A decade ago, the Democratic Unionist party (DUP) viewed Brexit as a potential gamechanger in the struggle to resist future pressure for a united Ireland. As the author and journalist Fintan O’Toole wrote in an essay published last year, the DUP hoped that the 2016 referendum would deliver “a double exit.Continue Reading
Imperialism does not require a flag to be planted or a governor dispatched. It can be a powerful nation deciding who governs a smaller, weaker country, and on what terms and for whose benefit its resources will be developed. Donald Trump’s kidnapping of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro, putting his deputy –Continue Reading
The cycle’s familiarity should not obscure the gravity of the consequences as the US and Iran return to threats, strikes and a futile search for an exit from war via escalation. On Sunday, Tehran said that it had closed the strait of Hormuz again. The World Food Programme is alreadyContinue Reading
Twice now, the Guardian’s questions about Reform UK’s finances appear to have been pre-empted by stories friendly to the party. This paper revealed in April that Nigel Farage received £5m from the crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne – but an interview with Reform UK’s leader, claiming he needed the cash “forContinue Reading
Donald Trump is not known for his reverence for the US constitution. But in his second term, he is doubling down on his claim from the first: that the text grants him “the right to do whatever I want as president”. This is, to put it mildly, an extremely unusualContinue Reading
As Donald Trump’s second term has become overshadowed by plunging poll ratings and an illegal, ill-advised war in the Middle East, European governments have regularly been singled out to bear the brunt of the US president’s growing frustration. Sir Keir Starmer’s refusal to militarily back the attack on Iran ledContinue Reading
China senses opportunity when Donald Trump visits later this month. A nakedly transactional US president in need of a trade deal, and hoping that Beijing could lean on Iran, might shift on Taiwan in return. China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, linked the issue explicitly to broader bilateral cooperation in hisContinue Reading
When Donald Trump boasted recently that he had stopped the conflict between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo – though fighting persists in the DRC, at appalling human cost – he made clear that his goals went beyond a long-sought Nobel Peace prize. “They said to me, ‘Please, please,Continue Reading
In a sort-of ceasefire, the killings – including of children – have slowed, not stopped. Israeli military operations continue to displace hundreds of families in Gaza. Aid has increased but Israel is still blocking vital supplies. Palestinians desperately require security, humanitarian relief and reconstruction. But they need and expect aContinue Reading
When Eisaku Satō, a former prime minister of Japan, received the Nobel peace prize in 1974 after committing his country to not making nuclear bombs, owning them or allowing them on its territory, he assured the audience: “I have no doubt that this policy will be pursued by all futureContinue Reading
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