Bashar Assad: Good or Bad?

7 Dec

[ezcol_1half][/ezcol_1half] [ezcol_1half_end]Bewildered over whether Assad is “good” or “bad”? Unless you’ve time and energy for independent research you’re stuck with a narrative framed by capital. In UK that’s the voice of Rothermere, Murdoch and Barclay Brothers, or a liberal press … Read More »

The Anti Isis Coalition

2 Dec

[ezcol_1half] Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune, 27/11/2015[/ezcol_1half] [ezcol_1half_end]     We gotta man up and stand shoulder to shoulder with our friends in the face of evil, right? Clik the pik for better view … [/ezcol_1half_end]    

Isis – the women unveiled

24 Nov

Last night Channel 4 screened a documentary on Isis recruitment of British Muslim women. A young woman calling herself Aisha spends a year engaging Islamists, graduating from Twitter and FB through text and phone call to live meetings. She’s in … Read More »

Mangled thinking, Mr Behr

17 Nov

Dreadful article by Rafael Behr in the Grauniad today. You get the gist from its headline: Jihadism a symptom of western policy? That’s mangled history. In a piece whose thrust is to rubbish Jeremy Corbyn – in this instance for … Read More »

Yes, evidence matters

23 Oct

A friend questions my broad-brush style. He has both a history degree and a point. A cornerstone of critical thinking is that the more counter-intuitive a claim, the more evidence it needs. My recent posts run counter to dominant narratives … Read More »