#BREAKING
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo

Al-Qaeda has a new home base. It is the Islamic Republic of #Iran. We ignore this Iran/al-Qaeda nexus at our own peril.

Al-Qaeda has had a relationship with Iran for nearly three decades.

THREAD

1)
#Iran’s regime has a network of apologists/lobbyists in the US influencing foreign policymakers.

Kaveh Afrasiabi was recently arrested for acting as an agent of #Iran's regime.
https://t.co/fJq6jRtBha

There are more.

cc: @TheJusticeDept

THREAD

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U.S. to designate #Iran-backed Houthis in #Yemen as a foreign terrorist org (FTO)
https://t.co/ILBCg3Pfvs

Iran’s IRGC is funding/arming/provided & ... for the Houthis.

Dec 30—Missile attack on Aden airport. Yemen gov holds Houthis

THREAD

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One of #Iran’s “diplomats,” Assadollah Assadi, is awaiting a ruling from a Belgian court on his role in a bomb plot targeting an opposition rally in June 2018.

@eu_eeas should not give in to pressure from Tehran & impose justice as is

THREAD

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One year ago today, the U.S. military took out #Iran’s IRGC Quds Force chief Qassem Soleimani, the world’s No. 1 terrorist.

Don't listen to MSM. He was a ruthless killer loathed by people in Iran & across the Mid-East.

Please watch to the

2)
Iraqis dancing in the streets following news that Soleimani is no

3)
Poster of #Iran's terrorist-in-chief Qassem Soleimani being torn down in Gaza just

4)
A family in #Iran danced in their home after hearing about the “terrorist Soleimani's” death while chanting “Death to the Dictator,” in reference to

5)
Persian notes from inside Iran:
"We had a really joyous day after a very long time"
"Thank you, dear Trump"
"Long live Trump"
"Hats off to you, President Trump - From the people of Iran"

Credit: @IranNW

UK Energy White Paper is here.

I'll tweet the key points here👇

1/

Link to press

UK commits to an Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) from 1 January 2021.

Seems like a win for @beisgovuk, as @hmtreasury was known to be keen on a carbon tax

2/

Exploring the RAB model for new nuclear, as per @emilygosden article in @thetimes this

From press release, doesn't look like that many big new measures. Not surprising, as next year we're expecting:
▶️ Heat & Buildings Strat
▶️ Industrial Decarb Strat
▶️ Hydrogen Strat
▶️ Net Zero Strat
▶️ Transport Decarb Plan

And

A couple of hours later, and the White Paper is now here.

Powering Out Net Zero Future.

Details to follow

#Justin A day before the @MyMDC_T EOC, the party Treasurer General says he is unable to fund travel costs for delegates to congress because the money was allegedly stolen. We share contents of the letter from #ChiefNdlovu

“My office has been inundated with calls from concerned EOC delegates who by now should have received their Provincial transport allocation.
It has come to my attention that some of our members may not be able to travel to the EOC due to lack of funding.”

Equally I have received allegations that the Treasury is refusing to make payments for EOC, nothing could be further from the truth. I would like to take this opportunity as your Deputy Treasurer to inform you that as treasury we are not able to pay due to the fact that...

that funds were withdrawn from the party account on the 18th December 2020, we are still pursuing and trying to get some Standing Committee members who were involved in the unapproved transfer to return the money to the Party.
I was left a bit shocked to learn that the SG expects

Treasury to release money when he is the one who transferred all the money out of the account without my explicit approval. Perhaps the SG must inform members where the money is. I certainly do not have any knowledge of who he sent the money to or what has happened to those funds

Okay. Now that the lights are on again, let's do this Texas thing one more time from a slightly different angle. Because for a lot of people the REAL disaster of the last week is still on the way. … 1/22

Texas is finally back to a grid capacity that exceeds demand. That's good. However, it's only making it easier to see the water disaster, food disaster, and economic disaster ahead. Which is exactly what has billionaires bragging they "hit the jackpot." … 2/22

For energy companies in Texas, this has been the BEST WEEK EVER. The same goes for natural gas companies. The entire energy industry—including the owners of Texas wind farms—has seen a tremendous surge of profit. … 3/22

In just two days this week, Monday and Tuesday, providers easily cleared more profit than in a full year of ordinary, ho-hum service. NOT providing adequate electricity to Texas is much more profitable than providing every Texan with the power they need. By design. … 4/22

With a governor so busy going on Fox he didn’t have time to even distribute the stock of generators provided by FEMA, most of Texas is simply exhausted. But the energy industry is ecstatic. This sugar rush injected billions straight into their pockets *for failing*. … 5/22

Why is Johnson's speech at the Munich conference hailed in some quarters, even by some journalists that should know better, as "a major policy speech" with "substance"? I went to read it expecting for once to be pleasantly surprised. Alas! Thread

It is full of the usual misplaced optimism not backed by any serious analysis, jingoism & digs at other EU leaders with transparent, nearly servile efforts to regain favour with the new US administration. A few examples:

The speech starts with the trademark rethorical device beloved of the UK right (whether to attack "woke' culture or pro-EU sentiments): A wildly exaggerated overblown simplistic statement that you then go on to "disprove"

So a dig aimed at Macron for saying NATO needs to adapt to changing circumstances and flattery towards America : "As you’ve seen and heard earlier, America is unreservedly back as leader of the free world and that is a fantastic thing."

Then the self- agrandissements : notice all the "I" & "Global Britain"