A war sold as a quick victory has instead exposed the limits of US power, says KEVIN OVENDEN

ANSELM ELDERGILL looks at the legality of the wars in the Middle East and the means used to fight them It is said that truth is the first casualty of war, so what is the truth with regard to the legality of America’s and Israel’s wars in Iran, Palestine and Lebanon?

As world leaders posture and local politicians bore, voters are left with a grim choice: despair, disengage — or start imagining something better, says MATT KERR

PHIL KATZ explains how ‘Cultures in Resistance’ is forging a new cultural manifesto

CARLOS MARTINEZ reports on China’s role in helping Cuba develop self-sufficiency in renewable energy, which would shield it from the sort of pain Donald Trump is inflicting with his oil blockade

In his fortnightly Borderlands column, MARK SEDDON visits overgrown forts along Offa’s Dyke and reflects on wars past and present

JAYNE FISHER on why the government’s latest amendments to the Crime & Policing Bill, which returns to the Commons on Tuesday, is a serious threat to our freedoms

The Committee for the Defence of the Iranian People’s Rights (Codir) cautiously welcomes the ceasefire, but remains suspicious of US and Israeli intentions

JOHN McINALLY assesses what we’ve learned from the disastrous US war so far

A surge in futures activity minutes before news of US–Iran talks has led to questions about insider trading and oversight gaps, writes CJ ATKINS

Washington’s response to a downed jet shows a superpower still reaching for overwhelming force even as its wars repeatedly fail, says NICK WRIGHT

Outrage greeted Donald Trump’s suggestion earlier this year that Britain stayed off the front lines. But evidence suggests our forces were at times pulled from the most dangerous fighting — not by military failure, but by pressure at home, says IAN SINCLAIR