World

President Obama has accused critics of the recently announced deal with Iran of having no credible alternative. According to Obama, it was this deal or no deal. And then, alleges the president, the options are either acquiescence or war. But this is a false choice, set up by the Obama administration to make its bad deal look like the best we ever could have hoped for. Yet, the truth is that the alternative to this deal was not no deal, it was a better deal, one that actually met the international community’s objectives in undertaking negotiations in the first place. The Iran deal presented at Vienna is both weak and

What can a image from 1933 ever really tell us? In July 1933, Der Stürmer, the Nazi newspaper, published a cover image of a gaping Jewish mouth, the picture of avarice, swallowing kings, admirals, bankers, film stars, greedy for world-control. Hitler had come to power in January of that year and immediately stepped up repression of Jews – it was well reported in the UK. Jews outside Germany decided to hit back and organise a boycott of German goods – Edward VIII could have read about this under the Daily Express headline ‘Judea declares war on Germany’. This allowed the Nazis to further intensify their anti-semitism. So, in that July edition of Der Stürmer, a long panegyric to the

Iran is, beyond doubt, a sponsor of terrorism and this week it has been made much stronger. It has (again) agreed not to make a nuclear bomb and in return trade sanctions are being dropped — so money will start to flow in once more. We can be sure that the cash will soon find its way to Hezbollah in Syria, and to what remains of Bashar al-Assad’s regime. A stronger Iran means a longer and bloodier Syrian civil war, a more vulnerable Israel and a further injection of money and arms into the world’s deadliest war zones. None of this is in doubt. The question is whether, after this

When the Shah of Iran gave the order to create the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran (AEOI) in 1974 it is unlikely that he had any idea of just how controversial his move would ultimately prove. The AEOI brought order to what had hitherto been a disorganised programme and set the country on the path to an eventual clash with the world’s leading western powers. That clash began in 2002, when at a public press conference in Washington DC, an Iranian opposition group, the Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MKO) exposed details of undeclared Iranian nuclear activities, which had progressed much further than anyone had suspected. At least, almost anyone. While it was the

The ancient Greeks used to drop iron bars into the sea to demonstrate the permanence of the agreement they were signing. The point was that the deal would last until the iron floated to the surface – that it was irreversible. The Euro was meant to be the same: once a country had joined it could —and would — never leave. It was for all time. But last night’s discussions have put paid to that notion. We now know from the German’s proposals for a ‘temporary’ Greek exit that a country can leave the single currency. This changes the whole dynamic of the currency union, weakening the position of countries

Covering the Greece crisis appears to be beginning to take its toll on Paul Mason. Channel 4’s economics editor became embroiled in a bizarre Twitter rant last night during which he accused an anonymous blogger of being a ‘Nazi supporter’ over their criticism of the Syriza government. The comments were made during a heated discussion between Mason and the blogger @GreekAnalyst. A tweet criticising the Syriza government’s strategy appeared to rattle Mason, who appears to be unimpressed by Germany’s negotiations with Greece following the referendum. Mason expressed his frustration by using a Greek word to insult the user, who runs an anonymous blog strongly opposing the Syriza government: @GreekAnalyst thankfully the Greek people have more courage than your dwindling band

After the people of Greece voted against the bailout terms on offer in Sunday’s referendum, the likelihood of the country staying in the Euro is beginning to diminish. Now, they have received yet another blow. A crowdfunder campaign, started by Londoner Thom Feeney to raise the full €1,600,000,000 needed, has been closed down after failing to meet its target. The IndieGoGo fundraiser claimed that since ‘all this dithering over Greece is getting boring’ it was time to forget the European ministers working on deals and instead let ‘the people just sort it instead’. Alas, it seems out of the 503 million people across Europe, only a small percentage wanted to take part.