Danni Perry’s flag display at the Royal Opera House sparked 182 performers to sign a solidarity letter that cancelled the Tel Aviv Tosca production, while Leonardo DiCaprio invests in Tel Aviv hotels, reports LINDA PENTZ GUNTER
War: is it in our genes?
Capitalism drives modern warfare — but our species has waged determined and passionate campaigns of murder against each other long before its arrival. How can we begin to explain this, asks JOHN GREEN
WISHFUL THINKING? Created by the Soviet sculptor Evgeniy Vuchetich, the bronze statue ‘Let Us Beat Our Swords into Ploughshares’ was installed in 1959 in the north garden of the United Nations
sculptor Evgeniy
Vuchetich, the bronze
statue ‘Let Us Beat Our
Swords into
Ploughshares’ was
installed in 1959 in the
north garden of the
United Nations
[Magnolia677/CC] 
YANA PETTICREW explains what’s behind the strike and how the entire sector rests on super-exploiting an unorganised workforce
STEPHEN ARNELL casts a critical eye over the sudden rash of challenges to the two-party system on both sides of the Atlantic, noting that today’s performative populist politics sadly lacks Roosevelt’s progressive ‘Bull Moose’ vision of the early 20th century
BILL KIDD MSP says increasing Britain’s nuclear arsenal at this time is dangerous and expensive folly
ROGER McKENZIE asks whether the US’s shift to targeting everyone at once will instil greater co-operation among rising powers
AT this moment armed conflicts are taking place on all continents apart from North America and Antarctica. We live in a world in which war has become an accepted fact of life.
Homo sapiens is the only species on the planet that deliberately kills its own in huge numbers —and with the grisliest cruelty. All other animals may battle over territory or to obtain a mate, but they rarely kill; their battles are more ritualistic, simply driving the vanquished away.
They are satisfied with the territory or the mate they have or the food they have gathered, they are not driven to want excess. On the other hand, humans are driven invariably by greed and go to war for more land, food, and wealth than they need. Why?
More from this author
JOHN GREEN recommends an Argentinian film classic on re-release - a deliciously cynical tale of swindling and double-cross
JOHN GREEN is fascinated by a very readable account of Britain’s involvement in South America
JOHN GREEN is stirred by an ambitious art project that explores solidarity and the shared memory of occupation
JOHN GREEN applauds an excellent and accessible demonstration that the capitalist economy is the biggest threat to our existence
