In the US we are living through a heyday of conspiratorial nonsense, most dramatically the deranged QAnon cult that surveys suggest is, at least in part, believed in by many Republicans, including some members of Congress. Beyond these fringes, t...

Lebanon’s constitution allows a caretaker government to meet in emergency situations. Are we in Lebanon not in a situation of extreme emergency? All the more so as the new government might not be appointed any time soon, despite that being a precond...

Much of the Afghan public are horrified to see the Taliban back in control of the country. But the manner in which they have regained power and, conversely, the US-backed government evaporated in a few days, demonstrates a well-established pattern o...

For some people, for the first time for many months, it will be all about taking baby steps towards pre-pandemic lifestyles. For instance, many students and teachers will return to in-person education and many employees will be back around the confe...

It turns out that a lot of former senior officials were opposed all along to the US-led Nato mission in Afghanistan in 2001. Take Jonathan Evans, who was head of Britain’s MI5 internal security service from 2005 to 2013. He declared on Friday tha...

After 20 years of daily battles and huge investment in the Afghan army, the US withdrew from Afghanistan militarily and politically defeated, in a way unfit for the only superpower in the world. After 20 years of hit-and-run warfare and hiding in...

As the Taliban continue to make sweeping gains throughout Afghanistan, the prospects of the country’s deepening conflict being resolved through negotiations become ever more remote. When the idea was first mooted of Washington agreeing to withdra...

Britain is not at ease with itself. The uncertainties and disquiet arising from the pandemic have parallels all over the world, but in Britain it is hard to disentangle them from those arising from Brexit, that very British phenomenon that dominated...