World News Thread

[Sunsilver]

Speaking of the non-confidence vote, this meme popped up on Twitter... I think Paddington would be much more popular than Boris!

[Eldy]

The Guardian reports that some of the anti-Johnson Tory MPs are planning a "vote strike" to undermine him by abstaining on votes over key bills. They also report that the leadership of the 1922 Committee—the collective group of Conservative backbenchers—mostly want Johnson gone, and could vote to change the rules and allow another vote of no confidence in less than 12 months. Should be plenty more UK politics drama to watch in the future.

[Eldy]

‘All options on the table’: Downing Street confirms Boris Johnson considering withdrawal from human rights treaty - The Independent

Boris Johnson’s official spokesperson has confirmed the government is considering withdrawal from the European Convention on Human Rights, saying “all options are on the table” in the wake of last night’s cancellation of a deportation flight to Rwanda.

The prime minister is facing fury from Tory backbenchers over the last-minute ruling from the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg which blocked last night’s flight, with many calling for the UK to pull out of the convention which it helped draw up in the aftermath of the Second World War.

All European states are signatories to the convention with the exception of Belarus, whose application to join the Council of Europe has been blocked because of its failure to meet democratic standards, and Russia, which pulled out in the wake of this year’s invasion of Ukraine.

Withdrawal would put at risk the Good Friday Agreement, which states that the UK government will ensure that the Convention is directly enforceable in Northern Ireland.

It's a good thing the Tories have shown such respect for the Good Friday Agreement; surely this will deter them.

Hidden text.

/s

[Frelga]

Turkey agreed to support Sweden and Finland joining NATO.

NEW: Finland’s president @niinisto says the memorandum “confirms that Turkey will at Madrid Summit … support the invitation of Finland and Sweden to become members of NATO.”

Concrete steps to be agreed by allies over next 2 days but decision “imminent”

[Eldy]

Good. Hopefully there weren't too many concessions.

[Frelga]

This is what Turkey says it got.

Here are the things Turkey got:

Sweden/Finland will lift its arms embargo

Both will support Turkey on PKK, stop support to YPG

They will amend their laws on terrorism

• They will share Intel with each other

They will extradite terror suspects 1/

Finland apparently has a somewhat different interpretation of the specifics, but is in agreement in general.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Meanwhile, in Israel.

Israeli Parliament Passes Vote To Dissolve, Hold New Elections

This will be the fifth election in three years, after the fragile "unity coalition" (basically everyone on both sides of Netanyahu) collapsed. Whether that will result in Netanyahu (who seems to have more lives than Jason) returning to power remains to be seen.

[Frelga]

Apparently Turkey also will be buying F-16s. Which it couldn't before? I don't have the background, although everything probably comes back to Kurds.

Erdogan is not a good guy, but Bayraktar is doing a lot of good in Ukraine.

Eta: oh, and the first personal meeting with Biden.

[Eldy]

In British politics, Boris Johnson has yet another scandal on his hands: this time, that he knowingly reappointed someone to the position of Chief Whip, knowing that he had a history of sexual harassment, and then lied about knowing this once the guy did it again. Two members of the Cabinet resigned in protest, including Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak.

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/07/05 ... vid-resign

Also of note regarding BoJo's viability as party leader: the Tories just lost two by-elections on June 23, losing seats that had been held by recently resigned Conservatives MPs (one of whom stepped down for watching porn in the House of Commons, the other for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old).

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Johnson can't survive politically much longer, can he?

Can he?

[Túrin Turambar]

It might not be a death spiral this time, but when a PM's leadership does become terminal this is what it looks like.

[RoseMorninStar]

Took me a second.

[Frelga]

My feed is split between my UK friends who detest Johnson, and Ukrainian sources that adore him because of the help provided by the UK allies. Ukraine really doesn't have the bandwidth to worry about anyone's internal issues.

[Sunsilver]

Johnson can't survive politically much longer, can he?

Can he?

Um...

[Frelga]

Maybe they need one of those single purpose websites for "has Johnson resigned", like this one

http://www.hasthelargehadroncolliderdes ... ldyet.com/

[Sunsilver]

LOL, Frelga!

[N.E. Brigand]

Johnson can't survive politically much longer, can he?

Can he?

Apparently he's going to try.

Also: Boris Johnson admits he met ex-KGB agent on secret trip to Italy in 2018 (Daily Mirror). That happened when he was Foreign Secretary. He met Evegency Lebedev without any other UK officials present. It's not necessarily nefarious -- although it happened amidst the Skripal poisoning crisis -- but it's not clear why he didn't acknowledge this meeting (which has been the subject of rumor for some time) before today.

[Túrin Turambar]

U.K. news outlets are reporting that Johnson will resign as Conservative Party leader today, but plans to stay on as PM until a successor is chosen. I can't see that working out - lame ducks have never been part of the parliamentary system.

Edit: And he's fronted the press and announced his resignation, with a handover timetable to be announced 'next week'. We'll see how the party reacts.

[Frelga]

KYIV POST

On July 7, Russian authorities celebrated the resignation of U.K. Prime Minister #Boris Johnson.

They called him "a stupid clown" who had finally got his just desserts for providing Ukraine with weapons to fight against the #Russian Federation.

[Eldy]

Labour leader Keir Starmer says his party will bring a vote of no confidence against Johnson if he attempts to remain PM for months to come. This would be a vote by the whole Commons, not by the Conservative Party, so the time limit discussed after the Tory vote last month doesn't apply.