In Search of “Globo Cop”

A Great Power has been humbled, and its leader’s reputation has suffered. It has had to retreat in the face of successful military manoeuvres from a much less powerful state, and it has come in for a lot of criticism from its allies about its actions. This Great Power is discovering, in quite stark fashion, that it cannot just expect to send its soldiers anywhere in the world, lay down the law, and expect things to go swimmingly just because …

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Attacking Islamic State vs protecting civilians in Syria?

With the start of US-led air strikes on Islamic State targets in Syria this week, and Parliament due to vote today on British military action in neighbouring Iraq, attention is once again focused on the conflict which has cost so many lives since 2011. When G8 leaders met in Fermanagh last year, they committed themselves to helping to bring peace to Syria. The soaring death toll in the sixteen months since, at the hands of Syrian state military, opposition forces and …

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King 1963: I have a dream. Obama 2013: I have a drone

In 1963 Martin Luther King Jr stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., and gave his famous “I have a dream” speech. Today, fifty years on, in tribute to the great civil rights leader, the US marks Martin Luther King Jr Day with a federal holiday in his name. Today also sees Barack Obama take to the steps of the city’s Capitol Building for his second public inauguration as President of the United States of America. …

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