The simple answer to this question would seem to be, when it is committed by the Israeli 'defence' forces. 'Brutal yes. Massacre no', writes Peter Beaumont in The Observer, while a correspondent takes me to task along similar lines: 'your reference on theglobalsite to the Jenin "massacre" is highly misleading since it gives the impression… Continue reading When is a massacre not a massacre? (Jenin) 21 April 2002
India-Pakistan: the new empires square off, 29 May 2002
from http://www.theglobalsite.ac.uk/justpeace/martinshawwrites.htm The depth of the historic turning-point of 2001-2 is fearfully underlined by the latest news from the sub-continent. The latest link in the chain of events that began with 9/11, continued with the Afghanistan war and saw an ever-more barbarous Palestine-Israel war threatens to dwarf them all. All-out war threatens between two of… Continue reading India-Pakistan: the new empires square off, 29 May 2002
Reply to Eric Herring’s defence of John Pilger on Iraq, 2001
Martin Shaw Fallout from an earlier war A belated reply to Eric Herring's defence of John Pilger on Iraq As the West opens its third war of the global era in Afghanistan, the unfinished business of the first war, in the Gulf in 1991, continues. In Iraq, millions suffer the effects of the stalemate between… Continue reading Reply to Eric Herring’s defence of John Pilger on Iraq, 2001
Iraq: a bombing campaign too far, February 2002
http://www.theglobalsite.ac.uk/justpeace/202shaw.htm The US had a right to wage war against the perpetrators of the terrorist massacre in New York and Washington and their allies, but it was not right to do so. Although the war in Afghanistan has destroyed the Taliban and weakened al-Qaida, it has brought death to many innocents. On conservative estimates, at… Continue reading Iraq: a bombing campaign too far, February 2002
Regime change without war: Iraq, 16 February 2003
From http://www.theglobalsite.ac.uk/justpeace/ The majority in the Security Council believe that inspections are working, and like the millions on the streets see no need for war. However the case against the Iraqi regime has as much to do with human rights as weapons. Many Iraqis believe that nothing will change without outside intervention. In the present stalemate, a way… Continue reading Regime change without war: Iraq, 16 February 2003
Who may we bomb? A reply to Barry Buzan, 2001
Who may we bomb? A reply to Barry Buzan 24 November 2001 David Goodhart, Editor, Prospect Dear David Barry Buzan's case for relegitimating the explicit targeting of civilians in war ('Who may we bomb?', Prospect, December 2001, http://www.prospect-magazine.co.uk) is quite disgraceful. Regardless of the degree of political relationship between states and armed forces, on the… Continue reading Who may we bomb? A reply to Barry Buzan, 2001
Pilger on ‘random brutality’ – a denial of genocide, New Statesman, 22 November 1999
In a letter published on 22 November 1999, I attacked John Pilger's attempts to deny the Kosova genocide in his New Statesman column. See also review of Paying the Price: Killing the Children of Iraq (John Pilger, ITV, 6 March 2000) It will always be necessary to raise questions about the scale of episodes of… Continue reading Pilger on ‘random brutality’ – a denial of genocide, New Statesman, 22 November 1999
Sri Lanka: power and accountability
The degrading aftermath of Sri Lanka’s civil war demands international action to ensure protection of its civilians from their overweening rulers, says Martin Shaw. Published on Open Democracy, 9 December 2009. Sri Lanka’s government prosecuted a brutal military campaign from mid-2008 to spring 2009 to inflict a final defeat on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil… Continue reading Sri Lanka: power and accountability
The Karadzic trial and Bosnian realities, Open Democracy, 3 November 2009
The trial of the Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic is a test of justice and accountability over terrible crimes. But the trend of events in Bosnia itself also demands the international community’s urgent attention, says Martin Shaw. The trial of Radovan Karadzic, leader of the Serbian nationalist regime in Bosnia in the early 1990s, resumed… Continue reading The Karadzic trial and Bosnian realities, Open Democracy, 3 November 2009
DR Congo: arc of war, map of responsibility, Open Democracy, 14 October 2009
The political dynamics of conflict in Africa’s most complex region must be understood if enduring solutions are to be found. Martin Shaw reads fellow openDemocracy contributor Gerard Prunier’s book “From Genocide to Continental War”. The reports of an upsurge of violence in parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) may at a glance appear… Continue reading DR Congo: arc of war, map of responsibility, Open Democracy, 14 October 2009
Martin Shaw 