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 […]
Posts under ‘International’
When real wars shade into the simulated environments of the war game….
Dec 2nd, 2015 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.
How Britain could assist in the fight against ISIL without air strikes
Nov 30th, 2015 by Andy Newman.The performance of Jeremy Corbyn on the Andrew Marr show was extraordinarily impressive, puncturing in a number of places the complacent rationalisations that David Cameron has presented for British involvement in the Syrian civil war. Let us remind ourselves that this is an issue that the Conservative Party is also divided over, with MPs such […]
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Labour’s shadow cabinet must not split the party over going to war
Nov 27th, 2015 by Jon Lansman.The shadow cabinet yesterday discussed David Cameron’s plan to go to war in Syria. A majority of its members favour backing airstrikes in spite of the four conditions laid down by Labour’s conference only two months ago not being met. It is unclear whether there is a majority of members favour imposing a whip in support […]
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The SNP motion on Trident was a sectarian stunt, not a blow for disarmament
Nov 25th, 2015 by Jon Lansman.The motion which was put down in the name of SNP Westminster MPs yesterday “that this House believes that Trident should not be renewed” had nothing whatever to do with advancing the cause of disarmament or preventing the renewal of Trident. That is an objective the SNP does not share. If they did, they would seek to […]
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Labour Party will boycott G4S security services over repression of Palestinians
Nov 19th, 2015 by Newsdesk.It has emerged that the Labour Party decided at its national executive meeting on Tuesday to boycott the private security company, G4S, that has provided its conference security in recent years because it helps Israel run prisons at which Palestinian political prisoners are held without trial and subjected to torture. Protests have taken place both outside […]
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Post-Paris massacre poll shows UK public oppose Syria airstrikes – MPs take note
Nov 18th, 2015 by Jon Lansman.The vast majority of the British public do not believe that British airstrikes on Syria are the right response to the Paris massacre, says a poll published today. Nor do the public believe past airstrikes have made the UK any safer. What most people want is a joint international approach backed by the UN, and for […]
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On Jeremy Corbyn, “shoot to kill” and stopping terrorists in the act of murder
Nov 17th, 2015 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.You can understand the thirst for vengeance. On Sunday night, France flew sorties over Syria to strike IS targets in Raqqa, the capital of their ramshackle semi-state. They reportedly hit a recruitment centre and munitions depot. Other facilities on the receiving end of French ordinance were a hospital, a museum, a stadium, and a chicken farm. […]
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Are drone strikes doing more harm than good in the fight against ISIS?
Nov 16th, 2015 by Luke Barratt.The death by drone of Jihadi John earlier in the week again brought to the fore the increasingly fraught debate over such state-sanctioned killings, which would, in a time before the War on Terror, have been termed assassinations. Jeremy Corbyn was predictably castigated by some for remarking that it would have been better for Emwazi to […]
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The EU referendum and the pro-EU left
Nov 11th, 2015 by Peter Rowlands.The GMB resolution at the Labour Party conference stressed defending employment and social rights and not aligning with the Tories, and was a welcome starting point for what should now be a major issue for Labour’s left, namely determining that Labour’s campaign is distinctively left wing and not indistinguishable from the general In campaign. The Labour No […]
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Why Scottish Labour was right to oppose the replacement of Trident
Nov 1st, 2015 by Dave Watson.At the Scottish Labour conference today, 70% of votes were cast against replacing Trident and to endorse the composite set out below. Dave Watson, UNISON Scotland’s Head of Bargaining & Campaigns and former Chair of the Scottish Party explains why his union backed that vote Trident is an expensive status symbol that has no military value […]
