In his influential 1939 treatise against utopian thinking in foreign policy, The Twenty Years’ Crisis, E.H. Carr made an analogy with domestic politics that seemed so obvious at the time it needed neither elaboration nor justification. “It is not the …
The fantasy of open borders
Before entering today’s torturous immigration debate, we would do well to remember James Baldwin. “Power without morality is no longer power,” he observed. And the border question is fundamentally a moral one.
On one side, there is a growing belief …
The most important immigration story of all
“Barbarians at the gates.” That is the phrase has become inextricably associated with the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, a description and an explanation. It conjures up an image something like Thomas Cole’s “Destruction” painting from his Course of …
The betrayal behind America’s border battle
The Rio Grande is shallow, but wields a powerful current where it slices sharply between the small windy Texan city of Eagle Pass on its northern bank and the larger Mexican city of Piedras Negras — Black Stones, after its …
The truth about the ethnic cleansing in Gaza
We are cursed to live in a time of great historical significance: when future historians look back at 2023, the distinguishing feature of this year will likely be the recurrence of ethnic cleansing on a vast scale. In just the …
Why Trudeau got tough on immigration
“To those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength #WelcomeToCanada.” In hindsight, this tweet by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in 2017 was ill-advised. It was written in response to …
What Giorgia Meloni is hiding
“I am Giorgia. I am a woman, I am a mother, I am Italian, I am Christian.” A 2019 speech by the new Italian Prime Minister is doing the rounds on social media, and has Right-wingers throwing flowers at her …
Europe must prepare for war
Beregsurány, Hungary
At dusk on Hungary’s Beregsurány border crossing with western Ukraine, a small, but constant flow of displaced people was making its way across the border. They were mostly women, children and old men: Ukraine has reportedly banned men …
How Farage had the last laugh
Meet the teenage Nigel Farage. It’s the absurdly late Seventies. He is a stalwart of Dulwich College’s second XI cricket team, and a tittering purveyor of risqué racial banter. He likes snuff, golf, and brandishing a rolled-up umbrella at unsuspecting …