Defence
Obama’s Timidity Risks the World’s Security
The President has eviscerated the US defence budget, and so threatens to deprive America of the means to use decisive force
Last Post for a Global Power
Britain’s Strategic Defence and Security Review is cutting vital parts of the armed forces. It must be changed before events change it for us
No Brits in Basra
British businesses are nowhere to be seen in Iraq, unlike the companies of those countries that opposed the war
We Have to be Ready For Anything
The forthcoming defence review must answer our need to be able to face unpredictable threats
UN Non-Resolutions
‘Because of all the procrastination, crippling or biting sanctions will not be imposed on Iran’
The Craze for Counter-Insurgency
‘Like Churchill, Obama is not in awe of the overrated expertise of generals’
A Military Solution for Afghanistan
Now that the insurgency is cracking, the time has come for Nato to send more troops into the war zone to finish off the job
Smarter than Smart Bombs
‘In his desire to see the bombers go into Iran, John Bolton does not consider the sort of smart sanctions experts actually envisage’
A Mad Call to Arms
As Middle East countries rush to acquire nuclear weapons, the Cold War stalemate will not apply in the region
Arms and the Man
The Accidental Guerrilla: Fighting Small Wars in the Midst of a Big One by David Kilcullen; War Since 1990 and War: A Short History by Jeremy Black
Tolerating the intolerant
“For those who thought that a global pandemic would sound the death knell for identity politics, think again”
How to prevent the next pandemic
‘I have been reporting as a science journalist for years that the world is at increasing risk of pandemics like this; that this was predicted; that we know what we need to do to prepare and we simply haven’t done it; and that more and worse pandemics are coming so we need to do that, now’
D’où parles-tu? The post-truth world
Power, illusion and the open society: how postmodernism undermines our foundational concepts