Patrick Cockburn

Patrick Cockburn is the son of Claud Cockburn, the British Communist journalist, whose saying "believe nothing until it has been officially denied" is widely quoted where journalism is taught (which of course it shouldn't be). The younger Cockburn is a left-winger who understands Syria, the Middle East and wars better than almost anyone. He is anti-American, which helps him to see clearly.

I recommend you listen to him in this discussion, in which he says, "There have been few wars in history based on as many misconceptions as this one......It's a big mistake." Putin had grievances "but not enough to justify an invasion, to my mind".

He is right when he says that the danger of a nuclear war is greater than in the 1960s, 1970s or 1980s (partly because it was tiny then). Yet no-one seems concerned.  "To mention it is seen as almost an act of treachery", even in pacifist Germany.