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Iranian Revolutionary Guards parade in Tehran. The Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the West’s threats of war would not ‘divert Iran from its nuclear course’

Robert Fisk: An attack on Tehran would be madness. So don't rule it out

After invading Iraq over weapons of mass destruction, we plan to clap as Israel bombs Iran

Go east, young man: Thomas Asbridge presenting ‘The Crusades’ for BBC2

Robert Fisk: History keeps repeating itself – as do clichés

Same Old Story. Journalists shouldn't use the phrase, but what else can I say when I prowl through press reports? Take the following. "It is slowly dawning... that the Americans are really going home, that there will be a ceasefire in this country soon, and then a march to the US... planes." Iraq? Nope. Afghanistan? You'd be so lucky.

Supporters of President Bashar Assad at a rally in Sabe Bahrat square, Damascus

Robert Fisk: Syria is used to the slings and arrows of friends and enemies

Bashar al-Assad is clinging to power despite the slow growth of a civil war. But if the regime should survive, what sort of country will it rule?

Uneasy neighbours: Palestinian and Israeli villages in the West Bank

Robert Fisk: The present stands no chance against the past

The Palestinians are not only, it seems, an "invented people" – courtesy of Newt Gingrich – but the only Arabs on the Mediterranean not to enjoy a Spring or an Awakening or even a Winter.

Robert Fisk: We've been here before – and it suits Israel that we never forget 'Nuclear Iran'

The Ayatollah ordered the entire nuclear project to be closed down because it was the work of the devil

Hurndall shortly after being shot on the same day, in a picture taken by Garth Stead

In the line of fire: Tom Hurndall

The photographs and journal entries of the young activist Tom Hurndall – who was killed at the age of 21 by a sniper – are a visceral portrait of the conflict in the Middle East, says Robert Fisk

Robert Fisk: Fragments of history rescued from oblivion

There are statements on the Bismarck, although contemporary reports got the story wrong

A dead body is pulled from the rubble of the collapsed building
yesterday

Poverty is main culprit as 19 die in slum tragedy

Building collapse highlights rental laws which have left Beirut's poorest tenants living in danger

Benjamin Netanyahu at the United Nations General Assembly last September

Robert Fisk: The 'invented people' stand little chance

Thank goodness we don't have to hear Newt Gingrich for a while.

Robert Fisk: This is not about 'bad apples'. This is the horror of war

How many other abuses took place off camera? How many Hadithas? How many My Lais?
Supporters of President Assad at a rally in Damascus yesterday

Robert Fisk: Assad faces his people's hatred – but as their anger grows, his excuses are still just the same

It was the Assad Speech of the Year. There was an international conspiracy against Syria. True. Arab states opposed to Syria were under "outside pressure". True, up to a point. Nobody could deny the seriousness of these plots. True. After all, the Syrian government itself registers 2,000 dead soldiers, while the UN estimates civilian dead at 5,000. And when Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan warned that the violence in Syria was "heading towards a sectarian, religious war", there were few supporters of President Assad who would disagree with him.

Dark souvenir: photograph taken by a German soldier, presumably to send back home

Robert Fisk: The shocking truth that killing can be so casual

More horror arrives in the mail.

Left to right:   Former Egptian president Hosni Mubarak, Syrian president Bashar Assad,  fallen Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and former Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali

Bonfire of the dictators

In the last part of our series, Robert Fisk ponders the fate of the despots who fought grimly against a revolutionary tide

Unsung: The 2006 film Indigènes highlighted the racism towards French African soldiers

Robert Fisk: France's shamefully forgotten allies

It took Indigènes to remind the French that they owed their liberation not only to De Gaulle's largely white Free French troops but also to 134,000 Algerian soldiers, 73,000 Moroccans, 26,000 Tunisians and 92,000 "others" from Sub-Saharan Africa.

Remembrance: Armenians annually commemorate the 1915 genocide

Robert Fisk: Turkey's long road to reconciliation

Just for a moment, put aside the current Franco-Turkish war over the 20th century's first Holocaust – of the Armenians – and remember that Nicolas Sarkozy's electoral venality (500,000 French-Armenian voters want to hear him tell the truth) and Turkish nationalism (which feeds on holocaust denial) make a bad cocktail.

Day In a Page

The Super Bowl: The greatest show on turf

The Super Bowl: The greatest show on turf

Forget the game – it's about so much more than that
The $18bn family feud that is a real-life Australian soap opera

The $18bn family feud

A messy court case has shed light on Australia's richest and most secretive family
What happens when an uncontacted tribe meets 'civilisation'?

What happens when an uncontacted tribe meets 'civilisation'?

Margarita Mbywangy's tribe was nearly wiped out when the modern world came calling
Britain’s first benefit refugees

Britain’s first benefit refugees

Single mothers reliant on the state are among the first and biggest victims of the Government’s welfare reforms
Science behind the big freeze: is climate change bringing the Arctic to Europe?

Science behind the big freeze

A loss of sea ice could be a cause of the bitter winds that have swept across the UK in the past week, weather experts say
Divine duck: Mark Hix cooks with the most succulent of birds

Divine duck: Mark Hix cooks with the most succulent of birds

It's the perfect ingredient with which to create these warming winter dishes.
On the waterfront: Frank Meadow Sutcliffe's Whitby

On the waterfront: Frank Meadow Sutcliffe's Whitby

In the photographer's day, Whitby was a place of Bram Stoker stories, gambolling urchins and an endlessly photogenic sea.
Burma back on the map: Tourism returns to South-east Asia’s forbidden land

Travel: Burma is back on the map

South-east Asia’s forbidden land has plenty to entice visitors – and with the travel boycott at an end, they are sure to arrive in numbers.
Spiritual travel for atheists: Do pilgrimages have a place in modern society?

Do pilgrimages have a place in modern society?

Their ideals should be applied to journeys today too, says Alain de Botton.
48 Hours: Mainz

48 Hours in Mainz

This German city where the Rhine and Main meet is gearing up for carnival season.
The artist vandalising advertising with poetry

Poetic vandalism

Q&A with Scottish artist Robert Montgomery whose new show opened in London today
Bonus backlash: PM urged to block rail chief's payout

Bonus backlash

PM urged to block rail chief's payout
Universities set to lose £5.6bn as overseas applications plummet

Universities set to lose £5.6bn...

... as overseas applications plummet
From here to obscurity: the young star who found that fame is fickle

From here to obscurity

The young star who found that fame is fickle
The 'ghost bike' revolt: families demand action on cyclist deaths

The 'ghost bike' revolt

Families demand action on cyclist deaths