Israel, Islam & the New Cold War | Niall Ferguson

Nov 14, 2023 | John is re-joined by pre-eminent historian Niall Ferguson to analyse the latest conflict between Israel and Hamas. Ferguson argues that due to the nature of Hamas’ urban warfare, tunnel systems and civilian shields, Israel will have a long and difficult campaign ahead. He also points out that the decline in Western support for Israel, particularly in the younger generations, is due to a woke university system propagating Islamist and left-wing viewpoints, attempting to create a moral equivalence between the October 7 terrorist attacks and Israel’s response.

Niall Ferguson, MA, D.Phil., is the Milbank Family Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and a senior fellow of the Centre for European Studies, Harvard, where he served for twelve years as the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History. He is the author of fifteen books, most recently Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe. His previous book, Kissinger, 1923-1968: The Idealist, won the Council on Foreign Relations Arthur Ross Prize.

He is also an award-winning filmmaker, having won an international Emmy for his PBS series The Ascent of Money.


I wrote this ESSAY back in 2007:

Islam: The Enemy of Democracy and Freedom »

Trump’s War Hawk Advisors Have Pushed Us Into A New Cold War

The Trump Administration has put us back into a new Cold War, thanks to his incompetent, war-hungry advisors. By pulling the US out of the INF treaty with Russia, this administration has launched a new arms race that could dwarf what we saw during the decades of the Cold War. The only people who come out on top of this are the defense contractors. Ring of Fire’s Mike Papantonio and Farron Cousins discuss this issue.

Kaliningrad Residents Fear Second Cold War

People living on Russia's border with NATO members Poland and Lithuania say they feel a second Cold War has already begun.

Residents of Kaliningrad say they're worried about NATO military exercises in the neighbouring states and the deployment of Western troops near the borders.

Al Jazeera’s Andrew Simmons reports from Kaliningrad.

‪Fears of a New Cold War as Russia Beefs Up Military‬

As NATO meets to deal with the threats from Russia, Russia is also getting ready at what some are calling a 'hybrid' Cold War. CNN's Clare Sebastian reports.

Mikhail Gorbachev: World On Brink of New Cold War over Ukraine

THE GUARDIAN: Former Soviet Union leader says tensions between US and Russia should be kept under control

Mikhail Gorbachev has warned that tensions between the US and Russia over Ukraine have put the world on the brink of a new cold war.

The former leader of the Soviet Union said: “We must make sure that we get the tensions that have arisen recently under control.”

The call comes amid a warning from the Dutch foreign minister that the last victims of the Malaysia Airlines plane shot down over Ukraine might never be recovered.

Gorbachev was speaking on Saturday at an event marking the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall, close to the Brandenburg Gate.

His perestroika and glasnost reforms helped spell the end of communism in eastern Europe and the Soviet Union in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He kept Soviet troops stationed in East Germany in their barracks the night of 9 November 1989, as the border was opened.

The 83-year-old former leader has accused the west – particularly the US – of “triumphalism” after the collapse of the communist bloc. » | Chris Johnston and agencies | Saturday, November 08, 2014

Finland Warns of New Cold War as EU and US Fail to Grasp Situation in Russia

Sauli Ninisto: 'We have a long tradition of keeping out
of conflict with Russia.'

THE GUARDIAN: Finnish president Sauli Niinisto set to meet David Cameron and other northern European leaders at conference in Helsinki

Western countries are “at the gates” of a new cold war with Russia sparked by the Ukraine crisis and a continuing failure to grasp the depth and seriousness of President Vladimir Putin’s grievances with the US and EU, the Finnish president, Sauli Niinisto, has warned.

Speaking to the Guardian at his official residence before a conference in Helsinki on Thursday attended by Britain’s David Cameron and leaders of the Nordic and Baltic states, Niinisto said Finland had a long tradition of trying to maintain friendly relations with Russia. But it was not prepared to be pushed around. » | Simon Tisdall in Helsinki | Wednesday, November 05, 2014

Crimean Referendum: Mr Putin and the Threat of a New Cold War

THE GUARDIAN – EDITORIAL: Through a series of interventions in civil liberties, Mr Putin is turning a soft autocracy into a highly repressive state

The referendum that took place in Crimea is both irrelevant and deeply significant. Irrelevant because it has no standing in the law of the country to which it applies, and because it took place while the autonomous region was under military occupation. International bodies are unlikely to recognise its outcome: the UN security council voted by 13-1 to condemn it on Saturday, with only Russia voting against. The referendum is significant, however, because it represents a giant step on the road to Russian annexation, and because it reveals a little more of the nature of that country's president, Vladimir Putin. » | Editorial | Sunday, March 16, 2014