Comment is free + Foreign policy
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Soldier worship blinds Britain to the grim reality of war
Joe Glenton: A Royal Marine's murder of a wounded Afghan in his custody lays bare the truth of military campaigns
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Douglas Alexander: a changing world demands new approaches to foreign policy - video interview
In the second part of an exclusive interview the shadow foreign secretary discusses with columnist Jonathan Freedland a possible referendum on UK membership of the European Union, Labour's decisive intervention in the Syria debate and Britain's future approach to foreign policy
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Douglas Alexander on GCHQ surveillance: 'There is a heavy burden on the prime minister to explain' – video interview
In the first part of an exclusive interview, the shadow foreign secretary and the Guardian's Jonathan Freedland discuss the policy implications of recent revelations about the extent of government surveillance
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The Foreign Office secretly hoarded 1.2m files. It's historical narcissism
Richard Drayton: Why fear the full truth about the past? No British person alive should feel pride or guilt about events that happened before they were born
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Douglas Alexander is wrong: Sri Lanka does not deserve to be boycotted
Peter Heap: The country has been through horrors but has made huge progress. Britain should attend the Commonwealth summit in Colombo
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Saudi Arabia won't show the UN how it plays the game
Nesrine Malik: You told us: The kingdom sought a security council seat then rejected it. Split personality? Yes, but its cynical foreign policies are not unique
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David Cameron should boycott the Commonwealth summit in Sri Lanka
Douglas Alexander: The prime minister should reverse his decision to attend and so make clear to the Sri Lankan authorities the extent of Britain's concern about human rights
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What does China want with Britain's nuclear industry?
Isabel Hilton: The Chinese state is not philanthropic. Questions about safety, sovereignty and cost should be asked before we take its money
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An early EU referendum is so tempting – but Miliband must not be moved
Jackie Ashley: Europe now poses a major dilemma for the Labour leader. But to promise a referendum would result in a post-election defeat for him, and a UK exit
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Steve Bell on George Osborne and Boris Johnson visiting China – cartoon
London mayor upstages chancellor in Beijing on first full day of week-long British charm offensive
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This could be the beginning of the end for the Commonwealth
Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah: This timid international club will suffer more defections like the Gambia's if it doesn't stand up for its values
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Obama and Rouhani at the UN: decoding the rhetoric
Kory Stamper: Diplomacy is often the art of deft circumlocution and constructive ambiguity. So how we do know when an entente is cordiale?
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Edward Snowden's leaks are misguided – they risk exposing us to cyber-attacks
Professor Sir David Omand: Journalists are not best placed to identify security risks; we have to trust those who oversee the intelligence-gathering
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Kenya mall attack: David Cameron's rush to 'solve the crisis' won't help
Simon Jenkins: First thoughts: Cameron has helped send al-Shabaab to the top of the terrorist charts by summoning Cobra. Shopping malls, like Westgate, are easy targets for extremists
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Foreign aid: transparency will help African nations prosper
Observer editorial: As humanitarian pressures slowly decrease, the need for openness to avoid exploitation or corruption will increase
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Ten years on, what Britain can learn from the Swedish euro referendum
Mats Persson: Sweden's people were proved right in saying no to the euro. A slimmed-down EU may be the rational outcome of Cameron's in/out referendum
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The German elections will test David Cameron's luck
Michael White: Angela Merkel has been patient so far over Cameron's Euroscepticism. But the elections could change everything
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Uncovering Britain's secret role in protecting Chile's 1973 coup
Grace Livingstone: Forty years on, declassified documents reveal an outpouring of concern from the British public over Pinochet's coup – and the Foreign Office's attempt to undermine the solidarity campaign
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Who will win the first world war this time round?
Jackie Ashley: It's no surprise that the centenary events are controversial – but in Britain, the anti-war side risks hitting the wrong note
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The special relationship still lives on between Britain and the US
Matthew Barzun: A belief in the democratic process is what binds the countries together in responding to the crisis in Syria