投稿者: Simon Tisdall
Joe Biden’s ‘waffle-fest’ summit shows the international community is toothless when faced with a murderous junta boss Promoting democracy worldwide is an admirable ambition, unless of course you are a bloody-minded dictator and serial human rights abu…
Official cables confirm that the former foreign secretary could have foreseen the chaos of the Afghanistan withdrawal. He didn’t resign then. But he should nowDominic Raab is a clever man, but not perhaps a wise or especially honourable one. Chronic m…
The US has now spent $8 trillion over 20 years in its response to the attacks. But the true price has been more than financialSuccessive US administrations since 2001 have spent $8tn – that’s to say $8,000bn or $8 million million – on what George Bush,…
The American public will not be in a forgiving mood if al-Qaida rises again following US withdrawal and the Taliban advanceWhat will it take for Joe Biden to admit he is disastrously wrong about Afghanistan? The US leader struck a defiant pose last wee…
The US president is being much tougher than expected on Beijing, but a lack of solidarity will undermine his policy’s successIt’s generally accepted in Washington that once-buoyant hopes for the emergence of a free, democratic China, initially sparked …
Nearly 400,000 have died since it won independence 10 years ago. Now violence looms again, within and beyond its bordersIndependence isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be. Recent additions to the family of nations, such as Kosovo and East Timor (Timo…
Little has been achieved in 20 years of war, and as the Taliban regroup, ordinary Afghans brace for an uncertain futureMilitary retreats from Afghanistan are problematic, as the British (1842) and the Red Army (1989) discovered to their cost. The cliff…
As ethnic militias back the popular uprising and refugees flee the country, the similarities with Syria are deeply disturbingIn August 2011, Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkey’s then foreign minister, made a “mercy dash” to Damascus. He appealed in person to Syri…
The country’s global standing is plunging as Xi Jinping attempts to whitewash atrocities in the name of empire-buildingA terrible scream of pain contorts a little girl’s face and tells the story of the army’s brutal crackdown in Myanmar. Shwe Yote Hlwa…
The president has inherited an unpopular war, and whatever he decides to do about it will be fraught with danger Of all the foreign hazards, snares, pitfalls and timebombs left behind by Donald Trump, Afghanistan is arguably the worst. Joe Biden must d…
From the coup in Myanmar to the autocratic regimes in China and Russia, western values are under increasing threat Blame Joe Biden for not stepping in more quickly, or Donald Trump for encouraging authoritarian rulers. Blame Barack Obama for lifting sa…
Forced shutdown of the human rights group will only increase international scrutiny of systemic mis-governanceSpeaking truth to power has ever been a fraught and dangerous occupation, as Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was recently reminded af…
Attacks against the Muslim minority in Myanmar have gone unchecked as regional players focus on their own interestsThe persecution, ethnic cleansing, and attempted genocide of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar’s Rakhine state is an affront to the rule of law…
From Tibet to Taiwan, China’s leader is intent on wielding absolute power. Instead he is fanning the flames of dissentIt’s often said that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely – but does it also induce leaders to act in foolhardy, hea…
Time and again, the president has failed to protect military personnel. For Trump, he always comes first, no matter who diesDonald Trump likes to suggest he has got the back of US soldiers battling America’s foes around the world. It was a big theme of…