Shamima Begum and the Quality of Mercy
- February 17, 2019
- by
- Matt
What is mercy? The Oxford Dictionary defines it as ‘ compassion or forgiveness shown towards someone whom it is within one’s power to punish or harm.’ This definition highlights the essential component of mercy, which is forbearance and leniency from a position of power and authority.
This concept is well-established in various religious traditions. The Quran declares: ‘ No one despairs of God’s soothing mercy except those who have no faith.’ (Quran, 12: 87). ‘Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted,...
The Wars of Ralph Peters
- September 06, 2017
- by
- Matt
Slowly, but inexorably, the world is drifting towards the prospect of an all-out war between the United States and North Korea. At the very least such a conflict is likely to result in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people, most of them Koreans. It also raises the very real possibility of...
The Madness of King Donald
- July 31, 2017
- by
- Matt
Even by the wild standards of what may well be the most deranged individual ever to inhabit the White House, the man who calls himself Donald Trump has had a prolific and remarkable week. Just to recapitulate. In the space of five working days Trump has:
a) publicly humiliated the admittedly creepy attorney general...
Civilisation and its Malcontents
- July 12, 2017
- by
- Matt
In the conservative-far right lexicon, few words have the same emotive power as ‘civilisation’ – a term that usually equates with ‘Western civilisation’ or simply ‘the West.’ It’s one of those words that automatically gives depth and gravitas to the hollowest and tinniest of human mouthpieces. Use it enough and you begin to sound...
Terrortalk
- December 13, 2015
- by
- Matt
Many years ago, when I was doing my A’ Levels, my English teacher gave us three basic rules of thumb to apply when reading texts: 1) What is the author trying to achieve? 2) To what extent does he/she succeed on his/her terms? 3) To what extent does he/she succeed on your terms?
Of course there...
On Heretics and Thought-Crimes
- December 10, 2015
- by
- Matt
Bear with me readers, if I return to ‘InternationalBrigadegate’ one more time, because what I want to say is not really about me: it’s about us. A lot of the writing I’ve done over the years, in books, articles, and blogposts, has been concerned with the subject of persecution. I’ve always been concerned...
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