Why US airstrikes on the Houthis will fail
The United States has started what might well prove to be a long – and probably doomed – campaign of…
Is this the deal that might give peace in Syria a chance?
A Kurdish-led rebel coalition which dominates north-eastern Syria has signed a deal with the interim government in Damascus. The agreement,…
The slogan that could doom Mark Carney
Mark Carney has won the Liberal party leadership contest by an enormous margin. He will soon be the prime minister…
How horror returned to Syria
Once again there is horror on the Syrian coast. The fighting began on Thursday, in the new government’s telling, after…
The man with the ‘golden arm’, who saved two million babies
James Harrison, who died in his sleep at a care home in Australia last month at the age of 88,…
The troubling truth about ‘witchcraft’ in modern Britain
Witchcraft, and accusations of witchcraft, are returning to Britain. We might think of witchcraft as a thing of the past;…
Why the Foreign Office shouldn’t save Brits abroad
One of the perils of working in or even travelling to the Middle East and Central Asia is that there is a high risk…
Don’t judge Syria’s new rulers yet
Some people went mad when Ahmed al-Sharaa (you might know him as Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, the commander of Hayat Tahrir…
Syria is emerging from a nightmare
Gradually, and then suddenly, the regime of Bashar al-Assad has collapsed. This century’s most evil tyrant has fled Syria, and…
What the ‘experts’ got wrong about Syria
Provincial capitals falling before an unexpected advance. Military units allegedly defecting, deserting or switching sides. Talk of a coup in…
Could Ukraine go nuclear?
Should Ukraine have nuclear weapons? This is a question that was raised, a little insincerely, by President Zelensky recently as he…
Why was Europe not ready for Trump?
Donald Trump has won his third presidential election and across Europe heads are exploding. This should not be the case.…
MI5 must stop Russia
The semi-regular speeches given by the heads of Britain’s intelligence services are always described as a ‘rare intervention’, and yesterday…
Sudan’s dreams of democracy appear to be over
Fighting is raging once again in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, where a power struggle between rival factions has claimed…
Netanyahu’s war on lawyers has thrown Israel into turmoil
Chaos reigns in Israel, a country in the throes of an ad hoc general strike called by trade unions, university…
Is Taiwan’s support really ebbing away?
Taiwan has lost another friend. Or at least it soon will, according to the president of Honduras, Xiomara Castro. She…
Saudi Arabia must not bring Syria’s Assad in from the cold
Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister has said the quiet part out loud when it comes to his country’s attitude towards Syria. Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud told…
The charm of Volodymyr Zelensky
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, is in Britain for a surprise visit. ‘Freedom will win – we know Russia will lose,’ he…
Syria might never recover from the devastation of this earthquake
Natural disaster always worst affects those who have already lost so much. And so it is in Turkey and Syria,…
Is Isis to blame for the Pakistan mosque bombing?
The Islamic State may have been driven out of its capitals in Iraq’s Mosul and Syria’s Raqqa but that doesn’t…
A Third Intifada looms in Israel
Peace has never seemed further away for Israel, the West Bank and Gaza. Several dreadful incidents recently have made that…
Germany – and Nato – should be ashamed of its grudging support for Ukraine
At long, long last, it might seem that things are coming to a head. After a year of phony excuses,…
Ukraine is paying a heavy price for Nato’s dithering
It is winter in Ukraine. The ground is frozen and hard. Groups of soldiers on both sides struggle in the…
Germany has no excuse for not sending tanks to Ukraine
When a man is in a hole, he is best advised to stop digging. When a German chancellor is in…
Is Germany’s defence minister up to the job?
After yesterday’s abrupt and humiliating departure of Germany’s defence minister, Christine Lambrecht, beleaguered chancellor Olaf Scholz has today appointed her…
