How to go to war with Syria
Parliament has been recalled tomorrow for a debate on the crisis in Syria. The use of poison gas in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta appears to have crossed a line, …
Responsibility to Protect
Responsibility to Protect: a liberal approach?
By Jonathan Fryer Introduction Ever since the Peace of Westphalia of 1648, which ended Europe’s Thirty Years War, the concept of the nation state and the principle of national sovereignty …
Lessons for Syria
This blog warned earlier in the year about the stretching of the UN Security Council resolution on Libya, 1973, that authorised a no-fly zone and led to regime change. Was …
Taking sides in Libya
I listened to Green MP Caroline Lucas on the radio today explaining why she had voted against the resolution in the House of Commons endorsing military action in Libya. She …
Humanitarian intervention and the Responsibility to Protect
Report from a series of 3 seminars held in 2009 by the Wyndham Place Charlemagne Trust: General Sir Mike Jackson on “Intervention? Protection? Prevention? Military and humanitarian angles of the …
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Should we send aid to Burma?
As the tragic consequences for the people of Burma of Cyclone Nargis and its aftermath become clearer, the contrast between the desperate need for humanitarian aid and the unwillingness of …
The bottom billion
Now that I have finished reading Paul Collier’s excellent book on poverty, “The Bottom Billion”, I can write down my thoughts about it. The central theme of the book is …
A good man in Africa
The latest stage in Tony Blair’s farewell tour – his speech in South Africa last Thursday – is one of the most frustrating. (Read the speech here.) It is one …
A response to the Euston manifesto
My eye is drawn by the announcement in this week’s New Statesman of a new left-liberal grouping, based around the so-called Euston manifesto. (Read the manifesto here.) Before commenting on …