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Once the bustling heart of Christian pilgrimage, Bethlehem now faces shuttered hotels, empty streets and a shrinking Christian community, while Israel’s assault on Gaza and the tightening grip of occupation destroy hopes of peace at the birthplace of Christ, writes Father GEOFF BOTTOMS
Afghanistan: ‘a strictly limited period’
'British forces would not be in the country on a long-term basis' claimed a nervous Tony Blair in 2001. How easily 'several months' becomes two decades once the wheels of war turn, says SOLOMON HUGHES
After years hidden away, Oldham’s memorial to six local volunteers who died fighting fascism in the Spanish civil war has been restored to public view, marking both a victory for campaigners and a renewed tribute to the town’s proud International Brigade heritage, says ROB HARGREAVES
The June 2025 attacks on Iran have heightened the risk of a wider war, exposed the fiction of a rules-based international order and left ordinary Iranians trapped between external aggression and internal repression, says the Committee for Defence of Iranian People’s Rights
While pretending to seek peace, Europe is heading toward a collision course with Russia – using security guarantees, troop deployments, expropriation and censorship as tools, writes SEVIM DAGDELEN
A WWI hero, renowned ornithologist, medical doctor, trade union organiser and founder member of the Communist Party of Great Britain all rolled in one. MAT COWARD tells the story of a life so improbable it was once dismissed as fiction
The long-term effects of chemical weapons such as Agent Orange mean that the impact of war lasts well beyond a ceasefire
THE FATE of Afghanistan also shows how Western forces approached the September 11 attacks as a test of national virility rather than a crime. The hijackers of the aeroplanes largely came from Saudi Arabia, with a couple from the United Arab Emirates.
However, neither the US nor Britain took any significant action against Saudi Arabia, because they are an economic and military ally. They’ve got a lot of oil and money and their generally reactionary politics fit well enough with Western foreign policy.
Bin Laden, whose organisation had a role in the attacks which the Western powers said was crucial, was in Afghanistan in 2001. But he wasn’t there for any of the subsequent 20 years of occupation.
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ANDREW MURRAY looks back on the ignominious career of the former US vice-president, who died earlier this week
The media’s shocking lack of interest in US-British involvement in Syria means it has effectively been a secret war, argues IAN SINCLAIR