By: Henry Redwood To say that it has been a bad couple of weeks to be English (or is it British, or European? I’m not sure anymore…) is an understatement. Violent and racist football supporters in France; racist abuse at home; intolerant and divisive politics in all political parties; “Brexit”; and lastly, losing a football match … Continue reading
Book review: ‘Making Sense of Proxy Wars: States, Surrogates & the Use of Force’ by Michael Innes
Reviewed by: Lauren Dickey Michael A. Innes (ed.), Making Sense of Proxy Wars: States, Surrogates & the Use of Force (Washington, DC: Potomac Books, 2012). [Not] making sense of proxy wars At the end of the Cold War, and especially in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks, the study of war gradually shifted … Continue reading
Are Hamas rockets terrorism? Hollywood weighs in
By: Lauren Mellinger On June 20, 2016, NBC Universal (Universal Cable Productions) filed a lawsuit in a California federal court against its insurer, Atlantic Specialty Insurance Company. At first glance the case appears to be a typical dispute over a contract – a Hollywood production company is suing its insurer for failure to pay the … Continue reading
Perim: the strategic island that never was
By: James A. Fargher Despite lying in the middle of one of the world’s most critical choke points, the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait between Djibouti and Yemen, the island of Perim is a remote and often forgotten outpost. Perim is located in the midst of the waterway which separates the Red Sea from the Gulf of Aden … Continue reading
Poetry and reconciliation: The poet’s quest for peace
By: Alex Reid with Sasha Dugdale Poetry, especially in traditional oral form, has the power to connect boundaries and disciplines. Literary critic Paul Fussell makes a powerful case that by forcing the reader to confront ‘actual and terrible moral challenges’ the genre earns itself a special reputation for timelessness and emotional reverence. [1] War poetry … Continue reading
What Brexit means for UK-China ties
By: Lauren Dickey The people of the United Kingdom have voted to leave the European Union, and it is a bitter pill for many of its friends, partners, and allies to swallow. This is particularly true for China, one of the rising global powers that has invested no shortage of time and energy in nurturing … Continue reading
Untied Kingdom? Contested British identity, why we suffer economic woes, and the soul of the EU
By: Pablo de Orellana and Claire Yorke They used to call us ‘perfidious white Albion’ Britons will wake up on Friday morning to discover whether their future lies within Europe, or without. Over the past few months the debate between the ‘Remain’ and ‘Leave’ camps has dominated the news. For many the end of this week … Continue reading