Once the bustling heart of Christian pilgrimage, Bethlehem now faces shuttered hotels, empty streets and a shrinking Christian community, while Israel’s assault on Gaza and the tightening grip of occupation destroy hopes of peace at the birthplace of Christ, writes Father GEOFF BOTTOMS
Witnessing the BBC’s omissions on Fallujah
IAN SINCLAIR reveals how the mainstream media is downplaying US-British crimes in Iraq
US marines bombard Fallujah in 2004
After years hidden away, Oldham’s memorial to six local volunteers who died fighting fascism in the Spanish civil war has been restored to public view, marking both a victory for campaigners and a renewed tribute to the town’s proud International Brigade heritage, says ROB HARGREAVES
The June 2025 attacks on Iran have heightened the risk of a wider war, exposed the fiction of a rules-based international order and left ordinary Iranians trapped between external aggression and internal repression, says the Committee for Defence of Iranian People’s Rights
While pretending to seek peace, Europe is heading toward a collision course with Russia – using security guarantees, troop deployments, expropriation and censorship as tools, writes SEVIM DAGDELEN
A WWI hero, renowned ornithologist, medical doctor, trade union organiser and founder member of the Communist Party of Great Britain all rolled in one. MAT COWARD tells the story of a life so improbable it was once dismissed as fiction
The long-term effects of chemical weapons such as Agent Orange mean that the impact of war lasts well beyond a ceasefire
“THE chief problem in historical honesty is not outright lying, it is omission or de-emphasis of important data,” US historian Howard Zinn says in You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train, the 2004 documentary about his life.
A good example of this truism is a recent episode of Witness History on the BBC World Service, with US Colonel Andrew Milburn recounting his time fighting in what BBC presenter Alex Last calls “the battle for Fallujah” in Iraq.
In the short radio piece — each segment of Witness History is just nine minutes long — Last provides some context for listeners: with the 2003 US-British invasion and subsequent occupation creating significant opposition, the city of Fallujah, in Iraq’s western province of Anbar, had become an insurgency stronghold.
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As the cover-ups collapse, IAN SINCLAIR looks at the shocking testimony from British forces who would ‘go in and shoot everyone sleeping there’ during night raids — illegal, systematic murder spawned by an illegal invasion
Detailing the deluge of delusion and dishonesty pushed by the pro-war camp, IAN SINCLAIR identifies four key tactics corporate journalists use to confuse audiences and suppress opposition to the proxy war in the east
The media’s shocking lack of interest in US-British involvement in Syria means it has effectively been a secret war, argues IAN SINCLAIR
