Imperialism

Raid in Somalia goes awry for US Navy special forces

08 October 2013
US special forces failed to capture a leader of the Islamist group Al Shabaab in the Somali town of Barawe last weekend

Syria deal exposes Obama’s weakness

01 October 2013
A few weeks ago the US looked poised to launch a military attack on Syria. Now a deal on Syrian chemical weapons appears to be sealed—and a historic thaw in relations with Iran has been thrown in for good measure.

Obama’s Syria deal with Russia shows the limits of US power

17 September 2013
US president Barack Obama has stepped back from his threat to bomb Syria. The US and Russia signed an accord in Geneva last Saturday.

Syrian voices oppose Western intervention

10 September 2013
A growing number of insurgent organisations in Syria have declared their opposition to a US strike on Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

Losing war vote puts Tories on the back foot

03 September 2013
We are taught that the ruling class is all-powerful, that we have to endure everything they impose, whether imperialist war or welfare cuts. Yet last week David Cameron and the Tories wanted to go to war and didn’t succeed and they are reeling from the shock.

Cameron’s defeat over Syria vote leaves rulers in disarray

03 September 2013
The ruling classes of the Western powers are in turmoil over military intervention in Syria. The British and French governments have spent months lobbying US president Barack Obama to lead a military strike on Syria. But now prime minister David Cameron has lost the vote in the British parliament. His previous belligerence just compounds the humiliation. His authority is weakened on the international stage, at home and in his own party.

United Nations bombs are no better for imperial victims

03 September 2013
Many people who oppose a Western attack on Syria feel that intervention would be more legitimate if the United Nations (UN) backed it but it doesn't make a difference.

Syria ‘response’ is a dangerous gamble for the West

27 August 2013
Whatever the extract truth about the chemical weapons attack east of Damascus on Wednesday of last week, it seems to have been on a huge scale, writes Alex Callinicos

Don't bomb Syria - Western intervention will make things worse

27 August 2013
David Cameron wants Britain to join Western bombing raids but that will only bring more bloodshed.

Bitter defeat of the West's bloody war in Afghanistan

25 June 2013
The West has finally admitted it lost the war in Afghanistan. A coalition led by the world’s greatest superpower is scuttling out of the country. To do so it agreed to talks with the Taliban—the enemy the warmongers said they went in to defeat.

US troops in Syria only threaten the revolution

18 June 2013
The US government wants to score a win in its regional cold war against Iran. The revolutionary struggle for emancipation in Syria would become the collateral damage.

West prepares to intervene in Syria

18 June 2013
Western intervention is a danger to the struggle against dictatorship, says Judith Orr

Mau Mau case - when 'sorry' is the hardest word

11 June 2013
The Foreign Office was quick to clarify last week that the foreign secretary was not making an apology for the British government.

Capture of key Syrian city by Assad’s forces edges war closer to Lebanon

11 June 2013
Syrian government forces, supported by the Lebanese Hizbollah militia, retook the crucial city of Qusair last week.

'Sincere regret' from British government over Mau Mau war torture and promise to compensate victims

11 June 2013
The government agreed on Thursday of last week to compensate Kenyans tortured by the British during the 1950s Mau Mau war.

British government forced to apologise to Kenyans tortured in 1950s

06 June 2013
Foreign secretary William Hague was today, Thursday, forced to apologise to Kenyan victims of the Mau Mau war of the 1950s. But he made it clear that his government does not accept responsibility for the crimes of colonialism

Proxy war in Syria is part shadow boxing

04 June 2013
The great powers seem to be squaring off over bleeding, war-torn Syria, writes Alex Callinicos. Britain and France have bludgeoned the European Union (EU) into ending its embargo on arms supplies to the rebels.

Secret prison shows up Britain's dirty role in war

04 June 2013
The government claims that the military is in Afghanistan to uphold the law. But Ken Olende shows the brutal reality behind Britain’s ‘war on terror’

The Texan firm behind Camp Bastion

04 June 2013
Camp Bastion is the main British base in Afghanistan. It is four miles long and accommodates 28,000 people. It was built in 2006 and is the largest British base built abroad since the Second World War.