It was​ a horrific event. It was condemned in most parts of the world and most poignantly by many cartoonists. Those who planned the atrocity chose their target carefully. They knew that such...

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What Fred Did: Go-Betweens in Northern Ireland

Owen Bennett-Jones, 22 January 2015

The Northern Ireland peace process began with an exaggeration. Or what others might call a falsehood.

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The US national security state is the lengthened shadow of Dick Cheney.

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The​ Islamic State is becoming even more repressive and violent as it comes under increased military pressure from its many enemies. It shows no mercy to those who resist its rule – such...

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No Bottle: Water

Rose George, 18 December 2014

On a green hill​ above a lake in my local park in Leeds, there is a handsome stone structure. The Barrans Fountain was built by the Victorian clothing manufacturer Sir John Barran, once also...

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How bad was it? In a way it was worse than a defeat, because to be defeated, an army and its masters must understand the nature of the conflict they are fighting. Britain never did understand, and now...

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When Jihadis Win Power

Owen Bennett-Jones, 4 December 2014

After​ the Islamic State astonished its enemies by sweeping through Iraq’s second city, Mosul, the self-proclaimed caliph, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, appeared in a mosque to give a victory...

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Dad & Jr: Bushes Jr & Sr

Christian Lorentzen, 4 December 2014

It’s been​ five years and ten months. I confess to a bit of nostalgia for the nihilism that came with being governed by George W. Bush. For all the continuities, Obama arouses more...

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At Cermak: Cermak Data Centre

Donald MacKenzie, 4 December 2014

A data centre​ is a room or an entire building housing computers, network connection equipment and telecommunications links. Many data centres are built for the exclusive use of just one...

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Rage in Jerusalem

Nathan Thrall, 4 December 2014

What​ the government of Israel calls its eternal, undivided capital is among the most precarious, divided cities in the world. When it conquered the eastern part of Jerusalem and the West Bank...

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Short Cuts: Sankara and Mitterrand

Alexandra Reza, 4 December 2014

The film cuts to Mitterrand, who has risen to respond. If he may be permitted to speak from the heights of his experience, he says, Sankara talks with the fine bravery of youth, but his tongue is too sharp...

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Diary: Inside Golden Dawn

Alexander Clapp, 4 December 2014

The Golden Dawn ambushes immigrants about once a week. They call these raids krypteia, ‘secret things’.

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Not Just a Phase: Rewriting Hungary’s Past

Nora Berend and Christopher Clark, 20 November 2014

This summer​, a new monument appeared in Budapest’s Liberty Square. Amid a copse of truncated white marble pillars stands the metal figure of a slender young man. Wrapped from hips to...

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Labour Vanishes

Ross McKibbin, 20 November 2014

The Labour Party may be the largest party after the next election, and it may even secure a majority, but it could also do very badly.

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West End Boy: Breivik & Co

Adam Shatz, 20 November 2014

Before he went on his mass killing spree in 2011, Anders Behring Breivik was a regular at the Palace Grill in Oslo West.

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Whose side is Turkey on? The Battle for Kobani

Patrick Cockburn, 6 November 2014

In Kobani, for the first time, Isis was fighting an enemy that in important respects resembled itself.

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Necessity or Ideology? Legal Aid

Frederick Wilmot-Smith, 6 November 2014

Legal aid – the state subsidy of legal services – is supposed to ensure that it isn’t only the rich who can vindicate their rights.

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Le Journal and Le Club: Mediapart

Tariq Ali, 23 October 2014

Walking​ from the Bastille to the rue Saint-Antoine in Paris a few weeks ago, I was thinking how swiftly the last few decades have taken their revenge on the past. The spectacle that...

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