UK

British MPs tout NATO’s ‘Kosovo success story’ as reason to bomb Syria
Kosovo is often cited by liberal interventionists as NATO’s success story and now a reason for attacking Syria. However, the ongoing lawlessness in the country shows nothing could be further from the truth. In 1999, NATO bombed Yugoslavia for 78 days, culminating in the withdrawal of Yugoslav troops from the Serbian province of Kosovo. [...]
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UK ‘not rushing’ to strike ISIS in Syria – foreign secretary
Britain is not in a rush to strike Syria, says Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, as it is revealed the Royal Air Force (RAF) has not struck an Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) target in the country for 11 days. [...]
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After Five Years of Legal Limbo, Sweden Agrees to Question Assange in London
Sweden reached a deal Sunday that will allow authorities to interview WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he has been living under asylum for the past three years. Assange's legal team said the deal will allow the case to move forward while ensuring his safety. [...]
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Report on Soviet nuclear scare remains top secret over national security fears
British government officials have refused to release documents relating to the 1983 Able Archer incident, when a NATO military exercise came close to provoking nuclear war with the Soviet Union. Security chiefs insist a report on the crisis must remain secret on national security grounds, as information within the document is still relevant today. [...]
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Boris Johnson: ‘Set aside Cold War mindset, join Putin & Assad to defeat ISIS’
Britain must join forces with Syrian President Bashar Assad and Russian President Vladimir Putin to defeat Islamic State (formerly ISIS/ISIL), London Mayor Boris Johnson wrote in his weekly newspaper column. Johnson has also said the government’s claim there are 70,000 moderate rebel ground troops willing to work with British armed forces may be “exaggerated.” These troops, he wrote, ma [...]
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British strikes in Syria illegal, play into terrorists’ hands – Assad
London's air operation against Islamic State in Syria is illegal and therefore will not be successful, like the bombing of the US-led coalition in the country over the last year, Syrian President Bashar Assad said in an interview with The Sunday Times newspaper. The support of the British parliament for the air operation in Syria advocated by Prime Minister David Cameron cannot change the fact [...]
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Why the US, France and Britain are destroying Syria
Since Russia stepped up to the plate, suddenly western countries can’t wait to bomb ISIS. Are they now there to get the job done? Or are they there to stop Russia increasing its influence, and to make sure it doesn’t succeed where they failed? The world is falling over itself to bomb Syria. [...]
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It’s Cameron, Not Corbyn, Who Is the Terrorist Appeaser
Prime minister David Cameron’s argument in the Commons for permission to bomb Syria was not based on any new or coherent strategy. As he himself pointed out, it merely follows the logic of a previous vote to bomb Iraq. Even so, like Tony Blair before the Iraq invasion of 2003, he had to rely on abusing his opponents, scaring the public and disseminating dubious intelligence. [...]
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Destroying ‘Prospects of Peace,’ UK Begins Bombing of Syria
A new war will not increase the prospects of peace in Syria, nor will the British people be safer from terrorism.' Amid warnings that "new war will not increase the prospects of peace," the UK carried out its first airstrikes in Syria on Thursday, just hours after members of Parliament voted to expand the use of military force in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS). [...]
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Russia’s Shot Down Jet Is Sending Us a Powerful Message: Keep Well Out of Syria!
With today's shooting down of a Russian SU24 by Turkey, the war in Syria just took a new twist - and one that sends a powerful message to the UK as it contemplates joining in bombing raids on Islamic State militants. And for those who are hard of hearing, that message is: 'keep well out!' Up until now, the war in Syria has looked complicated. On the one side the Syrian state led by President Basha [...]
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As Cameron Bangs War Drum, Voices for Peace Rally Around Corbyn
'Another destructive bombing campaign is no solution whatsoever,' anti-war campaigners warn. 'It risks intensifying and widening what is already a catastrophic war.' As British Prime Minister David Cameron declared from Paris on Monday his desire to escalate the UK's military campaign against the Islamic State (ISIS) in both Iraq and Syria, campaigners are looking to Jeremy Corbyn to see whethe [...]
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UK calls on France & Canada to track down alleged Russian sub
Britain has once again been forced to call in foreign help after it says it spotted a Russian submarine off the west coast of Scotland. Despite the presence of French and Canadian patrol planes and Royal Navy ships, no trace of the sub has been found. The alleged Russian vessel is believed to have been seen at least 10 days ago in the area, and the search to find the sub has been taking place e [...]
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The Festival of Remembrance: It’s time to save it from the warmongers
“The Great Silence.” That’s how the London Times newspaper (back then Britain’s newspaper of record and not a crude neo-con propaganda sheet), described Britain’s first Armistice/Remembrance Day, which took place on November 11, 1919. [...]
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Tony Blair ‘misrepresented’ WMD evidence before Iraq invasion – UN inspector
Former Prime Minister Tony Blair “misrepresented” military intelligence in order to secure approval to invade Iraq in 2003, Dr Hans Blix, the head of the UN inspection team at the time, has revealed. Blix, who inspected Iraq for weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) before the US and British-led invasion, told former-Telegraph journalist Peter Oborne the intelligence gathered was not accuratel [...]
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US official warns Britain to stay in EU or risk trade restrictions
The US would not be keen to pursue a trade deal with Britain if it were to leave the European Union, one American official has said.It marks the first public acknowledgement by the US of a stance on the upcoming referendum. [...]
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Varoufakis mocks Murdoch media’s ‘troika-loyal’ expenses hit-piece
Rock star politician and ex-Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis has brushed off accusations by the Times of London that he is raking in cash for speaking engagements by publishing his expenses. On Tuesday, the paper published a piece claiming Varoufakis was merely moonlighting as a “libertarian Marxist,” while in fact acting like a “highly-paid capitalist,” raking in six-figure fees [...]
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‘International justice is farce if Blair doesn’t go on trial over Iraq war’
Former UK PM Tony Blair should be indicted by the International Criminal Court for leading Britain into an illegal war with Iraq, resulting in millions of deaths and the rise of Islamic State, says Neil Clark, a journalist and a broadcaster. The former British Prime Minister admitted in an interview with CNN that there are “elements of truth” to the supposition that the US-led Iraq invasio [...]
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‘Blair’s role in destroying Iraq will follow him to his grave’
The unearthing of classified memos, revealing that Tony Blair committed Britain to following the US into the war in Iraq, regardless of its legality, suggests the net may finally be closing in on a man whom many consider a war criminal. The UK tabloid, the Mail on Sunday, has published damning memos that show the former British PM had agreed to the invasion of Iraq a full year before it had be [...]
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Blair promised UK support to US in Iraq 1 year before invasion – report
Former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, committed the UK to joining the US invasion of Iraq a year before it began, a newly disclosed White House memo reveals. The US documents obtained by the Daily Mail and published on Sunday are part of the batch of emails from the private server of former US State Secretary, Hillary Clinton, which US courts have made her disclose. [...]
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1 in 5 Tory MPs support Brexit – think tank
Nearly one fifth of Prime Minister David Cameron’s MPs are likely to vote against Britain remaining a member of the European Union in the upcoming referendum, new research has revealed. The results show the growing divide over the European question between the prime minister and his party. [...]
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Right-wingers think they are morally superior, study shows
Conservative-minded Britons are more likely to think they are morally superior to everybody else than left-wing people, according to a new study. While lefties are often accused of brandishing their moral superiority, the new study by polling firm YouGov appears to flip that claim on its head. [...]
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Yes: Glasgow hosts massive rally in support of Scottish independence year after vote
They may have been defeated in last year's independence referendum, but they haven’t fallen silent. Thousands of ‘YES’ campaigners are set to turn out today for a major rally in Glasgow, to mark the anniversary of the historic vote. In the lead up to the independence referendum in Scotland in September 2014, tens of thousands of activists attended ‘YES’ rallies - and those people have [...]
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