America
How China drove a wedge between America and Israel
Two weeks ago, CIA director William Burns – who has rather a lot on his plate just now – had…
The descent of Afghanistan
The bomb attacks at Kabul airport were what US and allied commanders overseeing the mass evacuation had most feared. In…
Western deterrence now looks hollow
The efforts of a 20 year war took only a few weeks to overturn: the Taliban has completed its takeover…
A new world order will emerge from America’s humiliation
When America decided to save Afghanistan from the tyranny of the Taliban, it acted on two major beliefs. The first…
Letter from America
There are many in Donald Trump’s inner circle who have tried to read his mind these past four years, together…
American nightmare
Why would anyone move to the US?
Compound failure
What we got wrong in Afghanistan
Wash-up
‘They asked me if I wanted to wash up before we even went in to dinner,’ my husband recalled with…
What was the point of the war in Afghanistan?
On 7 October 2001 President George W. Bush launched Operation Enduring Freedom – the invasion of Afghanistan. The operation sought…
Is it too cruel to throw Lynch into the jaws of US justice?
Be glad you’re not in Dr Mike Lynch’s shoes. A London judge has ruled that the founder of the Cambridge-based…
The EU is failing to stand up for eastern Europe
Will the EU stand up for eastern Europe? This question is now being asked by Ukraine following the announcement of…
Why Joe Biden’s Russia-bashing is a tactical mistake
You might not think that Geoff Norcott, the self-proclaimed conservative comedian, has something to contribute to western relations with Russia,…
Don’t count on America’s immigration figures
Having indulged an unhealthy interest in human migration for decades, I’ve been intrigued by how the number of illegal immigrants…
Cuba libre
Havana There is an astonishing patience in the Cuban people, born of endless waiting. When a store has, say, chicken,…
The Soviet spectre haunting Afghanistan
As US and British forces pull out of Afghanistan, further victims of the ‘grave of empires’, Russia is experiencing a mix…
The Kremlin’s plan to destabilise the West
On Sunday, Russia releasedits new National Security Strategy. In many ways, it picked up from where the 2015 version left…
Triumph of the Taleban
Their patience is paying off
Biden and Putin have left Britain out in the cold
It would probably be wrong to say that Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin got on like a house on fire.…
Why the Biden-Putin summit wasn’t a waste of time
The meeting between U.S. president Joe Biden and Russian president Vladimir Putin in Geneva started cordially enough. A quick handshake, toothy smiles…
The struggle to contain China
The theory that the pandemic began with a leak from a research laboratory in Wuhan is rapidly gaining currency. Since…
Haut topic
It seemed a suitable topic for a bank holiday. We were discussing Haut-Brion, a bank-breaking wine. There is a question…
It’s time to face the truth about masks
However surreal and dystopian the pandemic landscape seemed at first, no enduring vista feels ‘surreal’ and ‘dystopian’ indefinitely. Citizenries uniformly…
Diary
What would happen to the Republicans after Donald Trump? That has been one of the pundits’ favourite themes in the…
‘A worse pandemic will be next’
Michael Lewis on the scientists who saw Covid coming – and were ignored
The UK’s very American political realignment
The speed and scale with which voters, mainly but not exclusively in the north of England, have switched their allegiance…
