Hypocrisy and chemical weapons

Declassified secret documents describe U.S. and Iraqi consultations about Iran’s 1984 draft resolution seeking United Nations Security Council condemnation of Iraq’s chemical weapons use: Iraq conveyed several requests to the U.S. about the resolution, including its preference for a lower-level response and one that did not name any country in connection with chemical warfare; the …

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Nationalism, the curse of our age

“…..,nationalism, that specious patriotism of the morally stunted.” (page 167, “Birds without Wings” by Louis de Bernieres). It is surprising how some people find it difficult to distinguish between patriotism and nationalism. Patriotism is the natural human attachment to country and kin. It should come with a healthy dose of self-criticism and a desire to …

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Snowden and Manning: heroes or villains?

Epicureanism stands for openness. You cannot have a thriving democracy when every stupid little government and military decision is treated as top secret. Millions of documents are classified as secret every year. Why is this? The suspicion is that incompetence, and even corruption, is being hidden up under the mantra of “national security”. Military and …

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