VIJAY PRASHAD looks at the web of militias and drug-trafficking gangs that emerged in the Sweida region through the Syrian civil war, and how they relate to recent clashes and Israel’s intervention
The Tories are inflicting conscious cruelty on millions of Britons
Outside the Westminster bubble people can see that vital public services are being deliberately starved of the cash they need, writes CHRIS WILLIAMSON

AFTER nearly eight years of ideologically driven austerity, the British public are increasingly calling for an alternative.
The case for an interventionist and enabling state is overwhelming, but Theresa May and her parliamentary colleagues are only interested in pursuing their failed political experiment.
All they have succeeded in doing is to exacerbate inequality, increase poverty and inflict what Ken Loach described as “conscious cruelty” on millions of Britons.
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