http://blogs.independent.co.uk| Blogs from the Independent newspaper - news, views and features from the world's most free-thinking newspaper| Sat, 18 May 2013 09:28:48 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2| en hourly 1 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/02/06/video-inspiring-armless-boys-olympic-dreams/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/02/06/video-inspiring-armless-boys-olympic-dreams/#comments Wed, 06 Feb 2013 15:33:43 +0000 Neela Debnath http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=32319 A boy from Afghanistan born without arms has revealed his desire to one day compete in the Olympics.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/02/06/video-inspiring-armless-boys-olympic-dreams/feed/ 1 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/07/04/noncommital-pakistans-war-on-terror/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/07/04/noncommital-pakistans-war-on-terror/#comments Wed, 04 Jul 2012 01:00:00 +0000 Mohammad I. Aslam http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=25902 A year after the US attack that saw Osama bin Laden killed, efforts to crush the remnants of al-Qa'ida are at a pivotal stage.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/07/04/noncommital-pakistans-war-on-terror/feed/ 29 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/06/11/obamas-legacy-doesnt-live-up-to-the-terms-of-his-nobel-prize/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/06/11/obamas-legacy-doesnt-live-up-to-the-terms-of-his-nobel-prize/#comments Mon, 11 Jun 2012 03:03:44 +0000 Chris Pleasance http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=25023 As Obama nears the end of his first term as President, Chris Pleasance says he has done little to live up to the terms of the Nobel Peace Prize. Instead, his is a legacy of continued war, questionable drone strikes and pandering to hawkish neocons.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/06/11/obamas-legacy-doesnt-live-up-to-the-terms-of-his-nobel-prize/feed/ 99 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/06/08/obama%e2%80%99s-drone-wars-strain-the-liberal-principles-he-espoused-in-2008/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/06/08/obama%e2%80%99s-drone-wars-strain-the-liberal-principles-he-espoused-in-2008/#comments Fri, 08 Jun 2012 02:57:00 +0000 Clara Cullen http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=25016 Clara Cullen thinks Obama’s drone strategy is a betrayal of all who supported him. In turn, the silence of all those who voted for “hope” and “change” is worrying; it suggests that the US liberal electorate would rather support Obama, who they perceive as a lesser political evil than his Republican adversaries, than actually questioning the political hypocrisy his foreign policy entails.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/06/08/obama%e2%80%99s-drone-wars-strain-the-liberal-principles-he-espoused-in-2008/feed/ 83 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/05/09/when-impartiality-is-compromised-doctors-and-aid-workers-become-targets/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/05/09/when-impartiality-is-compromised-doctors-and-aid-workers-become-targets/#comments Wed, 09 May 2012 03:00:31 +0000 Dr Martin Stanton http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=23965 The discovery last week of the beheaded body of Khalil Dale, a British humanitarian aid worker in Afghanistan, marks yet another tragic fatality in a rapidly accelerating line of murdered neutral and impartial health professionals. The immediate and obvious response to Dale’s death has been to ask whether more could have been done to negotiate the ransom demanded by his captors. But a far deeper level of disquiet has also emerged. ]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/05/09/when-impartiality-is-compromised-doctors-and-aid-workers-become-targets/feed/ 34 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/04/15/obamas-foreign-policy-woes/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/04/15/obamas-foreign-policy-woes/#comments Sun, 15 Apr 2012 16:37:18 +0000 Anne Penketh http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=23224 When you are the most powerful leader in the world, you want to be seen to be manipulating events, not the other way round.    Unfortunately for President Barack Obama, he’s in trouble on the foreign policy front, seven months from a presidential election. At best the situation is unpredictable, at worst, it’s a disaster.    The [...]]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/04/15/obamas-foreign-policy-woes/feed/ 2 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/03/11/afghanistan-why-wait-until-2015/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/03/11/afghanistan-why-wait-until-2015/#comments Sun, 11 Mar 2012 21:54:42 +0000 John Rentoul http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=22280 Nearly a year and a half after our combat role could have ended, The Independent on Sunday has repeated its view and has been joined by The Sunday Times.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/03/11/afghanistan-why-wait-until-2015/feed/ 7 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/02/15/more-than-half-of-afghanistan%e2%80%99s-families-live-in-extreme-poverty/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/02/15/more-than-half-of-afghanistan%e2%80%99s-families-live-in-extreme-poverty/#comments Wed, 15 Feb 2012 10:51:27 +0000 Sarah Jacobs http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=21383 Leila is watching her baby intently, as his mouth moves trying to swallow the small blob of yellow peanut paste Dr Tayab has spooned gently into his mouth. She sits on the floor of her one-room mud house and rocks his tiny, malnourished body on her lap. After a tense pause, the baby’s neck strains and [...]]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/02/15/more-than-half-of-afghanistan%e2%80%99s-families-live-in-extreme-poverty/feed/ 39 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/02/08/syria-something-must-be-done/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/02/08/syria-something-must-be-done/#comments Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:33:11 +0000 Musa Okwonga http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=21190 I am no foreign policy expert, and so until now I have refrained from writing anything about Syria. Until now, I have instead confined myself to tweeting my simultaneous senses of frustration, helplessness and anguish about the situation, whilst faithfully following those on Twitter whom I have deemed better placed, either emotionally or intellectually, to comment on this crisis than I. (I have included here a list of Twitter accounts - some contentious, all compelling - that I have found indispensable to my embryonic understanding of what is going on.)]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/02/08/syria-something-must-be-done/feed/ 1 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2011/12/01/new-report-shows-uk-corruptionhas-increased/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2011/12/01/new-report-shows-uk-corruptionhas-increased/#comments Thu, 01 Dec 2011 00:01:53 +0000 Emily Jupp http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=19207 An index showing the relative levels of perceived corruption in over 150 countries has been released today. The index shows that people in the UK believe that corruption in the country is getting worse.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2011/12/01/new-report-shows-uk-corruptionhas-increased/feed/ 7 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2011/10/05/the-real-story-in-afghanistan/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2011/10/05/the-real-story-in-afghanistan/#comments Wed, 05 Oct 2011 15:04:05 +0000 Rizwan Syed http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=17137 Yesterday, Hamid Karzai, the president of Afghanistan, signed a “strategic partnership” between Afghanistan and India. The agreement between Karzai and Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister of India, is the first of its kind between the two countries.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2011/10/05/the-real-story-in-afghanistan/feed/ 4 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2011/06/23/obamas-surge/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2011/06/23/obamas-surge/#comments Thu, 23 Jun 2011 09:11:01 +0000 Anne Penketh http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=13405 He’s back! President Obama’s speech on Afghanistan last night could well mark the moment that he got his presidency back, and smooth his path towards a second term.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2011/06/23/obamas-surge/feed/ 18