OUTGOING US President Barack Obama defended his use of drone assassinations and proxy wars during his final national security speech on Tuesday night.
Addressing troops at Florida’s MacDill Air Force Base, home to the US Special Operations Command, Mr Obama boasted he was the first US president to “serve two full terms during a time of war” — after being elected on the promise of peace.
He heralded his record of using drones rather than troops on the ground which he claimed saved civilian lives.
As the government quietly upgrades the role of Britain’s special forces, their growing global footprint and near-total exemption from democratic oversight should alarm us all, says ROGER McKENZIE
Trump’s Gaza deal is a transient, self-aggrandising spectacle that barely distracts from the West’s outright complicity in the massacre in Gaza and our slide into warmongering, writes MATT KERR
While Trump praises the ‘successful’ attack on Iranian nuclear sites, the question arises as to the real motives behind this escalation. MARC VANDEPITTE explores the issues


