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None of the arguments currently being used in Britain and the US to smear those skeptical of the governmental and media consensus are new
Patrick Cockburn
Patrick Cockburn is an award-winning Independent columnist who specialises in analysis of Iraq, Syria and wars in the Middle East. In 2014 he forecast the rise of Isis. He also did graduate work at the Institute of Irish Studies, Queens University Belfast and has written about the effects of the Troubles on Irish and British policy in light of his experience.
The political price of besieging or blockading urban areas like Gaza is rising because it is impossible to prevent information about the sufferings of those trapped inside such an enclaves becoming public
Despite Trump telling rally he ‘wanted’ to bring them home
If we are on the edge of a fresh crisis in the Middle East centring on Iran, then the US is in a much weaker position than it was pre-Trump
Isis is far less important than it was three years ago, even if it can still inspire atrocities geared to produce maximum publicity
Turkey’s vow to ‘hand [Afrin] back to its real owners’ suggests fears of the ethnic cleansing of the Syrian enclave may be realised
All-out sieges like Eastern Ghouta and Afrin are bringing forced demographic change to the whole country
Civilians in Afrin are being slaughtered in their hundreds by Turkish forces
Russia, the US, Turkey and Iran have become so embroiled in Syria that they cannot afford to see their local allies and proxies destroyed
A senior Kurdish official tells Patrick Cockburn that conflict in Syria will last at least another four years, with no end in sight for civilian suffering