Paul Foster
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Paul Foster
@pfhistory.bsky.social
190 followers 580 following 28 posts
Retired lawyer. MA(SWW:Conflict, Societies, Holocaust)
Researching Italy 1943-45. Interests, Italy, German occupation policies, history of aviation and more things than I have time for!
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Reposted by Paul Foster
profmsinha.bsky.social
If the motto of the first Trump regime was the cruelty is the point (Adam Serwer) then the motto of the second is every accusation is a confession: the weaponization of the federal government against political opponents, the Trump crime family, and the torpedoing of the economy and U.S. hegemony.
November 21, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Reposted by Paul Foster
lmbd1418.bsky.social
In a world of miserable companies and people who are horrible to work with, I want to praise my publishers @ospreypublishing.bsky.social for being bloody fantastic. The whole team are so kind, supportive and knowledgeable; it’s been such a pleasure working with them on Jungle Commandos.
November 21, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Reposted by Paul Foster
liamthorp.bsky.social
This story is all Nigel Farage should be asked about by journalists for months
Ex-leader of Reform UK in Wales sentenced to 10-and-a-half years for taking pro-Russian bribes
The judge tells Nathan Gill his actions were a
www.bbc.co.uk
November 21, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Reposted by Paul Foster
susiedent.com
Word of the day is ‘quockerwodger’ (19th century): a puppet politician whose strings are pulled entirely by someone else.
November 21, 2025 at 1:21 PM
Reposted by Paul Foster
herreramilhist.bsky.social
Important piece by @markhertling.bsky.social

“What Americans Should Understand About the Military Disobeying Illegal Orders”
open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...
What Americans Should Understand About the Military Disobeying Illegal Orders
And why it matters there are two military oaths.
open.substack.com
November 21, 2025 at 3:04 PM
Reposted by Paul Foster
ldfreedman.bsky.social
The Witkoff-Dmitriev plan is even more amateurish than I imagined. It favours Russia although does contain elements that Russia will not like. Premature leaking means that it is no more than work in progress. Here is an annotated version (This is free). open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/t...?
The Witkoff-Dmitriev peace plan annotated
We now know a bit more about the process which led to the new peace plan and we now have a copy of its contents, to which I will turn soon.
open.substack.com
November 21, 2025 at 11:36 AM
Reposted by Paul Foster
markhertling.bsky.social
For what it’s worth, as a commander and officer it was my duty, moral obligation, and legal requirement to first question and then to not obey any illegal order I was given.

The same is true for everyone who swear their oath.

Hope that clears things up.
November 20, 2025 at 10:16 PM
Reposted by Paul Foster
karenattiah.bsky.social
A reminder that seven years ago almost to the day, the CIA determined that Mohammed Bin Salman ordered the killing of @washingtonpost.com journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

I hired and worked with Jamal for a year.

www.washingtonpost.com/world/nation...
CIA concludes Saudi crown prince ordered Jamal Khashoggi’s assassination
Audio recordings, intercepted phone calls and other intelligence link Mohammed bin Salman to killing that Saudis say was conducted by rogue elements.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 18, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Reposted by Paul Foster
tanjabueltmann.net
Tried to get this published but no luck, so might as well ‘publish’ it here so it’s not a complete waste!

➡️ Stripping rights from refugees today endangers us all tomorrow

#asylum #Mahmood #history #humanrights
Stripping rights from refugees today endangers us all tomorrow   When I was 13, I visited a Nazi concentration camp for the first time, confronting my country’s dark history always—and rightly—a bedrock in my growing up.    One image from that visit has stayed with me ever since: a display of prisoners’ personal possessions.    It revealed a world in which those imprisoned were stripped not only of their freedom but of the last tangible traces of their humanity. That systematic erasure was the most important precondition for murdering millions.   Now, as a historian, I know that history does not flow into the present in a straight line, and direct comparisons are rarely appropriate. They certainly are not here.   But history is the one compass humanity has. Too often we choose to ignore it.    The Home Secretary’s proposals for changes to the UK’s asylum system represent such a moment of failure.    Yet the most troubling aspect of Labour’s frantic efforts to appear tough on immigration is not even the historical echoes that taking refugees’ possessions invokes. It is that cost recovery is not the real purpose of the rationale behind it.    The true aim is to appeal to a particular audience—those who take satisfaction in seeing people seeking refuge deprived of what little they have. It is hard to imagine a more troubling approach to policymaking, and that becomes even clearer when we consider the Home Secretary’s proposals in context.   As of June 2025, there were 42.5 million refugees globally. Over 70% are hosted by low- and middle-income countries. The UK hosts 548,000 refugees; that is 0.78% of the UK population. Around 110,000 people are in receipt of asylum support; that is 0.15% of the UK population.   It is unconscionable that such a small and vulnerable population can be targeted with deliberate cruelty and weaponised for assumed political gain.   And that is all this will ever be. The core miscalculation is believing that adopting these positions will neutralise Reform.    Both historical knowledge and current research show the opposite. Mainstreaming extremist policies legitimises them further and aids only the original. Each step towards Reform’s territory simply gives Reform more power.   But our political discourse has been so degraded over the last decade that many no longer even recognise policies—or the language that frames them—as extreme.    That is how the Home Secretary can speak so casually of desperate people seeking sanctuary as recipients of a ‘golden ticket’ as though the context is Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory rather than countries torn apart by war and starved by famine. Speak of her ‘moral mission’ to withdraw support, alleging that ‘illegal migration is tearing our country apart.’ And warn of ‘dark forces stirring up anger,’ oblivious to her own role: from the use of blurry, dehumanising images of refugees to spread falsehoods about their impact on communities, to the equally false description of refugee movements as illegal migration.    I suggest the Home Secretary find a mirror if she is keen to understand who is helping turn anger into hate.   Because it is the mainstreaming of far-right talking points that the Home Secretary’s proposals represent that is really tearing our country apart.   For when a policy looks like the far right, speaks to the far right and is hailed by the far right as being far right, it is far right. There is a reason Stephen Yaxley-Lennon is jubilant and speaks of ‘the Overton window having been obliterated.’   This makes a mockery of the Prime Minister’s recent comments on the urgent need to tackle racism. But it also raises alarming questions about the impact this will have on communities around the country, many of which are already deeply divided.    The proposed policies will do nothing for these struggling communities, because their problems simply do not stem from people seeking sanctuary with us. In fact: for as long as politicians focus on immigrants and refugees as the cause of our problems, they will fail to deliver for the British people.   But it is important to grasp the impact of the Home Secretary’s proposals as they carry broader consequences for all of us. Suggestions for changes to how the European Convention on Human Rights is applied are particularly concerning. Requiring judges to prioritise ‘public safety’—falsely implying refugees pose a threat—would qualify human rights for a specific group.   And once one accepts that human rights can be qualified for one group, one creates tools that can be used against anyone.   So what these proposals really mean goes far beyond asylum policy. This is about the kind of country we will have in the future. If human rights are no longer universal, they become a means for exclusion and control.    That is why stripping rights from refugees today can only enable a system that endangers all our rights tomorrow.    And that is why our historical compass matters and why we have to use it now. Because that compass tells us without doubt that when first they come for one group that is never where it ends. 
November 18, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Reposted by Paul Foster
stmupublichistory.bsky.social
We're looking for a Lecturer in US History, starting next Fall! The successful candidate will teach a 4-4 load, which can include survey and upper-level courses, as well as graduate courses. https://stmarytx.applicantpro.com/jobs/3916073
Lecturer of History - San Antonio, TX
The Department of History at St. Mary's University invites applications for a full time, non-tenure line Lecturer position in United States History to begin August 1, 2026. The successful candidate will teach a 4-4 load (four courses per semester). Teaching responsibilities include survey courses in US history, as well as upper division and graduate courses in the candidate's area of specializatio...
stmarytx.applicantpro.com
November 18, 2025 at 9:55 PM
Reposted by Paul Foster
smsaideman.bsky.social
We had been hoping that the US military would not obey illegal orders. The boat strikes have now taught us that was wishful thinking. Here's a great post explaining where we are and how we got here www.latimes.com/opinion/stor... #CivMilSky
November 18, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Reposted by Paul Foster
stevepeers.bsky.social
"We've dismembered a journalist by mistake"
Richard e grant and Paul McGann, going on holiday by mistake in Withnail and I
November 18, 2025 at 10:26 PM
Reposted by Paul Foster
plashingvole.bsky.social
Jimmy Carr appalled that someone can be arrested at an airport for things they say.

In other news, Jimmy Carr played a gig in Saudia Arabia where the penalties for saying things including crucifixion, torture and being murdered in an embassy.
hleehurley.com Lee Hurley @hleehurley.com · 5d
Graham Linehan in the papers again crying someone else he used to be friends with hates him [Telegraph]
Father Ted star O’hanlon is the latest to smear me, says Linehan The Daily Telegraph18 Nov 2025By India Mctaggart ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT Graham Linehan was arrested by five armed police officers GRAHAM LINEHAN has fallen out with a former Father Ted star over his views on single-sex spaces. The 57-year-old co-creator of the 1990s sitcom has accused Ardal O’hanlon, who played the inept Father Dougal Mcguire, of trying to “smear” him after the actor said he was “baffled” by Linehan’s “confrontational” gender-critical campaigning. Linehan, who was arrested at Heathrow in September by five armed police officers over gender-critical messages posted on social media, said O’hanlon had become “the latest ex-colleague to smear me in the press”. The Irish comedy writer, who has now been told he will face no further action by police, wrote on X: “I just called him and he apparently disagrees with me that women deserve single-sex spaces, fair sports, etc. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Of course when I pressed, he said it was the ‘way’ I did things. Like Amelia Bullmore, another actor I never did anything but support, blaming me for my own harassment.”
November 18, 2025 at 9:58 AM
Reposted by Paul Foster
samfr.bsky.social
This has always been been argument against our fiscal framework. You need some kind of debt rule but this kind of last minute flailing around is toxic for policy development.
duncanweldon.bsky.social Duncan Weldon @duncanweldon.bsky.social · 9d
I know it’s always like this. But one striking thing from the budget kite flying and kite pulling back in, is how major policy decisions are constantly being buffeted around by iterative forecast changes.
All feels a bit of a silly way to be making major economic policy & political decisions.
November 14, 2025 at 6:07 PM
Reposted by Paul Foster
leedon1982.bsky.social
At a rugby club in small-town Leicestershire. This was on the window ledge in the toilet. Fearing the worst, I scanned the QR & opened it in an incognito window…

It’s a link to Amnesty International’s explainer on asylum & refugees 😍
November 15, 2025 at 1:52 PM
Reposted by Paul Foster
samfr.bsky.social
Big statement win for England. Builds on a really positive year.

Also how good is Henry Pollock? We've got a world class player for a decade plus if he stays fit.
November 15, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Reposted by Paul Foster
ima-naval-history.bsky.social
What was the Italian naval strategy in the Mediterranean during World War Two? Here is explained, with the words of Admiral Giuseppe Fioravanzo
@crusaderproject.bsky.social @navalairhistory.com @dralexclarke.bsky.social @drachinifel.bsky.social
youtu.be/DKk-2DDjD84?...
October 27, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Reposted by Paul Foster
crusaderproject.bsky.social
Superb original colour of a CANT Z.1007bis being maintained (engine oil replenishment) by hand on what is likely the Regia Aeronautica base at Rhodes. Opposite a SM.79 bomber.

Facebook I Cavalieri del Cielo la Regia Aeronautica Gyanni Syerra

@ima-naval-history.bsky.social
Contemporary colour picture of three ground crew undertaking what looks like re-oiling the starboard engine of a CANT Z.1007bis medium bomber on an Italian air base during WW2. The men are standing on the wing just above the engine, handling what looks like a large funnel.
November 13, 2025 at 12:41 PM
Reposted by Paul Foster
ima-naval-history.bsky.social
The Italian intervention in #ww2 between maritime problems a d coal supplies..
youtu.be/vqJCD3CfMCQ?...
Italy towards the War: 1939-1940
YouTube video by Italian Military Archives_Naval History
youtu.be
November 14, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Reposted by Paul Foster
lewisgoodall.com
Have written for the New Statesman about why, if he will not accept an apology, the BBC should welcome a Trump lawsuit. They should show guts and fight it because impartially matters and if they don't, they will have tacitly accepted a rewritten history.

www.newstatesman.com/politics/med...
Trump's attack can rescue the BBC
The BBC should use the threat of legal action to strike a blow for press freedom
www.newstatesman.com
November 13, 2025 at 2:26 PM
Reposted by Paul Foster
stevepeers.bsky.social
Two paragraphs from the article, pointing out Telegraph hypocrisy
November 10, 2025 at 8:02 PM
Reposted by Paul Foster
writesbright.bsky.social
It takes an obscene amount of hubris to lecture the BBC when you have The Telegraph’s record on truth-telling.

Some of the paper’s errors this year are so bad they’re almost laughable 👇🏻
The Telegraph’s BBC hypocrisy
A paper that knows a thing or two about editorial f*ck-ups...
writesbright.substack.com
November 10, 2025 at 7:48 PM
Reposted by Paul Foster
ewansanderson.bsky.social
Amongst all of this sorry episode of BBC mismanagement they are frozen from speaking the truth that on J6 Trump and his whole team stood by whilst the violence unfolded and said nothing. Didn't call for rioters to withdraw, didn't call for peace, his children literally stood by and partied.
stevepeers.bsky.social Steve Peers @stevepeers.bsky.social · 12d
Again - this hyperpartisan outfit paid tens of millions of dollars in defamation damages, due to its false pro-Trump claims about election voting machines. Extraordinary Gibbery to interview them
rorycj.bsky.social Rory Cellan-Jones @rorycj.bsky.social · 12d
It’s already started - the BBC allows Newsmax boss to opine about bias, suggest some of the Jan 6 mob were merely innocent tourists visiting Congress, without pushback
November 11, 2025 at 9:04 AM
Reposted by Paul Foster
downwithdan.bsky.social
lol she got his ass and he knows it
Joyce Carol Oates @Joyce... 17h O So curious that such a wealthy man never posts anything that indicates that he enjoys or is even aware of what virtually everyone appreciates— scenes from nature, pet dog or cat, praise for a movie, music, a book (but doubt that he reads); pride in a friend's or relative's accomplishment; condolences for someone who has died; pleasure in sports, acclaim for a favorite team; references to history. In fact he seems totally uneducated, uncultured. The poorest persons on Twitter may have access to more beauty & meaning in life than the "most wealthy person in the world." Elon Musk ' @elonmusk X.com Oates is a liar and delights in being mean. Not a good human.
November 9, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Reposted by Paul Foster
billbindc.bsky.social
This would be an absolutely gigantic political mistake...which is why Trump will do it.

He knows what she can say, after all.
kylegriffin1.bsky.social Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1.bsky.social · 13d
BREAKING:

A whistleblower tells House Judiciary Democrats that convicted sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell is in the process of seeking a commutation of her 20-year prison sentence from Donald Trump. tinyurl.com/582addcc
November 10, 2025 at 3:21 PM