Open Democracy UK

Sanctions Aren’t Helping the People of Venezuela

The endless string of sanctions imposed on Venezuela, first by the US and later followed by the EU and Canada, is generating irreversible consequences.

Open Democracy UK
By Open Democracy UK
Henri Falcon, left, holds up a woman during a rally in Caracas, Venezuela, May 14, 2018. Fernando Llano | AP

The financial blockade imposed on the Latin American nation is achieving its principle objective: to isolate Venezuela. However, the sanctions are also gradually creating open wounds within Venezuelan society. Wounds that are increasingly deeper that can’t be repaired so easily. Although the administration of Donald Trump wants to believe that

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Iraq War Report Buries Oil Evidence, Fails To Address Motive

When the UK invaded, Iraq had nearly a tenth of the world’s oil reserves — and government documents “explicitly state” oil was a consideration before the war. Why didn’t Chilcot explore it further?

Open Democracy UK
By Open Democracy UK
British troops in action in Iraq in 2004. Britain’s highest court says the families of several soldiers killed or injured in Iraq can sue the government for failing to protect them. Photo: AP

The long-awaited Chilcot Report was finally released today, examining the UK’s involvement in the Iraq War and occupation. Unfortunately, on the most important question, the report’s conclusions are all but silent: why did the UK go to war? Chilcot takes at face value the Blair government’s claim that the motive was to address Iraq’s weapons of

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The American Jewish Scholar Behind Labour’s ‘Antisemitism’ Scandal Breaks His Silence

Norman G. Finkelstein talks Naz Shah MP, Ken Livingstone, and the Labour ‘antisemitism’ controversy.

Open Democracy UK
By Open Democracy UK
Norman Finkelstein, (image: Youtube)

Norman Finkelstein is no stranger to controversy. The American Jewish scholar is one of the world’s leading experts on the Israel-Palestine conflict and the political legacy of the Nazi holocaust. Apart from his parents, every member of Finkelstein’s family, on both sides, was exterminated in the Nazi holocaust. His 2000 book The Holocaust

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