Francis Pike

The West’s shameful silence on Imran Khan’s imprisonment

31 January 2024 12:56 am

Donald Trump should spare a thought for Imran Khan. If the former US president feels overrun by lawsuits, he could…

The long and bloody history of tunnel warfare

5 November 2023 5:56 pm

Tunnel fighting has always been a problem. As Israel battles in Gaza against some 5,000 Hamas fighters embedded in buildings,…

The first world war wasn’t the first world war

30 September 2023 5:00 pm

For reasons that not even Czechs can explain, in the past they developed a habit of throwing their rulers out…

How an American racing driver and war in Mongolia helped to defeat Hitler

16 September 2023 8:30 pm

Of all the ‘practice’ wars that preceded the main events of the second world war, including the Spanish civil war…

The forgotten end of the second world war

2 September 2023 5:30 pm

Two weeks ago, VJ day (Victory over Japan day) celebrated the end of the Pacific War. On 15 August 1945…

What explains Taiwan’s warmth towards Imperial Japan?

13 August 2023 5:00 pm

The online TaiwanPlus news agency reported recently that a new memorial had been unveiled in southern Taiwan to commemorate the…

Britain’s nuclear test veterans are finally being remembered

31 July 2023 6:31 pm

Some wars get forgotten (viz Korea and Malaya); others are constantly refreshed in memory. As the manager of an Asian…

Why do we forget Britain’s role in the Korean War?

27 July 2023 4:30 pm

Today marks the 70th anniversary of the Korean War Armistice. Sadly, in the British media it will be forgotten that…

Britain’s war in Malaya

18 June 2023 7:53 pm

On 17 June 1948, seventy-five years ago this weekend, the British Prime Minister, Clement Attlee declared war on the ethnic…

The troubling arrest of Imran Khan

10 May 2023 8:00 pm

The saga of Imran Khan’s political career rumbles on. While on his way to the High Court in Islamabad yesterday…

China and the strange history of balloon warfare

4 February 2023 6:00 am

China’s ‘spy’ balloon, (or is it an errant weather balloon?), is currently being tracked across America. Picked up above the…

What the revisionists get wrong about America’s nuclear bombings

18 December 2022 7:00 pm

The use of nuclear weapons at Hiroshima and Nagasaki is hardly a festive subject. But given that in recent conversations…

The remarkable conversion of the lead Pearl Harbor bomber

4 December 2022 6:30 pm

This week marks the 81st anniversary of the Japanese attack on the US fleet stationed at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, which…

Who tried to assassinate Imran Khan? And why?

4 November 2022 8:55 pm

At the end of August I warned in The Spectator that, in Pakistan politics, ‘death by assassination is always a…

The morality of the EU’s gas grab in Azerbaijan

16 September 2022 7:58 pm

My enemy’s enemy is my friend. This ancient proverb partly describes the EU’s fast developing relationship with Muslim Azerbaijan, a…

China vs the US: who will win the chip war?

10 September 2022 9:00 am

Semiconductors are the latest battleground for China and the US

Pakistan is on the brink

26 August 2022 3:30 pm

On Tuesday I speculated that Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan, now the opposition leader, was so popular that he…

Is Imran Khan Pakistan’s Donald Trump?

23 August 2022 6:05 pm

Imran Khan, the cricketing hero, legendary lothario and deposed prime minister of Pakistan, is in trouble again. His political opponents…

Nancy Pelosi went rogue in Taiwan

3 August 2022 9:10 pm

Old leaders can be among the best. Just look at Konrad Adenauer, who became German chancellor when he was 73…

The European Union can’t fix its gas problem

21 July 2022 6:30 pm

Over a 20 year period, former German chancellors Gerhard Schroder and Angela Merkel, handed Russian President Vladimir Putin a vice-like…

Shinzo Abe and the long history of Japanese political violence

9 July 2022 11:45 pm

Shinzo Abe, perhaps the most significant Japanese politician of the last 50 years, has been assassinated. The killing was carried…

How long will Xi Jinping rule China?

12 June 2022 7:52 pm

For some time now it has been assumed that in November the National Congress will rubber stamp Xi Jinping’s continued…

Why does India get a free pass for supporting Russia?

22 April 2022 5:47 pm

When Russia invaded Ukraine the Indian government rapidly launched ‘Operation Ganga’. This was not a military operation, nor did it…

China’s pact with the Solomons is a direct threat to Australia

19 April 2022 11:29 pm

Tulagi, a 1.5 square mile island in the South Pacific’s Solomon Islands, is perhaps the most remote place on the…

Can Imran Khan cling on to power in Pakistan?

9 April 2022 9:00 am

Can Imran Khan cling on to power in Pakistan?