The ongoing civil war in Syria is a mess, in which there is no obvious solution to. The Western consensus is that the intentional killing of innocent civilians by the Assad regime without impunity, is a state of affairs that cannot be allowed to continue. Assad has repeatedly denied his citizens basic human rights. The …
Continue reading ‘Syria: Why intervention is not the answer.’ »
This week’s post is a response to an article in The Spectator published just a few days ago, in which Seth Frantzman argues that the European right increasingly resembles its Israeli counterparts. He writes, “For Israelis, Europe’s political landscape is looking increasingly familiar. Whereas Israel was once seen as something of a political backwater, nowadays it’s European …
Continue reading ‘Israel, Europe, and the corrosive effects of nationalism.’ »
It’s often said that American politics is increasingly polarised. Republicans and Democrats vote on party lines more frequently, with dissenters being scorned as ideologically impure. Many academics believe this polarisation has been an elite phenomenon, with most ordinary Americans maintaining relatively centrist views. But even if America’s stark political divisions are purely the failure’s of …
Continue reading ‘Northern Ireland: where moderation is a rarity.’ »
Thought for a Sunday. The following was originally published in the New York Times. A commentary on political hypocrisy: And Jesus Said Unto Paul of Ryan … What would Jesus tell House Speaker Paul Ryan about looking after the sick and the needy? A woman who had been bleeding for 12 years came up behind …
I would like to interrupt the posts on food with a thought that occurred to me yesterday morning. I believe that the effects of the Trump corporatist/oligarchic coup will guarantee that, far from “making America great again”, America is now signalling by the recent election that it is past its zenith and is heading downwards …
Continue reading ‘We are living through a major tipping point’ »
