Amitav Ghosh’s remarkable book, Smoke and Ashes: Opium’s hidden histories, deserves its critical acclaim.

Imperial Britain forced opium on China in the name of ‘free trade’ and corrupted India in the process. It’s a disturbing story, that doesn’t fit any of the grand narratives of global markets and their benefits. It’s […]

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Yesterday, the IPC Global Initiative issued a special brief on food insecurity in Gaza. It is shocking. They warn of ‘imminent famine.’

USAID’s FEWS NET also provided a detailed analysis and confirmed the findings.

Let’s not be preoccupied with whether it’s ‘famine’ or not. It’s a disaster of surpassing intensity.

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Below is a round-up of recent news analysis and media commentary from the WPF’s Executive Director, Alex de Waal, a leading expert on mass starvation and famine. In the past weeks, he has discussed starvation crimes in Gaza (Occupied Palestinian Territories), Sudan, Tigray (Ethiopia) and the Horn of Africa.

Gaza

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In his 1906 Handbook for Small Wars, Colonel Sir Charles Callwell advised his fellow British officers that colonial operations would likely involve confiscating cattle and burning villages, ‘an aspect that may shock the humanitarian.’ He continues:

 The most satisfactory way of bringing such [native] foes to reason is by the rifle and the sward, […]

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