If you scroll down the most recent posts (December 2009), you may feel confused by the fact that many are not recent at all, but were written as long ago as 1999. This is because I have been consolidating my online commentary from the last decade (1999-2009), so that it can all be found here… Continue reading This blog – an explanation
Month: December 2009
Pinochet and international justice, February/March 2000
from http://www.sussex.ac.uk/Users/hafa3/pinochet.htm escape of Pinochet, guilty of mass murder and torture. 3 March 2000 As he rises from his wheelchair and mocks Jack Straw, the medical case for his release cannot be said to have been proven. In a matter as grave as this, the onus was on the British government to publish all material… Continue reading Pinochet and international justice, February/March 2000
Old Left Review: a reply to Perry Anderson, March 2000
Martin Shaw OLD LEFT REVIEW a reply to Perry Anderson New Left Review has taken the turn of the Millennium as the signal for a relaunch. This is more, however, than an attractive redesign of its long successful format and a renumbering from year Zero. According to its recently re-appointed editor Perry Anderson (editorial, NLR… Continue reading Old Left Review: a reply to Perry Anderson, March 2000
Zimbabwe and the new divide in world politics, May 2000
from http://www.martinshaw.org/politics/0005zimbabwe.htm The threatening situation in Zimbabwe puts in sharp relief the new lines of division in the global era, which are replacing the old divides of twentieth-century world politics. The lesson is all the more striking since Zimbabwe has marked, in the last month, only the 20th anniversary of its independence - the conclusion… Continue reading Zimbabwe and the new divide in world politics, May 2000
Richard Gott on Zimbabwe, letter to New Statesman, 15 May 2000
from http://www.newstatesman.com/200005150035 So Richard Gott, with his unerring progressive instincts, chooses the moment when Robert Mugabe's thugs are killing white farmers (and oppositionists generally) to tell us that, because of the crimes of their forefathers, these people should have got out of Zimbabwe. Since the Nazi Reich forms such a seminal part of his historical… Continue reading Richard Gott on Zimbabwe, letter to New Statesman, 15 May 2000
The old statesman marches hand in hand with the old anti-Americans
letter published in the New Statesman, 17 May 1999 Your complacency about Kosovo (Editorial, 10 May) will go down as one of the least heroic episodes in the New Statesman's history. You misrepresent the nature of the war and its politics. "The war was launched . . ." you write; but Nato did not begin… Continue reading The old statesman marches hand in hand with the old anti-Americans
Obituary: Tony Cliff (Ygael Gluckstein) 1917-2000
First published at http://www.martinshaw.org/cliff.htm (2000) Tony Cliff, founder of the Marxist group that became the Socialist Workers Party, died on 9 April 2000. He was 82, having been born, as his follower Paul Foot pointed out in an appreciation, 'between the two great Russian revolutions' of 1917. His life spanned what Eric Hobsbawm has called… Continue reading Obituary: Tony Cliff (Ygael Gluckstein) 1917-2000
Israel’s degenerate Lebanon campaign holds a mirror to the West’s own wars, 3 August 2006
first published at http://www.martinshaw.org/politics/lebanon2006.htm In the first days of the war in Lebanon, BBC news repeatedly referred to dying and fleeing Lebanese civilians as victims of the 'fighting' between Israel and Hizbullah. Yet in truth there was no fighting. Israel's planes rained destruction on Lebanon from the safety of high altitudes, killing and wounding with… Continue reading Israel’s degenerate Lebanon campaign holds a mirror to the West’s own wars, 3 August 2006
On Nick Cohen, the left and violence – letter to New Statesman, 19 Feb. 2007
John Kampfner is right to draw attention to the importance of the far-left starting point of Nick Cohen's political journey (Books, 12 February). Cohen rightly pinpointed the failure of the anti-war movement's leadership to see the Saddam regime - with its history of violence - as a problem that needed international action. Yet he himself… Continue reading On Nick Cohen, the left and violence – letter to New Statesman, 19 Feb. 2007
Lessons for the West from the Georgian War, Democratiya, Autumn 2008
from Democratiya, 14, 2008 - http://dissentmagazine.org/democratiya/article_pdfs/d14Shaw-1.pdf Martin Shaw The August war in Georgia underlines the fundamental deterioration in the global political situation in the 2000s and the increasingly sharp choices facing the democratic left. The easy bit is to condemn Russian aggression against Georgian cities and there has been no shortage of Western political figures… Continue reading Lessons for the West from the Georgian War, Democratiya, Autumn 2008
Martin Shaw 