World

This week there were rumblings that war with Iran may be closer than most people thought. In a piece for the Spectator in 2004, Andrew Gilligan argued that even with a nuclear bomb, Iran would not be a threat to us: The case for not attacking Iran, Andrew Gilligan, 27 November 2004 Do the last few days remind you of anything, by any chance? Presidential heavy breathing about a ‘rogue’ Middle Eastern state; a supporting chorus of exiles with dramatic new claims; and a senior member of the US government bearing intelligence which turns out to be more spin than spine-chilling. Less than a month after the presidential election, the

On Tuesday night the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo was firebombed, presumably by Islamic terrorists, for naming the Prophet Mohammed its editor-in-chief. Nobody was hurt in the attack but the newspaper’s offices have been destroyed. They still managed to see the light side, running a commentary saying “After Greece, save Charlie”. The left-wing paper has never been as popular as its main rival Le Canard Enchaine but its outrageous cartoons and caricatures are a staple of French kiosk fronts. Naming Mohammed editor may be one of the more tame things the newspaper has done. But whether it is tasteless or not, the magazine’s right to publish, insult and ridicule is

The gathering of G20 leaders in glitzy Cannes will turn out to be an affair to remember, for all the wrong reasons. If there’s a red carpet, it’ll probably be borrowed and will symbolise the state of many nations’ finances. The main topic of the meeting will be the escalating drama in the eurozone. Here’s a list of what will likely be the most keenly-watched plotlines of the two-day summit. It is not exhaustive. Greece George Papandreou scored a (personal) victory overnight by getting cabinet support for a referendum on the EU bailout plan. The referendum is now a very real prospect awaiting parliamentary approval, and one that fills other

Here’s one for newswatchers: a lesser spotted on-air apology from the BBC. During the Conservative Party conference, you may remember, they purported to show footage of Steve Hilton taking Andrew Tyrie into a corner to persuade him of the government’s line. But they are about to publicly admit, during the 5pm bulletin on the BBC News Channel, that they misrepresented what actually happened — and they’re sorry about it. Peter Oborne detailed the misrepresentation in his column last week; drawing attention to the clarifying blog post that the BBC’s James Landale graciously wrote on the matter, two weeks ago. Anyway, here’s the text of the BBC’s apology: “Last month we

I’ve spent the last couple of days in the United States, far away from the brouhaha in Europe. What has struck me most during meetings with US officials is how low down their list of priorities Europe — and indeed Britain — comes. This is an Asian Century, and the US means to focus inwards and eastwards but not elsewhere. As an official put it to me, “we see Britain moving away from Europe and being distant to us.” There is even talk of closing down US European Command. This new focus will have a number of consequences. Take Libya, for instance. The UK and France could have fought the

There’s only one thing more humiliating for the eurozone than China buying up its sovereign bonds — and that is if China doesn’t. To this end, head of the EFSF Klaus Regling, currently on a sales run in Asia, has said that some of the bonds of his newly souped-up SPIV may be denominated in yuan. Such a move would further enhance the renmimbi’s status, increasing the possibility of it supplanting the dollar to become the world’s reserve currency. And, even then, China may not be enticed. With apparently no recognition of the irony, European leaders are saying that the euro rests on ‘solid fundamentals’ while considering switching some of

The punchline to yesterday’s eurosummit comes in the very first paragraph of the official statement, released in the darkness of morning: “The euro continues to rest on solid fundamentals.” Now that you’ve brushed away the tears from that one, what was it that was actually agreed upon in the end? The main measure is effectively a fiscal target for Greece: its national debt, expected to peak at around 180 per cent of GDP in 2013, will come down to 120 per cent by 2020. And this will be achieved by cutting the value of bonds held by private investors in half, alongside further waves of privitisation and Greek frugality. Brussels

So much rot has been said about the Eurozone crisis that you do wonder whether Merkel, Sarkozy et al have come to believe their own spiel. This is an economic problem and it can’t be solved by political will. Greece is bust and several French, German and Dutch banks were stupid enough to lend €130 billion to the Greek government that they’re not going to get back. All the summits in the world cannot change this simple fact. These crisis talks are about bailouts for banks, not bail outs for Greeks. BNP Paribas is in for €37bn. Commerzbank of Germany is owed €15bn. And if Greece defaults, then insurance claims

Gaddafi was buried this morning, but Libya’s problems remain firmly above ground. The news emerging from the country is mostly grim: a possible massacre by anti-Gaddafi fighters; the hint of complicity on the part of Libya’s new leadership; Saif Gaddafi’s continuing elusiveness, and so on. Revolution and civil war are never done cleanly, sure. But just because the current situation is unsurprising doesn’t make it any less shocking. Unsurprising yet shocking. Much the same could be said of Mustafa Abdul-Jalil’s declaration that Islamic Sharia law would be the “main source” of all legislation in Libya from now on. Unsurprising, because Libya is, on the whole, a conservative Muslim country. Shocking,

The sight of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi blood-stained and bewildered, pulled around by a crowd in the final moments of his life is not a sight that will cause much pity. For more than four decades he had none for those Libyans whom he repressed and killed — anymore than he had for the victims on Pan Am Flight 103, his other multiple acts of terrorism, or his pointless and bloody interventions across Africa. Yet there is something pitiful about it: perhaps most obviously because watching his end is to watch the end of a delusion. Even more than Saddam Hussein crawling out of a hole in the ground and saying

Reading Fraser’s post last night, you’d be forgiven for thinking the BBC is running up the white flag in terms of its global reporting. Yesterday — as Gaddafi was breathing his last in Sirte — Coffee House was praising Sky and Al Jazeera, and pouring scorn on the BBC’s “stifling bureaucracy”, accusing us of being “short sighted”, “slow-moving” and being constantly “bested” by others in terms foreign news. There’s only one problem with Fraser’s analysis: the facts don’t stand up to scrutiny. Timing is everything. Yesterday the BBC’s Gabriel Gatehouse was the only UK broadcaster in Sirte. On the biggest day of the eight-month story, only the BBC was at