Con Coughlin's Blog, page 11

Pull the other one, Vladimir. Russia will never back military action against Syria

There's nothing Russian President Vladimir Putin likes more than to play mind games with his opposite numbers in the West which, given his background as a former KGB officer, he invariably wins. Which is why I believe it would be  sensible  to take his suggestion – made in an interview with Associated Press – that [...]

Britain cannot afford a rift with America over Syria

The suggestion that British military officers are being excluded from the Pentagon's planning for an attack on Syria is arguably the most serious consequence of last week's disastrous parliamentary vote on the Syrian crisis. While our politicians continue to haggle over who was responsible for the Government's humiliating defeat, the real impact of the vote [...]

Will Cameron learn the lessons of Churchill's war against the Afghans?

Setting aside my authorial pleasure that David Cameron has chosen to spend his holiday in Cornwall reading Churchill's First War, my account of young Winston's war against the ancestors of the Taliban in the 1890s, it is good to see that our Prime Minister is still taking a close interest in Britain's current military campaign in [...]

Sixty years on, we are still fighting Korea's 'forgotten war'

As veterans around the world gather to mark the 60th anniversary of the Korean War, in which an estimated 1.2 million people perished, it is worth remembering that the conflict is still very much with us. When President Barack Obama makes his address in Washington paying tribute to the 35,000 American soldiers who lost their [...]

The West should prepare for Assad's victory in Syria

This morning's report that hundreds of former Syrian rebels are laying down their arms and taking up the government's offer of an amnesty is further evidence of what I have been saying (and writing) for months: President Bashar al-Assad is winning Syria's brutal civil war. Ever since Assad's forces turned the tide of the conflict [...]

The Lib Dems' Trident plans show they can't be trusted on defence

The rift between the Conservatives and their Lib Dem partners over the future of the Trident nuclear deterrent system has been one of the Coalition's enduring features, and the fact that the argument has surfaced again shows that the Lib Dems have no intention of dropping the issue in the run-up to the next general [...]

Soldiers' deaths: tough training is the reason we have the world's best Special Forces

The deaths of two members of the Territorial Army on a training exercise over the weekend will inevitably lead to calls for the MOD to undertake an urgent review of its training procedures. How is it possible, many people will ask, that in the modern age it is possible for soldiers to die of heat [...]

Fresh elections are the only way forward for Egypt

With the appointment of Hazem el-Beblawi as Egypt's new interim prime minister, there is every chance that the country might now avoid the catastrophe of becoming embroiled in a Syria-style civil war. Following the tragic deaths of an estimated 51 civilians – including women and children – after a mob of Muslim Brotherhood protesters were gunned [...]

Now we've got rid of Abu Qatada, let's tackle the radical mosques

At last we seem to gaining the upper hand in the wearying fight against the radical Muslim preachers who have taken advantage of our liberal free speech traditions to peddle their hateful dogma on the streets of Britain. After last year's successful deportation of Abu Hamza to the US to stand trial on a variety [...]

Egypt: by getting rid of Mohamed Morsi, the Egyptian military has done us all a favour

I can't say I'm sad to see the back of Mohammed Morsi's fledgling Islamic dictatorship. For all the goodwill he attracted following his victory in Egypt's first democratic election last year – both from his own people and world leaders who should have known better – Mr Morsi singularly failed to reach out to the millions of [...]