America’s military: failures of success

Paul Rogers 12 May 2011
The afterglow of Osama bin Laden’s killing fuels the United States’s confidence in its shift towards integration of military and security policy. But it is another grand illusion and missed opportunity.

Iraq and the April Spring: Maliki’s last chance

By an Iraqi 8 May 2011
Just as Iraq’s Prime Minister was putting the finishing touches on an authoritarian edifice in the best Arab tradition, the whole model comes crumbling down.

Skinback Fusiliers, Episode Seven

Unknown Soldier 7 May 2011
We present the seventh of ten weekly episodes from a brutal novel by an acclaimed British author

Common sense before troops to Libya

Lambrecht Wessels 5 May 2011
We should focus on strengthening democratic and non-violent processes to stabilise Libya long-term.

Skinback Fusiliers, Episode Six

Unknown Soldier 2 May 2011
We present the sixth of ten weekly episodes from a brutal novel by an acclaimed British author

Skinback Fusiliers, Episode Five

Unknown Soldier 23 April 2011
We present the fifth of ten weekly episodes from a brutal novel by an acclaimed British author

What Egypt should learn from Iraq

Zaid Al-Ali 21 April 2011
The Iraqi experience of creating a new constitution from political and social ruin offers lessons for Egypt, says Zaid Al-Ali.

Drug-taking, racist bullies led by lazy bigots?: a defence of The Skinback Fusiliers

Unknown Soldier 18 April 2011
openDemocracy is seriliasing The Skinback Fusiliers, a controversial new novel about life as a British squaddie. The book has already provoked fierce debate, on our own and other websites. Here, the author responds to some of these comments, clarifying his position and the nature of the novel.

Skinback Fusiliers, Episode Four

Unknown Soldier 16 April 2011
We present the fourth of ten weekly episodes from a brutal novel by an acclaimed British author

Skinback Fusiliers, Episode Three

Unknown Soldier 9 April 2011
We present the third of ten weekly episodes from a brutal novel by an acclaimed British author.

Inching closer towards moral breakdown

Ahmad Barqawi 4 April 2011
The truth about western humanitarian interventions is a moral truth

The Skinback Fusiliers, Episode Two

Unknown Soldier 2 April 2011
openDemocracy and Our Kingdom are proud to serialise The Skinback Fusiliers, a fast, funny and deeply disturbing novel about life in the British army today seen through the eyes of three young men. The book is available on Kindle and through Amazon here.

Libya and a decade’s war

Paul Rogers 1 April 2011

The west’s military-political strategy against the Gaddafi regime echoes its flawed approach to Afghanistan and Iraq, says Paul Rogers in this, his 500th weekly column for openDemocracy.

Voices from the military abyss – An Introduction to The Skinback Fusiliers.

Clare Sambrook, Rosemary Bechler, and Niki Seth-Smith 28 March 2011
openDemocracy and Our Kingdom are proud to serialiseThe Skinback Fusiliers, a fast, funny and deeply disturbing novel about life in the British army today seen through the eyes of three young men.

Unknown Soldier on the making of The Skinback Fusiliers

Unknown Soldier 27 March 2011
openDemocracy is serialising the novel The Skinback Fusiliers over the next two months. Here, the anonymous author, 'Unknown Soldier', gives an insight into the creation of this fast, funny and deeply disturbing novel about life in the British army.

Sectarianism and conflict in Bahrain

Hayder al-Khoei 16 March 2011
The media and politicians have done Iraq a great disservice by highlighting the overt sectarian identity of the oppressor and the oppressed. It must not make this same mistake with Bahrain.

Kurdistan comes alive

Ranj Alaaldin 16 March 2011
Despite its unique circumstances, Kurdistan has not been immune to the chain of protests across the middle east. Ranj Alaaldin expresses hope that the movement will help build upon, rather than set back, the region's nascent democratic institutions.

Pro-democracy demonstrations in northern Iraq/south Kurdistan

Kamal Chomani and Jake Hess 2 March 2011
The winds of rebellion have reached the Kurdistan autonomous region in northern Iraq, where a series of demonstrations have broken out to demand greater democracy, improved social services, and an end to corruption.
In this interview, a prominent journalist and democracy advocate discusses the origins of the protests and the wider political situation in the Kurdish region

The tragedy that is Iraq

Issa Khalaf 2 March 2011
Totalitarian rule, war, sanctions, invasion, destruction, sectarian suspicions, western manipulation all have brought Iraq to its knees. Any formula that relies on a basic regrouping and reshuffling of a corrupt regime in control of state resources will collapse in violence.

Iraqi protests: aimed at changing the current regime?

Shatha Al Juburi 24 February 2011
Iraqi protesters recently denounced the Islamisation of Iraqi society, demanded better working conditions, and protested the torture of prisoners. But ‘regime change’ has a different meaning in Iraq, and unlike Egypt and Tunisia, these protesters are asking for more support from the current government.

This week's guest editors

openGlobalRights editors

Our guest editors James Ron, Leslie Vinjamuri, Sophie Arie and Archana Pandya introduce this week's theme of:

Emerging powers and human rights.

A Turkish Spring?

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Woolwich - terror or conflict?

Secret Courts: 8 nightmare scenarios now possible in Britain
Jo Shaw

Iran myths

Iranian presidential candidate and chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalill

Myths, falsehoods and misrepresentations about Iran
Peter Oborne and David Morrison

Palestinian borders

Palestine, peoples and borders in the new Middle East map
Ahmad Samih Khalidi

Nobel Women's Initiative

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Europe from the bottom up

European Union stars in Paris. Flickr/notarim. Some rights reserved.

A new Europe can only come from the bottom up
Etienne Balibar

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The media in Europe

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Mali: the plot thickens

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Remote control war

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oDRussia at journalismfestival .com

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