All eyes were on the Middle East again this week as political shockwaves were felt from a drone attack on a Saudi oil processing facility. Houthi rebels in Yemen initially claimed responsibility for the strike but suspicion soon turned towards Iran, which is engaged in a long-running regional power struggle with Saudi Arabia. As world affairs editor Julian Borger writes, it is the latest in a series of gambits by both sides aimed at achieving their objectives while avoiding all-out war. Simon Tisdall, meanwhile, examines how the crisis has been stoked by Donald Trump’s disastrously random US foreign policy.
Six years have passed since the National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed the extent of secret US and UK surveillance programmes around the world. Exiled in Russia since then, the whistleblower has lived a hermetic existence for fear of being located by US agents seeking retribution. With the publication of his memoirs, Snowden has broken cover and given an exclusive interview to Ewen MacAskill, the Guardian journalist who first broke the story that rocked the world. It’s a fascinating glimpse into a life in exile, and reveals how his plan to smuggle out thousands of computer documents almost came unstuck.
Italy’s fanatical ‘ultra’ football fans have a reputation for notoriety and political extremism, but is it entirely justified? Author and journalist Tobias Jones gained the trust of one such crew over the course of a year and as his fascinating long read for us this week reveals, the truth is often far more nuanced than the stereotype suggests.
Elsewhere, Guardian reporter Amelia Gentleman reveals the incredible background story to her scoop on the Windrush scandal, which scandalised the UK government and brought down a home secretary. And, as David Cameron publishes his memoirs, John Harris argues in the Opinion pages that while the former prime minister now presents himself as the softer face of Conservatism, we can’t simply forget his austerity policies that led to the EU referendum.
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