Opinion

Donald Trump has learned that the Middle East is a complex and dangerous place where bellicose threats on Twitter count for little.

The US president has been talking up the threat of war on Iran since he came to office, prompted no doubt by Israel and Saudi Arabia, which have long feared the growing Iranian influence in an era of declining American power in the region.

Kashmir is the most militarised region on the planet. An estimated half a million Indian security personnel police a population of about 7 million.

About 80,000 have been killed in an insurgency against Indian rule. From 2016, shotguns filled with lead pellets have been used for “crowd control”, deliberately fired to blind civilian protesters. Stories of torture, rape and abduction abound among the mainly Muslim population.

On 3 August 21 year old Patrick Crusius travelled to the border town of El Paso, Texas, walked into a local shopping centre, and murdered 22 people. Moments before opening fire he shared a manifesto online stating, “This attack is a response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas.” He drew inspiration from the Christchurch, New Zealand, mosque shooting earlier this year.

Mass shootings are almost a routine occurrence now in the United States. So far this year there have been 261, roughly one per day, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

On 20 April 1968, leading Tory politician Enoch Powell made his infamous “rivers of blood” speech in which he attacked mass immigration from the Commonwealth. Quoting from the Latin poet Virgil, he proclaimed: “As I look ahead, I am filled with foreboding; like the Roman, I seem to see the River Tiber foaming with much blood.” The speech caused a political storm, making Powell one of the most divisive political figures in the country.