10:06Newly-elected MP for Rochdale George Galloway said claims of UK troops operating in Ukraine should come as a 'surprise to nobody' and that the country should 'stop reinforcing failure', while speaking exclusively to the agency in London on Wednesday.
"The Germans say… 'we are present in Ukraine' will come as a surprise to nobody at all," he claimed, after also pointing to media reports of five UK special forces soldiers arrested this week on charges of alleged war crimes in Syria.
"This is a lost war [in Ukraine], he said. "It's a lost cause. Even my old mother, aged 89, used to say: "Stop throwing good money after bad, stop reinforcing failure."
"The NATO war against Russia, using the bodies of the poor Ukrainian people, has failed. Russia's not going to be broken up. It's not going to be regime changed. It has prevailed. It's time to accept that and move on," Galloway continued.
NATO has denied being involved in the conflict directly, although Moscow has claimed ongoing supplies of weaponry from members suggest otherwise. Allegations about UK troops on the ground were made by German officers in a leaked audio recording about the potential use of Taurus missiles - which the country has always denied.
Last week, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also suggested the UK was helping Ukraine with 'target control' of its missiles, which the UK has not commented on, although former defence minister Ben Wallace condemned the 'not only dangerous use of facts but also often wrong facts'.
Galloway himself said the UK's own actions appeared to be a cause for concern.
"Even [then PM] Tony Blair, you know, sought parliamentary approval before invading and occupying Iraq…. Even [then PM, now Foreign Secretary] David Cameron asked for parliamentary refusal and was refused when he wanted to bomb Syria in 2014….we now have a situation where multiple evidences emerge that British forces are involved in other people's wars without Parliament even being told, never mind consulted," he added.
Galloway also took aim at President Emmanuel Macron. The French leader suggested last week that ground troops could not be 'ruled out' and this week that allies shouldn't be 'cowards', after the UK, Germany and others - as well as NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg - said it wouldn't happen.
"Well, he does have a Bonaparte complex, although Napoleon was a far greater man than he," the MP claimed. "He's more Louis XVI sitting on his golden throne in Versailles, ordering imaginary armies around in other people's countries. He's a fantasist."
"French power against Russia would be, you know, a comedy turn. They've been driven out of African country after African country just in the last 12 months, been given their marching orders and booted out. So they can't fight, I don't know, Niger, but they can fight Russia? Seriously?" he asked.
Galloway fought the Rochdale by-election on a platform of opposition to the Gaza war, and said the UK should 'disengage'.
"Obviously, Netanyahu doesn't take orders even from Biden, never mind from Sunak. So the best thing we can do is disengage from it entirely," he stated. He added that UK Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron had once called Gaza an 'open-air prison', a comment made while Prime Minister in 2010, while on Wednesday the former PM said his patience was running 'thin' with Israel over Gaza aid.
"So now we know the limits of his patience: 120,000 people dead, wounded, missing under the rubble. That's a very high price to pay to lose his patience," Galloway said. The Palestinian Health Ministry figures puts those killed at over 30,000, with over 72,000 wounded and many thousands more missing. Israel says it is targeting Hamas locations and infrastructure during the ongoing conflict.
The MP also had strong words for both the UK government and opposition - after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak attacked Galloway himself in an unprecedented speech from Downing Street, calling his election 'beyond alarming'.
"Well, we have an axis of evil in the House of Commons that bestrides both sides of the House," he alleged. "You couldn't slip sixpence between the position of the British government and the British opposition on foreign policy in general, on the Middle East in particular, on Gaza, or frankly on many other matters."
"They fight a culture war here and there against each other over pronouns and the like. But actually on material issues of substance, they are a uni-party, or as I put it: 'Two cheeks of the same backside'. Well, they got a good spanking, both of them, in the by-election that I won very recently," he added.
Galloway also claimed that the establishment hadn't 'taken it well' and had 'begun to try and lay the groundwork for turning the forthcoming general election into a war against Muslims, a war against what they call 'extremism', although they're never able to identify who the extremists are'.
"The nearest they get is talking about the weekly, almost nightly Palestine protests and demonstrations over the slaughter in Gaza," he outlined. "But the problem there is: the vast majority of the people on those demonstrations are not Muslim. They are white English people, Scottish people, Welsh, Irish people."
During Sunak's address outside Number 10 Downing Street, his official residence, last Friday, the PM also announced that there would be a crackdown on pro-Palestinian protests, alleging that some had crossed a line into calling for 'violent Jihad' and support for Hamas.
With a general election less than a year away, Galloway was also asked about his own current role.
"Look on me as [footballer] Cristiano Ronaldo agreeing to sign a five-year contract with Rochdale," he said, saying he thought there could be either a May or an October poll.
"The Workers' Party ambition is to replace Labour. So for anyone who says, well, Labour is the lesser of two evils, I answer in two words: 'Joe Biden'," he said. "The idea that you should vote for the lesser of two evils, first of all, ensures that evil will always win. And secondly, presupposes you can identify which is the lesser of two evils."
"I'm an admirer greatly of Malcolm X who said: 'When the wolf comes towards you, you know what its intentions are, but the fox appears to be smiling, though its intentions are exactly the same.' We see Joe Biden as the fox, Donald Trump as the wolf, we see Keir Starmer as the fox, and Rishi Sunak as the wolf," he added.
Galloway was elected by a landslide last Thursday, with nearly 40 percent of the vote and nearly 6,000 more than the second-placed candidate. After winning, he said that his message for opposition Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, whose party previously held the seat, was that 'this is for Gaza'.
"There's a huge haemorrhage of support for Labour amongst millions of people who've always voted for them." he claimed. "It will affect the outcome of the British general election very profoundly. But I want to stress this point: although Gaza is the proximate cause of this, the straw that broke the camel's back, if you like, it doesn't depend on Gaza."
"There's no difference between these two cheeks of the same backside (Labour and governing Conservative party). They both deserve a good kicking," he said.
Starmer blamed Labour's loss in Rochdale on his withdrawal of support for his own Labour Party candidate following allegations made against that candidate about anti-semitism.
Galloway also previously served as a Labour MP until 2003, and then as an independent and Respect Party MP for three separate constituencies until 2015. He is a media commentator and presenter, currently hosting the biweekly 'Mother Of All Talk Shows' (MOATS) on a wide variety of online platforms.
'Stop reinforcing failure' - Galloway says UK troops in Ukraine's 'lost war' should come as 'surprise to nobody'
Newly-elected MP for Rochdale George Galloway said claims of UK troops operating in Ukraine should come as a 'surprise to nobody' and that the country should 'stop reinforcing failure', while speaking exclusively to the agency in London on Wednesday.
"The Germans say… 'we are present in Ukraine' will come as a surprise to nobody at all," he claimed, after also pointing to media reports of five UK special forces soldiers arrested this week on charges of alleged war crimes in Syria.
"This is a lost war [in Ukraine], he said. "It's a lost cause. Even my old mother, aged 89, used to say: "Stop throwing good money after bad, stop reinforcing failure."
"The NATO war against Russia, using the bodies of the poor Ukrainian people, has failed. Russia's not going to be broken up. It's not going to be regime changed. It has prevailed. It's time to accept that and move on," Galloway continued.
NATO has denied being involved in the conflict directly, although Moscow has claimed ongoing supplies of weaponry from members suggest otherwise. Allegations about UK troops on the ground were made by German officers in a leaked audio recording about the potential use of Taurus missiles - which the country has always denied.
Last week, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also suggested the UK was helping Ukraine with 'target control' of its missiles, which the UK has not commented on, although former defence minister Ben Wallace condemned the 'not only dangerous use of facts but also often wrong facts'.
Galloway himself said the UK's own actions appeared to be a cause for concern.
"Even [then PM] Tony Blair, you know, sought parliamentary approval before invading and occupying Iraq…. Even [then PM, now Foreign Secretary] David Cameron asked for parliamentary refusal and was refused when he wanted to bomb Syria in 2014….we now have a situation where multiple evidences emerge that British forces are involved in other people's wars without Parliament even being told, never mind consulted," he added.
Galloway also took aim at President Emmanuel Macron. The French leader suggested last week that ground troops could not be 'ruled out' and this week that allies shouldn't be 'cowards', after the UK, Germany and others - as well as NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg - said it wouldn't happen.
"Well, he does have a Bonaparte complex, although Napoleon was a far greater man than he," the MP claimed. "He's more Louis XVI sitting on his golden throne in Versailles, ordering imaginary armies around in other people's countries. He's a fantasist."
"French power against Russia would be, you know, a comedy turn. They've been driven out of African country after African country just in the last 12 months, been given their marching orders and booted out. So they can't fight, I don't know, Niger, but they can fight Russia? Seriously?" he asked.
Galloway fought the Rochdale by-election on a platform of opposition to the Gaza war, and said the UK should 'disengage'.
"Obviously, Netanyahu doesn't take orders even from Biden, never mind from Sunak. So the best thing we can do is disengage from it entirely," he stated. He added that UK Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron had once called Gaza an 'open-air prison', a comment made while Prime Minister in 2010, while on Wednesday the former PM said his patience was running 'thin' with Israel over Gaza aid.
"So now we know the limits of his patience: 120,000 people dead, wounded, missing under the rubble. That's a very high price to pay to lose his patience," Galloway said. The Palestinian Health Ministry figures puts those killed at over 30,000, with over 72,000 wounded and many thousands more missing. Israel says it is targeting Hamas locations and infrastructure during the ongoing conflict.
The MP also had strong words for both the UK government and opposition - after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak attacked Galloway himself in an unprecedented speech from Downing Street, calling his election 'beyond alarming'.
"Well, we have an axis of evil in the House of Commons that bestrides both sides of the House," he alleged. "You couldn't slip sixpence between the position of the British government and the British opposition on foreign policy in general, on the Middle East in particular, on Gaza, or frankly on many other matters."
"They fight a culture war here and there against each other over pronouns and the like. But actually on material issues of substance, they are a uni-party, or as I put it: 'Two cheeks of the same backside'. Well, they got a good spanking, both of them, in the by-election that I won very recently," he added.
Galloway also claimed that the establishment hadn't 'taken it well' and had 'begun to try and lay the groundwork for turning the forthcoming general election into a war against Muslims, a war against what they call 'extremism', although they're never able to identify who the extremists are'.
"The nearest they get is talking about the weekly, almost nightly Palestine protests and demonstrations over the slaughter in Gaza," he outlined. "But the problem there is: the vast majority of the people on those demonstrations are not Muslim. They are white English people, Scottish people, Welsh, Irish people."
During Sunak's address outside Number 10 Downing Street, his official residence, last Friday, the PM also announced that there would be a crackdown on pro-Palestinian protests, alleging that some had crossed a line into calling for 'violent Jihad' and support for Hamas.
With a general election less than a year away, Galloway was also asked about his own current role.
"Look on me as [footballer] Cristiano Ronaldo agreeing to sign a five-year contract with Rochdale," he said, saying he thought there could be either a May or an October poll.
"The Workers' Party ambition is to replace Labour. So for anyone who says, well, Labour is the lesser of two evils, I answer in two words: 'Joe Biden'," he said. "The idea that you should vote for the lesser of two evils, first of all, ensures that evil will always win. And secondly, presupposes you can identify which is the lesser of two evils."
"I'm an admirer greatly of Malcolm X who said: 'When the wolf comes towards you, you know what its intentions are, but the fox appears to be smiling, though its intentions are exactly the same.' We see Joe Biden as the fox, Donald Trump as the wolf, we see Keir Starmer as the fox, and Rishi Sunak as the wolf," he added.
Galloway was elected by a landslide last Thursday, with nearly 40 percent of the vote and nearly 6,000 more than the second-placed candidate. After winning, he said that his message for opposition Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, whose party previously held the seat, was that 'this is for Gaza'.
"There's a huge haemorrhage of support for Labour amongst millions of people who've always voted for them." he claimed. "It will affect the outcome of the British general election very profoundly. But I want to stress this point: although Gaza is the proximate cause of this, the straw that broke the camel's back, if you like, it doesn't depend on Gaza."
"There's no difference between these two cheeks of the same backside (Labour and governing Conservative party). They both deserve a good kicking," he said.
Starmer blamed Labour's loss in Rochdale on his withdrawal of support for his own Labour Party candidate following allegations made against that candidate about anti-semitism.
Galloway also previously served as a Labour MP until 2003, and then as an independent and Respect Party MP for three separate constituencies until 2015. He is a media commentator and presenter, currently hosting the biweekly 'Mother Of All Talk Shows' (MOATS) on a wide variety of online platforms.
Newly-elected MP for Rochdale George Galloway said claims of UK troops operating in Ukraine should come as a 'surprise to nobody' and that the country should 'stop reinforcing failure', while speaking exclusively to the agency in London on Wednesday.
"The Germans say… 'we are present in Ukraine' will come as a surprise to nobody at all," he claimed, after also pointing to media reports of five UK special forces soldiers arrested this week on charges of alleged war crimes in Syria.
"This is a lost war [in Ukraine], he said. "It's a lost cause. Even my old mother, aged 89, used to say: "Stop throwing good money after bad, stop reinforcing failure."
"The NATO war against Russia, using the bodies of the poor Ukrainian people, has failed. Russia's not going to be broken up. It's not going to be regime changed. It has prevailed. It's time to accept that and move on," Galloway continued.
NATO has denied being involved in the conflict directly, although Moscow has claimed ongoing supplies of weaponry from members suggest otherwise. Allegations about UK troops on the ground were made by German officers in a leaked audio recording about the potential use of Taurus missiles - which the country has always denied.
Last week, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also suggested the UK was helping Ukraine with 'target control' of its missiles, which the UK has not commented on, although former defence minister Ben Wallace condemned the 'not only dangerous use of facts but also often wrong facts'.
Galloway himself said the UK's own actions appeared to be a cause for concern.
"Even [then PM] Tony Blair, you know, sought parliamentary approval before invading and occupying Iraq…. Even [then PM, now Foreign Secretary] David Cameron asked for parliamentary refusal and was refused when he wanted to bomb Syria in 2014….we now have a situation where multiple evidences emerge that British forces are involved in other people's wars without Parliament even being told, never mind consulted," he added.
Galloway also took aim at President Emmanuel Macron. The French leader suggested last week that ground troops could not be 'ruled out' and this week that allies shouldn't be 'cowards', after the UK, Germany and others - as well as NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg - said it wouldn't happen.
"Well, he does have a Bonaparte complex, although Napoleon was a far greater man than he," the MP claimed. "He's more Louis XVI sitting on his golden throne in Versailles, ordering imaginary armies around in other people's countries. He's a fantasist."
"French power against Russia would be, you know, a comedy turn. They've been driven out of African country after African country just in the last 12 months, been given their marching orders and booted out. So they can't fight, I don't know, Niger, but they can fight Russia? Seriously?" he asked.
Galloway fought the Rochdale by-election on a platform of opposition to the Gaza war, and said the UK should 'disengage'.
"Obviously, Netanyahu doesn't take orders even from Biden, never mind from Sunak. So the best thing we can do is disengage from it entirely," he stated. He added that UK Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron had once called Gaza an 'open-air prison', a comment made while Prime Minister in 2010, while on Wednesday the former PM said his patience was running 'thin' with Israel over Gaza aid.
"So now we know the limits of his patience: 120,000 people dead, wounded, missing under the rubble. That's a very high price to pay to lose his patience," Galloway said. The Palestinian Health Ministry figures puts those killed at over 30,000, with over 72,000 wounded and many thousands more missing. Israel says it is targeting Hamas locations and infrastructure during the ongoing conflict.
The MP also had strong words for both the UK government and opposition - after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak attacked Galloway himself in an unprecedented speech from Downing Street, calling his election 'beyond alarming'.
"Well, we have an axis of evil in the House of Commons that bestrides both sides of the House," he alleged. "You couldn't slip sixpence between the position of the British government and the British opposition on foreign policy in general, on the Middle East in particular, on Gaza, or frankly on many other matters."
"They fight a culture war here and there against each other over pronouns and the like. But actually on material issues of substance, they are a uni-party, or as I put it: 'Two cheeks of the same backside'. Well, they got a good spanking, both of them, in the by-election that I won very recently," he added.
Galloway also claimed that the establishment hadn't 'taken it well' and had 'begun to try and lay the groundwork for turning the forthcoming general election into a war against Muslims, a war against what they call 'extremism', although they're never able to identify who the extremists are'.
"The nearest they get is talking about the weekly, almost nightly Palestine protests and demonstrations over the slaughter in Gaza," he outlined. "But the problem there is: the vast majority of the people on those demonstrations are not Muslim. They are white English people, Scottish people, Welsh, Irish people."
During Sunak's address outside Number 10 Downing Street, his official residence, last Friday, the PM also announced that there would be a crackdown on pro-Palestinian protests, alleging that some had crossed a line into calling for 'violent Jihad' and support for Hamas.
With a general election less than a year away, Galloway was also asked about his own current role.
"Look on me as [footballer] Cristiano Ronaldo agreeing to sign a five-year contract with Rochdale," he said, saying he thought there could be either a May or an October poll.
"The Workers' Party ambition is to replace Labour. So for anyone who says, well, Labour is the lesser of two evils, I answer in two words: 'Joe Biden'," he said. "The idea that you should vote for the lesser of two evils, first of all, ensures that evil will always win. And secondly, presupposes you can identify which is the lesser of two evils."
"I'm an admirer greatly of Malcolm X who said: 'When the wolf comes towards you, you know what its intentions are, but the fox appears to be smiling, though its intentions are exactly the same.' We see Joe Biden as the fox, Donald Trump as the wolf, we see Keir Starmer as the fox, and Rishi Sunak as the wolf," he added.
Galloway was elected by a landslide last Thursday, with nearly 40 percent of the vote and nearly 6,000 more than the second-placed candidate. After winning, he said that his message for opposition Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, whose party previously held the seat, was that 'this is for Gaza'.
"There's a huge haemorrhage of support for Labour amongst millions of people who've always voted for them." he claimed. "It will affect the outcome of the British general election very profoundly. But I want to stress this point: although Gaza is the proximate cause of this, the straw that broke the camel's back, if you like, it doesn't depend on Gaza."
"There's no difference between these two cheeks of the same backside (Labour and governing Conservative party). They both deserve a good kicking," he said.
Starmer blamed Labour's loss in Rochdale on his withdrawal of support for his own Labour Party candidate following allegations made against that candidate about anti-semitism.
Galloway also previously served as a Labour MP until 2003, and then as an independent and Respect Party MP for three separate constituencies until 2015. He is a media commentator and presenter, currently hosting the biweekly 'Mother Of All Talk Shows' (MOATS) on a wide variety of online platforms.