Published in the Huffington Post, 16 November 2016 The likely shape of British foreign policy post-Brexit is slowly emerging five months on from the 23 June referendum, and the picture is extremely concerning from any ethical viewpoint. Britain is on course to ignore human rights in its foreign policy even more than in the recent […]
Topic: Middle East
This is an edited extract from Secret Affairs: Britain’s Collusion with Radical Islam by Mark Curtis In 1956–7 there were at least two Anglo–American plots which planned to overthrow governments in Syria; although neither was ultimately carried out, the planning behind them illustrates Anglo–American preparedness to work again with the Muslim Brotherhood. The problem […]
This is an edited extract from Secret Affairs: Britain’s Collusion with Radical Islam by Mark Curtis The British strategy of colonial divide and rule, and reliance on Muslim forces to promote imperial interests, reached its apogee in the Middle East during and after the First World War. The carving up of the region by […]
Published in the Huffington Post, 18 October 2016 by Mark Curtis Britain is fighting at least seven covert wars in the Middle East and North Africa, outside of any democratic oversight or control. Whitehall has in effect gone underground, with neither parliament nor the public being allowed to debate, scrutinise or even know about these […]
This is an edited extract from Secret Affairs: Britain’s Collusion with Radical Islam Mark Curtis The story of the joint MI6/CIA coup in Iran in 1953, which deposed Prime Minister Musaddiq and installed the shah in power as absolute ruler, is well known. In most accounts the CIA is regarded as the prime mover behind […]
This is an edited extract from Secret Affairs: Britain’s Collusion with Radical Islam Mark Curtis London in the 1990s was one of the world’s major centres for radical Islamic groups organising terrorism abroad. Organisations such as Algeria’s Armed Islamic Group (GIA), the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, Egyptian Islamic Jihad and al-Qaida itself (through its office, […]
This is an edited extract from Secret Affairs: Britain’s Collusion with Radical Islam Mark Curtis The war against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s was to mark the next phase in the development of global Islamic radicalism, building on the Islamic resurgence during the previous decade. Following the Soviet invasion of December 1979, […]
This is an edited extract from Secret Affairs: Britain’s Collusion with Radical Islam Mark Curtis After 9/11, Pakistan appeared to withdraw its support for the Taliban in Afghanistan, and instead backed the Anglo–American war which destroyed the regime along with the al-Qaida bases in the country. General Pervez Musharraf’s military regime, which had taken power […]
This is an edited extract from Secret Affairs: Britain’s Collusion with Radical Islam Mark Curtis While Osama Bin Laden was drafting his declaration of jihad in early 1996, British intelligence was plotting with al-Qaida-associated terrorists in Libya to assassinate Colonel Qadafi. Qadafi had long challenged British interests and Western hegemony in the Middle East and […]
Published in the Huffington Post, 26 September 2016 The case for holding a public enquiry into the British military intervention in Libya is now surely overwhelming. The principles under scrutiny – whether Britain supports international law and whether Ministers tell parliament and people the truth – are as serious as over the invasion of Iraq. […]