Nèdeem Elmahjoub's blog

Note that Avi Shlaim uses the mainstream description ‘the Palestinian-Israeli conflict’ although he asserts that Israel’s origin is settler colonialism. How was there ethnic cleansing, as Shlaim asserts, and one can still call it a conflict? Shlaim mentions how “ The last five Conservative prime ministers, starting with David Cameron, have all been staunch supporters of Israel.” Why, I wonder, did he exclude Blair’s New Labour, not to mention previous Labour governments? He also states something I find disturbing: “ The British mandate for Iraq, the French mandate for Syria, and the French mandate for Lebanon were all about preparing the local population for self-government.” ‘ An unbroken thread of duplicity, mendacity, chicanery and skulduggery’ Related It is not a conflict

The ‘same’ headlines, attacks and vilifications uttered and published when I first arrived in England 20 years ago. The difference today is that white Ukrainians are welcome as it was with Polish labour. Johnson warns of the ‘healthy young men’ or ‘economic migrants’ who come here under false pretences, sometimes posing as minors, in place of the truly vulnerable.  Fables of migration

I don’t like Tariq Ali, but the topic is one of my favourites. In his Preface, Tariq Ali makes clear that he does not support toppling Churchill’s statues wherever they stand—but rather, a deeper battle on the field of historiography, against a consensus that “appears hegemonic but remains vulnerable.” This is the context in which  Winston Churchill: His Times, His Crimes  is written—and in which, if I’m any judge at all, it succeeds admirably. Timidity of a ‘radical’. What about opposing all statues, be it of Churchill, Thatcher, Lenin or Chavez? A review of Winston Churchill: His Times, His Crimes

When they commit them, they are war crimes . When we do it, it’s fighting insurgents and terrorists; it’s a mistake or they were rogue soldiers involved; or it’s a collateral damage. I think the article concludes with a utopian vision in the current international balance of powers and the prospects of more wars and instability. Who is going to make the ICC function impartially in every war?  One needs to question the existing regimes East and West and interconnect wars with major social and political-economic issues engulfing the world. Listing war crimes committed by ‘liberal democrats’ and authoritarians, does not go beyond recalling events that have become common knowledge and exposing hypocrisy and double standards that many ordinary people have already noticed. More than ever the type of journalism required today is radical, ‘extremist’ journalism in a very extremist world; as Mark Mazower put it, we urgently need a journalism that is able to “ overcome  the frangmentatio...

National Executive Council statement

A good summary by Avi Shlaim . He skipped the origin of Hamas though, particularly the role of Israel in its creation.

The scourge of Islamophobia

A review by Priya Satia

Johnson’s been a ‘culture war’ warrior since the ‘90s

After a few days of deliberation, Boris Johnson, a racist PM , has finally managed to show courage and condemn ‘anti-Semitic abuse’ in London. Apparently, some protesters have used guided missiles to penetrate the Iron Dome* of the nation, killing more than 180 people.  The brave PM has also expressed his resolve to hunt down the perpetrators. “We will bring them to justice,” he added with a smile. Courage also means holding your ground as an imperialist with a great empire in your psyche and national pride, standing firm with the state terror of an ally.  * The Iron Dome was developed in the aftermath of Brexit to protect the frontline workers and the healthcare system, to eliminate corruption and nepotism, to prevent any radicalism or any revival of trade union power, and to ward off the undesirable from entering the country. It has been alleged that contracts for construction of the Dome went to friends and associates. I, for one, don’t believe it. 

  Why can’t Britain handle the truth about Winston Churchill?

The man who called black people “coons, referred to Muslim women as “letterboxes” and “bank robbers”, Jews as “stingy” and women as “hot totty”, demands politics be “civil and kind.”

Boris, the Russian oligarchs and Page 3 model

“ So, Russian "actors" (why actors?) sought to influence the outcome of the UK general election by amplifying (not leaking, but amplifying) a dossier about US - UK trade talks which showed that the NHS was being put on the table by the Tory government.  I mean, only someone really stupid would think that the serious thing here was the Russian actors amplifying, and not the actual report showing the Tories were selling off the NHS to Trump! Did the British public not have the ri ght to know? I would say that, if anything, these Russian "actors" should be thanked for having acted in the interest of democracy in revealing these scandalous secret deals being hatched behind the backs of the British electorate. And this, ladies and gentlemen, is the reason why this report on Russian meddling has not seen the light of day while the Tories had control of the intelligence and security committee.  This is also likely to be the reason why on the same day that the rep...