Roger Boyes



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Articles: 2017

 * We can’t stand by as Hong Kong is crushed - Britain has a duty to speak out for democracy rebels while resisting a reckless push for separatism - 28th June
 * Time is running out for Putin’s kleptocracy - The outward strength of the Russian president’s regime hides its growing fear of the future - 14th June
 * Banning the Brotherhood will make us safer - To understand terrorism’s spiritual roots the West must get to grips with this sinister fraternity - 7th June
 * A Franco-German axis won’t thwart Putin - With Russia running rings round the EU, Macron and Merkel can’t find the answers on their own - 31st May
 * Trump must forge an alliance to curb Iran - A stable Saudi Arabia is essential if Tehran’s long-term nuclear ambitions are to be checked - 16th May
 * Iranians will play us for fools if we let them - Tehran hardliners are spreading strife across the Middle East while trying to divide the West - 3rd May
 * Erdogan threatens a summer of chaos for the EU - If the Turkish president wins next month’s referendum granting him greater powers, we have only ourselves to blame - 22nd March
 * Merkel seeks her own US special relationship - Trump needs a functioning EU and a re-elected German chancellor is the best hope for that - 15th March
 * Trump is being sucked into an Afghan quagmire - Putin’s new alliance with the Taliban is forcing the president into a bigger military commitment - 8th March
 * German voters are deserting the centre ground - While the far right scents power in France and the Netherlands, Merkel faces a socialist threat - 1st March
 * Iran is the acid test of Trump’s foreign policy - The president must choose whether to pursue a limited agenda on Tehran or regime change - 15th February
 * Romania is becoming the EU’s outlaw state - Britain must reject extradition requests from Bucharest, which is using an anti-corruption drive to settle political scores - 8th February
 * How May can reset the special relationship - Thatcher’s political partnership with Reagan can teach her successor how to deal with Trump - 25th January
 * Trump must get serious about North Korea - Without a deal, military action may be needed to halt Kim Jong Un’s nuclear programme - 4th January



Articles: 2016

 * The Latin American Revolution is failing fast - Venezuela’s collapse is an embarrasment to Putin and a humanitarian problem for Trump - 28th December
 * Turkey and Russia’s marriage of convenience - Erdogan’s shift away from the West towards Putin will mean a reshaping of the Middle East - 21st December
 * Diplomats should take a leaf out of candid Boris’s book - It seems the enfant terrible has been horrid to the Saudis; staff at No 10, who not so long ago were drafting anti-Boris jokes for the prime minister, say he is out of order. - 9th December
 * Trump will get tough with China and Iran - The president-elect’s first appointments show how he intends the US to reassert its global reach - 7th December
 * Europe could do with its own populist revolt - The continent’s political elite needs to be shaken out of its complacency — starting with Italy - 30th November
 * Trump must tell Syria’s dictator: You’re fired - The president-elect is right to unpick Obama’s woeful legacy so long as he doesn’t trust Putin - 16th November
 * Enough whitewashing of central Asia’s tyrants - Western cosying up to unsavoury dictators must include an insistence on better human rights - 2nd November
 * China is buying up Uncle Sam’s Asian allies - The Philippines’ tilt away from Washington towards Beijing shows how US power is waning - 26th October
 * If you think Isis is finished, think again - Islamists will regroup after battle for Mosul even if the shaky Iraqi-led alliance wins the day - 19th October
 * You can’t trust the people with democracy - Weak governments have learnt the hard way that referendums only make voters more angry - 5th October
 * UN must start standing up to Putin’s barbarism - The security council has shown itself to be impotent in the face of Russian bullying - 28th September
 * Merkel must solve Europe’s identity crisis - First EU summit since the Brexit vote will be held this week with the union’s future in doubt - 14th September
 * War between China and the US is a real risk - The superpowers could stumble into a conflict as military technology rapidly advances - 31st August
 * Refugees should return home to be the builders - Yes, Britain needs to take many more refugees, but we don’t have to be their final destination - 24th August
 * Vultures are circling for lame-duck Obama - The president is desperate to create a legacy and is relying on Russia, Iran and Turkey to help - 17th August
 * Arms deals buy our silence on human rights - After Brexit we will be even more morally compromised as we trade with regimes such as Egypt - 10th August
 * The siege of Aleppo will settle Syria’s future - Unless the West wakes up to the threat, Putin will crush the city and consolidate Assad’s power - 3rd August
 * Don’t panic! Dad’s Army hacks are on the attack - ‘Fall in, at the double! ’Shun!” For hacks with a taste for khaki, there is life after the newsroom: saving Britain from Islamic State and other bad guys - 7th July
 * We should ignore Juncker and talk to Merkel - Unlike the EU chief, Germany’s pragmatic chancellor knows this isn’t the time for punishment - 29th June
 * We should think twice before snubbing Turkey - This is not about friendship but about interests - 28th June
 * West can’t afford to let Putin off the hook - Sanctions are hurting the Russian president so now is the worst time to go soft on him - 22nd June
 * Britain must fight again to save the Falklands - The US is reopening the sovereignty question by backing an Argentine as the new UN chief - 15th June
 * Mugabe could give China its first colony - As Zimbabwe slides further into disaster, Beijing is ideally placed to turn it around - 8th June
 * Diplomats need dragging into the modern era - Underfunded, out of touch, slow to respond, the Foreign Office has to adopt a tougher approach - 1st June
 * China defies US in battle to rule the waves - With Beijing brazenly trying to control trade routes, Obama is right to take pre-emptive action - 25th May
 * Supping with the devil won’t solve the migrant crisis - Merkel had her fingers burnt by Turkey and is about to fall into the same trap with Sudan - 18th May
 * Miracle required to rid the world of corruption - Tomorrow’s summit must insist that countries are more transparent in how they do business - 11th May
 * Chávez’s socialist paradise ends in bankruptcy - Venezuela was hailed as a left-wing miracle but low oil prices have exposed its rotten foundations - 4th May
 * Brexiteers should embrace Marine Le Pen - Rather than treat Europe’s far right with disdain, Outers ought to learn from them - 27th April
 * Tsar Vladimir is plotting an Arctic Cold War - Russian adventures in Ukraine and Syria are merely rehearsals for a much bigger power play - 20th April
 * The last thing Libya needs is us marching in - Britain and its allies want to clear up the mess of 2011 but are going about it the wrong way - 13th April
 * Dutch could deliver a new blow to EU project - If the right triumph in the referendum on a deal with Ukraine, Putin will be the real winner - 6th April
 * Terrorists have filled vacuum left by Obama - The Brussels attacks can be traced back to the president’s failure to deal Isis a fatal blow - 23rd March
 * Don’t put your trust in Putin the peacemaker - The Russian leader’s apparent volte face in Syria is merely a change in tactics, not objectives - 16th March
 * Iran’s killer-in-chief is plotting the next war - Despite sanctions being lifted on Tehran, there is no let-up in its malign military intervention - 25th February
 * It’s decision time for self-righteous Obama - The president is at fault for letting Putin become the winner in the accelerating Syrian disaster - 17th February
 * Is Merkel latest victim of Thatcher syndrome? - The German chancellor has been in power for 11 years and is losing her touch with the people - 11th February
 * Putin is gambling on us forgetting Ukraine - The West must stand united behind Kiev and reject the Russian president’s Cold War strategy - 13th January
 * Saudi Arabia deserves praise not punishment - Execution by sword is brutal but Riyadh remains our best hope for peace in the Middle East - 6th January



Articles: 2015

 * Iran’s hardliners aim to crush western hopes - Barack Obama’s naively optimistic nuclear deal may end up making the region more dangerous - 31st December
 * Diplomacy is too important to leave to Osborne - This week’s visit of the Indian prime minister shows the folly of sidelining the Foreign Office - 11th November
 * Street fighter Putin is heading for a fall - At the age of 12, a rough-necked Vladimir Putin was taught a useful lesson on the streets of Leningrad: “If a fight is inevitable,” he told a Russian audience last week, “you have to hit first.” - 28th October
 * Ignore the siren calls to cut a deal with Assad - Obama is making a terrible mistake if he falls for Putin’s blandishments over Syria’s future - 30th September
 * The Pope must stop supping with the devil - Francis has been flirting with Latin American despots. If only he did more for their victims - 23rd September
 * Egypt signs up to Putin’s censorship gang - President Sisi is copying the Moscow and Ankara model of ruthlessly crushing any dissent - 16th September
 * Close the open borders to end migrant chaos - Shelving the Schengen agreement and halting EU expansion will buy us vital breathing space - 2nd September
 * MPs must seize this chance to bomb Isis - Parliament’s rejection of airstrikes on Syria two years ago was shameful. Time to make amends - 26th August
 * The nuclear option holds no fear for Isis - 70 years on from Hiroshima, we must face up to the real possibility of a dirty bomb attack - 5th August
 * Feeble Obama is leaving the world in a spin - Dictators who receive help from America are getting away without any pressure to reform - 29th July
 * This cheater’s charter has saved Iran’s skin - In ten years’ time a wealthy Tehran with nuclear expertise could be bullying its neighbours - 15th July
 * Britain needs to decapitate the Isis beheaders - We need a new approach and the courage to hit back in the wake of the Tunisia terror attack - 1st July
 * We need a tougher deal with meddling Iran - Barack Obama is wrong to think a nuclear agreement is the only way to stop conflict spreading - 24th June
 * Cyberwar will make a bigger bang than the Bomb - Knocking out an enemy’s power grid, with all the chaos that ensues, is the way forward in war - 10th June
 * Emperor Erdogan needs cutting down to size - Turkey’s president hopes to extend his power in tomorrow’s general election. For the West’s sake, let’s hope he doesn’t - 6th June
 * Terrorist crimes must be confronted not buried - Northern Ireland is a poor template for peace. Afghanistan should look elsewhere for guidance - 27th May
 * Obama’s dangerous folly over Iran - President has unbalanced the Middle East and stoked ancient Persian-Arab rivalry - 13th May
 * We’d be wrong to snub Putin’s parade - West should honour Russia’s war dead but fine-tune sanctions to isolate corrupt elite - 6th May
 * Let’s not get paranoid about a Chinese threat - Russia is the real danger. We should strive to bring Beijing into a rules-based world order - 29th April
 * Refugees are our problem. Now we must act - At key points in history Britain has seized the moment: the smuggling disasters are the latest - 21st April
 * West must dismantle the enemy lie machines - Isis and the Kremlin have proved to be master propagandists so why don’t we put up a fight? - 8th April
 * Iran’s masters of disorder threaten the West - As Tehran stirs up trouble across the Middle East, we need to remember who our real friends are - 1st April
 * Strongman leaders will keep Africa weak - Good luck to Nigerians who have to pick between a slothful president and a thuggish general - 25th March
 * Turkey must decide if it’s our friend or foe - Ankara has been playing Nato and Isis off against each other in its quest for regional dominance - 25th February
 * When Putin looks east he feels like a winner - The West has got him wrong. He may appear a pariah, but he is expanding his influence - 18th February
 * Peacemaker Merkel could break up Europe - The German chancellor is seeking to resolve the Ukraine crisis and bring Greece into line but may achieve the opposite - 14th February
 * Arming Ukraine will stop Putin in his tracks - The Russian leader’s expansionist aims are clear. The west must act to help Kiev to protect itself - 4th February
 * Obama evokes Kissinger to clip China’s wings - The president’s overture to India is textbook realpolitik. Now he must back words with actions - 28th January
 * The west should leave Putin out in the cold - Russia’s leader has fostered terrorism and has no right to be trusted in the war against Isis - 21st January
 * Libya needs help. We can’t stand and watch - Britain and France must help establish a functioning government to end post-Gaddafi chaos - 14th January
 * Merkel is losing faith with parochial Britain - Behind the smiles at today’s summit, the German chancellor is cooling on David Cameron - 7th January



Articles: 2014

 * There’s a big black cloud hanging over 2015 - Not since the Cuban missile crisis has the world been so perilously close to an accidental war - 31st December
 * Britain must do more for Syria’s lost children - We backed down in the face of Assad’s brutality so let’s at least provide homes for his refugees - 24th December
 * Every soldier must go. Then build on success - Soft power – bringing education, healthcare and women’s rights – will help Afghanistan now - 10th December
 * Goodbye, Arab Spring. We like dictators now - The west has done the calculation and turned the clock back to an era of strength and stability - 3rd December
 * Stop romanticising the Kurdish underdogs - Britons fighting with the PKK are wrong to see the clash with Isis as another Spanish civil war - 26th November
 * We all profit if beauty comes before pylons - National Grid’s decision to bury cables underground shows that businesses can marry principle with making money - 11th November
 * Obama must resist an unholy alliance with Iran - The US president and his Iranian counterpart are desperate to cut a deal at almost any price - 11th November
 * A Putin Wall could bring peace to Ukraine - 25 years after the Berlin Wall came down, it’s time we realised that barriers have their benefits - 5th November
 * The last beacon of Arab hope needs our help - Tunisia has rejected dictatorship and Islamism. The EU must get its act together and support it - 29th October
 * Wars aren’t won by soldiers staring at screens - Obama’s remote-controlled offensive is missing the target. Isis can only be defeated the hard way - 22nd October
 * Tumbling oil price hits Putin where it hurts - From Russia to Nigeria, the risk of economic chaos could be a surprisingly effective peacemaker - 15th October
 * Kim’s ankles give China an excuse to step in - Only the Chinese can halt North Korea’s reckless arms race. It’s time they rose to the challenge - 8th October
 * Bomb ’n’ go must be replaced by bomb ’n’ stay - If we are to avoid another Libyan disaster, we must change our strategy in the battle with Isis - 1st October
 * This coalition against Isis will soon collapse - The optimism of the new offensive is likely to dissipate quickly without boots on the ground - 24th September
 * We can defeat Putin in the thermostat wars - Russia’s president swaggers towards winter thinking gas is his best weapon. He may be wrong - 19th September
 * Firepower is vital in Iraq – not false friends - The jihadists must be crushed but not by the West making rash pacts with Assad or Putin - 10th September
 * Nato needs to flex its muscles against Putin - The western alliance has let the Russian leader walk all over it. Time to put him in his place - 3rd September
 * Why this old pals’ act should alarm the West - Russia is forging closer ties with China. We need to convince Beijing not to play Putin’s game - 27th August
 * Our attachés don’t have enough on their plates - Diplomats are, of course, sent to lie abroad for their country - 8th August
 * Beware a nuclear alliance of Russia and China - Both nations are taunting the West with impunity. We need a new defence strategy - and fast - 6th August
 * Forget about love, this is the summer of war - The tyrants are having a field day. A timid Britain and an emasculated US have to wake up fast - 31st July
 * Merkel’s big test: put the squeeze on Putin - The West will suffer if it fails to use energy, banking and intelligence as weapons against Russia - 23rd July
 * How do you beat Hamas? Make Gaza prosper - Israel must think long-term. Gazans must have the chance to improve their lives, not fight - 16th July
 * ‘Washing our hands’ is not a foreign policy - After Syria, Iraq and Libya, trouble for the West could be brewing in corrupt Nigeria too - 9th July
 * How iPhones can help to catch war criminals - Digital technology is transforming the prosecution of war crimes. But the US needs to sign up - 2nd July
 * Time to tell the Saudis some home truths - Saudi Arabia’s wealth should not buy our silence. Its funding of jihadists threatens our security - 25th June
 * It’s drowning season in the sea of despair - Desperate families are risking all to flee chaos and war: they surely deserve more compassion - 11th June
 * Soldiers haven’t a clue how to run countries - Whether in Egypt, Thailand or Libya, the west should not be doing deals with khaki politicos - 4th June
 * Putin’s anti-US alliance threatens the globe - Russia, China and India together would have huge strength in military muscle and energy - 28th May
 * Let the Muslim Brotherhood stay in Britain - Egypt’s Islamic party has an important role to play in a democracy. We should lend a hand - 21st May
 * The starry-eyed West is walking into Iran’s trap - Hassan Rouhani is the plausible front man for a regime still bent on building a nuclear bomb - 14th May
 * The new Mussolini and his axis of the macho - Europe’s nationalists see Putin as an ally. But, as Ukraine shows, he has no respect for borders - 7th May
 * Only shock-and-awe sanctions will hurt Putin - War in Ukraine is growing closer. The west may have to accept the pain of lost business - 30th April
 * The rational Putin has to rein in the mad one - If the unpredictable Kremlin leader goes over the edge, he’ll trigger a war. We’re right to be fearful - 16th April
 * Modi will bring trouble at home and abroad - The Hindu populist is liable to polarise the world’s biggest democracy and unsettle Pakistan - 8th April
 * Thanks, Vladimir, for uniting the West again - We’re back on familiar Cold War ground. The alliance understands Russia’s weaknesses all too well - 26th March
 * Putin needs to hear a four-letter word: Nato - Feeble sanctions have confirmed Russia’s sense that the West is unwilling to defend Ukraine - 19th March
 * The world has stopped listening to Hague - The Foreign Secretary should have resigned when MPs rejected his Syrian policy - 12th March
 * A nuclear Ukraine would have deterred Putin - Atomic weapons may be horrific but they prevent aggression between hostile States - 5th March
 * We need to buy Ukraine or Putin wins - Europe has the opportunity of a lifetime to invest in the eastward spread of democratic values - 26th February
 * Putin is winning the Ukraine power games - As Kiev descends into civil war, the West has again been wrongfooted by a regime propped up by the Kremlin - 21st February
 * Failing states such as Syria deserve to fail - There is so much hatred inside some national borders that divorce can be the only solution - 19th February
 * Britain shouldn’t copy the xenophobic Swiss - The EU reaction to the immigration vote may indicate how much UK renegotiation is possible - 12th February
 * Sochi will weaken Putin, not elevate him - Once the vanity project is over, Russia cannot avoid its regional problems and weak economy - 5th February
 * Will Obama stand with Japan against China? - Washington’s weakness – from Kiev to Damascus – has encouraged Beijing to assert itself - 29th January
 * This evil should shame us into halting Assad - Britain can no longer avert its eyes from the brutal reality of life, and death, in Syria’s Dark Ages - 22nd January
 * Fortress Israel has never looked less secure - As Ariel Sharon nears death, his legacy is being imperilled by US vacillation - 7th January
 * We can’t stop the war. We can help its victims - Assad and Russia are playing the West for fools. A no-fly zone would end the slaughter of Syria’s innocent - 1st January



Articles 2013:

 * Worry about Europe’s Left, not its Far Right - Socialist gains in European elections could move the continent in the wrong direction - 11th December
 * We’ve lost Afghanistan. What about Pakistan? - Britain and America need a political strategy to stop the Talebanisation of the Pashtun - 4th December
 * Weak Obama won’t stop Iran going nuclear - Only the French seem to understand the dangers of Tehran acquiring the bomb - 20th November
 * Reform this country club for corrupt leaders - Britain should do more about human rights abuses in Commonwealth member states - 13th November
 * Crushing moderate Islam will revive al-Qaeda - The West cannot afford to disengage from a region on the edge of radicalisation - 6th November
 * Europe is still bugged by weak leadership - EU  leaders hope that the worst is over but the continent’s economic and demographic problems persist - 30th October
 * Scots need to look at this model divorcee - After splitting with the Czechs, Slovakia prospered by embracing Europe - 16th October
 * Russia has turned into a giant Ponzi scheme - . . . and Vladimir Putin’s cronies threaten companies with closure if they don’t pay up - 9th October
 * Iran isn’t talking. It’s just playing for time - Sanctions are biting, but it is a fantasy to believe that Tehran is ready for a deal - 1st October 2013
 * If you’re happy about Merkel, think again - By pulverising her partner and failing to win overall, the Chancellor is in a fix - 24th September
 * If Israel’s paranoid, it has every reason to be - With the US disengaged, the prospect of Russia and Iran drawing closer is alarming - 19th September
 * The West mustn’t be fooled by this mad plan - A deal to hand over his chemical weapons could leave Assad in power for years -11th September
 * Merkel may not be the friend Cameron thinks - The German leader is sure to be re-elected but Britain cannot count on her - 4th September
 * We need regime change, not a wrist slap - ‘Punitive strikes’ don’t work. The only way to protect the suffering Syrian people is to rid them of Bashar Assad - 29th August
 * The Middle East crisis is as ominous as 1914 - The direction of events in Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Iran should keep us awake at night. History is taking a dangerous turn - 21st August
 * Try charm, not throwing rocks at Gibraltar - If Mariano Rajoy is serious about claims to the territory, he must abandon his silly populism - 14th August
 * ‘Crazy Bob’ is terrified of an African Spring - Don’t expect Zimbabwe’s election to be free or fair. Mugabe fears ending up like Gaddafi - 31st July
 * North Korea: the worst of the new Axis of Evil - The West’s Asian allies are asking whether the US has the political will to take on Pyongyang - 24th July
 * If we kowtow to Putin, his disdain for us grows - The absurd trial of a dead man is one more reason to stand up to the bully in the Kremlin - 18th July
 * Egypt will spark terrorism across the globe - The deaths of 51 people in Cairo is like a recruiting sergeant’s bugle call to violent radicals - 10th July
 * The Spring unleashed disorder not democracy - Nobody – women, minorities, the poor – can flourish when Arab states break down - 2nd July
 * What’s to be gained from arming the rebels? - Whether or not Britain takes sides in Syria, these are the issues facing military analysts - 19th June
 * Watch Iran closely. The cracks are forming - Things aren’t looking good for the ayatollahs – there may be echoes of the end of communism - June 13th
 * Stay calm. Turkey’s not in meltdown - But the West has to demand more from Mr Erdogan if his country is to remain a vital democratic ally - 4th June



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