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2 months ago | 
thespectator.com | Paul Wood |Benedict Kiely |Charlie Gammell |Daniel DePetris
Imagine you’re MbS, newly installed as Saudi Arabia’s authoritarian ruler thanks to cunning and ruthlessness. You arrest a few of the most obvious thieves at court and hang them by their thumbs to find out where they hid the loot. You order your henchmen to grab critics of the royal family who fled abroad and bring them home to silence them. But one of those critics is cut into pieces with a bone saw in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, and the Turks go public.
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Feb 2, 2025 | 
thespectator.com | Kate Andrews |Charlie Gammell |Mary Wakefield |Ross Anderson
He did it, Joe! Following on from the $79 billion worth of tariffs he implemented in his first term – which went largely untouched by Joe Biden’s Administration – last night Donald Trump made good on his election promise to opt for another round of tariffs: this time, a 25 per cent tax on imports from Canada and Mexico, with China facing an additional 10 per cent levy on its goods.
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Feb 2, 2025 | 
thespectator.com | Kate Andrews |Alexander Larman |Charlie Gammell |Mary Wakefield
He did it, Joe! Following on from the $79 billion worth of tariffs he implemented in his first term — which went largely untouched by Joe Biden’s Administration — last night Donald Trump made good on his election promise to opt for another round of tariffs: this time, a 25 percent tax on imports from Canada and Mexico, with China facing an additional 10 percent levy on its goods.
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Feb 1, 2025 | 
thespectator.com | Charlie Gammell |Ross Anderson |Juan P. Villasmil |Ben Domenech
To talk or not to talk? This is the slogan that’s doing the rounds among the Islamic Republic of Iran’s politicians, hardliner and reformist. Donald Trump has made it clear he hopes that Iran might abandon their nuclear programme through a deal with Washington. This will, the President said, lessen the need for Israeli bombs to achieve the same end.
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Dec 7, 2024 | 
spectator.com.au | Charlie Gammell
There are unintended consequences, and then there are unintended consequences. What we are seeing in Syria, as Aleppo and Hama fall (and Homs braces itself) to a coalition of anti-regime forces whose DNA is to be found in al-Qaeda et al, is an unintended consequence of Israel’s bombardment in Syria of Iran-funded anti-Assad groups, and the pulverising of Hezbollah in Lebanon.
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Dec 7, 2024 | 
spectator.co.uk | Charlie Gammell
There are unintended consequences, and then there are unintended consequences. What we are seeing in Syria, as Aleppo and Hama fall (and Homs braces itself) to a coalition of anti-regime forces whose DNA is to be found in al-Qaeda et al, is an unintended consequence of Israel’s bombardment in Syria of Iran-funded anti-Assad groups, and the pulverising of Hezbollah in Lebanon. An unintended consequence of the weakening of Iran and its Axis of Resistance.
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Dec 1, 2024 | 
thespectator.com | Charles Lister |Michael Murphy |Alexandra Coghlan |Charlie Gammell
Since March 2020, Syria’s conflict lines have been frozen, as Russia, Turkey, Iran and the United States held together a series of ceasefires and security understandings. That all changed this week, when a broad coalition of armed opposition groups launched a surprise and daring offensive west of Aleppo city.
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Nov 26, 2024 | 
thespectator.com | Jonathan Spyer |Matthew Lynn |Charlie Gammell |Amelia Butler-Gallie
Nothing is yet confirmed, but it appears that a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah is imminent. The fighting, which began on October 8 last year, has claimed thousands of lives and left the Israel-Lebanon border area decimated on both sides. But there is anger that Israel is rushing into an agreement that will not keep those who live near to the Lebanese border safe.
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Nov 23, 2024 | 
thespectator.com | Piers Morgan |Mary Wakefield |Charlie Gammell |Charles Lipson
My old mucker Donald Trump’s return to the White House has predictably sent the woke brigade into hysteria. From posting demented videos and shaving their heads to banning Trump supporters from having sex with them, it’s been a masterclass in the sore loser mentality they profess to despise so much in him. The Guardian is suffering a particularly embarrassing outbreak of PTSD (post-Trump-success distress).
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Nov 23, 2024 | 
thespectator.com | Charlie Gammell |Neal Pollack |Douglas Murray |Paul Wood
The mood music from Tehran regarding Donald Trump’s election victory was a mixture of “don’t care” and “very much do care.” Regime insiders remember only too well the toll Trump’s last four years took on their state; Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Commander Qasem Soleimani killed; economy shattered; regionally isolated due to Israeli-Arab normalization. Trump is not a popular figure in the Khamenei household. But others reacted with a shrug; we’ve dealt with him before and survived.
