Middle East

Middle East: a reckoning

April 16, 2026 3:38 am Published by Richard North Post a Comment

In its second full day, the US blockade of ships using Iranian ports is holding. The latest report of an... View Article

Middle East: the die is cast

April 15, 2026 4:03 am Published by Richard North Post a Comment

Opinion on Trump’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz seems to be split into two irreconcilable camps. There are those... View Article

Middle East: in for the long-haul?

April 14, 2026 3:50 am Published by Richard North Post a Comment

As the US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz took effect, the world stopped briefly to note Starmer’s complaint that,... View Article

Middle East: a different war

April 13, 2026 3:21 am Published by Richard North Post a Comment

In the expectation of the US-Iran talks dragging on in Islamabad for at least a couple of days, I thought... View Article

Middle East: Iran fatigue

April 12, 2026 3:39 am Published by Richard North Post a Comment

As far as the UK legacy media is concerned, we’re reaching the point of Iran fatigue. Of all the national... View Article

Middle East: colour writing

April 11, 2026 3:47 am Published by Richard North Post a Comment

If the contemporary BBC news team were somehow miraculously transplanted to 1944 to cover the Allied invasion of Normandy, I... View Article

Middle East: Eternal Darkness

April 10, 2026 3:37 am Published by Richard North Post a Comment

The latest in the long line of BBC “experts” to pontificate about the Middle East crisis is Daniel De Simone,... View Article

Middle East: multiple views

April 9, 2026 2:48 am Published by Richard North Post a Comment

Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) is in full flood, with the pundits and sundry analysts so perspicacious that they quite evidently... View Article

Middle East: a fortnight’s peace

April 8, 2026 3:32 am Published by Richard North Post a Comment

The obvious thing to watch about Trump’s eleventh-hour order to stand down his forces is to see how he reacts... View Article

Middle East: choose your enemy

April 7, 2026 3:21 am Published by Richard North Post a Comment

With Trump poised to bomb Iran back into the Stone Age (where it belongs, he says), Starmer seems determined to... View Article

Middle East: war crimes

April 6, 2026 3:25 am Published by Richard North Post a Comment

It being Easter, with the politicians on their holidays, news is thin on the ground so, inevitably, the successful rescue... View Article

Middle East: exploiting the cost of war

April 5, 2026 3:52 am Published by Richard North Post a Comment

At the time of writing, multiple social media reports are stating that the second crewman of the downed F-15E has... View Article

Politics: dire straits

March 17, 2026 3:11 am Published by Richard North Post a Comment

There have been two times in my life when I have witnessed fuel rationing. The first was in 1956 during... View Article

Iran: playing with fire

March 6, 2026 2:56 am Published by Richard North Post a Comment

It is a given that (with certain rare exceptions) air strikes do not end wars. Essentially, there must be some... View Article

Middle East:  the long nightmare

March 1, 2026 3:07 am Published by Richard North Post a Comment

With Ayatollah Ali Khamenei really dead (recorded by The Times which has published his obituary), this represents a huge coup... View Article

Middle East: Iran says no

January 29, 2026 2:25 am Published by Richard North Post a Comment

It’s a while since I wrote about the situation in Iran, with it slipping down the news agenda in the... View Article