Matthew Carr's Blog, page 50
March 4, 2015
The United States of Israel
There is no polite way to say this, but Benjamin Netanyahu is one of the most repellent and dangerous politicians in the world today. He is a man who trades on fear and war, a cynical and amoral manipulator without … Continue reading →
March 2, 2015
Alistair Campbell’s winners
There is a story some years back, it might have been in one of Nick Cohen’s books, that Peter Mandelson and various New Labour luminaries attended a politicians-meet-businessmen functions, where they were reportedly so wide-eyed and awestruck by by the … Continue reading →
February 28, 2015
Solidarity with Cage
What do the British media and government do, when presented with the possibility that the transformation of a British Muslim into the latest ‘face of terror’ may have been partly due to his treatment at the hands of the security … Continue reading →
February 27, 2015
The man in the black mask
So now we know the identity of the smug executioner with the black balaclava and the knife, and the British media and politicians are struggling to understand how a boy who once liked S-Club 7 and wanted to be a … Continue reading →
February 23, 2015
Gaza in Ruins
More than eight months after Israel’s latest high-tech onslaught on Gaza, large sections of Gaza City continue to resemble the dead cities left over from twentieth century saturation bombing or 21st century ‘chimneyvilles’ that Sherman’s army left in Atlanta and … Continue reading →
February 20, 2015
The Russians are coming!
Fancy a war with Russia, chaps? After more than two decades in which Western leaders have staggered from one foreign policy train wreck to another with the reckless indifference of stag night drinkers on an epic pub brawl, it now … Continue reading →
February 19, 2015
Clinton and Bush: Hawk versus Hawk
If you take seriously the premise that US military power is a force for international stability and global good, then a number of events over the last two weeks ought to give pause for thought. In Kosovo, nearly 16 years … Continue reading →
February 16, 2015
Copenhagen: it’s not about free speech
Whatever motivated Omar el-Hussein to attack a debate on free speech in Copenhagen, it’s probably safe to say that neither he nor the murderers of the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists and the Copenhagen had spent much time thinking through issues around … Continue reading →
February 14, 2015
Chapel Hill: Stop calling it ‘terrorism’
Within hours, the Chapel Hill murders were subjected to competing arguments about whether the tragedy was a ‘hate-crime’ against Muslims or an ‘ordinary’ crime in which the religious identity of the victims was not a major factor. The case against … Continue reading →
February 12, 2015
The Chapel Hill Murders
There are times when one feels numbed into a stupefied sense of inevitability by the routine flow of horrors that churns through the mass media on an almost daily basis. But the murders of the three North Carolina Muslim students … Continue reading →
