Watching the BBC debates on the legacy of the Russian revolution was never going to please a Marxist like myself. Typically you get stage-managed spats between people like George Galloway and Peter Hitchens, where both sides take the worst line possible. So the October revolution is either mystified or misconstrued. (More…)
After establishing a presence in northern Idlib and western Aleppo over the past month, Turkish troops and Turkey-backed rebels are now looking to expand their area of control along the border by moving further east into Aleppo’s countryside, a rebel spokesman told Syria Deeply. (More…)
It is now nearly ten months since Donald Trump took up the reins of power in Washington. It is fair to say that this has been the oddest, and perhaps the most disturbing period since Watergate. Mr. Trump and his associates have been busy philosophizing with hammers, speaking as if they were making the word of their agenda flesh, but governing with a mixture of bluster and indecision. (More…)
It looks like a storm is coming. Allegations of sexual harassment and assault are being raised everywhere and now Westminster is going to face the brunt. Defence Secretary Michael Fallon has just resigned. But this is nothing new. And there is surely more to come. (More…)
To read #metoo testimonies from many women and some men on social media concerning the sexual harassment and assaults they have endured is to be horrified at the accounts. The sadness brings a quiet. It becomes inappropriate to speak. (More…)
On a midsummer night, three young Iranians pushed a small boat out to sea on the French coast a few miles from Calais. It was midnight and there were no guards around to stop them. (More…)
One of the strange motifs of contemporary politics has been the rise of the old white guy as a source of hope for the left. It is almost as if figures like Bernie Sanders and Jeremy Corbyn emerged from the past, completely untouched by the neoliberal order of today. This is the appeal of these old-timers. (More…)
Raqqa, for me, was a window into freedom. The Syrian government arrested me in 2011 for photographing protests and posting them on social media. I was detained for nine months and released in mid-2012, but I did not return to my hometown of Deir Ezzor. (More…)
Over the past nine months, we have seen evidence of rising popular discontent in Spain. Last February, in Madrid, there were university student riots, in protest over Falange control of the student body and government restrictions on free speech. (More…)
It will be a couple of weeks before you read this, but I was reminded this morning that today (October 7th) is the one year anniversary of the coming to light of Mr. Trump’s Discourse on the Proper Wooing and Treatment of Women, so eloquently delivered to Billy Bush of Access Hollywood. (More…)
The truck bombing in Mogadishu and appalled everyone who heard about it. Indeed, the level of carnage was horrific. But far fewer people know what lies behind the misery of Somalia than heard of this fresh atrocity. (More…)
BEIRUT – Nationality was a controversial topic in Syria even before the influx of foreign fighters, the fleeing of 5.2 million people from the country and the increasing restrictions on freedom of movement for Syrian nationals. (More…)