When a Christian king and a Muslim caliph united against their common foes
Despite the official holy war between Islam and Christendom, Abbasid Caliph Harun al-Rashid and Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne exchanged lavish
Read More
saddam hussein
How not to fight extremism in America
A sudden lurch from ignoring or underplaying the threat of right-wing extremism in America to treating white crusaders like jihadis and QAnon like al-Qaeda will set off the insurgency timebomb rather than defuse it.
Read MoreThe mediocrity of evil
Many of the leaders held up as representing the epitome of evil were extraordinarily and spectacularly untalented, incapable and incompetent. With this mediocrity of evil, it is almost a wonder that they managed to rise to the top at all.
Read MoreSaddam Hussein: Laughing in the face of tyranny
In light of the continuing legacy of Saddam Hussein’s rule and the US invasion of Iraq, is it appropriate to stage a comedy about the former despot?
Read MoreThe real battle against ISIS is political and social
If ISIS is a virus, then fighting it with the antibiotic of ill-conceived deadly force and repression could create ever-more deadly strains.
Read MoreThe death throes of Arab thuggery
Arab civilisation has not collapsed but the thuggish political, economic and religious mafias dominating the region are dying violently.
Read MoreThe caliphate illusion: “Restoring” what never was
The tyranny of Arab secular dictators and destructive Western hegemony combined to enable ISIS to “restore” a brutal caliphate which never existed.
Read MoreBush, Blair en de blitzkrieg in Irak
Gezien de verreikende gevolgen van de Amerikaanse invasie van Irak, laten we het idee om Bush en Blair voor het gerecht te brengen nieuw leven inblazen.
Read MoreCriminally reckless architects of Iraq invasion must face justice
The US invasion and occupation caused Iraq to implode into anarchy and then explode into civil war. For that reason, its architects must be prosecuted
Read MoreUS intervention in Syria: Not kind, but cruel
Punishing a dictator for killing his own people by killing yet more of them is not the answer. It didn’t work in Iraq, and it won’t work in Syria.
Read More
