DEFENDING THE INDEFENSIBLE

President Donald Trump gave the US and the wider world just three days to usher in the new year before resummoning the fear and loathing that have attended his presidency since day one.

Qassem Suleimani, the military commander often described as the second most powerful figure in Iran, had far too much blood on his hands to be seen as a loss to humanity and a victim worth mourning. He was, in fact, the personification of the biblical saying paraphrased as “he who lives by the sword dies by the sword”.

But there was no explanation as to why