Tariq Ali
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/ 3 January 2008

Inside the Bhutto clan

Six hours before she was executed, Mary, Queen of Scots wrote to her brother-in-law, Henry III of France: "As for my son, I commend him to you in so far as he deserves, for I cannot answer for him." The year was 1587. On December 30 last year a conclave of feudal potentates gathered in the home of the slain Benazir Bhutto to hear her last will and testament being read out and its contents subsequently announced to the world media.

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/ 4 January 2007

A fact that is conveniently forgotten

It was symbolic that 2006 ended with a colonial hanging — most of it shown on state television in occupied Iraq. The trial was so blatantly rigged that even Human Rights Watch had to condemn it as a travesty. Judges were changed on Washington’s orders, defence lawyers were killed and the whole procedure resembled a well-orchestrated lynch mob.

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/ 20 December 2006

The war in Iraq is already lost

Once a war goes badly wrong and its justifications are shown to be lies, to insist that a ”democratic” Iraq is visible on the horizon and that ”we must stay the course” becomes a total fantasy. What is to be done? In the United States a group of Foggy Bottom elders was wheeled in to prepare a report. This

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/ 20 November 2006

Beacon of hope for rebirth of Bolívar’s dream

Daniel Ortega, blessed by the church, flanked by a former Contra as his vice-president and still loathed by the United States ambassador, may be a sickly shadow of his former self, but his victory undoubtedly reflects the desire of Nicaraguans for change. Will Managua follow the radically redistributive policies of anti-imperialist Caracas?

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/ 2 May 2006

Nepal: No rah-rah revolution

Something refreshingly old-fashioned has taken place in the Himalayan kingdom of Nepal: a genuine revolution. From April 6 (until Monday, when King Gyanendra finally gave in to the people’s demands), Nepal was paralysed by a general strike called by the political parties and backed by Maoist guerrillas.

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/ 17 February 2006

This is the real outrage …

”The latest round of culture wars does neither side any good. The Western civilisational fundamentalists insist on seeing Muslims as the other — different, alien and morally evil. Jyllands-Posten published the cartoons in bad faith. Its aim was not to engage in debate but to provoke,” writes author Tariq Ali.

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/ 30 September 2005

Divide and rule

There is now near-universal agreement that the Western occupation of Iraq has turned out to be an unmitigated disaster; first for the people of Iraq, second for the soldiers sent by scoundrel politicians to die in a foreign land. The grammar of deceit utilised by George W Bush, Tony Blair and sundry neocon/neolib apologists to justify the war has lost all credibility.