A recent Financial Times column on the Iran war exemplifies how the Western elite worldview is more concerned with strategy and power than legality or human life, writes ANDREW MURRAY
Julian Assange – from Belmarsh to freedom at last
At long last the WikiLeaks founder is free. For all those who care about freedom of speech it’s time to celebrate, writes TIM DAWSON of the International Federation of Journalists
STEVE BISHOP considers the prospects for a settlement of the conflict and how the demands of both sides are being viewed
The PM is drawing cautious distance from Donald Trump over Iran – but history suggests Britain’s support may run deeper than it appears, just as it did during the Vietnam war, says KEITH FLETT
Years of austerity and political failure have left classrooms overcrowded and staff overstretched – now educators are organising across roles to demand change, says ED HARLOW
While US restrictions tighten economic and social pressures on Cuba, international allies and grassroots campaigns are stepping in to support the island’s resilience, writes BERNARD REGAN, secretary of Cuba Solidarity Campaign
Labour’s approach to Scotland reveals a long-running tension between rhetoric and reality, warns PAULINE BRYAN
IT IS a victory for common sense, media freedom and human decency. Julian Assange is free and, it seems, will stay that way.
For the US, expending such energy attempting to incarcerate the WikiLeaks founder for the rest of his life has exposed a bullying nature, damaged its reputation as a haven for free speech and has shone an unforgiving light on its military operations. This agreement creates the opportunity to repair that damage.
For Assange it ends a legal process that, in various forms, has overshadowed his life for 14 years, including seven in the Ecuadorian embassy and five in HMP Belmarsh. Psychiatric reports to the court reveal that this has driven him to catatonic despair and sparked fears among those closest too him that his will to live was all but extinguished.
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As advertising drains away, newsrooms shrink and local papers disappear, MIKE WAYNE argues that the market model for news is broken – and that public-interest alternatives, rooted in democratic accountability, are more necessary than ever
Washington and its Western allies decry human rights abuses while arming and shielding Israel, turning contradiction into policy, argues RAMZY BAROUD
Groups are urging the US government to secure the 16-year old’s release as his mental and physical health decline dramatically after nine months inside Ofer prison, writes LINDA PENTZ GUNTER
MOLLY QUELL reports on the sanctions placed on International Criminal Court officials by the Trump regime, making it increasingly difficult for the tribunal to conduct even basic tasks