The apocalyptic future is here (via Justice Policy Institute): Over the past 15 years, the number of people held in all prisons in the United States has increased by 49.6 percent, while private prison populations have increased by 353.7 percent, according to recent federal statistics. Meanwhile, in 2010 alone, the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA)…
Showing all posts in June 2019
ABCTV News 24’s The Drum on refugees and media troubles
I appeared last night on ABC TV’s The Drum (video here) alongside former Howard government minister Peter Reith and 2UE host John Stanley. The main issues were asylum seekers – I argued that neither major side of politics in Australia has any desire to alleviate suffering and seemingly prefer ways to privatise the system and…
One huge BDS victory at a time
US Jewish newspaper Forward reports: Controversy over the Israeli army’s use of Caterpillar Inc. bulldozers to demolish Palestinian homes was a “key factor” in a corporate rating agency’s decision to drop the American manufacturer from its list of socially responsible companies. The ratings agency, MSCI, downgraded Caterpillar in February, dropping it from several indices in…
#LeftTurn Sydney launch video
14 June saw the Sydney event for #LeftTurn with co-editor Jeff Sparrow and contributors Tad Tietze and Larissa Behrendt. Green Left TV came along:
#LeftTurn on Triple J’s Sunday Night Safran
I was interviewed last weekend, with my #LeftTurn co-editor Jeff Sparrow, on ABC Triple J’s Sunday Night Safran,… … on the book, Iraq, war, Israel, Palestine and pirates:
On Peter Singer’s ambivalence towards Zionism
Here’s a very interesting profile, by Dan Goldberg in JTA, on famed philosopher Peter Singer. Despite the almost obligatory disparaging comment about dissident Jews – feeling insecure much, Zionists? – I’m pleased the group I co-founded, Independent Australian Jewish Voices, continues to elicit debate: He’s been brandished “the most dangerous man on earth,” accused of…
What’s some tortured Iraqis between friends?
Britain, spreading freedom across the world (via the Daily Mail): The Mail on Sunday can today reveal devastating new claims of abuse by British soldiers carried out at a secret network of illegal prisons in the Iraqi desert. One innocent civilian victim is said to have died after being assaulted aboard an RAF helicopter, while… …
Hands up who thinks Saddam had WMD in 2003?
Words fail (via Jim Lobe at IPS): Yes, it’s apparently true: 63% of Republicans still believe that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction when the U.S. invaded it in 2003. That, according to a… remarkable new survey… on foreign policy attitudes of self-identified Republicans, Democrats, and independents that was noted by… Dan Drezner… in his blog today and released…
Small sample of bile I have to read
Another day and here’s just one kind of hate email/vile racism I receive: So marine le pen is a crypto jew. if only ALL the fucking jews and muslim would fuck off to their filthy country and get out of Europe, we would then be able to leave in peace. This of course will not…
West loves Saudi repression on a daily basis
Yes (via Salon’s Glenn Greenwald): For all the righteous talk about human rights oppression and violent assaults on democratic protesters in the Muslim world, any honest ranking would place Saudi Arabia… near… or at… the top… of that list. This week, the long-time head of the deeply repressive Saudi Interior Ministry, Crown Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, died.…