Latest News: Posts Tagged ‘chaos and caliphate’

PATRICK COCKBURN is interview at The Real News Network on military intervention in Syria

Monday, June 5th, 2017

I know about one guy in Mosul and maybe this gives the flavor of what really happens if you’re on the ground. He had a tarpaulin over part of his house as a shade. It’s pretty hot in Mosul. But the US and the Iraqi Air Force had decided that any tarpaulin must be concealing an ISIS fighting position or supplies and consequently got bombed by a drone. He got hit in the leg and had dragged himself to a local clinic. They didn’t have any bandages and so forth. He dragged himself home again.

Read it here.

PATRICK COCKBURN on Trump’s meeting with Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman in The Independent

Monday, May 15th, 2017

Many people view Donald Trump as the most dangerous man on the planet, but next week he flies to Saudi Arabia for a three-day visit during which he will meet a man who surely runs him a close second as a source of instability.

Read the article at The Independent.

“The appeal of Cockburn as a war correspondent is multifaceted.” CHAOS AND CALIPHATE on SFGATE

Monday, March 13th, 2017

“The appeal of Cockburn as a war correspondent is multifaceted. Primarily based in the Middle East, he is a student of the region. To understand what is happening in, say, Iraq, he acquaints himself with not just Iraqi history but with the greater political landscapes of Turkey, Syria, Jordan, the Levant. When he makes it to his zone of coverage — not always the easiest thing — he knocks around, visiting the neighbors, observing, conversing, living rough. He hops a battered Russian helicopter to illegally cross the Amu Darya — Cockburn’s many years in the field have enabled him to cultivate contacts who can facilitate such shenanigans — alighting in North Alliance-controlled territory, where “I spent the next few moths in the impoverished village of Jabal Saraj.” He is an adept at following the twists and turns of events, and brings a Sun Tzu-like appreciation to the nit and grit of fighting.”

Read the full review here.

“A horrifying yet gripping account”: CHAOS AND CALIPHATE reviewed in The Journal of International Relations, Peace Studies and Development

Thursday, October 13th, 2016

“Not so long ago, Syria, Iraq and Libya were peaceful if repressive countries. Now each has descended into war, while the entire region of the Middle East and North Africa is racked by instability and violence. This has largely been brought about by western interventions which were either ill-considered or ill-motivated. Patrick Cockburn’s book covers the whole of the century up to 2015, during which he has somehow survived as a Middle East correspondent for the (UK) Independent newspaper. This is a horrifying yet gripping account of those years, made up of his on-the-spot reports from Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Libya, sewn together by later observations on the way events have unfolded since. Unreservedly recommended for any student of the MENA region or of why wars happen.”

Read the full review from The Journal of International Relations, Peace Studies and Development here.

“Chilcot report: Tony Blair, the Iraq War, and the words of mass destruction that continue to deceive” PATRICK COCKBURN for The Independent

Tuesday, July 5th, 2016

“By an accident of history, the Chilcot inquiry on the Iraq War is appearing at a critical moment in British history. The war was the first great test this century of the ability of the British powers-that-be to govern intelligently and successfully and one which they demonstrably failed. The crisis provoked by the vote to leave the European Union is the next crisis of similar gravity faced by these same powers and, once again, they appear unable to cope.”

To hear more, visit The Independent

“Laura Flanders: The End of Capitalism? Paul Mason and Patrick Cockburn” PATRICK COCKBURN on The Laura Flanders Show

Tuesday, June 28th, 2016

“Journalist Paul Mason discusses capitalism, Middle East correspondent Patrick Cockburn explores ISIS, and Laura asks what’s missing from the LGBT Pride celebrations. A new way of living is in the process of formation. Capitalism as we know it has reached the limits of its ability to adapt. A networked Alternative is already in the works- You can see it in the cooperative businesses on the rise and the tough time traditional parties are having keeping old hierarchies in place. There’s no more exciting or important story to report on – says Paul Mason economics editor at Channel Four News in the UK. Paul joined us often from the frontlines of the anti–austerity rebellions in Europe and the Middle East after the financial crash of 2008. Now he’s out with a new book: Postcapitalism: A guide to our future. Also in this episode: ISIS has been sustaining defeats across Iraq and Syria in recent months, but that doesn’t mean that peace is looming. In part that’s because the Middle East’s wars are as much about politics as about military prowess. Long time Middle East correspondent Patrick Cockburn, author of a new book Chaos and Caliphate, Jihadis and the West in the Struggle for the Middle East discusses the latest news on ISIS.”

To hear more, visit The Laura Flanders Show

“Tomgram: Patrick Cockburn, An Endless Cycle of Indecisive Wars” PATRICK COCKBURN in Tom Dispatch

Tuesday, June 28th, 2016

“As Patrick Cockburn points out today, we have entered “an age of disintegration.” And he should know. There may be no Western reporter who has covered the grim dawn of that age in the Greater Middle East and North Africa — from Afghanistan to Iraq, Syria to Libya — more fully or movingly than he has over this last decade and a half. His latest book, Chaos & Caliphate: Jihadis and the West in the Struggle for the Middle East, gives a vivid taste of his reporting and of a world that is at present cracking under the pressure of the conflicts he has witnessed. And imagine that so much of this began, at the bargain-basement cost of a mere $400,000 to $500,000, with 19 (mainly Saudi) fanatics, and a few hijacked airliners. Osama bin Laden must be smiling in his watery grave.”

To hear more, visit Tom Dispatch

“From Chaos and Caliphate” PATRICK COCKBURN excerpted in International Policy Digest

Friday, June 24th, 2016

“War reporting is easy to do but very difficult to do really well. There is great demand for a reporter’s output during the fighting because it is melodramatic and appeals to readers and viewers. This is what I used to label in my own mind as “twixt shot and shell” reporting and there is nothing wrong with it. The first newspapers were published during the Dutch Wars with Spain, the Thirty Years War and the English Civil War at the beginning of the 17th century. People rightly want to know the latest news about momentous and interesting events such as wars, natural calamities and crime.”

To hear more, visit International Policy Digest

“Isis will benefit from the slaughter carried out by Omar Mateen in Orlando regardless of how far it was involved in the massacre.” PATRICK COCKBURN for The Independent

Tuesday, June 14th, 2016

“Isis will benefit from the slaughter carried out by Omar Mateen in Orlando regardless of how far it was involved in the massacre. It will do so because Isis has always committed very public atrocities which dominate the news agenda, spread fear and show its strength and defiance.”

To hear more, visit The Independent.

“One of the best and most knowledgeable commentators” PATRICK COCKBURN praised by Noam Chomsky

Tuesday, May 24th, 2016

“Patrick Cockburn, one of the best commentators and most knowledgeable commentators, has correctly pointed out that what he calls the Wahhibisation of Sunni Islam, the spread of Saudi extremist Wahhabi doctrine over Sunni Islam, the Sunni world, is one of the real disasters of modern—of the modern era. It’s a source of not only funding for extremist radical Islam and the jihadi outgrowths of it, but also, doctrinally, mosques, clerics and so on, schools, you know, madrassas, where you study just Qur’an, is spreading all over the huge Sunni areas from Saudi influence. And it continues.”

To read more, visit Democracy Now!.

“Few journalists are as well informed on the Middle East and Central Asia, their history and current problems, as Patrick Cockburn.” PATRICK COCKBURN reviewed by Spokesman Books

Thursday, May 19th, 2016

“Patrick Cockburn has provided an invaluable account of the manner in which a quasi medieval reaction is sweeping across the Middle East and adjoining areas and the misguided policies of the West. His book should be read and studied by anyone seeking to understand events in the region and hopefully to campaign for more progressive policies.”

To read more, visit Spokesman Books.

“Looking for the good guys in Syria, the moderates…has generally been an act of fantasy.” PATRICK COCKBURN for The Nation

Thursday, May 19th, 2016

“Looking for the good guys in Syria, the moderates…has generally been an act of fantasy.”

To read more, visit The Nation Podcast.

“Mutual hatred is too great for any long-term deal on sharing power. ” PATRICK COCKBURN excerpted in Truthdig

Thursday, May 12th, 2016

The best hope for an end to the killing in Syria is for the US and Russia to push both sides in the conflict to agree to a ceasefire in which each holds the territory it currently controls. In a civil war of such savagery, diplomacy with any ambition to determine who holds power in future will founder because both sides believe they can still win. Mutual hatred is too great for any long-term deal on sharing power. A ceasefire would have to be policed on the ground by a UN observer force. I recall the much-maligned UN Supervision Mission in Syria in 2012 arranging a ceasefire in the hardcore rebel town of Douma on the outskirts of Damascus. It did not stop all the shooting but many Syrians lived who would otherwise have died.

To read more, visit Truthdig.

“A gripping account and penetrating analysis of one of the most significant slices of the history of our times.”PATRICK COCKBURN reviewed by Lobster Magazine

Wednesday, May 4th, 2016

“Our guest today, Patrick Cockburn’s new book Chaos and Caliphate: Jihadis and the West in the Struggle for the Middle East, proves the opposite: that a collection of old clippings, or as Cockburn himself describes it, “a contemporary diary drawing on my notes, diaries and writings produced between 2001 and 2015,” can combine the virtues of daily reporting and persistent study and reflection into a gripping account and penetrating analysis of one of the most significant slices of the history of our times.”

To read more, visit Dave Marash.

“The self-declared caliphate is too well rooted to disappear.” PATRICK COCKBURN in Newsweek

Monday, May 2nd, 2016

There is as yet no sign of counter-revolution or even effective armed resistance against a movement that has mercilessly crushed all opponents. Those living within ISIS territory who hate and fear it have reacted by fleeing rather than resisting.

The self-declared caliphate is too well rooted to disappear. Its slogan, “The Islamic State remains, the Islamic State expands,” is still true.

To read more, visit Newsweek.

PATRICK COCKBURN interviewed on VICE

Friday, March 25th, 2016

I think journalists kid themselves when it comes to people giving them information. Nobody tells you something without a reason. I think journalists have always thought they were more in charge of things than they were really: they weren’t really investigators or spies, they were messengers.

To read the rest of the interview, visit VICE.

PATRICK COCKBURN joins RT to discuss Western intervention in the Middle East

Monday, March 21st, 2016

To watch the full interview, visit RT.

A “useful guide to the chaos.” Morning Star praises PATRICK COCKBURN‘s CHAOS AND CALIPHATE

Monday, March 21st, 2016

The unavoidable lesson is that only a complete cessation of external political and military interference in the region can create the space for democratic renewal and the creation of functioning states based on popular sovereignty.

To read the rest of the review, visit Morning Star.

PATRICK COCKBURN discusses the latest developments in Syria on BBC Newshour

Thursday, March 17th, 2016

To listen to the program, visit the BBC. Patrick Cockburn’s interview begins 31 minutes in.

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