Middle East
The pretend war: why bombing Isil won't solve the problem
Britain, France and America are in a protracted fight against Islamic radicalism. Pity our leaders have no idea how to win it
Charles Moore’s Notes: Jeremy Corbyn, fanatic
When Jeremy Corbyn says it is better to bring people to trial than to shoot them, he is right. So…
Iran’s hidden war with the West – and what we can do to fight back
It’s up to Britain to ensure that the nuclear dealdoes not allow a greater threat to the Middle East
The people who really need the Pope's help
On Tuesday, Pope Francis set foot in the United States for the first time in his life. His plane touched…
Why the Middle East needs more kings
What the Middle East needs is more constitutional monarchies
What it took to wage holy war, Medieval style
For most of history, religion and war have been the most powerful social instincts of mankind and its chief collective…
Cameron’s talking to the wrong Libyan government. He should call my old driver
Certainly not the government that Cameron hopes will help fix the migrant crisis. He’d be better off talking to my old driver
If you really want to help refugees, look beyond the Mediterranean
It’s lazy and wrong just to focus on the migrants who make it here
Even Nazis weren’t quite sure how to do the Hitler salute
Gesture politics A royal home movie from 1933 apparently showed the future Queen, aged seven, and her mother giving a…
Vespasian’s Middle East policy (it should be ours, too)
As Ahmed Rashid argued last week, it is hard to see what the West is doing in the Middle East,…
Some good came out of the negotiating chamber this week, but it concerned Iran rather than Greece
As an occasional lecturer on the abstruse topic of the efficacy of sanctions in conflict resolution, I find myself much…
Christina Lamb’s diary: Meeting the mother of the Sousse killer
One strange consequence of my job as a foreign correspondent is discovering beautiful places when terrible things happen in them.…
Ali Baba and the 300 hostages: the kidnappers who prey on desperate migrants in Europe’s border badlands
The kidnappers who prey on desperate migrants in Greece’s border badlands
Why Saudi Arabia is kicking back against the USA
Why America’s once-cautious ally suddenly looks so skittish
Iraq may not have the will to survive – and that’s not even the biggest problem
Isis have it. Who else?
When Dr Johnson went to Tahrir Square
Goodness knows what the Great Cham would have made of Radio 4 airing an adapted version of his philosophical fable,…
We Are Many reviewed: does anyone think this anti-Iraq War film will change anything?
Big-screen documentaries never change the world. Blackfish has not shortened the queues to see maltreated killer whales leap through hoops…
As Kurdistan strives for a new life, its old traditions are dying
As Kurdistan reaches for independence, its traditions are dying
Justin Marozzi’s diary: Lunch with Saddam’s hangman, and a democratic revolution in Kensington
Lunch with the man who hanged Saddam. My irrepressible old Baghdad friend Mowaffak al-Rubaie, Ealing neurologist turned Iraqi national security…
How Ed Miliband lost the Jewish vote
Labour’s leader would be the first Jewish prime minister since Disraeli – so how has he alienated so many Jewish voters?
Forget Geneva: the real US-Iran carve-up is happening in Iraq
While Obama talks centrifuges in Geneva, Iranian-backed militia are redrawing the map of Iraq
It’s all kicking off in the Islamic world. Nothing at all to do with Islam, of course
They have been burning churches and murdering Christians again in Niger. You’d think that they’d have more immediately pressing concerns…
Barack Obama: anatomy of a failure
Whatever happened to Barack Obama?
How Islamic State commanders squeeze their hostages for every penny
Islamic State commanders know exactly how to extract the greatest possible profit from their hostages. Some care about little else
The myth of the White Widow
Samantha Lewthwaite almost certainly isn’t as monstrous as the papers say. And she definitely isn’t as important
