Simon Jenkins
latest news & developmentsWhy the West should listen to Putin on Syria
As everyone knows, the only way to stop the slaughter in Syria is for the US to work with Assad – and to stop worrying about what looks good.
Who is in control of law and order in Baltimore?
Policing cities will always be tough, but that merely increases the need for clear political control.
Egypt’s lesson for Ukraine
Defiant crowds may destroy an old regime, but seldom do they build a new one that endures.
Bankers happy to play Nero as Europe burns
While Rome burned, Nero put on fancy dress, stood on a tower and played his lyre, writes Simon Jenkins.
Connection is not conversation
Cellphones may at last be falling victim to etiquette, but this is largely because even talk is considered too intimate a contact.
Norway doesn’t need patronising
The Norwegian tragedy is just that, a tragedy. It does not signify anything and should not be forced to do so.
Unionism means Germany has to pay up for Greece
What would you do this morning if you were a Greek? Would you agree to your government cutting public-sector jobs, pay and pensions?
Media can’t make blemishes vanish
It’s for governments, not journalists, to guard public secrets and there’s no national jeopardy in WikiLeaks’ revelations, argues <b>Simon Jenkins</b>
Iraq war: A $1-trillion catastrophe
Mission accomplished? The Iraq war did more than anything to alienate the Atlantic powers from the rest of the world.
Cheney and the apologists of torture distrust democracy
Our way of life is threatened not by an al-Qaeda nutcase, but politicians like former US vice-president Dick Cheney in thrall to a fantasy war.
Parallels with Nam
The reason for invading Afghanistan seemed like a good idea at the time. Simon Jenkins reports.
America is not the country I once knew
America seems much in need of Roosevelt’s maxim to stop fearing fear itself. Virtually all comment on the Mumbai massacre has mentioned 9/11.
West’s impotence laid bare
Moscow has to take some of the blame. But it is the West’s policy of liberal interventionism that has fuelled war in Georgia.
Sanctions against Zimbabwe are an empty gesture
Economic sanctions are a coward’s war. They do not work but are a way in which rich elites feel they are "committed" to some distant struggle.
Playing the dictators’ game
Two dictators face two disasters, one is in China, the other in Burma. One is an earthquake, the other a flood. Tens of thousands are dead and millions at risk. Being…