Spain, Germany and Beyond

Spain, Germany and Beyond

2017 minus 1936 = 81, an untidy number, not even a prime number. 1936 marked the start of the Spanish Civil War that resulted in a long hiatus for the Spanish left, as well as the failure of Weimar Germany’s socialists to prevent Hitler from remilitarizing Germany. Strikingly, 2017 sees the entry of the neo-fascist…

Revolution Returns to Europe

Revolution Returns to Europe

Political analysts are blinking in disbelief at yesterday’s events in Catalonia, trying to recognize the political phenomenon that took the world by surprise over the weekend. For the first time since the end the Second World War, a revolutionary movement has asserted its power over an important European region. The conduct of the Catalan independence…

Reputational Repair: Iran Tries to Capitalise On Myanmar’s Rohingya Crisis

Reputational Repair: Iran Tries to Capitalise On Myanmar’s Rohingya Crisis

The Iranian leader, Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, made a strikingly strong statement on the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar this week, berating “hypocritical” (presumably Western) governments for their double standards on human rights. Addressing a gathering of clerical students, Khamenei on Tuesday urged Muslim countries to apply pressure on the Myanmar government, which according to Khamenei…

World War I, 100 Hundred Years Ago: Start of the Third Battle of Ypres, or Battle of Passchendaele

World War I, 100 Hundred Years Ago: Start of the Third Battle of Ypres, or Battle of Passchendaele

The British supremo, General Haig, thought he could take advantage of the troubles experienced by the French to try once again to achieve a decisive breakthrough of the German lines. This time he planned an offensive in the vicinity of Ypres, in the infamous Flanders’ Fields. Battles had already been fought there in the fall…