The 25th anniversary meeting of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation in the Kyrgyz capital may offer a glimmer of hope that international relations do not need to be defined by endless confrontation, writes KENNY COYLE
IT is entirely possible that the substance that felled the MI6 agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter originated not just eight miles away in Britain’s chemical and biological production facility at Porton Down but in some comparable facility in either the Russian Federation or one of the former Soviet republics.
It is also entirely possible that some element in the corrupt klepto-capitalist ruling elite of the Russian state, either with official sanction or without, is responsible for the outrage.
Decades have passed since the counter-revolution in which the Soviet Union ceased to exist and the socialist basis of its economy was dismantled.
The defence secretary’s resignation reveals not a split over principle but a dispute over pace of military spending, as Britain’s political Establishment unites behind deeper Nato commitments, argues NICK WRIGHT
Newly revealed documents reveal that MI5 taught Brazilian secret police the techniques deployed by the 1964-85 military dictatorship in horrific prisons like Rio de Janeiro’s House of Death. SARA VIVACQUA reports
SEVIM DAGDELEN asks why the European Union is targeting the Swiss academic Jacques Baud, cutting off his access to banking services
Once again, our broad-based coalition outnumbered the anti-migrant protest in Faversham, but tackling the sentiment behind this wave of anger requires explaining the real reasons pushing millions into leaving their homelands, argues NICK WRIGHT



