Private armies living like kings in “war on terror” fantasies

What does it take for mercenaries to stop getting contracts in occupied nations? More than a year has passed since the State Department decided to drop its contract [1] with the security firm protecting the US embassy in Kabul, following an international scandal featuring drunken debauchery [2] fit for a Van Wilder flick. But the…

Somebody tell David Cameron; Kuwait isn’t a democracy

Oh dear: Opponents of Britain’s arms trade are “completely at odds with reality”, David Cameron said, as he hit out critics of his three-day visit to the Gulf. In a staunch defence of Britain’s arms exports, as he tours the region with a group of senior defence manufacturers, Cameron said it was wrong to leave…

What the West saw in Gaddafi was oil and torture

The US had no issue with Gaddafi’s brutality and corruption as long as the oil kept flowing. Fossil fuel hunger has turned us into leeches: After New Year’s Day 2009, Western media reported that Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi, a son of the Libyan leader Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, had paid Mariah Carey $1 million to sing just…

Who wants nuclear power and massive amounts of waste?

Which private companies are salivating over the prospect of establishing an industry in Australia to turn a profit? And are indigenous Australians meant to simply disappear and accept this gross destruction of their land? For the first time Greens MP Adam Bandt will vote against a government bill in Federal Parliament today and seek to…

The day Peres met McEwan

While British writer Ian McEwan visits Israel and receives the Jerusalem Prize – despite BDS activists calling him to refuse due to mingling with a pro-settler, Zionist establishment – Jews Sans Frontieres has exclusive access to the conversation between McEwan and Israeli President Shimon Peres: Ian McEwan: Nice meeting you, Mr. President. Shimon Peres: Oh…

The Podcast Network on Egypt and Arab democracy

As the Arab world erupts in revolution, I was interviewed today by Australia’s Podcast Network about what’s really happening in the Middle East and what the Western press is missing. My last interview with this wonderful website was in 2009 during Israel’s bombardment of Gaza.

Liberation for everybody (except Palestinians)

What a wonderfully mature way to support the Palestinians under occupation. Sigh: The Greens candidate tipped to take the once-safe Labor seat of Marrickville from the Deputy Premier, Carmel Tebbutt, in the state election has been targeted in a mural over her council’s decision to boycott Israel. Marrickville Council’s support for the global Boycott, Divestment…

Villawood: asbestos still present despite government claims

My following investigation appears in today’s edition of Crikey: Sydney’s Villawood detention centre contains asbestos years after the federal government claims it was managed, according to a whistle-blower working at the site. A guard hired by MSS Security, the firm contracted by British multinational Serco to manage security at Villawood, told Crikey about the lack…

Text and images ©2024 Antony Loewenstein. All rights reserved.

Site by Common