At the Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq War, Tony Blair claimed the risk of terrorists being supplied Weapons of Mass Destruction by “rogue” states justified a policy of invasion rather than containment and deterrence. Alex Holland analyses this argument for regime change.

Sri Lanka’s opposition talked of giving concessions to the country’s defeated Tamil minority. The Sinhalese majority said no. Melanie Gouby analyses Sri Lanka’s presidential election.

By David Cronin

Robert Clive epitomised the excesses of the British Empire. A master, in his own words, of “tricks, chicanery, politics and the Lord knows what”, the head of the East India Company did not hesitate to use mass starvation as a means of asserting control.

Sufism - once just another variant of Islam, now bankrolled by Britain and the US as a 'moderate' form of the religion that could help counter extremism in Pakistan. But what is Sufism? Where did it come from? And what role does it play today? In the first of a two-part series on Sufism, Qalandar Bux Memon argues that modern Sufi leaders have become part of Pakistan's corrupt ruling elite, favoured by the West not for their 'moderation' but for their compliance.