Is there a political solution to halt genocide in the Nuba Mountains, Sudan?
Guest post by Tim Flatman, who has recently returned from South Sudan. Is genocide always an irrational action carried out by a despot who has lost his grasp on reality, or can it be a pragmatic policy exacted to meet the self-interest of a ruling elite? Can it co-exist with rebellion or must the targets of genocide [...]
Happy Armed Forces Day
UK fatalities Iraq: 179 [source] UK fatalities Afghanistan: 374 [source] US fatalities Iraq: 4463 [source] US fatalities Afghanistan: 1663 [source] Iraqi fatalities: 100,000+ [source] [source (pdf)] (perhaps as high as a million) Afghan fatalities: 10,000+ [source] (No reliable comprehensive estimate. UNAMA count 9759 for 2006-2010) Cost of Iraq War (UK): £9.24bn [source] Cost of Afghanistan War [...]
Green Party conference – Saturday morning motions
Conference opened today with one word: “bankers”. And how apt. The first motion – “cuts and local public services” – committed the party to fighting public spending cuts at a local level, opposing the current round of mass privatisation, and supporting initiatives such as participatory budgeting. It also suggested that all services should be accountable [...]
EXCLUSIVE: Labour’s new ad
Yesterday’s debate’s biggest gaffe was undoubtedly David Cameron’s hamfisted ‘Axis of Evil’ speech, citing China (along with Iran) as the reason we need nuclear missiles. “Are we really happy to say that we’d give up our independent nuclear deterrent when we don’t know what is going to happen with Iran, we can’t be certain of [...]
bailed-out RBS lead near billion pound deal for Uganda war zone oil company
Yesterday I posted a story about how we had just launched a legal action against the Treasury over their failure to stop RBS misusing public money. Right after I posted it, I heard about RBS’ latest deal, and wrote the below for our website. I can think of few worse uses for public money than [...]
A majority in search of a party on Afghanistan
Mark Ballard once, with a smirk on his face, told me that Nigel Farage (the then UKIP leader) listed his interests as real ale, military history and cricket. He suggested it was a bit like a Green liking gardening on the allotment, muesli and woolly jumpers. Sadly real ale, military history and cricket are prominent [...]