Afghanistan is a failed state, a nation run by warlords, drug runners and terrorists. Australian troops are supporting a regime that is just full of good ideas: The war against the Taliban has gone badly these last months, but Afghanistan’s national intelligence agency has devised a secret plan to reverse the tide of bad news.…
Showing all posts in June 2019
Missing a coup
John Pilger, June 22: These days Australia likes to present itself as a helpful, generous neighbour of East Timor, after public opinion forced the government of John Howard to lead a UN peacekeeping force six years ago. East Timor is now an independent state, thanks to the courage of its people and a tenacious resistance…
They murder civilians, don’t they?
Israeli human rights group B’Tselem releases a statement: IDF Killed 23 Civilians in Gaza in the Past Month “By Mistake” In the last four weeks, according to B’Tselem’s statistics, Israel ‘s security forces in the Occupied Territories killed 23 Palestinian bystanders, who the military indicated they did not intend to kill. Among them were 7…
Don’t blame the victim
Mick Dodson, The Age, June 22: It’s not easy to separate some reasonable messages Tony Abbott was trying to deliver yesterday without getting caught up in the “put-down” language adopted in his speech to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Nobody disputes that addressing the 17-year gap in life expectancy between indigenous and non-indigenous…
Covering the crimes
A sad day for the long-suffering Sudanese people: Sudan’s president, vowing to never allow U.N. peacekeepers into Darfur, blamed Jewish organizations for pushing for their deployment. President Omar al-Bashir made the assertion Tuesday while a joint United Nations and African Union team was in Sudan to plan for a large U.N. force to take over…
Wilting under the heat
New Under the Sun is a collection of Jewish Australians writing about religion, politics and culture (naturally enough, the Australian Jewish News thinks the book is vitally important.) While some chapters are worthwhile, it suffers from a classic case of avoiding the elephant in the room. Israel is barely mentioned. The Jewish state is discussed,…
Back of the class
A revealing tale of John Bolton’s adventures at Oxford. Students don’t suffer fools.
Taking notice
A leading Venezuelan revolutionary is on her way to Australia. Stay tuned. Perhaps she’ll discuss the tendency of Latin America’s media elite to avoid debating poverty and inequality.
Will not last forever
When debate turns to Israel, Zionists often resort to bullying. It’s a tactic produced by an insecure, nervous yet aggressive lobby that simply refuses to accept alternative points of view. During the recent controversy surrounding the British academic boycott of Israeli institutions, similar tactics were employed. The result, unsurprisingly, was counterproductive and generated deep resentment:…