. Associated Press (AP) reported on 9 June:

It is the first attempt to prosecute members of the Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, the paramilitary group fighting against the Sudanese military for over three years, outside Sudan.

Adding that:

The group, which has been accused by rights organizations of committing atrocities amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity, has ties with Kenya’s government.

The war in Sudan garners very little attention in the West. Yet the UK’s quiet but key role in a growing list of atrocities is unmistakable. Africa minister Jenny Chapman – and her bosses in No 10 – simply cannot be unaware of this fact.

Which, in turn, suggests that they’re peddling the same old neocolonial falsehoods.

Featured image via the Canary

By Joe Glenton

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Israel’s alliance with Somaliland is gathering steam. The settler-state appears is expanding its military footprint in the region and, as diplomatic relations grow closer than ever, Israel seems likely to  get what it wants.

On 13 June, Drop Site News reported that in an unprecedented display of support, the Muslim-majority nation witnessed “the public waving of Israeli flags—not in protest, but celebration.”

They added that:

Videos shared on social media from Somaliland’s day of independence on May 18 showed Israelis dancing in the streets of Hargeisa alongside locals, with blue and white stars of David flying beside Somaliland’s red, white, and green tricolor flag.

As the Canary reported on 21 May:

Israel and Somaliland have agreed to open embassies in Jerusalem and Hargeisa. Israel’s influence in the strategic Horn of Africa is growing. And there have been warnings Israel might ethnically cleanse Palestinians out of Palestine and into the country.

Israel was one of the first countries to recognise Somaliland, a breakaway territory of Somalia, in the early 1990s. UN members railed against the move, but the US defended Israel while not recognising Somaliland itself.

The surest sign of deepening ties between the settler-colony and fledgling Somaliland emerged on 18 May when president Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi was presented with:

a fragment of an Iron Dome interceptor—the Israeli air defense system used to intercept rockets and drones fired by Iran and its regional allies—by a visiting Israeli delegation.

Israel’s dirty war with Yemen

Nearby Yemen, across the Gulf of Aden, is seemingly Israel’s principal concern. According to Drop Site, Israel has been eyeing up locations for a military facility:

The base in question would allow Israel a military foothold on a crucial waterway near the Bab al-Mandab Strait—a maritime chokepoint comparable in importance to the Strait of Hormuz for exports from the Red Sea.

The outlet underlined a critical observation by pundits and analysts:

Berbera International Airport as a possible host to an expanded Israeli presence in the territory as part of an emerging alliance that would include Somaliland alongside Tel Aviv and Abu Dhabi.

The UAE which is already active in the Sudan civil war, has an agreement at the airport.

Ismail Omar Guelleh, president of nearby Djibouti — home to a major US military base — has described the UAE as Israel’s “vanguard,” while Somali president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud accused Israel of:

taking advantage of the long-standing dispute between Mogadishu and Hargeisa.

Abdullahi visited Israel on 14 June, and posted the following message on X:

For thirty-five years, the people of Somaliland have built a peaceful, democratic, and resilient nation. We asked the world: Do you see us? Israel answered first.

Today, history is being written, and Somaliland stands ready to forge a shared future founded on friendship, cooperation, and mutual respect.

A shared future is one way of putting it; another is ‘neocolonialism’. Somaliland is a key strategic location for Israeli power projection against Yemen. The statelet may also come to be a dumping ground for ethnically cleansed Palestinians.

Somaliland has struck a devil’s bargain with Israel, which, it may come to regret.

Featured image via YouTube / the Canary

By Joe Glenton

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