David Blair's Blog, page 5

Ukraine is a great European state. Lest we forget, it is still at war

F or much of the 20th century, Europe was filled with capital cities at war. As recently as the 1990s, places like Belgrade, Sarajevo and Zagreb all fell into this tragic category. But today there is only one: Kiev in Ukraine.

Air-dropping aid is the only way to deal with Assad's 'sovereign right' to starve Syria's people

I f there is a Marie Antoinette of our age, it must be Bouthaina Shaaban, the odious ���media adviser��� to Syria���s regime. When asked about the medieval sieges currently being imposed on a million Syrians in rebel-held enclaves by her master, Bashar al-Assad, she did not actually say ���let them...

Assad's spinner might be even more evil than the man burning Syria

I f there is a Marie Antoinette of our age, it must be Bouthaina Shaaban, the odious ���media adviser��� to Syria���s regime. When asked about the medieval sieges currently being imposed on a million Syrians in rebel-held enclaves by her master, Bashar al-Assad, she did not actually say ���let them...

In today���s wars, final victory is no longer possible

W hen President Barack Obama laid a wreath in Hiroshima���s peace park , his visit commemorated a day when ���death fell from the sky and the world was changed���. It also summoned memories of an era when wars could be ended and final victory achieved with one devastating stroke.

How Britain's foreign aid bonanza has created a new Goliath, towering over the Foreign Office

I n the early 20th century, the Royal Navy and its mighty fleet of Dreadnoughts amounted to a Goliath overshadowing British foreign policy. Fast forward 100 years and there is a new and very different Goliath in Whitehall, one equipped not with 12-inch guns but an abundance of goodwill for...

The toughest police beat in the world is Jerusalem's Old City

D awn marks the beginning of a perilous hour in the Old City of Jerusalem. After sunrise, thousands of Muslims and Jews gather to perform their respective devotions at the Al-Aqsa mosque and the Western Wall. They are only a stone���s throw apart ��� and, sadly, that metaphor is only...

The migrant crisis will never end. It is part of the modern world

S ometimes, one fact goes a long way towards explaining a global crisis. Behind the rubber dinghies laden with desperate people washing up on European beaches and the refugee camps spread across the deserts of Jordan - or, for that matter, the plains of Chad ��� lies a remarkable figure.

Dutch leader promises to stop ratifying EU-Ukraine deal after resounding 'no' vote

Iran's Supreme Leader declares that 'missiles' rather than talks are part of the future

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issues an inflammatory statement implicitly accusing a former president of "treachery"

Argentina hails 'significant achievement' as experts back its claim to seas around Falklands

An advisory body has given a non-binding ruling that would hand Argentina an extra 650,000 square miles of the South Atlantic