Forget the crocodile tears of Western leaders. This is about unseating a leader who opposes Western designs in the Middle East (albeit Assad is an incredibly brutal dictator). Here’s Australian intellectual Scott Burchill: How genuine is the West’s concerns about the use of chemical weapons in Syria five days ago? Not very, I suspect. … …
Showing all posts in June 2019
Serco and G4S under marginally tighter scrutiny
This is new positive news, if the outsourcing obsessed British government takes it seriously. Serco, G4S and a range of other vulture capitalists need to be challenged on their woeful human rights records (via the Financial Times): Security companies… G4S… and… Serco… will have to go through a process of “corporate renewal” if they are to be considered for…
Journalist Amy Goodman on the hope for public media
One of the finest reporters in the world, co-host of Democracy Now!, in a long chat about media, democracy, challenging corporate elites and listening to the silences:
Corporate complicity in drone terror
British human rights group Reprieve… on an important investigation: A number of major financial institutions are investigating telecoms firm BT over its alleged involvement in the US’ covert drone warfare programme. The firms considering their investments in BT – after human rights charity Reprieve filed a complaint with the UK Government – include Standard Life, Blackrock,…
Conspiracy theory central; how the Muslim Brotherhood controls Obama
Great US indy journo Max Blumenthal loves taking on media myths, right-wing racism and bullshit. He’s his latest (via Mondoweiss): On August 22, 2013, several hundred Egyptians and Egyptian-Americans hit the streets of Washington DC to show their support for General Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi and the regime that overthrew the elected President Mohamed Morsi in…
Chelsea Manning lawyer speaks out and damns brutal US sentence
Independent journalist Alexa O’Brien, one of the only real reporters who documented the Chelsea Manning trial from the beginning, interviews Manning’s lawyer, David Coombs, on Democracy Now!
The glorious design benefits of warehousing refugees on Manus Island
What a fine idea (via Get Up!) Using Papua New Guinea as a dumping ground for Australia’s problems is so humane and sensible:
ABC Radio Brisbane on Profits of Doom
Last night I was interviewed on ABC Radio Evenings in Brisbane for a long conversation about my new book, Profits of Doom. It was a unique opportunity to discuss the complicity of Rio Tinto in human rights abuses in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea, private contractors in Afghanistan and mis-managed detention centres in Australia:
Direct call for whistle-blowers to reveal what state shamefully denies
My following article appears in today’s Guardian: Revelations of British government intrusion of legitimate media reporting of… American-led, global surveillance… is a call to arms for journalists everywhere. Australian attorney general Mark Dreyfus recently claimed that Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden… weren’t whistle-blowers… because they were “politically motivated”, and neither man exposed government wrong-doing (in fact, both did in…