Vietnam, Afghanistan and the 2026 Iran meat grinder: Why owning the sky is a death trap – and how this war will end an Empire

You can own the roof, but the guy in the basement has the shotgun, and the house is made of solid rock. by Mark A. Shryock – Copyright © Mark A. Shryock The history of modern warfare is defined by a persistent, expensive, and often fatal misunderstanding: the belief that controlling the sky is equivalent… Read More Vietnam, Afghanistan and the 2026 Iran meat grinder: Why owning the sky is a death trap – and how this war will end an Empire

28th March 2026 Dilip

Pure, Purifying, and Evil

William Pfaf (June 2013) Reviewed: The Devil in History: Communism, Fascism, and Some Lessons of the Twentieth Century by Vladimir Tismaneanu The twentieth century undoubtedly will mainly be remembered for producing totalitarian politics. Italian Fascism was the first to give this name to the phenomenon, even though Mussolini’s movement was the least “total” of the… Read More Pure, Purifying, and Evil

28th March 202628th March 2026 Dilip

Desecrating history: Southasia’s silence as Gaza war graves are bulldozed

The recent bulldozing of the Gaza War Cemetery has disturbed the final resting place of thousands of soldiers, including those from the British Indian Army. While Australia has expressed outrage, the silence from Southasian governments raises urgent questions about how we value our shared historical memory. By Inderjeet Parmar / Sapan News The Gaza War Cemetery in al-Tuffah,… Read More Desecrating history: Southasia’s silence as Gaza war graves are bulldozed

28th March 202628th March 2026 Dilip

Israel’s Enduring Colonial Project in Palestine

Mehmet Rakipoglu Exeter, UK (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Debates about Palestine in the Western academia often portray contemporary Israeli policies as exceptional responses to security ‘threats’ or regional instability. Yet a longer historical perspective suggests a deeper structural continuity: the persistence of colonial logic under evolving institutional and discursive forms. From the British… Read More Israel’s Enduring Colonial Project in Palestine

25th March 2026 Dilip

Prisoner number 804: the plot to erase Imran Khan

It’s one thing to remove a PM from office, as happened to the former cricketer in 2022. But it’s another thing to try to eradicate the most famous person in Pakistan’s history Osman Samiuddin Just so we’re clear, the following is a fact. Not opinion, not a point of view, not a hot take. Fact.… Read More Prisoner number 804: the plot to erase Imran Khan

24th March 202624th March 2026 Dilip

Tearing up the map

NB: ‘Lebensraum’ as national policy; racism, genocidal complicity amongst vast sections of the Western population; total contempt for both morality and international law; limitless expansion of territory by force; the politics of permanent emergency (as per Carl Schmitt); the embrace of bloodlust and cruelty as markers of virtue rather than emblems of evil – all… Read More Tearing up the map

22nd March 202622nd March 2026 Dilip

Eric Hobsbawm’s Long Century

By JOSEPH FRONCZAK One long century ago, on June 9, 1917, not quite halfway between the February Revolution and the October Revolution, Eric Hobsbawm was born in Alexandria, Egypt. The lifelong communist died only five years ago, in 2012 at the age of ninety-five. He spent his final years placidly convinced that socialism belonged still… Read More Eric Hobsbawm’s Long Century

19th March 202618th March 2026 Dilip

Alex Betancourt reviews The Vicissitudes of Nature

‘At the core of both our nature, and our way of being within nature, is a relentless, collective conversation about what is good and what is true.’ Richard Bernstein Richard J. Bernstein. The Vicissitudes of Nature: From Spinoza to Freud. New York: Polity Books, 2022 During the past few decades, our practices have been destroying nature,… Read More Alex Betancourt reviews The Vicissitudes of Nature

18th March 202618th March 2026 Dilip

British Intelligence (MI5)’s file on Eric Hobsbawm

Frances Stonor Saunders on MI5 and the Hobsbawm File First posted March 26, 2015 On 25 January 1933, the 16-year-old Eric Hobsbawm marched with thousands of comrades through central Berlin to the headquarters of the German Communist Party (KPD). When they arrived at Karl Liebknecht Haus, on the Bülowplatz, the temperature was –18°C. They shuffled and… Read More British Intelligence (MI5)’s file on Eric Hobsbawm

18th March 2026 Dilip

After the truth-shower

Philosophy, history, literature, current affairs, and other stuff. Posted by Dilip Simeon

Tag: History