The US-Israeli strikes against Iran are part of a decades-long war against the Islamic Republic which has refused to bow to US demands that it surrender its sovereignty, argues VIJAY PRASHAD
DIRECTED by Gavin Hood and starring Keira Knightley, new film Official Secrets tells the story of Katharine Gun’s brave actions to try to stop the illegal US-UK invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Working as a translator at the secretive intelligence agency Government Communications Headquarters (GHCQ) in Cheltenham, on January 31 2003 the then 28-year-old Gun was copied in to an email from Frank Koza at the US National Security Agency (NSA).
With the US and Britain facing strong opposition at the United Nations to their aggressive stance on Iraq, Koza explained how the NSA was mounting a “dirty tricks” operation to spy on members of the UN security council, in an attempt to gain support for an invasion, and was looking for support from GCHQ.
On January 2 2014, PJ Harvey used her turn as guest editor of the Today programme to expose the realities of war, arms dealing and media complicity. The fury that followed showed how rare – and how threatening – such honesty is within Britain’s most Establishment broadcaster, says IAN SINCLAIR
At the very moment Britain faces poverty, housing and climate crises requiring radical solutions, the liberal press promotes ideologically narrow books while marginalising authors who offer the most accurate understanding of change, writes IAN SINCLAIR
The fallout from the Kneecap and Bob Vylan performances at Glastonbury raises questions about the suitability of senior BBC management for their roles, says STEPHEN ARNELL
SOLOMON HUGHES highlights a 1995 Sunday Times story about the disappearance of ‘defecting Iraqi nuclear scientist.’ Even though the story was debunked, it was widely repeated across the mainstream press, creating the false – and deadly – narrative of Iraqi WMD that eventually led to war



