ISIL

The Syrian Airstrikes Debate

 Steven Kellow    Politics  

In a world of vanishingly fewer moral absolutes, one thing is certain: that ISIL are a disgrace to civilisation and must be ended. We need to learn lessons of the past and go about defeating ISIL in a thoughtful and more balanced way, and airstrikes can, and must, only be the first step in doing that. In order to stop the vicious cycle of bombing, war and terrorism we need support of Arab countries in building a coalition against ISIL. Without them, this is another — Read more →

The War against ISIL

War is what they want, and war is what they'll get

 Steven Kellow    Politics  

With Friday’s raid on a Malian hotel, which left almost 30 people dead, islamists have killed the citizens of all five permanent UN Security Council members (US, UK, Russia, China & France) – managing to unite the most powerful nations in the world against them.  This is perhaps the only feat that can be said to be impressive of ISIL, although it leaves their strategic capabilities with much to be desired. And on Friday the Security Council unanimously passed a resolution condemning ISIL’s actions and — Read more →

Nous sommes avec Paris

 Steven Kellow    Politics  

Paris was once again the scene of unspeakable tragedy last night as dozens of innocent lives were lost to the actions of cowardly terrorists. While the full timeline of events and the full list of casualties is still understandably unclear, what is clear is that Paris came under a planned and multi-faceted attack by terrorists whose aim was to kill indiscriminately. There were three separate attacks that took place simultaneously, with gunmen storming the Bataclan concert venue and killing over 80 people, gunmen attacking restaurants — Read more →