World

Monday

Shehan Karunatilaka

Will Sri Lanka win its struggle for peace?

Shehan Karunatilaka is the winner of this year’s Booker Prize. He wrote a notebook from Sri Lanka for The Spectator earlier this year. The late great Sunil Perera, popular Sri Lankan singer and satirist, lamented that people should be clamouring to come to our beautiful island. But with each passing decade more of us find more reasons to escape. Today, the queues at the passport offices snake around the block as many Sri Lankans seek to escape the recent turmoil.  There is little evidence, however, that Sri Lanka ever learns from its errors, yet amidst all this there is still hope Most Sri Lankans are stuck in slow-moving queues of one form or another, scanning the horizon for

Sasha Lensky

The two faces of Vladimir Putin

‘Putin’s Philosopher’ Aleksandr Dugin, self-styled deep thinker and ideological architect of current Russian expansionism, has claimed there are two distinct version of the president. There is a ‘Lunar Putin’ – practical, cautious, a supporter of the capitalist economy and free trade, alert to international opinion. And a ‘Solar Putin’, a messiah, fully embracing his mission to restore the great Eurasian Empire and confront the collective West.  This split-personality may well be at the heart of recent inconsistencies in Russian policy. Having warned via former president Dmitri Medvedev of a ‘judgment day’ should Ukraine attack Crimea, the Kremlin, following the devastating raid on Crimea’s Saky airbase, instead sought to minimise it

Sunday

Mark Nayler

Catalonia’s leader’s plan to follow the SNP’s playbook

Catalonia’s president Pere Aragones has wanted to win independence from Madrid ever since since joining the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) as a teenager. Despite the obstacles standing in his way, he now seeks inspiration from two votes held in the UK: the Scottish independence referendum and Brexit. Aragones resumed negotiations with Spain’s socialist prime minister Pedro Sanchez last month, almost five years after an illegal referendum on Catalan secession triggered a constitutional crisis. But despite Madrid’s willingness to talk, he faces a Spanish establishment that is as pro-union now as it was in 2017. Two apparently immovable obstacles stand in the way of those seeking to secure an independent Catalonia: the 1978 Spanish constitution, with

Saturday

Stephen Daisley Stephen Daisley

The West cannot do business with Iran

Salman Rushdie’s would-be assassin might have been a lone wolf. He might have had no contact with military or intelligence figures. He might never even have set foot in Tehran. But be in no doubt: he acted, in effect, as an agent of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Under the terms of the fatwa issued by Ayatollah Khomeini in February 1989, Rushdie ‘and all those involved in its publication who were aware of its content, are sentenced to death’. Khomeini urged ‘brave Muslims to quickly kill them wherever they find them so that no one ever again would dare to insult the sanctities of Muslims’, adding: ‘Anyone killed while trying

Nick Cohen Nick Cohen

Salman Rushdie overcame his fear

After Ayatollah Khomeini ordered Muslims to kill him for publishing The Satanic Verses in 1989, Julian Barnes gave Salman Rushdie a shrewd piece of advice. However many attempts were made on his life and the lives of his translators and publishers, however many times Special Branch moved him from safe house to safe house, he must not allow the ‘Rushdie affair’ to turn him into an obsessive. When I interviewed him ten years ago he had learned to live without fear. No shaven-headed bodyguards accompanied him as he walked into a Notting Hill restaurant. His eyes did not scour the room for signs of danger. If the other diners knew

Yuri Felshtinsky

Is Putin planning a September surprise?

Ukraine appears to be faring well in its fight against Russia. Explosions have rocked a Russian military base in Crimea and the country’s president Volodymyr Zelensky is confidently stating that the war must end with the liberation of Crimea. Aid is also pouring in from the West. But Ukraine has been here before – and Putin’s Russia could, once again, be preparing to up the ante. Any talk of Ukraine’s triumph looks dangerously premature – particularly as we approach the month of September. In the summer of 2014, Ukraine was managing to fend off Russian advances and making significant gains. Then, at the end of August, everything changed. As Ukraine celebrated its independence day on 24

Friday

Brendan O’Neill Brendan O’Neill

The shameful attack on Salman Rushdie

We are all praying that Salman Rushdie will be okay. What happened in Chautauqua in New York today is indescribably appalling. An author, a man, stabbed in the neck just as he was about to speak on freedom of expression. This attack is a vile affront to liberty and to the principles of an open society. Much remains unknown. We don’t know what condition Rushdie is in: he was last seen being carried on a stretcher to an air ambulance. And we don’t know anything about the attacker or the motivation. But there are things we do know. We know that for more than 30 years Rushdie has lived in

Svitlana Morenets Svitlana Morenets

Is it fair for the West to ban Russians?

To start with, Volodymyr Zelensky was careful not to blame Russians for a war Vladimir Putin started. Appealing to them and speaking in his native Russian, he asked: ‘Do the Russians want war?’ He called on them to rise up to make Putin listen. But this did not happen. Zelensky appears to have decided that they do, in fact, want war. So he has now said that western countries should ban all Russian citizens from entering their countries on the grounds that ‘the population picked this government and they’re not fighting it’. His foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said Russians ‘must be deprived of the right to cross international borders until

Edward Howell

Kim Jong-un declares victory over Covid

Kim Jong-un’s notorious sister is back in the limelight. Not only is Kim Yo Jong reiterating her hostile words against South Korea and the United States, but she is also seeking to reinforce the loyalty of the North Korean people to her brother. How better to combine the two than to infer that the Supreme Leader had, in fact, caught coronavirus. When North Korea first disclosed cases of a ‘fever’ in May this year, the world waited to see how the country’s rudimentary healthcare system and largely unvaccinated population would cope. Nearly three months after that revelation, Kim Jong-un has ‘declared victory’ over coronavirus. Although the regime still refers to

Gavin Mortimer Gavin Mortimer

Did the SAS inspire Ukraine’s Crimea raid?

If the reports are right and it was Ukrainian special forces who destroyed as many as 20 Russian aircraft at Saki air base in Novofedorivka, Crimea, on Tuesday, president Volodymyr Zelensky might be minded once more to raise a glass to the British. Earlier this year it was widely reported that British special forces were in Ukraine training local troops – but perhaps they also found time to pass on some of the regiment’s illustrious history. It was the Special Air Service (SAS) who pioneered the tactic in North Africa, destroying over 200 Italian and German aircraft in a series of devastating raids 80 years ago. The SAS had been

Thursday

Owen Matthews

A Russian visa ban would delight Putin

Do you hate Russia, or do you hate Putin? That’s the central question behind a current debate about whether to suspend tourist visas to the EU for all Russian citizens. Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky started the ball rolling last week in an interview with the Washington Post, where he said that the ‘most important sanction’ that the EU could impose on Russia was to ‘close the borders, because the Russians are taking away someone else’s land’. He added that Russians should ‘live in their own world until they change their philosophy.’ Much as one might admire Zelensky’s resolve and leadership, his call for a visa ban is absolutely and dangerously

Andrew Tettenborn

How Hungary and Poland could shatter the EU’s power

Is the EU about to shatter? There is increasing talk of it after the bloc’s well-publicised difficulties with Poland and Hungary in the last week or so. This is almost certainly premature: nevertheless, the events are significant, and even if they do not break the EU they could precipitate some profound changes. For some time, undeclared guerrilla war has subsisted between the EU and its two maverick eastern members. Both face multiple court complaints from Brussels about what it sees as rule of law issues and they see as their internal affairs. Hungary is facing allegations of infringement of media freedom and LGBT rights, Poland on stated threats to judicial independence

Damien Phillips

How Britain’s ‘frenemies’ are helping Putin’s Russia

In the battle to become prime minister, both Liz Truss and RIshi Sunak have vowed to crack down on Britain’s enemies. As China bullies Taiwan and Russia bombards Ukraine, whoever wins is likely to see their resolve tested from day one in No. 10. What is less clear is how either candidate would deal with the tricky issue of Britain’s ‘frenemies’: those countries that say warm words about the West but can’t always be trusted.  Putin’s war has exposed the divided loyalties of several countries around the world – including India and Turkey – who purport to be friends of Britain. When we have needed these nations to take a stand, they have either refused to

Jonathan Miller Jonathan Miller

Liberté, égalité, nudité: France’s new sexual politics

Montpellier France is going through a sexual civil war. After the great carnal outburst of the free-loving soixante-huitards, some have reverted to abstinence and prudishness, while others are pushing sexuality to new extremes. The crisis in French sexuality has exposed itself this summer as the clothes have come off. It’s not always a pretty sight, and not just because it isn’t true that French people don’t get fat. Major confusion on the shifting boundaries of corporal and sexual expression has grown into a peculiar conflict, exposing a national sexual neurosis. On one side of this conflict is France’s army of traditional naturists: a largely aging clan who revel in the

Douglas Murray

A strange kind of recession

It’s possible that I owe Joe Biden some sort of an apology, however mealy-mouthed it might be. Last week I mentioned here the weird prevarication from the US government and its supporters over whether or not the US is technically in a recession. It arose from the news that the US had two successive quarters of negative GDP growth. Biden’s critics – myself included – leapt to declare the US in recession. According to the Bank of England, the UK is heading for a recession too, so there should be no especial shame in accepting the fact and then trying to deal with it. But then last Friday the US

Mark Galeotti Mark Galeotti

Ukraine’s Crimean strike marks a new stage of the war

For most Russians, the brutal realities of Vladimir Putin’s ‘special military operation’ have not really struck home. Ukraine’s attack on the Saki airbase near Novofedorivka in western Crimea on Tuesday begins to change all that, marking a new stage of the war, one with both dangers and opportunities for Kyiv. The Kremlin’s spin doctors tried to claim that the explosions filmed by horrified Russian holidaymakers were caused by an ammunition fire. However, as videos began going viral on Russian social media, there was no question in the posters’ minds but that this was an attack. They voted with their feet, or at least their wheels, and the Kerch Bridge connecting

Wednesday

Freddy Gray Freddy Gray

Going bananas: Biden’s America is fast regressing

It’s hardly surprising that China feels emboldened. Xi Jinping must look at America and see not just a superpower in decline but a gerontocracy that has lost its marbles. Last week, Nancy Pelosi, the 82-year-old Speaker of the House of Representatives, visited Taiwan as a gesture of solidarity, in spite of China’s fierce warnings that her arrival would be treated as a grave provocation. Presumably Pelosi felt that, by not being cowed, she’d shown China who’s still global boss. And other photo-opportunistic politicians are expected now to imitate her. What for, though? In the following days, China intensified its military drills around the Taiwan Strait. Some experts reckon that the

Ross Clark Ross Clark

Europe’s looming energy wars

This summer marks a truce. But if, as expected, Liz Truss becomes prime minister, it is almost inevitable that tensions over the Northern Ireland protocol will resurface. Britain has been threatened with trade barriers if it tears up the protocol, with implications for import and export industries. But one possible consequence has been largely overlooked, in spite of the gathering energy crisis: the trade in gas and electricity. Imported power via undersea interconnectors is the forgotten but fast-growing element of our electricity system. In 2019, 6.1 per cent of our electricity was imported. Undersea power interconnectors, which have been a feature of the UK electricity system since 1986 when the first one plugged

Ian Williams Ian Williams

China’s Taiwan tantrum is already backfiring

Chinese social media is full of anger and frustration – because the military didn’t shoot down Nancy Pelosi’s plane. As she headed to Taiwan, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) whipped up a wave of rabid online nationalism. Influential commentators led by Hu Xijin, the former editor of the CCP’s Global Times, suggested the speaker of the US House of Representatives could be taken out, a view that was widely applauded. Nationalists have a lot of leeway on China’s tightly-controlled internet, in large part because their views are shared by the increasingly chauvinistic CCP. But after Pelosi’s plane not only landed, but left Taiwan in one piece, they exploded in outrage.

Tuesday

Melanie McDonagh Melanie McDonagh

Could Russia stoke conflict between Serbia and Kosovo?

The prime minister of Kosovo has been talking about a possible war in the country, with Russia as the instigator. In an interview with La Repubblica, Albin Kurti said: ‘The risk of a new conflict between Kosovo and Serbia is high. I would be irresponsible to say otherwise, especially since the world has seen what Russia has done to Ukraine. We are a democracy bordering on an autocracy, after all. Before the invasion of Ukraine, the opportunities were few, now the situation has changed. ‘The first episode, a consequence of the Kremlin’s fascist idea of ​​Pan-Slavism, was Ukraine. If we have a second episode, for example in Transnistria, then the chances