British parliament sat late into the night on December 2 before eventually voting up Prime Minister David Cameron's proposal to join the US-led air war in Syria.
Opposition Labour Party leader and veteran anti-war activist Jeremy Corbyn argued strongly against bombing Syria, as did protesters outside parliament. However, many right-wing Labour MPs supported the government.
Iraq
The Socialist Alliance and its youth wing, Resistance, expresses our solidarity with the people of Paris and Beirut who were targeted in back-to-back acts of terror by ISIS forces in the past few days.
听PKK fighters driving a tank into Shingal. The town of Shingal (in Kurdish or "Sinjar" in Arabic) in Iraq's Nineveh Province was declared liberated from ISIS forces, which had held the town since last year, on November 13. The town is mostly inhabited by the Kurdish religious minority community of Yazidis. The town was liberated by Iraqi Kurdish forces, fighting alongside Yazadi militias and fighters from the left-wing Turkish-based Kurdish Workers Party (PKK).
Amir Amirani's documentary film We Are Many 鈥 on the huge outpouring of public opposition to the Iraq War in February 2003 鈥 has its Australian premiere at the Adelaide Film Festival on Oct 22 and 24.
On Feb 15, 2003, 30 million people marched against the impending US-led war in Iraq. The protesters warned the Iraq invasion would be a disaster and humanitarian catastrophe 鈥 and were tragically proven right.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced on September 9 a novel approach to stemming the flow of refugees from Syria: bombing the country.
He also announced plans to accept a further 12,000 Syrian refugees on top of his government's miserly quota, but was quick to dispel any hopes that Australia might be abandoning its status as the Western world's leading abuser of refugees. Abbott told ABC Radio National on September 10 that Syrian refugees being held in the Australian-run concentration camps in Nauru and Manus Island would not be released.
In less than a fortnight a series of tragedies took place on the borders of Europe, spurring a continent-wide debate over refugee policy.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has denied reports his government lobbied the US to formally request for Australia to extend its involvement in the US-led air war against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) 鈥 and bomb targets in Syria, not just Iraq.
Socialist Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn looks set to win the party鈥檚 leadership in the coming weeks 鈥 sending shock waves through the British establishment.
He has generated huge enthusiasm among young people with his ultra-radical concepts like 鈥渕aybe don't start pointless wars so poor people die for economic elites鈥 and 鈥渓et鈥檚 ensure we can all access health care and basic services鈥.
But surely Corbyn is cheating. The whole concept of 鈥渄emocracy鈥 seems rigged in his favour due to his dangerous approach of advocating policies that are actually in the interests of the majority.
Heat and corruption are a heady mix. As Iraq swelters in record-breaking temperatures, thousands of largely young Iraqis are taking to the streets to protest the miserable conditions they face. They are angry about the lack of electricity and water - and blame rampant government corruption.
Temperatures across the Middle East this week have soared in an unprecedented heat wave, forcing residents to stay indoors.
In the Iranian city of Basrah, located in the epicentre of the heat wave, temperatures exceeded 48掳C for the seventh day in a row on August 1.
On the same day, the Iraq capital of Baghdad sweltered through its fourth consecutive day of temperatures higher than 48 degrees. Governments from both countries have been forced to declare public holidays to protect people from the sweltering temperatures.
The July 23 deal between the US and Turkey 鈥 which gives the US access to Turkey's Incirlik airbase and officially brings Turkey into the US-led 鈥渨ar on ISIS鈥 鈥 makes one thing clear.
For Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), the real enemy is not the terrorist group calling itself the Islamic State 鈥 more commonly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). It is the Kurdish freedom movement and the Turkish left.
Turkey has 鈥渏oined the war against ISIS鈥, according to US politicians and the corporate media after a July 23 deal between the US and the Turkish government. The deal gives US war planes and drones access to Turkey's Incirlik airbase from which to conduct air strikes in Syria and Iraq.
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