More stories

  • in

    Who Stands Up for Iran Standing Down?

    At his speech on January 8 following the Iranian missile attack on Iraqi bases hosting American forces, US President Donald Trump announced, with his usual tone of self-congratulation, that “Iran appears to be standing down, which is a good thing for all parties concerned and a very good thing for the world.” The rest of […] More

  • in

    Who Wins and Loses in the Middle East?

    Following Iran’s missile attacks on a two US airbase, one outside Baghdad and the second near Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan, US President Donald Trump almost triumphantly announced that Iran is now standing down in their the two countries’ intensified conflict following the killing of Quds Force commander, General Qassem Soleimani, in an American drone attack […] More

  • in

    The US Will Never Leave the Middle East

    A large number of people seem to believe that World War III has begun with the drone strike that killed Iran’s Quds Force commander, General Qassem Soleimani, on January 3. On December 27, a US military contractor was killed in a rocket attack in Iraq, and the US responded with a bombing campaign. Iraqis rioted and […] More

  • in

    Europe scrambles to save nuclear deal and avert US–Iran war

    EU foreign ministers met in Brussels on Friday to look for ways to avert war between the US and Iran and save the deal to stop Iran getting nuclear weapons. The 28 member states’ foreign ministers ministers gathered for an emergency foreign affairs council meeting to decide the bloc’s approach. Josep Borrell, the EU’s top diplomat, told […] More

  • in

    The Global War of Error

    Yes, our infrastructure stinks, our schools are failing, this country’s a nightmare of inequality and there’s a self-promoting madman in the White House. So, isn’t it time to take pride in the rare institutional victories America has had in this century? Arguably, none has been more striking than the triumphal success of the American war system. Oh, you’re going […] More

  • in

    'Dead-heat' for US and Iran as both sides step back from the brink after Soleimani killing

    In the latest phase of the US-Iran confrontation, who came out on top is not clear-cut; both countries made gains and losses from the crisis and some of its the results are still to come. By ordering the assassination on 3 January of general Qassem Soleimani, the head of Quds Force, the external arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, President Trump claims to […] More