Zoom seems an unlikely place to be conducting an interview with a former United Nations Weapons Inspector, and further still to be discussing his tours in Iraq in search of Weapons of Mass Destruction. Yet here we are. Former United Nations (UN) Weapons Inspector Mike Barley was seconded to Iraq three times in 1996-7 at…
Global
Deadly protests continue in Iraq
Breaking out on the 1st October 2019, Iraq has been subject to the deadliest string of protests since 2003 and the capture of Saddam Hussein. Over 110 citizens have been killed and thousands more have been injured. The government authorities have been attempting to contain the news from reaching international media by implementing a near…
Comment
The legacy of Tony Blair
20 years from the introduction of the minimum wage, Blair still remains one of the most divisive Prime Ministers. He is remembered fondly by some as a leader in better times, but a pariah to others, especially on the left. So, what is the true legacy of Tony Blair? The main issue that always comes…
Global
Ollie Ryan Tucker examines terror charges against a British anti-ISIS fighter
James Matthews, a British volunteer who fought with the Kurdish YPG in Syria against ISIS, will be charged with a terror offence, Metropolitan Police have announced. The charge alleges that he attended “a place or places in Iraq or Syria where instruction or training was provided for purposes connected to the commission or preparation of…
Global
Examined: Kurdish independence in Iraq
In a controversial referendum, 92 percent of voters in the Kurdish region of Northern Iraq chose independence, angering neighbouring countries and the federal Iraqi government. In July 2014, with the Islamic State expanding, Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) President Massoud Barzani announced plans to hold an independence referendum without approval from the Iraqi parliament. Negotiations between…
Arts
An appetite for destruction: Islamic State and the art of the ancient world
Dan Cruickshank’s BBC4 documentary, Civilization under Attack, was thought-provoking, considered, informative, but above all devastatingly moving. When you see Islamic State militants taking sledge-hammers, drills and explosives to the works of art in Iraqi and Syrian museums and historical heritage sites, all you can do is cry. The area was indeed a ‘cradle of civilizations’,…
Features
Russell Brand, Tony Blair and the Iraq War inquiry
Russell Brand revels in shining his spotlight on corrupt politicians. Recently he devoted an episode of his YouTube channel, The Trews, to Tony Blair and the Iraq War Inquiry entitled “Tony Blair Not In Jail? I Literally Don’t Understand”. Brushing over Brand’s cheap shots at Blair’s gesticulation and ad hominem arguments contrived purely for laughs,…
Global
No silent nights in Iraq
The US-led coalition took on its ‘advisory’ role against the Islamic State (Isis) in July. As we enter December, the total number of airstrikes against militants has passed 1,000, with an estimated 2,000 militants killed and a tenth of that again in civilian losses. Yet despite the “heavy toll” that, according to US Secretary of…
Comment
Is the rise of Islamic State a new threat for the West?
Joe Jameson questions how the events taking place with ISIS (now IS) will affect western civilisation.
Latest Comments