Posts under ‘War/Defence’

Labour foreign policy: our heads must rule our hearts

by Steve Laughton.

If the Labour Party’s foreign policy is to make sense it must be based on a careful analysis of the long term agenda of the neo-con Washington consensus. In the UK the establishment now faces an opposition that dares to challenge this consensus: a consensus which plays out at a national and international level. The Labour […]

We must defend the Stop the War Coalition

by Andy Newman.

I was very disappointed to see a rather shoddy hatchet job against Stop the War recently, not from the usual “decent” suspects, but from Phil Burton-Cartledge, right here on Left Futures. Let us be clear, over the issue of war in Afghanistan, the British establishment has been proven wrong, and the arguments made by Stop the War at the […]

Taking a closer look at Hilary Benn’s “electrifying” speech

by David Pavett.

Hilary Benn’s Commons speech in the Syria debate on 2 December has received high praise from right wing politicians and the media. It has been variously described as “one of the great speeches of the House of  Commons” (Phillip Hammond), a “tour de force” (Tony Blair), “electrifying” (Andrew Rawnsley in the Observer) and “politically elevating” […]

The anti-Imperialism of fools

by Phil Burton-Cartledge.

Ever since IS became the next big bogey to fill the USSR-sized gap in the perceived threats-to-our-existence market, I knew it would be a matter of time before an empty-headed comparison was made between Islamists scuttling into Syria and the volunteers who flocked to Spain to fight fascism in the 1930s. It was no surprise […]

Thatcher: should we pay out all that money for Trident?

by Ann Pettifor.

There is a fascinating review by David Runciman in the LRB of Charles Moore’s: Margaret Thatcher: The Authorised Biography, Volume ll Everything She Wants. In it Runciman recites the tale of Mrs T, the Labour leader Neil Kinnock’s support for nuclear disarmament, and President Reagan’s sudden conversion (in 1986) to nuclear disarmament. It turns out that […]

Benn speech: a fine masterclass in dressing up an intellectual and political collapse

by Phil Burton-Cartledge.

It doesn’t take much to be Labour’s leader-in-waiting these days. There’s David Miliband, failed leadership candidate and proud former owner of a 0.5% contact rate. Dan Jarvis is another – a distinguished military service makes him a front runner regardless of what he says and does. And there is Hilary Benn, the man who electrified […]

The Cameron “plan” for Syria

by Phil Burton-Cartledge.

While the contributions ring out in the House last night, Dave’s scheme for Syria has finally taken on some flesh. Well, that assertion is perhaps too generous. Vapours would be more accurate. But a plan of sorts exists, which is more than bombing for appearance’s sake, or bombing and hoping for the best. Dave’s grand strategy […]

Syria “rebels” listed in full

by Newsdesk.

The 66 Labour MPs who voted with the Government on the main motion to support “taking military action, specifically airstrikes, exclusively against ISIL in Syria” represented well under a third of the 231 current Labour members of Parliament. They included 11 out of 28 Commons members of the shadow cabinet, six junior shadow ministers and three […]

Wy I shall vote against Cameron’s rush to war on Syria

by Grahame Morris.

I was shocked and appalled by the terrorist attacks in Paris and those in other countries and cities in recent weeks and the deaths of British tourists in Tunisia. I share the feelings of many of sympathy for the victims and families, of wishing to express solidarity with the French people in standing up to terrorism, […]

When real wars shade into the simulated environments of the war game….

by Phil Burton-Cartledge.

The sometimes mischievous French philosopher, Jean Baudrillard earned himself a bit of notoriety in the wake of Operation Desert Storm by declaring that the the Gulf War did not take place. Of course, he wasn’t suggesting it didn’t take place in the sense that conspiracy theorists maintain NASA didn’t land men on the Moon. Baudrillard’s […]

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