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How to understand the world: the grammar of power and its traces - some techniques learned the hard way Sep 07, 2026

My latest substack post.Ā  To subscribe to regular posts, please click here.

The Grammar of Power and its Traces

Ā 

How do we make sense of what is going on in the world today?

The information out there is bewildering and full of lies and propaganda. Most people don’t think about how they think ab...

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Profile of CR in 'Larrun' Sep 02, 2026

The Basque news magazine Aria devoted its weekly supplement, 'Larrun', to an interview and profile of CR.Ā  You can read it here (in Basque).

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Early reviews for There We Are Human Again Jun 29, 2026

A couple of early reviews from Amazon:

Five stars

"I’ve read a fair amount of politics books over my life (I studied it at university for a start) and I remember Carne’s first book, ā€œIndependent Diplomatā€, as one of the best I’ve ever read. Well this book is also extraordinary: it’s intensely pers...

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How Power Works: Iran/US MOU: The worst diplomatic agreement ever? Jun 28, 2026

Each week I look at one major international event and try to explain the structures of power behind it — the actors, ideologies and assumptions shaping events.


It’s no wonder that the US delayed the release of the ā€˜Memorandum of Understanding’ that extends the ceasefire with Iran. The document co...

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How Power Works: State Surveillance grows ever more intrusive Jun 28, 2026

Why does the state do this, and why do we put up with it?

Ā Introduction

The Metropolitan Police of London, Britain’s largest police force, has just announced that it will deploy surveillance drones across the capital. Only a few months ago, the government announced the rollout of face recognition ...

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The Nuclear Peril 2 Jun 17, 2026

As I wrote in anĀ earlier piece, I am very worried about nuclear weapons.

  • Treaties to limit or reduce nuclear weapons are expiring or collapsing.

  • Tacit agreements on when such weapons might be used are disintegrating or never existed, or the threshold for use is being lowered

  • More and

    ...
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Why I wrote 'There we are human again' Jun 09, 2026

My new book, ā€˜There we are human again: a diplomat’s journey to anarchism’ will be published on 9 June in the UK, and in August in the US. Last week, I circulated Jonathan Rowson’s entertainingĀ blogĀ about why he published it.

Here’s the cover, which I like. Jonathan and I debated the title to and f...

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CR on Al Jazeera about the abuse of the Gaza flotilla activists by Israeli minister Ben-Gvir May 22, 2026

I was asked by AJE to discuss the appalling Israeli minister Ben-Gvir’s abuse of the international activists from the Gaza flotilla, illegally abducted by Israel in international waters. The point I made was that the treatment of these foreign nationals is a small glimpse into the systematic abuse, ...

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